8 Combat
In the struggle for truth and justice, heroes must fight—against hordes of minions, teams of supervillains, powerful masterminds, or rampaging monsters bent on destruction. In superhero battles fists and energy blasts fly. Cars, lampposts, and even entire buildings become weapons. The heroes have to triumph, because they’re all that stands between the world and terrible danger. This chapter details the Mutants & Masterminds combat rules, starting with the basics and then looking at some of the more unusual combat strategies heroes can employ. combat sequence Combat in Mutants & Masterminds is cyclical. Everybody acts in turn in a regular cycle called a round. Generally, combat runs like this:
1. Each combatant starts the battle flat-footed. Once a combatant acts, he or she is no longer flat-footed.
2. The GM determines which characters are aware of their opponents at the start of the battle. If some but not all combatants are aware of their opponents, a surprise round happens before regular rounds begin. The combatants aware of their opponents can act in the surprise round, so they roll for initiative. In initiative order (highest to lowest), combatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take a standard or move action—not both—during the surprise round. Unaware combatants do not get to act in the surprise round. If no one or everyone starts the battle aware, there is no surprise round.
3. Any remaining combatants roll initiative. All combatants are now ready to begin their first regular round.
4. Combatants act in initiative order, taking their normal allotment of actions.
5. When everyone has had a turn, the combatant with the highest initiative total acts again, and steps 4 and 5 repeat until the combat ends.
Combat Statistics
Several traits determine how well you do in combat: primarily your attack bonus, defense bonus, damage bonus, and saving throws. This section summarizes these traits and how to use them.
Attack
An attack roll represents the attempt to strike a target with an attack. When you make an attack roll, roll d20 and add your attack bonus. If your result equals or exceeds the target’s Defense, you hit and may deal damage. Various modifiers affect the attack roll, such as a –1 modifier if you are dazzled or a +1 modifier if you are on higher ground than your target. More modifiers are discussed in this chapter.
Automatic Misses and Hits
A natural 1 (the d20 comes up 1) on the attack roll is always a miss.
A natural 20 (the d20 comes up 20) is always a hit, regardless of the opponent’s Defense. A natural 20 is also a threat—a possible critical hit (see Critical Hits, page 152).
Attack Bonus
Your attack bonus for an attack is:
Base attack bonus + size modifier +
miscellaneous modifiers – range penalty
Size Modifier
The smaller you are, the bigger other opponents are relative to you. A human is a big target to an ant, just as an elephant is a big target to a human. Since the same size modifier applies to Defense, two opponents of the same size strike each other normally, regardless of size.
Size Modifiers to Attack and Defense
UNDER THE HOOD: SPEEDING UP COMBAT
You can use a number of tricks to make Mutants & Masterminds combat run faster.
• Attack and Damage: Make the attack roll and Toughness save for an attack at the same time. If the attack misses, ignore the Toughness save, but if it hits, you don’t have to make a second roll for damage.
• Roll Ahead of Time: Once you know who you are attacking and how, make your attack rolls before it is your turn so you have the results ready when your turn comes around. (Get your GM’s okay before you roll ahead of time. Some GMs like to see their players’ attack rolls.)
• Counters: Use condition counters (like glass beads, poker chips, or playing cards) so players can more easily keep track of their characters’ current condition.
• Concealment Rolls: If you know the miss chance related to your target’s concealment, roll it along with your attack roll. If the concealment roll indicates a miss, ignore the attack roll.
• Prep Initiative: Have your GM roll everyone’s initiative checks ahead of time and prepare the order of battle. That way when a battle starts you can skip the initiative checks and get right to the action.
• Pushover Minions: Use minions the heroes can take out in a single attack. That way, you don’t have to bother making Toughness saves for them. A successful attack simply takes out the minion.
Miscellaneous Modifiers
The circumstances of your attack may involve a modifier to your attack bonus. Attacking while prone, for example, imposes a –4 penalty on melee attack rolls. See the Combat Modifiers Table for a listing of miscellaneous modifiers.
Range penalty
The range penalty with a ranged attack depends on the attack you’re using and the distance to the target. All ranged attacks have a range increment. This is typically (power rank × 10 feet). Any attack at a distance up to one range increment carries no penalty for range, so ranged Blast 5 (range increment 50 feet) can strike at enemies up to 50 feet away with no penalty. However, each full range increment causes a cumulative –2 penalty to the attack roll. For example, a character firing the same attack at a target 120 feet away suffers a –4 attack penalty (because 120 feet is at least two range increments, but less than three
increments).
Defense
Your Defense represents how hard it is for opponents to hit you, the Difficulty Class of an opponent’s attack roll. Your Defense is:
10 + defense bonus + size modifier + miscellaneous modifiers
Defense Bonus
Your defense bonus represents your passive ability to avoid attacks. It is added directly to your Defense in combat. Your dodge bonus (equal to half your normal defense bonus) represents your ability to actively avoid attacks. If you can’t react to an attack, you can’t use your dodge bonus. For example, you lose your dodge bonus if you’re bound up in a Snare, or when you’re caught flat-footed at the beginning of combat. Most situational bonuses to Defense are dodge bonuses.
Size Modifier
The bigger a target, the easier it is to hit. The smaller it is, the harder it is to hit. Since this same modifier applies to attack rolls, opponents of the same size have no modifier to hit each other. So an ant (or an ant-sized person) rolls normally to hit another ant. miscellaneous
Miscellaneous Modifiers
The circumstances may also apply miscellaneous modifiers to your dodge bonus or Defense. See the Combat Modifiers Table for details.
Damage
When you hit with an attack, you may deal damage. Each attack has a damage bonus. For melee attacks, the damage bonus is your Strength bonus, plus any modifiers for powers like Strike. For ranged attacks the damage bonus is usually based on the attack’s power rank.
Melee Damage Bonus = Strength modifier + weapon damage.
Power Damage Bonus = power rank.
Strength Modifier
Your Strength measures how hard you can hit, so your Strength modifier applies when you attack unarmed or with a melee or thrown weapon.
Weapon Damage
Weapons have a damage modifier, showing how much damage they inflict. Ranged weapons have a fixed damage bonus. Melee and thrown weapons add the wielder’s Strength modifier to their damage.
Power Rank
Your power’s rank measures how much damage it inflicts, so it serves as the power’s damage bonus. Individual power descriptions provide more information on how much damage a particular power inflicts.
Critical Hits
When you make an attack roll and get a natural 20 (the d20 actually shows 20), you hit regardless of your target’s Defense, and you score a threat. The hit might be a critical hit (sometimes called a “crit”). To find out whether it’s a critical hit, determine if the attack roll total would have normally hit your opponent’s Defense. If so, then it is a critical hit. If not, the attack still hits, but as a normal attack, not a critical. A critical hit increases the attack’s damage bonus by 5. A critical hit against a minion allows no saving throw; the minion is automatically knocked out or killed.
Increased Threat Range
Characters with the Improved Critical feat (see page 62) can score a threat on a natural result less than 20, although they still automatically hit only on a natural 20. Any attack roll that doesn’t result in a hit is not a threat.
Saving Throws
When you’re subjected to a potentially harmful effect, you get a saving throw to avoid or reduce it. Like an attack roll or check, a saving throw is a d20 roll plus a bonus based on an ability score and other modifiers. Your saving throw is:
d20 + base save bonus + ability modifier +
miscellaneous modifiers
The Difficulty Class for a save is based on the attack itself. Generally, the DC for a save is 10 + the effect’s bonus or rank, except for Toughness saves, which are DC 15 + the attack’s damage.
Saving Throw Types
The four different kinds of saving throws are:
• Toughness: Your ability to resist physical punishment and direct damage. Apply your Constitution modifier to your Toughness saving throws.
• Fortitude: Your ability to resist attacks against your vitality and health such as poison and disease. Apply your Constitution modifier to your Fortitude saving throws.
• Reflex: Your ability to avoid harm through reaction time and agility, including dodging explosions and crashes. Apply your Dexterity modifier to Reflex saving throws.
• Will: Your resistance to mental influence and domination as well as certain powers. Apply your Wisdom modifier to your Will saving throws.
Initiative
Every round, each combatant gets to do something. The combatants’ initiative checks determine the order in which they act, from highest to lowest.
Iniative Checks
At the start of a battle, each combatant makes an initiative check. The GM rolls for the villains while the players each roll for their heroes. An initiative check is
a Dexterity check, plus modifiers. The GM finds out in what order characters act, counting down from highest total to lowest. Each character acts in turn, with the check applying to all rounds of the combat (unless a character takes an action to change initiative). Usually, the GM writes the names of the characters down in initiative order so he can move quickly from one character to the next each round. If two combatants have the same initiative check result, they act in order of highest Dexterity first. If there is still a tie, roll a die, with the highest roll going first.
Initiative Check = d20 + Dex modifier + miscellaneous modifiers
Flat-Footed
At the start of a battle, before you have had a chance to act (specifically, before your first turn in the initiative order), you are flat-footed. You can’t use your dodge bonus while flat-footed. The Uncanny Dodge feat allows you to retain your dodge bonus to Defense while flat-footed (see page 65).
Opponent Initiative
Typically, the GM makes a single initiative check for opponents. That way, each player gets a turn each round and the GM also gets one turn. At the GM’s option, however, he can make separate initiative checks for different groups of opponents or even for individual foes. For instance, the GM may make one initiative check for a supervillain and another check for all of the villain’s minions.
Joining a fight
If characters enter a fight after it’s begun, they roll initiative and act whenever their turn comes up in the existing order.
Surprise
When a combat starts, if you are not aware of your enemies but they are aware of you, you’re surprised. If you know about your opponents but they don’t know about you, you surprise them.
Determining Awareness
Sometimes all combatants on a side are aware of their enemies; sometimes none are; sometimes only some of them are. Sometimes a few combatants on either side are aware and other combatants are unaware.
The GM determines who is aware of whom at the start of a battle. The GM may call for Notice checks, or other checks to see how aware the characters are of their opponents. Some examples:
• The heroes enter a seedy bar and immediately spot members of a notorious gang. The gang members notice the heroes at the same time. Both sides are aware; neither is surprised. The heroes and the gang-members make initiative checks, and the battle begins.
• The heroes are tracking a mysterious alien shape-shifter, which has fled down a dark alley. They follow, unaware the alien has assumed the form of a garbage can, hidden among several others. When the alien springs out to attack, the heroes are surprised and do not get to act in the surprise round.
• The heroes infiltrate a criminal mastermind’s headquarters wearing the uniforms of his soldiers. When they reveal themselves and attack to prevent the mastermind from triggering his doomsday device, they surprise their opponents. The heroes act during the surprise round, but the villains do not.
The Surprise Round
If some, but not all, of the combatants are aware of their opponents, a surprise round happens before regular rounds begin. The combatants aware of their opponents can act in the surprise round, so they roll for initiative. In initiative order (highest to lowest), combatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take a standard or move action, not both. If no one or everyone is surprised, a surprise round doesn’t occur.
