Combat

Combat in the Marvel system

Steps

Step 1: Determining Actions

This step should be relatively fast. Each player determines what they want their character's actions to be for the round. The Producer determines the what they want the NPCs' actions for the round to be. The players inform the Producer of their character's proposed actions after the Producer is done determining those of the NPCs.

Step 2: Rolling for Initiative

Initiative should not be a new concept to any of you, but there are some slight differences in the Marvel system from how other games (such as the D20 system) deal with it. Initiative is rolled any time the actions of one or more characters might intefere with the actions of at least one other character. Most often this occurs during combat, but there are other, non-combat situations where the order in which actions take place might matter.

Typically (at least, the way play usually goes with PCs) this means that each character involved in the situation rolls for their own initiative, as their actions are rarely in concert. However, if two or more character's actions are part of a singular, unified effort, the initiative is rolled once for that group rather than for each character.

Initiative is rolled at the beginning of each round. A round takes 0.1 minutes (6 seconds) for all actions of all parties to complete, regardless of how many characters are involved in the process (there can be a hypothetically infinite amount of turns in a round, but they still all happen in the same 6 seconds of time).

A roll for initiative is done with the same d% as normal FEAT checks, reading the result of the tens and ones digit. When a character is rolling for initiative, they add their Intuition Rank Number to their roll to determine their actual initiative score. When a group of characters is rolling for their collective initiative, the character whose Intuition Rank Number is highest adds their number to the initative roll.

Step 3: Order of Execution

Actions execute from highest initiative to lowest initiative. A roll of natural 01 for initiative always goes last, and a roll of natural 100 for initiative always goes first. In case of ties, higher Intuition wins.

When a character's action comes up, they have the option to hold it. If a character holds their action, they have an option to interrupt any character coming after them in the initative order. This can only be done before that character's action takes place (it cannot be done in the middle of their action). Thus, if a character wishes to do something after another character's action has taken place, they must interrupt the next character in the initative order.

Step 4: Resolution

Each action is resolved after it comes up in the Order of Execution. Go to Step 3 until all turns for the round are done.



The Nitty Gritty

Attack actions are determined prior to initative being rolled for a given round. Attack action types are described, in brief, below, with a list of what attribute they use for resolution and their White, Green, Yellow, and Red results.


Blunt Attacks (Fighting): Anything blunt and close range. Miss, Hit, Slam, and Stun.

Edged Attacks (Fighting): Anything sharp or pointed and close range. Miss, Hit, Stun, and Kill.

Shooting (Agility): Firing a projectile of some kind (arrow, bullet, missile). Miss, Hit, Bullseye, Kill.

Throwing Blunt (Agility): Throwing something blunt (rock, shotput). Miss, Hit, Bullseye, Stun.

Throwing Edged (Agility): Throwing something sharp or pointed (sharp rock, knife, shuriken). Miss, Hit, Bullseye, Kill.

Energy (Agility): Ranged attacks where it is the "energy" that hurts rather than the "force" (flamethrower, lightning, hadoken). Miss, Hit, Bullseye, Kill.

Force (Agility): Ranged attacks where it is the "force" that hurts rather than the "energy" (telekinetic bolts, Cyclops' only power, etc). Miss, Hit, Bullseye, Stun.

Grappling (Strength): Grabbing another entity and muscling them around. Miss, Miss, Partial, Hold.

Grabbing (Strength): Grabbing something currently possessed by another entity. Miss, Take, Grab, Break.

Charging (Endurance): Using one's entire body as a ramming weapon (shoulder tackle, most suicide kicks, etc). Damage increases as more distance is covered by the charge. Miss, Hit, Slam, Stun.

Escaping (Strength): Trying to get out of a previously successfull Grapple engaged by another party. Miss, Miss, Escape, Reverse.

** Brief descriptions of the result types **

Miss - Miss

Hit - Hit

Slam - Forces target to roll for possible Slam (can push the target back)

Stun - Forces target to roll for possible Stun (can stun target)

Kill - Forces target to roll for possible Kill (could kill target)

Bullseye - If aiming for specific target, hit it.

Partial - Grabbed something that will limit target's actions (target is -2 CS to normal actions, may not move if attacker's strength >= theirs)

Hold - Fully restrain target from action, and may damage target.

Take - Take the item in question if attacker's strength > opposing character's strength. Material strength is used for things that are fixed (lamp posts)

Escape - Escape successfully.

Reverse - Escape succesfully and can either immediately attempt to grapple the previous aggressor or take any other action at -2 CS penalty.


** Defenses are divided into three categories: Preemptory, reactionary, and compulsory. **


Preemptory Defense actions are determined prior to initative being rolled for a given round. Preemptory Defense action types are described, in brief, below, with a list of what attribute they use for resolution and their White, Green, Yellow, and Red results.

Note: Taking a Preemptory Defense action takes a considerable amount of the character's attention. As such, a -2 CS penalty is applied to all the character's rolls for the round.

