The core Savage Worlds rules are very simple— roll a skill die (and a Wild Die if a Wild Card). If the result is 4 or higher after all modifiers, you’re successful.
In the following section are some of the more elaborate options and maneuvers characters can attempt
Shooting rolls assume a character is moving about, dodging attacks, and keeping an eye on the chaos around her. If she focuses her attention and aims, however, she can make a much more accurate shot.
If a character spends her entire turn Aiming a ranged weapon at a particular target and takes no other actions, on her next turn she may ignore up to 4 points of Range, Cover, Called Shot, Scale, or Speed penalties; or add +2 to her roll. Her attack must be used on the first action of her next turn or the bonus is lost.
The shooter must be “stationary” to Aim. She can’t walk, run, ride a creature, or otherwise move under her own power. She could Aim from a vehicle traveling over or through a smooth surface, or one using the Hold Steady Chase maneuver.
Grenades, Force effects, and other attacks that cover a large area are “area effect attacks.” The most common are Small, Medium, and Large Blast Templates, and the Cone and Stream Templates.
Area effect weapons target a location rather than individuals and so ignore defensive bonuses for specific targets covered by the template, such as the Dodge Edge or speed penalties.
Cone templates are placed with the small end emanating from the attacker and fired with the Shooting skill (or Athletics for natural attacks). Any power or other effect that uses a Cone Template may use the Stream Template instead. This is a straight line 1" wide and 12" long. A basic success means those beneath the template are hit. Failure means the attack didn’t occur for some reason—the flame cannon malfunctioned, etc.
To attack with a blast template, the player places the template on the tabletop (or describes where he wants it to land) and rolls Shooting, or Athletics for thrown weapons. If the attack fails and there’s a chance it might deviate and hit someone else, see Deviation, below.
If the roll is successful, any target even partially beneath the template is affected, regardless of any attack penalties to hit such as the Dodge Edge. If the effect causes damage, roll for each victim separately. Attacks that hit with a raise cause bonus damage as usual.
If an attack with a Cone Template fails, it goes over the targets’ heads, hits the ground, or simply falters for some reason. The GM may still decide the attack affects the area around it—perhaps a flame cannon sets a room on fire or a gas canister spews a cloud of gas— but there’s no game effect on characters or other targets this time.
If a blast template misses, it deviates 1d6″ for thrown weapons (such as grenades) and 2d6″ for fired projectiles. Multiply by 2 if the attack was made at Medium Range, 3 if Long, and 4 for Extreme.
Next roll a d12 and read it like a clock facing to determine the direction the missile deviates. A weapon can never deviate more than half the distance to the original target (that keeps it from going behind the thrower).
Solid obstacles like trees or walls protect against area effect attacks if they’re between the origin of the blast and the GM reasonably thinks they’d apply. Reduce the damage by the amount listed on the Cover Bonus table under Cover & Obstacles.
Grappling and Force powers like Force bind cause characters to be Bound and Entangled. Here’s what each of those states means and how to break free from them.
ENTANGLED: The victim can’t move and is Vulnerable as long as he remains Entangled.
BOUND: The victim may not move, is Distracted and Vulnerable as long as he remains Bound, and cannot make physical actions other than trying to break free.
Breaking Free: Attempting to break free is an action using Strength at -2 or Athletics. With success, an Entangled hero is free of one entanglement or grappler. A Bound character improves to Entangled with a success; with a raise, he’s free.
Breaking Free from a Device: A character bound by a physical device (such as a net, manacles, or handcuffs) who fails to break free can't try again until the situation changes in some way (GM's call).
Bound or Entangled victims may try to destroy the entanglement with an accessible and appropriate weapon (GM's call based on circumstances and the entangling material). Weapon attacks hit automatically (see Breaking Things), and attackers may Wild Attack for +2 damage. If successful the character is no longer Entangled (others in an area effect entanglement must be freed separately unless the attack is an area effect itself).
Occasionally a character may want to break a solid object, such as a weapon, lock, or door. Use the wielder’s Parry if held, or 2 if it’s motionless. If a damage roll equals or exceeds the object’s Hardness, it’s broken, bent, shattered, or otherwise ruined. The GM decides the exact effect.
Most anything can be broken given enough time and effort, so use this system only when attempting to break things in a hurry (such as during combat rounds).