Unaware Combatants
Combatants unaware at the start of battle do not get to act in the surprise round. Unaware combatants are flat-footed because they have not acted yet. Because of this, they lose any dodge bonus to Defense.
Actions
The things characters can do dring combat are broken down into actions, described in this section.
The Combat Round
Each round represents about 6 seconds of time in the game world. In the real world, a round is an opportunity for each character to take an action. Anything a person could reasonably do in 6 seconds, your hero can do in 1 round. Each round begins with the character with the highest initiative result and then proceeds, in descending order, from there. Each round uses the same initiative order. When a character’s turn comes up in the initiative order, that character performs his entire round’s worth of actions. For almost all purposes, there is no relevance to the end of a round or the beginning of a round. The term “round” works like the word “week.”
A week can mean either a calendar week or a span of time from a day in one week to the same day the next week. In the same way, a round can be a segment of game time starting with the first character to act and ending with the last, but it usually means a span of time from one round to the same initiative number (initiative count) in the next round. Effects lasting a certain number of rounds end just before the same initiative number where they began.
one round = span of time from one initiative count to the same initiative count in the next round
Action Types
The five types of actions are standard, move, full, free, and reaction. In a normal round, you can perform a standard action and a move action (or two move actions; you can always take a move action in place of a standard action), or you can perform a full action. You can also perform as many free and reactions actions as your GM allows.
In some situations (such as in the surprise round) you may be limited to taking only a standard or move action, not both.
Free Actions Standard Actions
Delay Aid
Drop an Item Attack
Drop Prone Begin/Complete Full Action
Speak Block
Switch Array Combined Attack
Turn Off Power Concentrate
Move Actions Cover
Command Demoralize
Manipulate an Object Disarm
Standard action
A standard action allows you to do something. You can make an attack, use a skill, feat, or power (unless it requires a full action to perform; see below), or perform other similar actions. During a combat round, you can take a standard action and a move action. You can take the move action before or after, but not during, the standard action.
Move Action
A move action allows you to move your speed or perform an action taking a similar amount of time, such as climb one-quarter of your speed, draw or stow a weapon or other object, stand up, pick up an object, or perform some equivalent action (see the Actions in Combat Table). You can take a move action in place of a standard action. For example,rather than moving your speed and attacking you can stand up and move your speed (two move actions), draw a weapon and climb one-quarter your speed (two move actions), or pick up an object and stow it in a backpack (two move actions).
If you move no actual distance in a round (usually because you have traded a move action for an equivalent action like standing up), you can take a 5-foot “step” before, during, or after the action. For example, you can stand up (a move action), take a 5-foot step, and attack (a standard action).
Full Action
A full action requires all your attention during a round. The only movement you can take during a full action is a 5-foot step before, during, or after the action. Some full-round actions do not allow you to take a 5-foot step. You can also perform free actions (see below) as the GM allows.
Free action
Free actions consume very little time and, over the span of the round, their impact is so minor they are considered to take no real time at all. You can perform one or more free actions while taking another action. However, the GM puts reasonable limits on what you can do for free. A good rule of thumb is your dexterity or Intelligence bonus +1 in free actions per round, with a minimum of one. For instance, dropping an object, dropping to a prone position, speaking a sentence or two, and ceasing to concentrate on maintaining a power are all free actions.
Reaction
A reaction is something that happens in response to something else, like a reflex. Like free actions, reactions take so little time they’re considered free. The difference between the two is a free action is a conscious choice made on the character’s turn to act. A reaction is a reflex or automatic response that can occur even when it’s not your turn to act. Characters can react even while unable to take normal actions, such as while stunned. A saving throw is an example of a reaction, something you instinctively do to avoid danger. Some powers and other traits are usable as reactions.
Action Descriptions
The most common actions are described here.
Aid
Standard Action
If you are in position to attack an opponent, you can attempt to aid a friend engaged in melee with that opponent as a standard action. Make an attack roll against Defense 10. If you succeed, you don’t actually damage the opponent—but your friend gains either a +2 bonus on an attack roll against that opponent or a +2 bonus to Defense against that opponent (your choice) on the friend’s next turn. Multiple aid bonuses stack.
Aim
Full Action
By taking a full action to aim and line up an attack you get a bonus to hit when you make the attack. If you’re making a melee or unarmed attack, or a ranged attack at melee range, you get a +5 bonus on your attack roll. If you’re making a ranged attack from a greater distance, you get a +2 bonus on your attack roll. If you aim to hit an immobile object, you hit automatically with a melee attack and get a +4 bonus on a ranged attack.
However, while aiming you lose your dodge bonus, and if you are struck or distracted in any way before your attack, you have to make a Concentration check to maintain your aim (see Concentration, page 44). This tends to make aiming melee attacks—or ranged attacks while adjacent to an enemy—extremely unwise.
Once you aim, your next action must be to make the attack. Taking another standard or move action spoils your aim and you lose the aiming bonus.
Attack
Standard Action
With a standard action, you can make an attack against any opponent within the attack’s range.
Shooting or Throwing into Melee
If you make a ranged attack against an opponent engaged in melee with an ally, you take a –4 penalty on your attack roll be cause you have to aim carefully to avoid hitting your ally. Two characters are engaged in melee if they are opponents and adjacent to one another. (An unconscious or otherwise immobilized character is not considered engaged unless he or she is actually being attacked.)If the target is two or more size categories larger than any allies in melee, you ignore the –4 penalty.
Attacking ObJects
Objects are harder or easier to hit depending on several factors:
• Held Objects: An object held by a character has a base Defense equal the holder’s Defense + 5 + the object’s size modifier.
• Carried or Worn Objects: Objects carried or worn by a character have a base Defense equal the character’s Defense + the object’s size modifier.
• Immobile Objects: Immobile objects have a Defense of 5 + the object’s size modifier. Adjacent attacks get a +4 bonus to hit immobile objects. (If you take a full action to aim, you get an automatic hit with an adjacent attack, or a +5 bonus with a ranged attack.)
Begin/Complete full action
Standard action
This action lets you start a full action (such as those listed on the Actions in Combat Table) at the end of your turn, or complete a full action by using a standard action at the beginning of your turn the round after starting the action. If you start a full action at the end of your turn, the next action you take must be to complete it.
Block
Standard action
Instead of attacking, you can choose to actively defend yourself against incoming melee attacks for the round. To block an attack, make an attack roll against your opponent’s attack roll. If your attack roll is higher, you block or deflect the attack. Each additional attack you block after the first in a round applies a cumulative –2 penalty on your attack roll.
BLOCKING WEAPON ATTACKS UNARMED
The default assumption is characters can block any sort of melee attack, whether armed with a weapon or not. Gamemasters wanting a greater level of realism may restrict unarmed characters from blocking armed attacks (it’s more difficult to block a sword blow with your bare hands than it is with a weapon or shield). Characters with a high enough Toughness save (say equal to the weapon’s damage bonus) may be able to block weapon attacks unarmed, at the GM’s discretion.
BLOCKING RANGED ATTACKS
Characters with the Deflect power (see page 81) can block certain types of ranged attacks, this includes Deflect granted by shields (see page 141). Otherwise, characters cannot block ranged attacks.
Charge
Charging allows you to move more than your speed and attack as a full action. You must move at least 10 feet and may move up to twice your speed. You must stop as full action soon as you are within striking range of your target (you can’t run past the target and attack from another direction). During the surprise round you can use the charge action, but you are only allowed to move up to your speed (instead of up to twice your speed). This is also true in other cases where you are limited to a single attack or move action per round.
After moving, you may make a single melee attack. You get a +2 bonus on the attack roll and also take a –2 penalty to your Defense for 1 round (until the beginning of your action the following round).
Combined Attack
Standard Action
Multiple attackers can attempt to combine their attacks to overwhelm an opponent’s defenses. The attackers must all delay to the same point in the initiative order (that of the slowest character). Each attacker makes a normal attack roll against the target. Take the largest save DC modifier of the attacks that hit, and for each other attack within 5 points of that attack’s bonus that hits, add +2. The attacks must all require the same type of saving throw in order to combine, for example attacks doing damage (requiring a Toughness save) can combine, but not with a Mental Blast or a Stun effect, which do not call for Toughness saves.
Although a combined attack is similar to aiding someone (see page 154) it is not the same, and bonuses applying to aid do not apply to combined attacks.
Example: The Revengers are fighting Master Boss, whose defenses are too powerful for any one of the heroes to overcome. So they decide to combine their attacks against him. They delay until Inventor's action (the slowest initiative total among them), then each hero makes an attack roll against Master Boss' Defense. They all hit, so the GM looks over their damage bonuses: +13 (Thunderbolt), +11 (Inventor), +10 (Wonderful), and +2 (The Rocketeer). Rocketeer's damage bonus is too low to combine with the others, so it is ignored. Inventor’ and Wonderful’s bonuses are within 5 points of Thunderbolt ’s, so they each add +2 to his total. Master Boss makes a Toughness save against a combined damage bonus of +17 (13 + 2 + 2) and a second Toughness save against Rocketeer's +2 damage attack. He shrugs off Rocketeer’s punch, but the combined force of the other heroes’ attacks stuns him.
Command
move action
Issuing a command to a minion or a character under the influence of Mind Control requires a move action. If you want to issue different commands to different
groups of minions, each one requires a move action (so you can issue two commands per round as a full action).
Concentrate
Standard Action
Concentrating to maintain a particular power or effect, or focusing intently on a task, count as standard actions, meaning you cannot attack while concentrating, although you can still take move actions and free actions. If anything happens that may disrupt your concentration, you have to make a concentration check to maintain it. See the Concentration skill, page 44, for details.
Covering
Standard Action
Covering is a variation on the Ready action (see page 158). The attacker takes a standard action to use a ranged attack against a valid target within range. Make the attack roll normally, however, the attack does not go off. Instead, the attacker chooses to withhold the attack and “cover” the target. This is like someone with a gun pointing it at a target and shouting “freeze!” If the initial attack roll is successful, the attacker may use the readied attack at any time against the target with the normal result from the initial attack roll. If the initial attack roll was a critical hit, then the covering attack is also a critical hit, if it is made.
The target can escape from being covered by distracting the attacker in some way. Most distractions require a Concentration check by the attacker (see concentration, page 44). If it fails, the covering attack is lost. The target can also make a Bluff or Intimidate check against the attacker to gain a momentary distraction and escape from being covered. An Intimidate check suffers a –2 penalty (since the attacker is clearly in a superior position).
Delay
Free Action
By choosing to delay, you act at a later point in the initiative order than your rolled initiative. When you delay, you voluntarily reduce your initiative for the rest of the combat. When your new, lower initiative count comes up later in the same round, you can act normally. You can specify this new initiative total or just wait until some time later in the round and act then, fixing your new initiative at that point.