Dodging (Agility): Makes the character harder to hit with ranged attacks. Degree of success determines what penalty is applied to all ranged attacks attempted on the character that they are aware of, where White = None, Green = -2 CS, Yellow = -4 CS, and Red = -6 CS.


Reactionary Defense actions are determined when the character becomes the target of an attack. They are resolved prior to the appropriate attack roll being made. Reactionary Defense action types are described, in brief, below, with a list of what attribute they use for resolution and their White, Green, Yellow, and Red results.

Evading (Fighting): Attempting to avoid close combat attacks. No Evasion, Evasion, Opening, Advantage.

Blocking (Strength): Meeting force with force, using the character's own strength to defend themselves. Block can be used against Grappling, Blunt Attacks, Edged and Blunt Throwing attacks, and Force attacks. The result indicates how much of the character's Strength (in column shifts from their rank) can be used as what amounts to impromptu Body Armor against the attack, where White = -6 CS, Green = -4 CS, Yellow = -2 CS, and Red = +1 CS.

Catching (Agility): Attempting to catch something. Certain objects (like bullets in flight) have Agility prerequisites that must be met prior to attempting a Catch, while others (such as flames from a flamethrower) cannot be caught at all. Autohit, Miss, Damage, Catch.

** Brief descriptions of the result types **

No Evasion - Evasion is not successful. If they hit, they hit.

Evasion - Successfully avoid the attack.

Opening - Successfully avoid the attack, and get a +1 CS to close combat attack actions on the attacker next round.

Advantage - Successfully avoid the attack, and get a +1 CS to close combat attack actions on the attacker next round.

Autohit - Botch the catch attempt and get hurt instead, even if the attack normally would have missed.

Miss - Botch the catch attempt, attack is now at +1 CS to hit.

Damage - Catch it somewhat clumsily and may damage it.

Catch - Perfect catch.


Compulsory Defensive actions are similar to saves from D&D. These are rolled when something bad is going to happen to the character (possibly). Compulsory Defense action types are described, in brief, below, with a list of what attribute they use for resolution and their White, Green, Yellow, and Red results.

Slam (Endurance) - Rolled in response to a Slam attack result on the character. Grand Slam, 1 Area, Stagger, No

Stun (Endurance) - Rolled in response to a Stun attack result on the character. 1-10, 1, No, No

Kill (Endurance) - Rolled in response to a Kill attack result on the character or when the character hits 0 Health or lower. Endurance Loss, E/S, No, No

** Brief descriptions of the result types **

Grand Slam - Character is knocked back a number of Areas based off of the attacking character's strength.

1 Area - Character is knocked back 1 Area.

Stagger - Character is knocked back a step or two.

No - The bad thing, whatever it is, does not happen to the character.

1-10 - A ten sided die is rolled to determine how many rounds the character is stunned for.

1 - The character is stunned for a single round.

Endurance Loss - The character's Endurance drops one rank temporarily. They must make another Kill check next round.

E/S - The character only suffers Endurance Loss if the attack causing the Kill result to be rolled was Energy or Slashing/Piercing (lethal-type damage). In the case of 0 Health, if any attack that helped bring the character to 0 Health was Energy or Slashing/Piercing (lethal-type damage), the character suffers Endurance Loss with this result.


Characters may perform the following, normally, in a given turn:
1 Attack action
1 Preemptory Defense action
1 Reactionary Defense action
As many Compulsory Defense actions as they need to

Combat actions can also be taken outside of combat when they are relevant (such as trying to catch a falling comrade or attempting to knock a guard unconscious with bare hands).



Advanced Combat Rules

Not nearly all of them, but the ones typically requested by players.


Multiple Actions: Once a character has an impressive enough Fighting score, they can attempt multiple actions in the same round. Attempting 2 actions in a round requires making a Remarkable Intensity Fighting FEAT prior to declaring actions and attempting 3 actions in a round requires making an Amazing Intensity Fighting FEAT prior to declaring actions. If the character is successful, they make all actions for the round at -1 CS, but get an extra Attack and Reactionary Defense action for each action beyond the first. If the character fails, they are -3 CS to all actions for the round.


Changing an Action: Sometimes the action that sounded like a great idea at the beginning of the round suddenly seems like a bad idea (or, in some cases, unnecessary or invalid). When that happens, the character can reflexively change their action to anything else by making a yellow Agility FEAT. All actions attempted by the character in that round after the Agility FEAT is made are at -1 CS.


Fastball Special (you would not believe how often this is requested): Yes, you can do the gorram Fastball Special. This is treated like a special form of charging attack where one character throws another character at a target. The throwing character must be able to lift and throw the thrown character (duh). The attack uses either the thrower's Agility of the thrown's Fighting (players' choice) to hit. Damage is done by the thrown character as their player chooses, either by Endurance as per a normal charging attack or by a normal close combat attack (punching, hitting with a sword, etc). Finally, the Fastball Special gets damage bonuses not only for the amount of ground covered like a normal charging attack, but also for the speed of the thrown character.

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