Hardness Object
8 Door, light
10 Door, heavy
8 Lock
9 Firearm (pistol or rifle)
12 Handcuffs
10 Dagger, Sword
4 Syntherope
No Bonus Damage or Aces: Attacks against solid objects don’t get bonus damage from raises, and damage rolls don’t Ace. Unlike a person or complex device like a computer or a vehicle, an attack can’t hit a “vital” area on a lock or a door and thus do more damage.
Damage Types: Certain types of attacks can’t break certain types of objects. A baton can’t cut a syntherope, for example, and a single shot won’t destroy a door. Use common sense when determining whether or not a particular type of weapon can destroy an object.
See Cover & Obstacles to attack through barriers.
Targeting a particular part of the body is a Called Shot. The modifier to the attack roll depends on the Scale of the target itself (not the creature it’s part of). Use the Scale Modifiers table to determine any bonus or penalty for the target’s Scale. These modifiers are already listed in parentheses below for Normal scale creatures, along with any specific game effects:
HAND (-4): Target may be Disarmed.
HEAD OR VITALS (-4): Hitting the head or vital organs of living creatures adds +4 damage to the attacker’s total. The penalty is -5 if attempting to target the face of someone wearing an open faced helmet (thus bypassing the helmet’s Armor).
ITEM (?): Use the dimensions on the Scale table for items. Targeting something the size of a pistol, for example, is -4; a 3' lightsaber is -2.
LIMBS (-2): Hitting a limb has no additional special effect since it’s already accounted for by Wound and Pace penalties.
UNARMORED AREA (?): The attack targets the unprotected area of a target otherwise covered in Armor. The penalty depends on the Scale of the area. The eyeslit of a helmet is Tiny (-6), for example, while the flesh beneath the missing scale of a Huge beast might be Very Small (-4).
Melee and ranged attacks suffer a penalty when attempting to hit a target behind Cover, per the table below:
Penalty Cover
-2 Light Cover: a quarter of the target is obscured.
-4 Medium Cover: half of the target is obscured, or target is prone.
-6 Heavy Cover: three-quarters of the target is obscured.
-8 Near Total Cover: the target is barely visible.
Sometimes characters have sufficient power to attack their foes through obstacles. (See Breaking Things to actually destroy intervening obstacles.) If a missed attack would have been successful without the Cover modifier and the GM thinks the target is likely to be hit, the obstacle acts as Armor.
If the obstacle is a person or creature, subtract its Toughness from the attack. Use the table below as a guide for other materials.
Bonus Obstacle
+2 Heavy glass, thick leather, drywall, aluminum vehicle door.
+4 Sheet metal, steel vehicle door
+6 Wooden door, cinder block wall.
+8 Brick wall.
+10 Stone wall, bulletproof glass, tree
A character can choose to focus all her energy and skill into defense against melee attacks with the Defend maneuver. This increases her Parry by +4 and takes her entire turn, she cannot perform Multi-Actions. She may move normally but may not run. The bonus lasts until the beginning of her next turn.
Desperate attacks are frantic efforts to hit a target at the expense of damage. The attacker adds +2 or +4 to any Fighting roll and subtracts a like amount from damage if he hits. This can be determined per attack (before rolling), and can’t be combined with Wild Attack.
A character can try to make an opponent drop a weapon (or other object) or attempt to damage it, by making a melee or ranged attack.
The attacker must first hit the object or the opponent’s limb or hand (see Called Shots).
If the attack hits the weapon, the attacker rolls damage normally for an item (no raise effect or Aces, see Breaking Things). The defender must make a Strength roll equal to the damage or drop the item.
If the attack is against the wielder and Shakes or Wounds him, the defender must make a Strength roll at -2 if it hit his limb, or -4 if it hit his hand, plus any Wound penalties that result as usual. Failure means he drops whatever item is in that hand.
Characters may be Distracted or made Vulnerable by Tests, Force powers, or creature effects. Both states last until the end of the character’s next turn. If a hero becomes Distracted or Vulnerable during her current turn, it lasts until the end of her next turn.
DISTRACTED: The hero subtracts 2 from all Trait rolls until the end of his next turn.
VULNERABLE: Actions and attacks against the target are made at +2 until the end of his next turn. This doesn’t stack with The Drop, use only the highest.