Delaying is useful if you need to see what your friends or enemies are going to do before deciding what to do yourself. The price you pay is lost initiative. You never get back the time you spent waiting to see what was going to happen.
DELAYING LIMITS
The lowest you can voluntarily lower your initiative is –10 minus your initiative bonus. When the initiative count reaches that point, you must act or forfeit any action for the round. For instance, a character with an initiative bonus of 3 could wait until the initiative count reached 0, then wait for it to reach –10, but would have to act on –13 or forfeit any action for the round. This is primarily an issue when multiple characters
delay.
MULTIPLE CHARACTERS DELAYING
If multiple characters are delaying, the one with the highest initiative bonus (or higher Dexterity, in case of a tie) has the advantage. If two or more delaying
characters want to act on the same initiative count, the one with the highest bonus goes first. If two or more delaying characters are trying to go after each other, the one with the highest initiative bonus gets to go last. You can also Refocus (see page 158) to move to the top of the initiative count.
Demoralize
Standard Action
You can make an Intimidate check to demoralize an opponent as a standard action. By taking a –5 penalty on the check, you can attempt to demoralize as a move action. See Intimidate, page 49, for details.
Disarm
Standard Action
As a standard action, you may attempt to knock an item such as a weapon or device out of an opponent’s hand. Make an attack roll against the defender. If you attempt to disarm with a ranged attack, you are at –4 on your attack roll. If your attack succeeds, make an opposed roll of your attack’s damage against the defender’s Strength. If you win, the defender is disarmed. If you attempted the disarm action as an unarmed attack, you now have the weapon. Otherwise, the defender drops it. If you make a disarm attempt with a melee weapon and lose, the defender may immediately make an attempt to disarm you as a reaction, without an attack roll.
Distract
Standard Action
Characters with the Distract feat can make a Bluff or Intimidate check to distract an opponent as a standard action. See Distract, page 60, for details.
Drop an Item
Free Action
Dropping a held item is a free action (although dropping or throwing an item with the intention of accurately hitting something is a standard action).
Drop Prone
Free Action
Dropping to a prone position is a free action, although getting up requires a move action (unless you have the Instant Up feat).
Feint
Standard Action
You can make a Bluff check to feint as a standard action. By taking a –5 penalty on the check, you can attempt to feint as a move action. See Bluff, page 42, for details.
Grapple
Standard Action
Grappling is wrestling and struggling hand-to-hand. It’s tricky, but it can be useful to pin a foe rather than simply pummeling him unconscious.
GRAPPLE CHECKS
Repeatedly in a grapple, you need to make an opposed grapple check against an opponent. A grapple check is like a melee attack roll. Your attack bonus on a grapple check is:
attack bonus + Strength modifier + Super-Strength modifier + size modifier
Size Modifier
Your size modifier for a grapple check is +4 for every size category you are above Medium-size or –4 for every size category you are below Medium size. Like all
size modifiers this one cancels out so opponents of the same size grapple each other normally.
To start a grapple, you first need to grab and hold your target. Make a melee attack to grab the target. If you don’t hit the target, you fail to start the grapple. Once you hit, you have grabbed your opponent, make an opposed grapple check. If you lose, the target is not grappled. If you succeed, you can apply one of the following effects:
• Damage: You deal damage like an unarmed strike.
• Throw: You can pick up and throw your opponent like an inanimate object (see Throwing, page 36). The throw occurs as a move action as part of the grapple (grabbing, grappling, and throwing an opponent is a full-round action). The distance you can throw an opponent is based on weight like any other object and a throw automatically ends the grapple.
• Pin: You hold your opponent immobile for one round. You can’t use a weapon on the pinned character or attempt to damage or pin another opponent while pinning the first unless you have the Improved Grapple feat or the Additional Limbs power. When an opponent has pinned you, you are immobile (but not helpless) for one round. You have a –4 Defense modifier and lose your dodge bonus against attacks while pinned.
• Break: You can break the hold an opponent has over an ally.
• Escape: You can escape the grapple or a pin. If you are grappled and escape, you are no longer grappling and can take whatever movement you get as your move action. If you’re pinned and escape, you are still grappling, but no longer pinned. If more than one opponent is grappling or pinning you, your grapple check result has to beat all of their checks to escape. You also can make an Escape Artist check (opposed by your opponent’s grapple check) to escape.
While you’re grappling, your ability to attack others and defend yourself is limited. You lose your dodge bonus to Defense against opponents you aren’t grappling. You can still use it against opponents you are grappling.
You can use powers while grappling, subject to the requirements of the grapple. If you use a power requiring a standard action, you forfeit your grapple check that round (meaning you automatically lose the opposed grapple check). This may be worth it if the power helps you get out of the grapple or otherwise deals with your opponent. The GM may require a Concentration check (see page 44) to use some powers while grappled, while other powers (those requiring freedom of movement or the ability to access a device, for example) may not be usable at all, at the GM’s discretion.
MULTIPLE GRAPPLERS
Several combatants can be in a single grapple. Up to four can grapple a single opponent of the same size. Opponents one size category smaller than you count for half, opponents one size category larger than you count double, and opponents two or more size categories larger count quadruple. So if you’re Medium-sized, eight Small, four Medium, two Large, or a single Huge opponent can grapple you. In the same way, four Small opponents (counting as two opponents) plus one Large opponent (counting as two opponents) can grapple you. Additional grapplers can aid their friends with the aid action, granting a +2 bonus to that character’s grapple checks for the round.
Manipulate ObJect
move action
In most cases, moving or manipulating an object is a move action. This includes drawing or holstering a weapon, retrieving or putting away a stored
object, picking up an object, moving a heavy object, and opening a door.
Mental Grapple
standard action
Characters with the Mind Reading power (see page 93) can grapple an opponent mentally rather than physically, a struggle of mind against mind. Mental Grappling uses the same system as physical grappling, with the following differences:
• A mental grapple requires a successful use of Mind Reading to establish mental contact. Mental grapples do not require physical contact, but do require a standard action each round, as usual. This action is part of the attacker’s maintenance of Mind Reading, so mental grappling is an option even if the attacker’s Mind Reading power has a duration of Concentration. If the attacker stops maintaining Mind Reading at any time, the mental grapple ends.
• Mental grapple checks are d20 + the character’s Will save or mental power rank (whichever is greater). Size and Strength modifiers do not apply.
• You cannot throw an opponent using a mental grapple.
• Damage inflicted by a mental grapple is based on the attacker’s Wisdom bonus rather than Strength bonus. If the attacker has a damaging mental power (like Mental Blast) its damage may substitute for Wisdom bonus.
• Anyone in a mental grapple loses their dodge bonus against all opponents, even the one they are mentally grappling, due to the distraction. Anyone involved in a mental grapple must make a Concentration check (DC 20) to use another power or do anything else without first escaping the mental grapple. A character can take a different standard action by forgoing the mental grapple check for that round, but then automatically loses the opposed mental grapple check for the round.
• The winner of a mental grapple can choose to break off mental contact, even if another character established it. move
Move Action
The simplest move action is moving your speed. Many nonstandard modes of movement are also covered under this category, including climbing and swimming (up to one-quarter the character’s speed), crawling (up to 5 feet), and entering or exiting a vehicle. Various powers grant additional movement abilities, with speed determined by the power’s rank. move all out You can move all out as a full action. When you do so, you move up to four times your speed in a fairly straight line.
You lose your dodge bonus while moving all out, since you can’t easily avoid attacks. However, if you’re using a movement power (see Chapter 5) you gain a +2 bonus to Defense per rank in that power; so a hero with Flight 5 moving all out gets a +10 Defense bonus for his speed (it’s harder to hit a fast-moving target).
You can move all out for a number of rounds equal to your Constitution score. After that you must succeed at a Constitution check (DC 10) to continue moving all out. You must check again each round, and the DC increases by +1 for each check. When you fail a check, you become fatigued and must drop to an accelerated or normal pace (see Fatigue, page 167).
Overrun
Standard Action
You can attempt an overrun as a standard action following a move action or as part of a charge. With an overrun, you plow past, or over, your opponent (and move through his area) as you move. You can only make one overrun attempt per action. First, you must move at least 10 feet in a straight line toward your
target. The target chooses to avoid or block you. If he avoids you, you keep moving, since you can always move through an area occupied by someone who lets you pass. If he blocks you, make a trip attack against him (see Trip, page 159). If you are using a movement power, you gain a +1 bonus per rank on the trip check. If you succeed in tripping your opponent, you can continue your movement as normal.
If you fail and are tripped in return, you fall prone. If you fail but are not tripped, you have to move 5 feet back the way you came, ending your movement there (essentially, you stop directly in front of your opponent). If that space is occupied, you fall prone as well.
Ready
Standard Action
Readying lets you prepare to take an action later, after you would normally act on your initiative, but before your initiative on your next turn. Readying is a standard action, so you can move as well. You can ready a single standard or move action. To do so, specify the action you will take and the circumstances under which you will take it. Then, any time before your next action, you may take the readied action as a reaction to those circumstances. For the rest of the fight, your initiative result is the count on which you took the readied action.
Your initiative result becomes the count on which you took the readied action. If you come to your next action and have not yet performed your readied action, you don’t get to take the readied action (though you can ready the same action again). Refocus full action Refocus is a full action during which you cannot move. You do nothing that round except refocus your attention and appraise the situation. On the following round, you move up in the initiative order and are positioned as though you rolled a 20 on your initiative check. The usual modifiers to Initiative checks apply to your new initiative total.
Rush
Standard Action
You can attempt a rush as a standard action made after a move action, or as part of a charge. (You normally can’t make a standard action during a move action; this is an exception.) When you rush, you attempt to push an opponent straight back instead of damaging them.
First, you move adjacent to your target. You and the target make opposed Strength checks, with each rank in Super-Strength providing a +1 bonus and each rank of your movement power (if you are using one) providing a +1 bonus. If you and the target are different sizes, the larger one gets a +4 bonus per difference in size category. The target gets a +4 bonus for having more than two legs or being otherwise exceptionally stable (see Additional Limbs, page 75) and may also get a bonus from the Immovable power (see page 89).
If you win the opposed Strength check, you push the opponent back. Read the amount by which you won the check as a rank on the Time and Value Progression Table, that’s how many feet you push the target back. So winning the check by 7 pushes your opponent back 100 feet, for example. You can’t, However, exceed your normal movement speed, so any additional distance is ignored.
If you lose, you move 5 feet back the way you came, ending your movement there (essentially, you stop directly in front of your opponent). If that space is occupied, you also fall prone.
Slam
Full Action
A slam is similar to a charge (see page 155), except you attempt to use your momentum to slam directly into the target. Your speed improves your damage, but you may suffer damage from the impact as well.
You make a slam attack like a charge: take a full-round action, you must move at least 10 feet in a relatively straight line. You must stop as soon as you are within striking range of your target (you can’t move past the target and attack from another direction). You can’t move all out for a slam attack.
Make a melee attack against the target. You do not gain the +2 bonus to hit from a charge, but you do suffer the –2 penalty to Defense. Your damage bonus is +2 for a normal move, +4 for an accelerated move. Use this in place of your normal Strength damage. If you use a movement power, add its rank to your damage bonus, provided you move a minimum distance equal to that rank’s speed. So, if you use Flight 5 (speed 250 MPH) to slam, you must move at least 2500 feet or so (a normal move action at that speed) to add it to your damage bonus. Obviously, confined quarters limit the speed you can attain for a slam attack.
You suffer damage equal to half the total damage bonus inflicted on your target (round down). So a slam attack inflicting +13 damage on the target does +6 damage to you. You make a normal Toughness save against this damage, and Impervious Toughness protects against it normally. The Immovable power (see page 89) reduces the damage inflicted by a slam attack and increases the damage suffered by the attacker.
Speak
Free Action
In general, speaking is a free action. Some Gamemasters may limit the amount you can say during your turn, although superheroes and villains can generally say quite a bit in the midst of combat. Issuing orders to followers or minions in combat is a move action.
Stand Up
Move Action
Standing up from a prone position requires a move action.
Startle
Standard Action
With the Startle feat (see page 64), you can make an Intimidate check to startle an opponent as a standard action. By taking a –5 penalty on the check, you can attempt to startle as a move action.
Switch Array
Free Action
You can switch between Alternate Powers in an array, or reallocate points among dynamic Alternate Powers, as a free action once per round (see Alternate Power, page 108, for details on how Alternate Powers work).
Taunt
Standard Action
With the Taunt feat (see page 64), you can make a Bluff check to demoralize an opponent as a standard action. By taking a –5 penalty on the check, you can attempt to taunt as a move action.
Total Defense
Standard Action
Instead of attacking, you can use your standard action to avoid attacks that round. You don’t get to attack or perform any other standard action, but you get a +4 to your dodge bonus for the round.
Trick
Standard Action
You can make a Bluff check (see page 42) to trick an opponent as a standard action. By taking a –5 penalty on the check, you can attempt to trick as a move action.
Trip
Standard Action
You can try to trip an opponent as a melee attack. Make a melee attack roll. If the attack succeeds, make a Strength or Dexterity check opposed by the defender’s Strength, Dexterity, or Acrobatics check (use whichever ability has the higher modifier in each case). A combatant gets a +4 bonus for each size category exceeding Medium or a –4 penalty for each size category smaller than Medium (these size modifiers cancel out for opponents of the same size). The defender gets a +4 stability bonus on the check if he has more than two legs or is otherwise more stable than a normal humanoid and a bonus from the immovable power (see page 89), if he has it. If you win, you trip the defender. If you lose, the defender may react immediately by trying to trip you with no need for an attack roll. If you have the Improved Trip feat (see page 62), the defender doesn’t get an opportunity to trip you. A tripped character is prone, suffering a –4 penalty on melee attack rolls. Prone characters have –4 Defense against attacks from adjacent opponents and +4 Defense against ranged attacks. Standing up from a prone position is a move action. A trip attack may have other effects depending on the situation; for example, tripping an opponent on a narrow ledge or the edge of a cliff may cause the opponent to fall (the GM can allow a DC 15 Reflex save to grab the edge of the precipice at the last moment).
Turn Off a Power
You can deactivate a power as a free action. However, you can’t activate and deactivate the same power in the same turn, the power’s activation lasts until your next turn, when you can then deactivate it, if you choose. You can’t turn off Permanent powers.
Miscellaneous Actions
For actions not covered in any of this material, the GM determines how long the action takes.
• Skills: Most uses of skills in a combat situation are standard actions, but some might be move or full actions. The description of a skill provides the time required to use it. See Chapter 3.
• Feats: Certain feats allow you to take special actions in combat. Other feats are not actions in themselves, but grant a bonus when attempting something you can already do. Some feats aren’t meant to be used within the framework of combat. The individual feat descriptions tell you what you need to know about them. See Chapter 4.
• Powers: The description of a power provides the type of action required to use it. See Chapter 5.
• Recover: You can spend hero points to use a full action to recover from damage in combat (see Hero Points, page 121).
Combat Modifiers
This section covers various maneuvers and situations affecting combat and how it plays out.
Aggressive Stance
You can improve your chances of hitting with an attack by sacrificing your defense. Take up to a –4 penalty on your Defense to gain half that amount (up to +2) on your attack rolls for that round.
Area Attack
Super-attacks sometimes consist of powerful explosions, bursts of energy, or simply throwing really big things at opponents. These area attacks cover a much larger area than a normal attack, so they’re much harder to avoid. See the Area extra, page 111, for more information on creating area attacks. An area attack automatically hits an area the attacker can accurately target, filling the area with its effect. Targets in the area get a Reflex saving throw against a DC of (10 + attack’s rank). If the save is successful, halve the area attack’s rank or bonus (rounding any fractions down) before applying it to the target, who then makes the normal saving throw against the attack. Targets with the Evasion feat (see page 60) suffer no effect if they make their Reflex save. Targets with Evasion 2 suffer only half effect even if they fail the save, and no effect if they succeed. Example: Whitehead hurls a fireball (an Explosive Blast 10) at Rocketeer and a couple RAMPART agents. Rocketeer has a high Reflex save (+14) and the Evasion feat. He makes a Reflex saving throw against DC 20 (10 + the fireball’s rank) and succeeds easily, avoiding any damage (because of his Evasion). The RAMPART agents are not so lucky, their Reflex saves are only +3. One manages to make the save, and makes a Toughness save against DC 20 (15 + half the fireball’s normal damage, or 5). The other fails the Reflex save and takes the full brunt of the blast, making a Toughness save against DC 25 (the fireball’s full effect). If you delay (see page 156) or ready (see page 158) a move action you can try to avoid an area effect entirely. If you move before the attack and have sufficient movement to get out of the area, then you’re safe. You must choose how far you move before the GM tells you the result of the area attack, so be sure you move far enough! You can also spend a hero point to gain the Evasion feat for one round, allowing you to suffer no effect from an area attack if you succeed on your Reflex saving throw (see Victory Points, page 121). Area effects which don’t normally require an attack roll do not allow for a Reflex save, they simply affect all targets in the specified area.
Autofire Attack
An autofire attack is a volley of multiple shots with a single standard action. To use an autofire attack against a single target, make your attack roll normally. The amount by which your attack roll succeeds applies a bonus to the attack’s saving throw DC (see the Autofire extra, page 112, for details). If an Impervious defense (Force Field or Protection, for example) would normally ignore the attack before any increase in the save DC, then the attack has no effect as usual; a volley of multiple shots is no more likely to penetrate an Impervious defense than just one.
Multiple Targets
You can use autofire to attack multiple targets at once as a full action by “walking” the autofire attack from target to target. Choose a line of 5 foot squares no greater in number than your attack bonus. You may make attack rolls to hit targets, one target at a time, starting at one end of the line and continuing to the other end. You suffer a penalty to each of your attack rolls equal to the total number of squares. If you miss one target, you may still attempt to hit the others.
Covering Fire
An autofire attack can provide cover for an ally. Take a full action and choose an ally in your line of sight, who receives a +4 dodge bonus against enemies in your line of sight and in range of your autofire attack. (You have to be able to shoot at them to get them to keep their heads down or this maneuver won’t work.) You cannot lay down covering fire for an ally in melee. Each character after the first who lays down covering fire for the same individual grants an additional +1 dodge bonus. All covering fire attackers receive a free attack if an opponent chooses to ignore the dodge bonus granted to the protected target.
Suppression Fire
An autofire attack can lay down a volley to force opponents to seek cover. Take a full-round action and choose an opponent, who receives a –4 penalty to attack rolls and checks for one round while in your line of sight and in range of your attack. An opponent who chooses not to seek cover ignores the attack modifier from suppression fire but is automatically attacked (a free action for you). You cannot lay down suppression fire on an opponent in melee. Each character after the first who lays down suppression fire for the same target imposes an additional –1 penalty. All suppression fire attackers receive a free attack if the target fails to take cover or otherwise get out of their sight.
Conditions
Generally speaking, any situational modifier created by the attacker’s position or tactics applies to the attack roll, while any situational modifier created by the defender’s position, state, or tactics applies to the defender’s Defense. The GM judges what bonuses and penalties apply, using the Combat Modifiers Table as a guideline.
Cover
Taking cover behind a wall, tree, or other obstacle provides a +4 bonus to Defense. Cover is measured relative to the attacker. For example, hiding behind a low wall provides no cover against an opponent hovering above you, but does provide cover against an opponent on the other side of the wall.
Cover and Reflex saves
Cover grants you a +2 bonus on Reflex saves against attacks originating from a point on the other side of the cover from you.
Cover and Stealth checks
You can use cover to make a Stealth check to avoid being seen. Without cover, you need concealment (see Concealment later in this chapter) to make a Stealth check.
ATTACK MODIFIERS
DEFENSE MODIFIERS
Total Cover
If you cannot draw a line between you and a target without intersecting cover, the target has total cover. You can’t make an attack against a target with total cover without using a Ricochet attack (see page 110) or an Indirect power (see page 109).
VARYING DEGREES OF COVER
In some cases, cover may provide a greater bonus to Defense and Reflex saves. In such situations the normal cover bonuses to Defense and Reflex saves can be doubled (to +8 and +4, respectively). A creature with this improved cover gains a +10 bonus on Stealth checks.
STRIKING COVER
If it ever becomes important to know whether the cover was actually hit by an incoming attack, the GM should determine if the attack roll would have hit the protected target without the cover. If the attack roll falls within a range low enough to miss the target with cover but high enough to hit the target if there had been no cover, the cover is hit. This can be particularly important to know in cases when a character uses another character as cover. In such a case, if the cover is struck and the attack roll exceeds the Defense of the covering character, the covering character takes the damage intended for the target. If the attack roll is lower than the Defense of the covering character, but higher than the Defense of the covered character,
the original target is hit instead. The covering character avoided the attack and didn’t provide cover after all! Covering characters can voluntarily lower defense bonus to ensure they provide cover.
Concealment
Concealment includes circumstances where nothing physically blocks an attack, but something interferes with the attacker’s accuracy. Typically, concealment is provided by things like fog, smoke, shadows, darkness, foliage, and so forth.
• Concealment Miss Chance: Concealment gives the subject of a successful attack a 20% chance (a roll of 17 or higher on d20) the attacker missed because of the concealment. If the attack roll hits, the defender makes a miss chance roll to avoid being struck. Multiple concealment conditions do not stack.
• Concealment and Stealth Checks: You can use concealment to make a Stealth check to avoid being seen. Without concealment, you usually need cover to make a Stealth check.
• Total Concealment: A target you cannot perceive with any of your accurate senses has total concealment from you. You can’t directly attack an opponent with total concealment, though you can attack into the area you think he occupies. A successful attack into an area occupied by a target with total concealment has a 50% miss chance (a d20 roll of 11 or higher).