Sometimes an attacker is able to catch a foe off-guard and gets “The Drop” on him. The GM decides when this is in effect, usually it’s when the victim is bound or completely unaware of an attack. The Drop usually happens up close but the GM can also allow it in other situations as she sees fit (a sniper attacking an unaware and stationary target).
The Drop adds +4 to a character’s attack and damage rolls against that target for one action.
Knockout Blow: If a character takes enough damage to be Shaken or worse from an attacker with The Drop on him, he must make a Vigor roll (at -2 if the attack was to the head) or be knocked unconscious.
KO’ed characters stay that way for about half an hour or until the GM decides it’s dramatically appropriate to wake up. Note that Knockout Blows come from any kind of damage, not just blows to the head!
Some attacks are slow or require the user to “telegraph” their delivery, like flame cannons. Such attacks state they may be “evaded.” If an attack doesn’t say it can be evaded, it can’t, victims are simply hit if the attack is successful and take damage.
If an attack can be evaded and the character is aware of it, he makes an Agility roll at -2. Those who are successful manage to avoid the attack and take no damage. If this was an area effect attack, the GM should place the figure to the side or rear of the template as makes sense in the situation.
Some hazards, stress, powers, or circumstances may cause Fatigue instead of damage. This represents mental stress or minor but lingering injuries that make a person less effective. Fatigue stacks until the victim is Incapacitated.
FATIGUED: The victim subtracts 1 from all Trait rolls. If he takes another level of Fatigue, he’s Exhausted.
EXHAUSTED: The victim subtracts 2 from all Trait rolls. If he takes another level of Fatigue, he’s Incapacitated.
INCAPACITATED: The victim cannot perform actions and may be unconscious (GM’s call).
Unless otherwise specified by the source, Fatigue and Exhaustion improve one level per hour. Incapacitated characters are helpless and may be unconscious (GM’s call) for 2d6 hours. If treatment is possible (food, water, etc., depending on the source of Fatigue), and a Healing roll is made, the character improves to Exhausted.
Mixed Fatigue: If a hero suffers Fatigue from different sources with different recovery times, remove one level when the effect with the shortest duration expires, then another level when the longest expires.
A completely helpless victim may be dispatched with a lethal weapon of some sort as an action. This is automatic unless the GM decides there’s a special situation, such as a particularly tough or naturally armored victim, a chance for escape, and so on.
The killer must usually dispatch his foe up close and personal, but the GM may occasionally let Finishing Moves be performed at range if the situation warrants.
Occasionally heroes have to fire into the middle of hand-to-hand fights. The trouble is that even though we might see figures standing perfectly still on the tabletop, in “reality,” they’re circling each other, wrestling back and forth, and moving erratically. For that reason, firing into a tangle of people, such as a melee, is quite dangerous. Use the Innocent Bystander rules when this occurs.
Some Edges, such as Counterattack and First Strike, or options such as Withdrawing from Melee, allow a character to make a free attack.
Free attacks are a single attack unaltered by the attacker’s other Edges or combat options. This is usually a Fighting or grappling attack, but could include Shooting if the attacker is armed with a pistol or other ranged weapon that can fire in melee.
Ganging up allows attackers to flank, exploit openings, and generally harass a foe. Each additional adjacent foe (who isn’t Stunned) adds +1 to all the attackers’ Fighting rolls, up to a maximum of +4. If three womprats attack a single hero, for example, each of the three womprats add +2 to their Fighting rolls.
Each ally adjacent to the defender cancels out one point of Gang Up bonus from an attacker adjacent to both. This means troops in opposing lines, such as a formation where each man has three adjacent foes and two adjacent allies, don’t get the bonus unless actually flanked.
Grappling is an opposed roll between the attacker and defender’s Athletics. If the attacker wins, the foe is Entangled. With a raise, he’s Bound (success on a foe who was already Entangled makes him Bound).
If a foe is Bound, the grappler is also Vulnerable while maintaining his hold.
The Gang Up bonus applies when grappling a defender, but other maneuvers don’t unless the Game Master rules otherwise in a specific situation.
Size Matters: If there’s a difference in Scale between the attacker and defender, the grappler subtracts the difference from his total (the defender does not).
Creatures may not generally grapple a foe more than two Sizes larger than themselves unless they have exceptional reach or Strength for their Size (GM’s call).
Crush: As an action, a grappler may make a Strength roll as damage against a target he has Entangled or Bound (this is a damage roll so Scale modifiers are ignored).