• Ignoring Concealment: Concealment isn’t always effective. A shadowy area or darkness doesn’t provide concealment against an opponent with darkvision. Smoke provides no concealment against a character with X-ray vision, and so forth. Characters with low-light Vision can see clearly for a greater distance with the same light source than other characters. See Super-Senses, page 103, for more information.
CONCEALMENT
Defensive stance
You improve your defense by sacrificing accuracy. Take a penalty of up to –4 on your attack rolls to gain half that amount (up to +2) as a dodge bonus for that round.
Ganging Up
Typically, up to eight attackers can gang up on an individual target, provided they have room to maneuver. If the defender can fight side by side with allies, back into a corner, fight through a doorway, and so forth, attackers can’t gang up as easily. Picture the eight attackers as evenly spaced out surrounding the
defender. The defender can reduce the opportunity for attackers to gang up based on how much of the area around himself he can block off. Backed against a wall, a character only allows five attackers to get at him. Backed into a corner, only three attackers can get at him at a time. If the defender is standing in a doorway, the opponent in front of him can attack normally and one opponent on either side can attack as well, but the defender benefits from cover (see Cover, page 160). If the defender is fighting in a 5-foot-wide corridor, only one attacker can get at him (unless attackers are coming at him from both directions).
The above rules are for Medium and Small characters. Larger characters present room for more attackers to get at them and combatants with ranged weapons can get at defenders more easily.
Helpless Defenders
A helpless foe—bound, sleeping, unconscious, or otherwise at your mercy—is an easy target. You sometimes can approach a target unawares and treat the opponent as helpless if the GM allows.
REGULAR ATTACK
A helpless character loses any dodge bonus and has a Defense of 5 + size modifier, like an immobile object. Attacks from adjacent opponents gain an additional +4 to hit.
COUP DE GRACE
As a full-round action, you can deliver a coup de grace to a helpless opponent adjacent to you. You automatically hit and score a critical hit. If the defender takes damage but is not knocked out or dying, he must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + damage bonus) or be knocked out (for a nonlethal attack) or dying (for a lethal attack). You can’t deliver a coup de grace against a target immune to critical hits. You can deliver a coup de grace against a target with total concealment, but doing this requires two consecutive full-round actions (one to feel around and accurately perceive the target and another to deliver the coup de grace).
Improvised Weapons
Superheroes and villains often use the most unlikely objects as weapons. Use the following guidelines for improvised weapons:• Weight: The object should be no more than a light load for the wielder to use it as a weapon.
• Damage Bonus: The damage bonus of an improvised weapon is equal to the wielder’s Strength bonus. If the weapon’s Toughness exceeds your Strength, you get a damage bonus equal to the difference, up to +2 (like a club). If you inflict damage with an improvised weapon greater than its Toughness, the impact of the attack breaks it. At the GM’s option, tougher weapons may have their Toughness reduced by 1 for each successful attack, breaking when their Toughness drops below the wielder’s Strength bonus.
• Area Attacks: Large weapons area treated as area attacks based on their size modifier (see the Size table, page 34). If the weapon attack misses by an amount less than or equal to the object’s size modifier, it still hits, but the target can make a Reflex save (DC 10 + damage bonus) to halve the attack’s damage.
• Critical: Most improvised weapons only score a critical hit on a natural 20.
• Damage Descriptor: Usually bludgeoning, although sharp or pointed improvised weapons may inflict lethal slashing or piercing damage at the GM’s discretion.
• Range Increment: See Throwing (page 36) for the distance a character can throw an object. The base range increment is one-fifth the character’s maximum throwing distance. Each additional increment is a –2 penalty on the attack roll.
Minions
Minions are minor characters subject to special rules in combat, and generally easier to defeat than normal characters. The following rules apply to minions:
• Minions cannot score critical hits against non-minions.
• Non-minions can take 10 on attack rolls against minions (attackers normally cannot take 10 on attack rolls).
• If a minion fails a Toughness saving throw, the minion is knocked unconscious (nonlethal damage) or dying (lethal damage). Attackers can choose a lesser effect, if desired.
• The Impossible Toughness Save rule (see at right) does not apply to minions.
• Certain traits (like Takedown Attack) are more effective against minions.
Surprise Attacks
An attack may come from an unexpected quarter, especially when dealing with super-powered opponents. An attack that catches the target off-guard in some way is called a surprise attack. To make a surprise attack, you must catch your target unawares. You can make a surprise attack in the following situations:
• When you have total concealment from your target or the target otherwise hasn’t noticed your presence.
• When you use an interaction skill to throw your target off-balance, such as making a feint using Bluff.
• When your target is stunned.
• When you surprise a target at the beginning of combat.
• When you do something unexpected (in the GM’s judgment).
Characters with the Uncanny Dodge feat (see page 65) cannot be surprise-attacked so long as they are capable of taking free actions (not stunned or helpless).
The target of a surprise attack loses any dodge bonus to Defense against the attack and suffers an additional –2 Defense penalty.
Damage
Combat usually results in damage to one or both parties. The potential damage of an attack is represented by its damage bonus, with the target’s resistance to the damage represented by a Toughness save. A failed Toughness save results in some amount of damage.
Toughness Saving Throws
A target hit with a damaging attack makes a Toughness saving throw. The Difficulty Class of a Toughness save is 15 + the attack’s damage bonus. So an attack with a damage bonus of +8 has a Toughness save DC of 23 (15 + 8).
Toughness save DC = 15 + attack’s damage bonus
The target rolls d20 + Toughness save bonus against the DC. The result of the Toughness save determines what sort of damage the target takes. If the Toughness save succeeds, the target suffers no damage. If the save fails by less than 5, the target is bruised. If it fails by 5 or more, the target is both stunned for one round and bruised. If it fails by 10 or more, the target is staggered and also stunned for one round. If it fails by 15 or more, the target is unconscious. Consult the Toughness Saving Throw Table for results. See Damage Conditions (see page 164) for more on Toughness save results.
Toughness Saving Throw = d20 + Toughness save modifier
TOUGHNESS SAVING THROW
Impossible Toughness Saves
If the DC of a Toughness save is so high the character cannot possibly succeed, even with a 20 on the die roll, the Toughness save is still rolled to determine the effect (the amount the save misses the DC). A natural roll of 20 means the character suffers only the minimal result of failing the save, regardless of the DC. Fate intervenes to spare the character from otherwise certain doom.
Pulling Your Punch
Attackers can choose to use less than their maximum damage bonus with an attack. The attacker chooses how much of the damage bonus applies before making the attack roll and the target saves against that damage rather than the attack’s full damage bonus. Attackers with the Full Power drawback (see page 126) cannot pull punches with that attack or power.
Critical Hits
A critical hit (see Critical Hits, page 152) increases an attack’s damage
bonus by 5. A critical hit against a minion automatically knocks out or
kills the minion, no Toughness save allowed.
Lethal Damage
Most damage in Mutants & Masterminds is assumed to be nonlethal. Attacks can also inflict lethal damage, capable of seriously wounding or even killing an opponent. Any damaging attack can inflict lethal damage. The attacker must declare the intention to inflict lethal damage before the attack roll. Depending on the style of the campaign, declaring a lethal attack may be quite un-heroic (see Style, page 186). Generally speaking, heroes rarely, if ever, make lethal attacks, while villains seldom do so, preferring to defeat heroes and stretch out their final moments with some fiendish trap. Lethal damage is handled the same way as nonlethal damage, except a failed Toughness saving throw applies an additional damage condition: a bruised target is also injured, a staggered target is also disabled, and an unconscious target is also dying.
LETHAL DAMAGE
When a character suffers damage, mark it on the damage track with a slash or check mark (as shown here). Characters can have any number of bruised or injured marks, but suffer only one staggered, unconscious, disabled, or dying condition at a time. If a character suffers an already checked-off condition, move the damage up to the next highest condition, so a staggered character who is staggered again becomes unconscious, and a disabled character who is disabled again becomes dying. See Damage Conditions in the following section for more information.
DAMAGE TRACK
Bruised Staggered Unconscious
o o
o o
Injured Disabled Dying
Example: Nicole is playing Wonder Lady, fighting members of the Evil Corps. She’s hit by a rank 8 Blast, requiring a Toughness saving throw with a DC of (15 + 8) or 23. Wonder Lady's Toughness save is +10 and Nicole rolls a 10 on the die for a 20 total. Since the save doesn’t equal or exceed the DC, Wonder Lady suffers some damage. A 20 doesn’t fail by 5 or more, so she takes a bruised result. Nicole puts a mark under the Bruised column of Lady Liberty’s damage track.
DAMAGE TRACK
Bruised Staggered Unconscious
l
o o
o o
Injured Disabled Dying
She’s struck again by another of the Evil Corps, requiring the same Toughness save. This time, she gets a 23. Normally, that would be a successful save, but because of her bruised condition,Wonder Lady is at –1 on Toughness saves against further damage, so she just misses the save, and takes another bruised result, putting a second mark after the first.
DAMAGE TRACK
Bruised Staggered Unconscious
ll
o o
o o
Injured Disabled Dying
Pressing their advantage, the Evil Corps hit the champion of freedom hard. The next round, they score three hits, requiring three Toughness saves, each at –2 for Wonder Lady’s current bruised conditions. Nicole rolls totals of 26, 25, and 18 after applying the modifiers. The first two saves result in no damage, but the third fails by 5, so Lady Liberty suffers another bruised result. She’s also stunned for one round, until just before the Evil Corps’ action on the following round.
DAMAGE TRACK
Bruised Staggered Unconscious
l l l
o o
o o
Injured Disabled Dying
This is the opportunity her foe Claws has been waiting for and she leaps out of the shadows of a nearby building to strike with her claws. With Wonder Lady denied her dodge bonus due to the stunned condition, she hits easily for +11 lethal damage (DC 26). Nicole rolls another Toughness save for the beleaguered Wonder Lady, at no penalty for the bruised conditions because this is lethal damage. She gets an 18, which fails by 8, giving another bruised result and stunning her again. Wonder Liberty is also injured, since this is a lethal attack, so she marks off an injured condition.
DAMAGE TRACK
Bruised Staggered Unconscious
l l l l
l
o o
o o
Injured Disabled Dying
Wonder Lady now has four bruised conditions and one injured condition. She’s also stunned until just before Claw’s next action. Things are looking bad for the maid of might as her foes close in around her...
Damage Conditions
One or more of the following damage conditions apply to a damaged character.
Bruised
Bruised means the character has been battered and bruised and is in less than top condition. Each bruised condition imposes a –1 penalty on further Toughness saves against nonlethal damage, putting the character closer to being taken out of the fight. If a Toughness save fails by 5 or more, in addition to the normal effects of the condition, the character is stunned for one round: unable to take actions, losing dodge bonus to Defense, and suffering an additional –2 reduction in Defense. This lasts until just before the attacker’s turn in the initiative order on the following round.