A hero may choose to wait and see what happens by going on “Hold.” This allows her to resolve her turn later in the round if she wishes, and lasts until it’s used. If a character is on Hold when a new round begins, she’s not dealt a new Action Card but can go at any point in the round she chooses (discard her current card and mark her as “On Hold” with a counter of some sort).
Shaken and Stunned: If a character is Shaken or Stunned while on Hold, she immediately loses her Hold status and her turn for the round (Shaken or Stunned characters can’t go on Hold either).
Interrupting Actions: If a character on Hold wants to interrupt an action (including a rival who was also on Hold), she and the opponent make opposed Athletics rolls. Whoever rolls highest goes first. In the rare case of a tie, the actions are simultaneous.
If the character interrupting fails, she loses her Hold status but gets a turn after the foe finishes his. She may take whatever actions she wishes when her turn comes up, she’s not locked into whatever she was trying to do when she failed to interrupt.
Darkness conceals details and makes it more difficult to detect objects and targets. Subtract the following penalties from rolls affected by Illumination, such as attacks, Notice rolls, the use of powers, etc.
Penalty Lighting
-2 Dim: twilight, light fog, night with a full moon.
-4 Dark: typical night conditions with some ambient light from stars, a clouded or partial moon, emergency lights, a few flickering torches in a large space, etc. Targets aren’t visible outside of 10”.
-6 Pitch Darkness: complete and total darkness (or the target is hidden or invisible). Force powers that require sight may not be possible.
Heroes often fight with objects that aren’t intended for use as weapons. Torches, vases, chairs, tankards, bottles, tools, and other mundane items are frequently pressed into service in combat.
Characters with improvised weapons count as armed but subtract 2 from attack rolls. Range, damage and Minimum Strength are determined by type:
LIGHT: Metal beer stein, fist-sized rock, pistol (as a club). Range 3/6/12, Damage Str+d4, Min Str d4.
MEDIUM: Bowling ball, rifle (as a club), wooden chair. Range 2/4/8, Damage Str+d6, Min. Str d6.
HEAVY: Head-size rock, metal chair, duffel bag full of blasters. Range 1/2/4, Damage Str+d8, Min. Str d8.
The GM can adjust the damage down a level or two if the item is softer than the examples above, like a duffel bag full of money.
When an attacker misses a Shooting or Athletics (throwing) roll by rolling a Critical Failure, it may sometimes be important to see if any other targets in the line of fire were hit. The GM should only use this rule when it’s dramatically appropriate, not for every missed shot in a hail of gunfire.
Each skill die that’s a 1 hits a random victim adjacent to or directly in the line of fire to the original target. Wild dice never hit innocent bystanders.
Characters fighting from horseback (or other strange beasts) have certain advantages and disadvantages in combat, as described below.
Mounts aren’t dealt Action Cards, they act with their riders. Animals may attack any threat to their front during their rider’s action.
Horsemanship: Characters who wish to fight from horseback must use the lowest of their Fighting or Riding skills. This makes it important for cavalrymen to actually be able to ride well!
Falling: If a character is Shaken, Stunned, or Wounded while mounted, or his mount is Incapacitated, he must make a Riding roll. If he fails, he falls. If the mount was running (GM’s call), the rider suffers 2d4 damage (2d6 with a Critical Failure).
Missed Ranged Attacks: Mounts and riders are affected by the Innocent Bystander rules. If a shot intended at a rider rolls a 1, it hits the horse instead.
Wounded Mounts: When an animal is Shaken or Wounded, it rears or bucks. A rider must make a Riding roll to stay mounted, or falls as above.
A rider on a charging horse adds +4 to his damage roll with a successful Fighting attack. To be considered charging, the rider must have moved at least 6″ or more in a relatively straight line toward his foe.
Setting Weapons: A weapon with a Reach of 1 or greater can be “set” against a cavalry attack. To do so, the attacker must be on Hold and win an opposed Athletics roll to interrupt as usual. Whoever has the most Reach adds +2 to his roll.
The winner attacks first. If successful, he adds the +4 charge bonus to his damage (whether he’s the rider or not).
Characters can perform up to three actions on their turn. Each additional action beyond the first inflicts a -2 penalty to all actions. Taking two actions, for example, incurs a -2 penalty to both, and three actions is a -4 penalty.
Wild Cards get their Wild Die on each action as usual.