Staggered
A staggered character has been badly beaten, barely holding on to consciousness. He can only take a single standard or move action each round (not both).
Unconscious
An unconscious character is knocked out and helpless. Further damage against an unconscious character is considered lethal.
InJured
Injured means the character has suffered some minor injury. Each injured condition imposes a –1 penalty on further Toughness saves against lethal damage.
Disabled
A disabled character is conscious and able to act but terribly injured. If a disabled character performs any strenuous action, the character’s condition becomes dying on the following round. Strenuous actions include moving all out, attacking, or using any ability requiring physical or mental effort (including most powers).
Dying
A dying character is near death. A dying character must make an immediate Fortitude saving throw and an additional save every hour (DC 10 + 1 per previous save). If a save fails, the character dies. If the save succeeds, the character remains dying for another hour. If the save succeeds by 10 or more, or the roll is a natural 20, the character stabilizes; erase the dying condition. The character is now unconscious and disabled (and may recover from both conditions normally).
Another character can stabilize a dying character with a successful use of the Medicine skill (DC 15) or the Healing power (see page 87). The Medicine skill check to stabilize a dying character can be made untrained (as a DC 15 Wisdom check).
Dead
A dead character is, well, dead. Although death is the usually the end, it may not be for superheroes, and it rarely is for supervillains, either. Certain powers, luch as Healing and Regeneration, allow dead characters to come back to life, and Gamemasters may also arrange for the return of a dead character as a plot device.
Recovery
With rest, characters can make Constitution checks (DC 10) to recover from their damage conditions. The frequency of the checks is based on the severity of the condition. The Regeneration power speeds up a character’s recovery checks.
Bruised
Once per minute of rest (10 rounds), characters can make a Constitution check (DC 10). If successful, they erase one bruised condition. If the check fails, the character can make another in one minute, with a +1 bonus for each failed check. All characters recover at least one bruised condition per 10 minutes. Injured characters must recover from all injuries before they recover from being bruised.
Staggered
Once per hour of rest, characters can make a Constitution check (DC 10). If successful, they erase the Staggered damage box. If the check fails, the character can make another in one hour, with a +1 bonus for each failed check. Disabled characters must recover all their disabled boxes before they can recover from being staggered.
Unconscious
Once per minute, characters can make a Constitution check (DC 10). If successful, they erase the Unconscious damage box. If the check fails, the character can make another in one minute, with a +1 bonus for each failed check. Dying characters must first stabilize before they can recover from unconsciousness.
InJured
Once per hour of rest, characters can make a Constitution check (DC 10). If successful, they erase one injured condition. If the check fails, the character can make another in one hour, with a +1 bonus for each failed check. All characters recover at least one injured condition per 10 hours.
Disabled
Once per day of rest, characters can make a Constitution check (DC 10). If successful, they erase the disabled damage box. If the check fails, the character can make another in one day, with a +1 bonus for each failed check.
Example: After an epic battle with the Star Conqueror, the Earth hero Inventor lies dead. Rebels opposed to the Star Conqueror’s tyrannical rule secretly take the body, knowing death is not an end for the eternal inventor. Still, Inventor has suffered quite a bit of damage. He has the following conditions: bruised (3),
injured (3), staggered, disabled, unconscious, and dead. Inventor's Regeneration allows him to recover from death once each day. A day after his defeat, Inventor's player makes a DC 10 Constitution check. He chooses to spend a vicotry point to ensure success (with a minimum roll of 14 for Inventor's: +3 Con bonus and a minimum roll of 11 from the victory point). Now Inventor is unconscious and disabled. He gets a recovery check in one minute to regain consciousness. The first check rolls a total of 8 and fails, but the second check gets a +1 bonus, rolls a total of 16, and succeeds. Inventor awakens in two minutes. He’s still disabled, staggered, and has his injured and bruised conditions. He has to recover from being disabled before he can make recovery checks for the other conditions.
The next day, Inventor's player makes another recovery check. It fails, so Inventor waits and rests another day and the player makes another check with a +1 bonus. It succeeds and he eliminates the disabled condition. An hour later, he gets a check to recover from being staggered and succeeds, eliminating that condition and leaving only the bruised and injured conditions. At this point, Inventor has been out of commission for three days, so his player spends a victory point to recover from all of his bruised and injured conditions at once, and the immortal inventor is ready to face Star Conqueror again, this time with a plan and the assistance of the rebellion.
Knockback
Super-powerful attacks can send opponents flying. A character who is stunned (or worse) by an attack may be knocked back. The distance is based on the power of the attack and the target’s mass and durability. Take the attack’s damage bonus and subtract half the target’s Toughness save bonus (round down). Impervious Toughness save bonus is not halved, subtract the full amount instead. Subtract the rank of the target’s Immovable power, if any (see page 89). Subtract 4 for each size category larger than Medium (a Huge character subtracts 8, for example). Add 1 for each size category smaller than Medium (a Small character adds 1, for example).
Knockback = attack’s damage bonus – one-half Toughness save bonus – modifiers
You can determine most of the modifiers for knockback in advance (adding together the character’s Toughness save, size, and Immovable modifiers) and note a single knockback modifier on the character sheet. Then simply compare the attack’s damage bonus against the knockback modifier to determine if there’s any knockback.If the result is positive, the target is knocked back. Find the knockback result on the value column of the Time and Value Progression Table (see page 70). That’s the distance (in feet) the character is knocked back. A result of less than 5 feet means the character falls prone in roughly the same spot (although a short knockback distance may matter if the character is standing on a ledge, for example). So a knockback result of 8, read on the Time and Value Progression Table, means the character is knocked back 250 feet. The character suffers damage equal to the knockback result or the Toughness of any obstacle (such as a wall), whichever is less. The obstacle suffers damage equal to the knockback result (which may damage or break it). If the character breaks through the obstacle, he keeps going the remainder of the knockback distance. If the obstacle is another character, treat the result as a slam attack (see page 158) doing damage equal to the knockback result to both parties. The character ends up prone and must get back up normally. You can always choose to inflict less than your attack’s maximum knockback (just like you can choose to do less than your attack’s maximum damage). Targets failing a Toughness save by less than 5 suffer no knockback.
Example: Thugo strikes Inventor with an enchanted bronze fist and stuns him. The immortal inventor may suffer some knockback. Thugo's strike has a +13 damage bonus. Inventor has a total knockback modifier of +6: half his Toughness save of +12 (or +6) and no other modifiers for size or immovability. So the knockback result is 7, sending Inventor flying 100 feet into a wall. The wall’s Toughness is 8, so Inventor must resist +7 damage (the knockback result, or the lesser of the two values). He does so easily. He’s stunned and prone and must spend a move action getting back up as Thugo closes in for another attack.
Inventor blasts Thugo with his gravitic force beams and scores a critical hit and a stun result! His force beams do +12 damage, +5 for the critical, or +17 total. Thugo has a +14 Toughness save, however, all Impervious. He’s also Large (a –4 knockback modifier) for a total knockback modifier of –18. Although the mighty blast does some damage to the bronze giant, it doesn’t budge him in the slightest.
Ability Damage
Certain powers and effects cause a temporary lose of ability score points. Powers such as Drain (see page 82) specify how quickly characters recover from this loss, usually 1 point per round, modified by things like Slow Fade (see page 110). Cases where characters lose ability score points due to things like Environmental conditions, illness, or similar effects is called ability damage. Ability damage is temporary; once the condition causing it is removed, the character recovers lost ability score points at a rate of 1 per day. The Healing power can speed this recovery, as can ranks in Regeneration. If an ability score is lowered to 0, it is considered debilitated (see page 31).
Damaging Objects
Nonliving objects are affected by damage somewhat differently than characters. Each object has a Toughness score representing how well it resists damage.
An object’s Toughness works like a character’s Toughness save bonus. To determine how much damage an object takes from an attack, roll a Toughness save as normal.
Objects are only affected by lethal damage. They do not suffer nonlethal damage conditions.
• An “injured” object is damaged and suffers the normal –1 penalty per condition further Toughness saves.
• A “disabled” object is badly damaged. Disabled equipment and devices no longer function, while disabled barriers have holes punched through them, and other disabled objects may be bent, deformed, or otherwise damaged.
• A “dying” object is destroyed. Damaged and disabled objects can be repaired. It’s up to the GM whether or not a destroyed object is repairable; if it is, the difficulty of the Craft check is the same as creating an entirely new item.
Example: Thunderbolt strikes a wall with a bolt of lightning. The wall has Toughness 10 and the Captain’s lightning bolt has a damage bonus of +12. The wall must make a Toughness save (DC 27). The GM rolls an 11 for a total of 21. The wall is damaged, suffering a –1 to saves. The hero's next lightning bolt strikes and the GM rolls an 8, for an adjusted total of 17. That’s 10 less than the DC of 27, so the wall is disabled; the bolt blasts a hole in it. The GM may want to simply have objects effectively “take 10” on Toughness saves to simplify matters, as if the object’s save result was (10 + Toughness). If the attacker’s damage bonus equals the object’s Toughness –4, it’s damaged. If damage equals (object Toughness +5), the object is broken, and if it is (object Toughness +10) or greater, the object is automatically destroyed.
SUBSTANCE TOUGHNESS
Ineffective Attacks
The GM may decide certain attacks just can’t effectively damage certain
objects. For example, it’s very difficult breaking down an iron door with a
knife, or cutting a cable with a club. In these cases the GM may rule an
attack inflicts no damage to the object at all (the object effectively has
Immunity to that form of damage).
Effective Attacks
The GM may likewise rule certain attacks are especially effective against some objects. For example, it’s easy to light a curtain on fire or rip a piece of
cloth. In these cases the GM may increase your damage bonus against the
object or simply say the object is automatically destroyed by a successful
attack (the object effectively has a Vulnerability to that form of damage).
Heavy ObJects
The Toughness scores given on the Substance Toughness Table are for approximately one inch of the material. Heavier objects lower their thresholds on the Toughness Saving Throw Table (see page 70) by 1 per increase in thickness on the Time and Value Progression Table. So one level of increase means the object is “disabled” if it fails the save by 11 or more and destroyed if it fails by 16 or more. So a foot-thick stone wall has Toughness 8, but it must fail a Toughness save by 13 or more to be disabled, 18 or more to be destroyed. This means heavy objects can generally suffer more hits and heavier damage before they’re disabled or destroyed.
Damaging Devices
Devices have a Toughness of 10 + the device’s rank for damage purposes. See Chapter 7 for more information.
Breaking ObJects
If you want to attack an object that you have in-hand or that no one is preventing you from attacking, such as smashing down a door, bending a metal bar, snapping bonds, or cutting through a wall with a Blast power, you can apply force more effectively. This requires a full-round action. Instead of rolling, assume the object’s Toughness save result is equal to (5 + Toughness). Super-Strength adds +1 per rank to your normal Strength bonus for damaging objects in this way (and only in this way). If your damage bonus is equal to the object’s Toughness, you break it, 5 or more than the object’s Toughness, you destroy it automatically.