All actions must be declared at the start of the turn and before any dice are rolled. Penalties remain even if a later action doesn’t happen (usually because it was dependent on an earlier success).
Movement and Multiple Actions: A character may perform multiple actions at different points in his movement.
Free Actions: Multi-Action penalties do not apply to free actions, and free actions never inflict a penalty on other actions.
Creatures with natural weapons such as fangs, claws, or horns may attack with any or all of them using their Fighting skill. Damage is stated for character races and beasts in their various descriptions.
Creatures with natural weapons are always considered armed. This means they aren’t Unarmed Defenders and foes fighting with Two Weapons gain no advantage against them. Here are a few additional notes for each type of attack:
BITE: The creature may bite a target it’s grappled (most attackers can only crush their prey, see Grappling).
CLAWS: +2 to Athletics (climbing) rolls on any rough or soft surface (not sheer steel, glass, etc.).
HORNS: Add +4 damage at the end of one Fighting action in which it Runs, moves at least 5″, and successfully hits with its horns.
A character who wants to beat someone up without killing them can choose to do nonlethal damage. This requires the attacker to use only his fists or a blunt weapon of some sort. Edged weapons may be used if they have a flat side, but this subtracts -1 from the attacker’s Fighting rolls.
Nonlethal damage causes Wounds as usual, but if a character is rendered Incapacitated he’s knocked out for 1d6 hours instead.
Nonlethal Wounds are otherwise treated exactly as lethal Wounds. This means it’s much easier to render an Extra unconscious than a Wild Card.
Characters are assumed to be right-handed unless the player decides otherwise. Actions that require precise eye-hand coordination, such as Fighting or Shooting, suffer a -2 penalty when done solely with the off-hand.
Off-hand weapons don’t add their Parry bonus unless the hero is Ambidextrous.
Ranged attacks suffer a -4 penalty to hit prone characters from a range of 3″ or greater (this does not stack with Cover) and subtract four points of damage from Area Effect attacks.
If a prone defender is caught in melee, his Parry is reduced by 2 and he must subtract 2 from his Fighting rolls.
Standing costs a character 2″ of movement.
Sometimes characters may want to push a foe in hopes of knocking him out of position, prone, or even into a deadly hazard.
Pushing a foe is an opposed roll of Strength. If the attacker is successful he pushes the foe back up to 1″. With a raise, increase the distance to 2″. Double either distance if the attacker’s Scale is larger than the foe’s.
A character who’s successfully Pushed must make an Athletics roll (at -2 if the attacker got a raise) or be knocked prone.
Running: If the attacker ran at least 2″ before the Push, he adds +2 to his total.
Size Matters: Creatures may not generally Push a foe more than two Sizes larger than themselves unless they have exceptional Strength for their Size (GM’s call).
Skill: The attacker or defender may roll Athletics instead of Strength if they choose.
Heroes may fire ranged weapons when engaged in melee with a few caveats:
The attacker may only use a Force power or a one-handed ranged weapon (such as a firearm no larger than a pistol) when in melee. He may not fire rifles or other “long arms.” The TN is the defender’s Parry instead of Short Range as he struggles, wrestles back and forth, etc.
If attacking a non-adjacent target with a ranged attack while in melee, the attacker instantly becomes Vulnerable.
Characters may “ready” up to two items per turn as a free action. Readying means drawing, holstering, or otherwise moving an item into or out of a familiar and easy-to reach location.
Each additional item readied is an action, as is readying an item from a difficult location such as an ankle holster, off the floor after being disarmed, or other extenuating circumstances.
Unless it says otherwise in its description, firing at a Rate of Fire greater than 1 in one action causes Recoil, a -2 penalty to the attacker’s Shooting rolls. A blaster carbine with a Rate of Fire of 3, for example, causes Recoil unless its user fires only a single shot.
Recoil isn’t cumulative between actions. If a character fires three shots (RoF 3) on one action and triggers the Recoil penalty, he ignores it on a second action if he only fires a single shot.
Nocking an arrow or loading a stone in a sling are free actions that may be performed once per action. Reloading a clip or magazine so that it’s ready to fire is an action.
Some weapons are slower to reload, such as a blaster cannon or sonic rifle. They require a number of actions to reload, listed as “Reload X” in their description.
Running & Reloading: Characters who run and load must make an Agility roll (at the usual -2 penalty for running). Failure means no progress toward reloading was made that action.