Fatigue
Characters can suffer from fatigue as well as damage. This usually results from tasks requiring great effort, such as moving all out, exertion in difficult environments, and extra effort (see page 120). The Fatigue power (see page 85) also causes fatigue. There are two fatigued conditions: fatigued and exhausted.
Fatigued
Fatigued characters cannot move all out or charge and suffer a –2 penalty to effective Strength and Dexterity and a –1 penalty on attack and defense. A fatigued character who does something else or suffers an effect that would normally cause fatigue becomes exhausted.
Exhausted
Exhausted characters are near collapse. They move at half normal speed and suffer a –6 penalty to effective Strength and Dexterity and a –3 penalty on attack and defense. An exhausted character suffering another fatigue result falls unconscious (and must recover from it, as well as the fatigue, normally).
Rest and Recovery
Every hour of rest, a fatigued or exhausted character makes a Constitution check (DC 10). Success reduces the character’s fatigue condition by one level (from exhausted to fatigued, from fatigued to normal). A full ten hours of rest allows any character to completely recover from any fatigue.
The Environment
Not all of the hazards heroes face come from supervillains. Sometimes the environment itself can be a danger, particularly when villains try to use it to their advantage. Heroes end up in a lot of dangerous places and deal with less than ideal conditions. This section details some of the hazards heroes may face out in the world.
Light and Darkness
Criminals often lurk in the darkness, and many crimes take place at night. Most cities are lit well enough, but sometimes heroes run into areas where it’s difficult to see. Poorly lit areas provide concealment for those in them (see Concealment, page 161). Characters with Super-Senses such as darkvision can ignore concealment because of poor lighting.
Heat and Cold
Intense heat and cold wear down characters, while prolonged exposure to the elements can be extremely dangerous. Characters in hot or cold conditions must make Fortitude saving throws (DC 10, +1 per previous check) to avoid suffering 1 point of temporary Constitution damage. Those who have suffered
Constitution damage from heat or cold are fatigued. Characters who have lost half or more of their Con score are exhausted, while characters with a Con score of less than 3 are unconscious. Characters with Con 0 are dying. Lost Constitution returns at a rate of 1 point per day. How often the saving throw is called for depends on the conditions. Once an hour for uncomfortable heat or cold (a hot summer day or cold winter day), once per 10 minutes for intense heat or cold (a blazing desert or arctic conditions), once a minute for extreme heat or cold like the edge of a volcano or an arctic winter storm. Saves are made at the end of each period of exposure. Truly intense heat or cold—such as a blast furnace or touching liquid nitrogen—inflicts direct damage like an attack. Heavy clothing imposes a –4 penalty on saves vs. heat, but a +4 bonus on saves vs. cold. Heroes with the Survival skill may gain a bonus to their saves against heat and cold (see page 55). Characters with the appropriate Immunity do not need to make Fortitude saves for extreme temperatures.
Starvation and Thirst
Heroes can go without water for a day. After this, they need to make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10, +1 per previous save) each hour to avoid suffering 1 point of temporary Constitution damage. Heroes can go without food for three days. After this, they must make a Fortitude save (DC 10, +1 per previous save) each day to avoid suffering 1 point of temporary Constitution damage. Those suffering Constitution damage due to starvation and/or thirst are fatigued and cannot recover until they regain all lost Constitution. Characters who have lost half or more of their Con score are exhausted, while those with a Con score of less than 3 are unconscious.
Characters with Con 0 are dying. Lost Constitution returns at a rate of 1point per day. The character cannot recover until he gets water or food. Heroes with Immunity to Starvation can go an unlimited time without food or water.
Suffocation
Characters can hold their breath for one round per point of Constitution—twice that if they can prepare for one round by taking a deep breath (as a full-round action). After that time they must make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10) to continue holding their breath. The save must be repeated each round, with the DC increasing by +1 for each previous success. Failure on the Fortitude save means the character becomes unconscious. On the following round the character is dying. A dying character cannot stabilize until able to breathe again, and loses a point of Constitution per round until dead (at Con 0). Lost Constitution returns at a rate of 1 point per day. If the GM wants an additional amount of realism, the character also suffers a point of permanent Int loss for every 2 points of Con lost, since oxygen starvation causes brain damage.
Falling
Characters may suffer damage from falls of 10 feet or more. Characters with the Acrobatics skill can fall greater distances without risk of damage (see acrobatics, page 40). Falls have a damage bonus of +1 per 10 feet fallen. So the Toughness save against a fall of 50 feet would be DC 20 (15 + 1 per 10 feet fallen). The maximum damage bonus of a fall is +2 (at 200 feet) for a DC of 35. After that point the character reaches terminal velocity and doesn’t fall any faster. Falling into or onto a dangerous surface may cause additional damage, at the GM’s discretion. Catching a falling person or object requires a Dexterity check (DC 5).
Taking 10 on the check ensures success for most characters. If you successfully catch a falling object, subtract your Strength bonus (if any) from the falling damage. Both you and the object suffer any remaining falling damage. So if a character with Strength 22 (a +6 bonus) catches someone falling 120 feet (a +12 damage bonus), subtract 6 from 12, and both characters suffer +6 damage. If the catcher is using a power—such as Flight or Telekinesis—to catch the falling object, the power’s rank can be substituted for Strength bonus at the GM’s discretion.
Poison
A deadly toxin introduced through a scratch, or even in the air, may be able to fell the strongest hero. Poisons generally have one of several effects: Blast, Drain, Fatigue, Nauseate, and Paralyze among them. Some poisons may have multiple linked effects (see Linked, page 112). A poison effect has the Poison modifier (see page 113).
Heroes with Immunity to Poison are completely unaffected by poisons. A Medicine skill check can substitute for a saving throw against poison if the skill check result is higher.
Disease
When heroes come into contact with a disease they must make a Fortitude saving throw against 10 + the disease’s rank to avoid becoming infected. The method of infection depends on the disease: some are airborne while others require physical contact. Diseases generally have one of several effects: Blast, Drain, Fatigue, Nauseate, and Paralyze among them. Some diseases may have multiple linked effects (see Linked, page 112). A disease effect has the Disease modifier (see page 112).
Heroes with Immunity to Disease automatically succeed on saving throws against disease. A Medicine skill check can substitute for a saving throw against disease.
Radiation
Radiation in the comic books often causes mutations or triggers latent powers in those exposed to it rather than simply causing radiation sickness. Exposure
to radiation (especially exotic or alien radiation) may be an opportunity for a complication (see Complications, page 122).
Otherwise the Gamemaster can treat radiation exposure like a disease.
The victim makes an initial Fortitude saving throw against (DC 10 + radiation’s intensity rank) to avoid initial ability score damage and an additional save each day to avoid further damage. At the GM’s discretion, radiation exposure can lead to other effects, such as damage to a hero’s power ranks (causing a temporary decrease in powers).
Gravity
The force gravity exerts on a person determines their ability to perform certain actions. In addition, gravity affects the amount of damage a character takes from falling. Gravity may vary considerably from one environment to the next. For ease of play these rules present four simplified gravity environments:
Normal gravity, Low gravity, High gravity, and Zero gravity (0 G).
The following sections summarize the game effects for each type of environment.
Normal Gravity
“Normal gravity” equates to gravity on Earth. Environments with normal gravity impose no special modifiers on a character’s ability scores, attack rolls, or skill checks. Likewise, normal gravity does not modify a creature’s speed, carrying capacity, or the amount of damage it takes from a fall.
Low-Gravity
In a low-gravity environment, the pull of gravity is significantly less than we experience on Earth. Although an object’s mass doesn’t change, it becomes effectively lighter. This means creatures bounce when they walk. It becomes easier to move and lift heavy objects as well as perform Strength-related tasks. In addition, creatures take less damage from falling.
• Speed: A creature’s speed increases by +5 feet in a low-gravity environment. This bonus applies to all of the creature’s modes of movement.
• Carrying Capacity: A creature’s normal carrying capacity is doEnvironmental Adaptation feat.
• Damage from Falling: Creatures do not fall as quickly in a low-gravity environment as they do in a normal-or high-gravity environment. Falling damage is halved.
• Long-Term Effects: Long-term exposure to low-gravity conditions can cause serious problems when returning to normal gravity. A creature that spends 120 hours or more in a low-gravity environment takes 2 points of temporary Strength damage upon returning to normal gravity, which recovers at a rate of 1 point per day.
High-Gravity
In a high-gravity environment, the pull of gravity is significantly greater than we experience on Earth. Although an object’s mass doesn’t change, it becomes effectively heavier. It becomes harder to move and carry heavy objects as well as perform Strength-related tasks. In addition, creatures take more damage from falling. Even the simple task of walking or lifting one’s arms feels more laborious.
• Speed: A creature’s speed decreases by –5 feet (to a minimum of 0 feet) in a high-gravity environment. This penalty applies to all of the creature’s modes of movement.
• Carrying Capacity: A creature’s normal carrying capacity is halved in a high-gravity environment.
• Movement: Creatures in a high-gravity environment take a –10 penalty on Climb skill checks and suffer a –10 penalty to Strength for jumping.
• Attack Roll Penalty: Creatures take a –2 penalty on attack rolls in a high-gravity environment unless they are native to that environment or have the Environmental Adaptation feat.
• Damage from Falling: Creatures fall more quickly in a high-gravity environment than they do in a normal- or low-gravity environment. Falling damage is increased 50% in a high-gravity environment.
• Long-Term Effects: Long-term exposure to high-gravity conditions can cause serious problems when returning to normal gravity. A creature that spends 120 hours or more in a heavy-gravity environment takes 2 points of temporary Dexterity damage upon returning to normal gravity, which recovers at a rate of 1 point per day.
Zero Gravity
Creatures in a zero gravity environment can move enormously heavy objects. As movement in zero gravity requires only the ability to grab onto or push away from larger objects, climbing and jumping no longer apply. Most creatures find zero gravity environments disorienting, taking penalties on their attack rolls and suffering the effects of Space Adaptation Syndrome (space sickness). In addition, creatures in zero gravity are easier to rush than in other gravity environments.
WEIGHT VS MASS
Weight vs. Mass
While an object in zero gravity loses weight, it does not lose mass
or momentum. Thus, while a character could push a 10-ton piece of
equipment around in space, albeit slowly, getting it to stop is a bit more difficult. If a character were to come between that piece of equipment and a solid object, that character would be crushed as if he were in full gravity—just more slowly.
For simplicity, assume Strength used to lift or move an object in zero
gravity gains a bonus to carrying capacity. However, stopping an object already in motion does not receive this same bonus (use the character’s normal carrying capacity).