Characters and creatures have a Size ranging from -4 for very small beings up to Size 20 and higher for massive behemoths.
The Size Table lists seven different “Scales,” from Tiny to Gargantuan, and the Scale Modifier that goes with each.
When creatures of different Scales attack each other, the smaller creature adds the difference between its Scale and its target to its attacks. A Tiny mouse (-6 Scale modifier), for example, adds +10 to bite at a Huge rancor (+4).
The larger creature subtracts the difference from its attacks. A Very Small eagle (-4) subtracts 2 from its Fighting totals when attacking a Tiny mouse (-6).
Modifier Scale & Examples
-6 Tiny: armor joint, baseball, mouse
-4 Very Small: Human hand or head, basketball, house cat
-2 Small: Human limb, bobcat
- Normal: Human, speeder bike, bull, horse
+2 Large: Hippo, most vehicles
+4 Huge: Rancor, whale
+6 Gargantuan: Building, kaiju, ship
Use the Scale of the target when making called shots against creatures, not their Scale. If a hero wants to blast the eye of a Huge droid destroying the city, for example, use the Scale of the eye, not the droid. If the eye is about the size of a car, the hero adds +2 to his roll because a car is Large, a +2 bonus.
Hitting the vital areas have extra effects listed under Called Shots.
Characters occasionally need to attack fast-moving targets. If the relative speed between attacker and defender is 60 Miles per Hour (MPH) or more, apply the Relative Speed Penalty:
Multiply MPH by 1.5 to get Pace.
Divide Pace by 1.5 to get MPH.
Penalty Target’s relative speed
-1 60 MPH+
-2 120 MPH+
-4 240 MPH+
-6 Mach 1+
-8 Mach 2+
-10 Near Light Speed +
Stun guns, creature abilities, the Force Stun power, electrical hazards, or other shocks to the brain or nervous system make a character essentially helpless until they manage to shake it off.
Stunned characters:
Are Distracted (this is removed at the end of the victim’s next turn as usual)
Are Vulnerable (this remains until they recover from being Stunned)
Fall prone (or to their knees, GM’s call)
Can’t move or take any actions
Don’t count toward the Gang Up bonus
Recovery: At the start of a Stunned character’s turn, he makes a Vigor roll as a free action. Success means he’s no longer Stunned but remains Vulnerable until the end of his next turn. With a raise, his Vulnerable state goes away at the end of this turn.
Sometimes characters may want to cooperate or help an ally with a task. If so, and the GM decides it’s possible, supporting characters roll the relevant skill (on their action if the game is in rounds) and declare which of their ally’s Traits they’re attempting to Support.
Success grants the ally +1 to one Trait total this round, and a raise adds +2. A Critical Failure on the support roll subtracts 2 from the lead’s total, sometimes extra hands just get in the way!
Remove all Support bonuses at the end of the recipient’s turn, whether he used them or not (perhaps by taking an action different than the one he was Supported for).
The maximum bonus from all Support rolls is +4. Strength checks are an exception and have no maximum bonus since more muscle can always manage more mass.
Players and GMs should be creative when making Support rolls. An adventurer with Survival, for example, might make a roll to find useful herbs for an ally attempting a Healing check, or a galactic explorer with Science might calculate slingshot vectors that help a friend make a tricky Piloting roll.
General encouragement (a Persuasion roll) such as “You can do it!” or “Check your six!” are perfectly acceptable, but at the GM’s discretion lose effectiveness if repeated.
The Support option can be used against an opponent narratively, but the only effect it can have is as detailed above. If a character wants to “trip up” an enemy to help a friend make a Fighting roll against it, for example, she can add +1 or +2 to his roll, but she doesn’t actually trip the enemy. It’s not made prone, Distracted, Vulnerable, or Shaken as it might if she had used the Test option.
The advantage for a player in making a Support roll over a Test is to help an ally and avoid a more difficult opposed roll for the Test (even though narratively it might seem like it should be an opposed roll).
Suppressive Fire turns a firearm or other rapid-firing weapon into an area effect attack. It trades accuracy for a hail of ammo to keep the enemies’ heads down.
A weapon must be able to fire rapidly and can’t require reloading in between shots.
Suppressive Fire uses three times the usual number of bullets for its Rate of Fire and always incurs Recoil regardless of the weapon’s original Rate of Fire (the Rock and Roll! Edge, bipods, and tripods negate Recoil as usual).
To make the attack, the shooter places a Medium Blast Template on the tabletop and makes a Shooting roll (a single Shooting die regardless of Rate of Fire, RoF comes into Maximum Casualties, below.) Figure Range, Illumination, Recoil, etc., as usual, to the center of the template.
Next compare the total to each target in the template and consider any modifiers that apply to each (Cover, the Dodge Edge, the deflection power, etc.). Success means the target is Distracted, and a raise means he’s actually hit (no bonus damage is possible from Suppressive Fire).
Maximum Casualties: Every target under the template can be Distracted, but it can only cause damage to a number of targets equal to the weapon’s Rate of Fire. The attacker chooses which targets are hit among his possible choices.
Combat often starts before everyone involved is prepared. An ambush, a sudden doublecross, or a trap might all give one side in a fight an edge over the other.
When this happens, the ambushers are automatically on Hold. Deal them in as usual anyway in case one of them gets a Joker.
The victims of the attack make a Notice roll (if they haven’t already, perhaps from ambushers sneaking up on them). Those who make it are dealt in as usual. Those who fail get no Action Card and can’t act in the first round of combat.
The Support option allows a character to help out her allies. Test is the opposite, it lets him make things more difficult for his foes! Tests include embarrassing an opponent, throwing sand in his eyes, staring him down with a steely gaze, or anything else a clever player can think of to rattle his enemy and put him off-balance.
To perform a Test, the player describes the action and works with the GM to determine the most appropriate skill to roll for it. Tests are resisted instinctively, so the “attacker’s” skill roll is opposed by the attribute it’s linked to. Tripping someone is an Athletics roll versus Agility since that’s what Athletics is linked to. Taunt is linked to Smarts, so verbally humiliating someone is resisted by that attribute. Fighting, when used as a Test instead of an actual attack, isn’t compared to Parry, it’s opposed by Agility.
If the attacker wins the opposed roll, he can choose to make his foe Distracted or Vulnerable. If he wins with a raise, the target is also Shaken or there may be other subjective effects as the GM allows, such as a tripped foe being knocked prone.
Modifiers: The GM must determine which modifiers apply to a Test. Shooting, for example, should include Range, Cover, Illumination, Recoil, etc. A hero with a bonus to his Parry does not add it to his Agility when challenged with a Fighting roll, however, because the defender resists with Agility, not his Parry.
Repetition: Using the same or similar action repeatedly quickly grows less effective, so the GM should apply a steep penalty if a character’s Tests become repetitive (or disallow it entirely).
Additional Dice: If characters have additional dice for a Test, such as when using a weapon with a high Rate of Fire, he may roll all the dice but takes only the highest as his Test total. He doesn’t get multiple results and he can’t spread them out to other targets.
A character who simply wants to touch a foe may add +2 to his Fighting roll.
A character armed with two melee weapons adds +1 to his Fighting rolls if his foe has a single weapon or is unarmed. It adds no bonus against creatures with Natural Weapons.
Wielding two firearms offers no special advantage other than additional ammunition. Characters who want to specialize further can take the Two-Fisted or Two-Gun Kid Edge.
It’s difficult to parry a blade with one’s bare hands. An attacker armed with a melee weapon adds +2 to his Fighting attacks if his foe has no weapon or shield (this doesn’t stack with the Drop).
A character attempting to fire or throw a ranged weapon from the back of a mount, a moving vehicle, or other “unstable platform” subtracts 2 from his total.
Vehicular weapons work just like any other, characters make Shooting rolls to hit a target and roll damage if successful (plus a bonus die if they hit with a raise). Unless a character has the Steady Hands Edge, don’t forget the Unstable Platform penalty.
Sometimes a desperate character may want to throw caution to the wind and attack with everything he’s got.
A Wild Attack adds +2 to the character’s Fighting attacks and resulting damage rolls for the turn, but he is Vulnerable until the end of his next turn (not this one).
Wild Attacks can be used with multiple attacks, such as from Multi-Actions or the Frenzy and Sweep Edges.
Whenever a character retreats from melee, all adjacent non-Shaken and non-Stunned opponents get an immediate Free Attack. Note, this does not mean you can’t move, as long as you stay in melee range (or your weapon’s reach), you are free to move around your opponents without them getting a Free Attack.