• Space Adaptation Syndrome: A creature exposed to weightlessness must make a Fortitude save (DC 15) to avoid the effects of space sickness. Those who fail the save are shaken, and those who fail the save by 5 or more are also nauseated. The effects persist for 8 hours. A new save is required every 8 hours the creature remains in a zero-g environment. Creatures with the Environmental Adaptation feat do not suffer the effects of space sickness.
• Speed: While in a zero-gravity environment, a creature gains a “flying” speed equal to its base land speed, or it retains its normal flying speed (whichever is greater). However, this “flying” movement is limited to straight lines only; a creature can change course only by pushing away from larger objects.
• Carrying Capacity: A creature’s normal carrying capacity increases by 10 times in a zero gravity environment.
• Attack Roll Penalty: Creatures take a –4 penalty on attack rolls and skill checks while operating in a zero-gravity environment unless they are native to that environment or have the Environmental Adaptation feat.
• Modified Rush Rules: A creature affected by a rush attack is pushed back 10 feet, plus 10 feet for every 5 points by which its opponent’s Strength check result exceeds its own.
• Long-Term Effects: Long-term exposure to zero gravity conditions can cause serious problems when returning to normal gravity. A creature that spends 120 hours or more in a zero gravity environment takes 4 points of temporary Strength damage upon returning to normal gravity, which recovers at a rate of 1 point per day.
Atmospheric Conditions
As with variants in gravity, a change in atmospheric conditions can cause problems for characters. Unfortunately, not every planet has the same atmospheric density or chemical composition as Earth, meaning worlds otherwise hospitable to human life may not be ideal for humans born and raised on Earth. Various atmospheric conditions (and their effects) are presented here.
Corrosive Atmosphere
Some atmospheres (breathable or not) contain corrosive chemicals and gases. Corrosive atmospheres slowly eat away at foreign equipment and can cause significant equipment failure. The corrosion can be particularly troublesome in atmospheres that demand special survival gear, as any breach in a protective environmental suit renders it useless. Unprotected equipment exposed to a corrosive atmosphere loses 1 point of Toughness per hour of exposure. Creatures not wearing protective gear in a corrosive atmosphere suffer +1 lethal damage with the Poison modifier (see page 113) per round of exposure.
Thin Atmosphere
Planets with thin atmospheres have less oxygen than the standard Earth atmosphere. Many thin atmospheres are the equivalent of being at a high elevation on Earth, such as on top of a mountain or in the upper atmosphere. When dealing with thin atmosphere conditions, the character must make a Fortitude save to see if he suffers any ill effects. Being under such conditions can be disorienting and can cause a character to become sluggish, slowly whittling the character down as the brain is deprived of normal levels of oxygen.
Thick Atmosphere
Thick atmospheres are those containing a more dense concentration of certain elements, like nitrogen, oxygen, or even carbon dioxide, than the standard Earth atmosphere. These dense atmospheres sometimes contain a different balance of elements, while others simply contain a higher number of gas particles in each breath. Regardless of the form, a thick atmosphere can be just as dangerous as a thin atmosphere over a long period of time. Though atmospheres that are lightly thicker than normal do not have as significant an effect as slightly thinner atmospheres, remaining in a thicker atmosphere causes the same drain on the body.
Toxic Atmosphere
Some atmospheres (breathable or not) contain toxic gases that are debilitating or lethal to some or all forms of life. The atmosphere is treated as always containing a type of inhaled poison (see Poison, page 168). vacuum The primary hazards of the vacuum of space are lack of air and exposure to unfiltered ionizing radiation. On the third round of exposure to vacuum, a creature must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 20) each round or suffer from aeroembolism (“the bends”). A failed save means excruciating pain as small air bubbles form in the creature’s bloodstream; the creature is considered stunned and remains so until returned to normal atmospheric pressure. A failure by 5 or more also causes unconsciousness.
Vacuum
The real danger of vacuum comes from suffocation, though holding one’s breath in vacuum damages the lungs. A character who attempts to hold his breath must make a Constitution check (DC 15) every round; the DC increases by 1 each round, and on a successful check the character takes 1 point of Constitution damage (from the pressure on the linings of his lungs). If the check fails, or when the character simply stops holding his breath, he begins to suffocate. In the next round, he becomes disabled and unconscious. The following round, he’s dying. On the third round, he dies.
Unfiltered radiation bombards any character trapped in the vacuum of space without protective gear. A creature exposed to this ionizing radiation suffers from the effects of radiation exposure (see Radiation, page 168).
Condition Summary
This section describes the different adverse conditions that can affect characters. If multiple conditions apply to a character, apply all of their effects. If effects conflict, apply the most severe.
• Ability Damaged: The character has temporarily lost 1 or more ability score points. Lost ability score points return at a rate of 1 per day, or according to the effect which lowered the score (usually 1 per round for trait effect powers like Dain).
• Blinded: The character cannot see at all, and thus everything has total visual concealment from him. He has a 50% chance to miss in combat, loses his dodge bonus to Defense, and suffers an additional –2 modifier to Defense. He moves at half speed and suffers a –4 penalty on most Strength and Dexterity-based skill checks. He cannot make Notice (spot) skill checks or perform any other activity (such as reading) requiring vision.
• Bruised: The character has suffered some minor damage. Each bruised condition imposes a –1 penalty on Toughness saves to resist further nonlethal damage.
• Dazed: A dazed character can take no actions, but retains dodge bonus to Defense.
• Dead: The character is dead. A dead body generally decays, but effects allowing a character to come back from death restore the body to full health or to its condition immediately prior to death. Either way, characters who have come back from the dead needn’t worry about rigor mortis, decomposition, and other similar sorts of unpleasantness.
• Deafened: A deafened character cannot hear and suffers a –4 penalty to initiative checks. He cannot make Notice (listen) checks.
• Debilitated: The character has one or more ability scores lowered to 0. A character with Strength 0 falls prone and is helpless. A character with Dexterity 0 is paralyzed. A character with Constitution 0 is dying. A character with Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma 0 is unconscious.
• Disabled: A disabled character is conscious and able to act but badly injured. He can take only a single attack or move action each round, and if he performs any strenuous action, his condition changes to dying after the completing the action. Strenuous actions include moving all out, attacking, or using any ability requiring physical exertion or mental concentration (including any power requiring a standard action).
• Dying: A dying character is unconscious and near death. Upon gaining this condition the character must immediately make a Fortitude save (DC 10). If the save fails, the character dies. Dying characters make this save each hour thereafter, with a cumulative +1 to the DC for every hour they remain dying. If the save succeeds by 10 or more or the roll is a natural 20, the character automatically stabilizes and becomes unconscious and disabled (and may recover from both conditions normally). Another character can stabilize a dying character with a successful Medicine check (DC 15) or through the use of a power like Healing (see page 87).
• Entangled: An entangled character suffers a –2 penalty to attack rolls, a –2 penalty to Defense, and a –4 penalty to effective Dexterity. If the bonds are anchored to an immobile object, the entangled character cannot move. Otherwise, he can move at half speed, but can’t move all out or charge. An already entangled character who is entangled again becomes helpless.
• Exhausted: Exhausted characters are near collapse. They move at half normal speed and suffer a –6 penalty to effective Strength and Dexterity and a -3 penalty on attack and defense. An exhausted character suffering another fatigue result falls unconscious (and must recover from it normally).
• Fascinated: Entranced by an effect. A fascinated character stands or sits, taking no actions other than to pay attention to the fascinating effect, for as long as the effect lasts. The character takes a –4 penalty on checks made as reactions, such as Notice checks. Any potential threat allows the fascinated character a
new saving throw or resistance check to overcome the fascination. Any obvious threat, such as someone drawing a weapon, using an offensive power, or aiming an attack at the fascinated character, automatically breaks the fascination. An ally can shake a fascinated character free of the effect with an aid action.
• Fatigued: Fatigued characters cannot move all out or charge and suffer a –2 penalty to effective Strength and Dexterity and a –1 penalty on attack and defense. A fatigued character who does something else that would normally cause fatigue becomes exhausted.
• Flat-Footed: A character who has not yet acted during a combat is flatfooted, not yet reacting to the situation. A flat-footed character loses his dodge bonus to Defense.
• Frightened: A frightened character tries to flee from the source of the fear as quickly as possible. If unable to flee, the character is shaken.
• Grappled: Engaged in wrestling or some other form of hand-to-hand struggle with one or more attackers. A grappled character cannot move or take any
action more complicated than making a barehanded attack, using a small weapon or a power, or attempting to break free from the grapple. In addition, grappled characters lose any dodge bonus against opponents they aren’t grappling.
• Helpless: Sleeping, bound, paralyzed or unconscious characters are helpless, unable to defense themselves. Enemies can make advantageous attacks against helpless characters, or even deliver a coup de grace. An attack against a helpless character is handled like an attack on an immobile object: the target has a Defense of 5 + size modifier and adjacent attacks get a +4 bonus to hit.
• Incorporeal: Having no physical body. Incorporeal characters are immune to attacks from corporeal sources. They can be harmed only by other incorporeal beings or attacks with the Affects Incorporeal modifier (see page 111). Mental and sensory effects work normally on incorporeal beings.
• Injured: The character has suffered minor damage. Each injured condition imposes a –1 penalty on Toughness saves to resist further lethal damage.
• Invisible: Virtually undetectable. Invisible characters gain a +2 bonus to hit defenders unaware of them, and such defenders lose their dodge bonus to Defense. Attacks against invisible characters have a 50% miss chance.
• Nauseated: Nauseated characters can only take a single move action each round, meaning they are unable to attack (or take other standard actions) or move all out (or take other full-round actions).
• Normal: The character is unharmed and unaffected by other conditions, acting normally.
• Panicked: A panicked character flees as fast as possible or cowers, dazed, if unable to get away. A panicked character defends normally but cannot attack.
• Paralyzed: A paralyzed character stands rigid and helpless, unable to move or act physically. He has effective Strength and Dexterity scores of 0 but may take purely mental actions (including using powers that do not require a physical action or attack roll).
• Pinned: Held immobile (but not helpless) in a grapple. Pinned characters lose their dodge bonus and suffer a –4 penalty to Defense.
• Prone: The character is lying on the ground. He suffers a –4 penalty on melee attack rolls. Opponents receive a +4 bonus on melee attacks against him but a –4 penalty on ranged attacks. Standing up is a move action.
• Shaken: A shaken character has a –2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, and checks.
• Sickened: A sickened character has a –2 penalty on attack rolls and checks.
• Slowed: A slowed character can only take a standard or move action each round (not both). The character takes a –1 penalty on attack rolls, Defense, and Reflex saves. A slowed character moves at half normal speed.
• Stable: A stable character is no longer dying, but is still unconscious and disabled and must recover from those conditions normally.
• Staggered: A staggered character can take a single move or standard action each round, not both. A staggered character who is staggered again is rendered unconscious.
• Stunned: The character loses any dodge bonus to Defense, takes a –2 modifier to Defense, and cannot take actions other than reactions.
• Unconscious: Knocked out and helpless.