Specialized Combat Maneuvers

A Note About Techniques

Most techniques are simply ways to buy off negative penalties. Some, however, can be learned to higher levels than their base skill (Feint and Disarm are two in this category). They are also relatively cheap; they cost 1 or 2 points to get in the first place, then a single point for every further level, unlike the base skills, which have the usual 1, 2, 4, 4, 4… cost progression. A technique can also be used at its default level, and most people may have only a couple of techniques that they have trained higher than default. It is also not cost effective to raise up a technique until the base skill has 4 points in it. And it is often better to spend the 4 points on the base skill, rather than raise up several techniques.

Thrusting

Historically, thrusting has always been better at penetrating armor, despite not having a lever arm. To simulate this, reduce the effective DR of armor by 2 if using a thrusting attack with a two handed pointed weapon. This effectively gives thrusting points a bit of Penetration (or Armor Piercing).

Close Combat

In close combat (that is, two opponents in the same hex), a weapon without a “C” in its Reach statistic gives a skill penalty based on its Reach: -4 for Reach 1, -8 for Reach 2, or -12 for Reach 3. In addition, swing damage is at -1 per yard of Reach: a broadsword does -1 damage, a great sword -2, and a full sized halberd -3. These penalties using the weapons longest reach, not the reach at which it’s currently readied.

Rapid Attack (B370)

This is where you execute an attack swiftly enough that you get an extra strike. You must take the Attack or All Out Attack maneuver, and must have a ready weapon. Make two attacks at -6 each. House rule: if using a knife/dagger and doing an impression of an enraged sewing machine, the two attacks hit the same bodily location, and are only at -4 each.

Extra Attack (B53-54)

The advantage Extra Attack costs 25 pts under most circumstances, and usually means that you can attack with both arms at the same time. But it can also simulate quick attacks using the same weapon, much like Rapid Attack. One extra attack can be bought. However, “Only using a knife (thrusting) in close combat, and only on the same target” limitations are worth -70%, reducing the cost to 8pts. This is another way of getting to the “enraged sewing machine” concept (and actually better than Rapid Attack, although both can be used, giving 3 strikes in a round). This is another potentially useful tactic for Eykit, given that his weapons are light, he’s small, and quick. Where he lacks in hard hitting-ness, he could make up in sheer numbers of stab wounds. Get into close combat, reduce the enemy’s combat effectiveness with their big weapon, and then go to town and punch holes in him. Grapple with the left hand, and pull him into the dagger—repeatedly. You see this kind of thing with shivs a lot: a series of quick stabs in the gut or chest.

Bleeding (B420)

If you are injured, you may continue to lose HP to bleeding. At the end of every minute after being wounded, make a HT roll at -1 per 5HP lost. On a failure, you bleed for a loss of 1 HP. On a critical failure, you bleed for 3HP (squirt, squirt). On a critical success, the bleeding stops completely. On an ordinary success, you don’t bleed this minute, but must continue to make HT rolls every minute; if you don’t bleed for 3 consecutive minutes, the bleeding stops. Otherwise, someone will have to make a First Aid roll to stop the bleeding.

Blunt Trauma and Edged Weapons (LT102)

It’s nearly impossible to “chop through” metal armors. Blunt trauma, however, still “penetrates” the armor, damaging the foe. Roll damage and determine if the blow can put at least 1 point of damage past twice the armor’s DR. If it can’t, then treat the cutting attack as merely crushing. If the blow can penetrate twice the armor’s DR, then use the rules for cutting attacks as written, and assume the armor is cut as well as the foe. Example: Bobimus is fighting Taid, who is wearing 4 DR mail armor on top of his heavy 3 DR gambeson (we’ll ignore the enchantments for now). Bobimus does 8 damage with his axe. It fails to penetrate, so Taid takes 8-4 damage (crushing, 4), which then is applied to his gambeson, which absorbs 3 of that, and causing 1 HP of actual damage. If Bobimus had rolled 9 damage, 1 point would have penetrated, and Taid would have taken 9-4 cutting damage (or 5), which is then applied to the gambeson which absorbs 3 of it, leaving 2, multiplied by 1.5, for 3 HP.

Brawling

If you have Brawling at DX+2 or higher, you get a bonus of +1 damage per die (which for most is just +1). Using a blackjack or sap gives a further +1 damage. Brawling allows for 2 parries per turn, one for each hand. Against weapons, however, the parries are at -3.

Wrestling

This is the skill of grappling and pinning. If you know Wrestling at DX+1, add +1 to ST for the purpose of making or resisting any choke, grapple, neck snap, takedown, or pin, and whenever you want to break free. Add +2 to ST if you have Wrestling at DX+2 or better.

Effects of Wounding

There are three basic effects due to being wounded. The first is shock. When someone takes damage, they are at a -1 per HP lost (up to a max of -4) to DX, IQ, and skills for the next turn. The second is major wounds. Any single injury that does HT/2 damage is a major wound. For a torso hit, make a HT roll. Failure means you are stunned, and knocked down; failure by 5+ means you pass out. The third is Stunning. When stunned, you are at -4 to defenses, cannot retreat, and must Do Nothing on your next turn. At the end of your turn, make a HT roll to recover. If you fail, you are still stunned.
Limbs can be crippled. Arms and legs that take more than HP/2 damage from a single attack are crippled (for someone with HT 10 that is 6 HP). Any damage over that to the limb is ignored. If the hit that crippled the limb did at least 2x the amount of damage necessary to cripple it, the limb is cut off, mangled, or otherwise destroyed. A crippling injury is also a Major Wound (so shock, stunning, passing out, etc).
At the end of the fight, make a HT roll for each crippled limb. Success means it’s temporary, failure means it’s lasting, and critical failure means it’s permanent. Dismemberment is automatically permanent. Temporary crippling injuries last until you are fully healed. Lasting crippling injuries take 1d months to heal (broken bones, torn cartilage, soft tissue trauma, etc. Permanent is, well, permanent.
When you reach 0 HP, a consciousness roll is required. Roll vs. HT; success means you are still conscious. Failure means you pass out. This roll is at -1 for every full -HP you are at.
When you reach -HP, (and very multiple afterward, up to -5xHP, where you just up and die) a death roll is required. Roll vs HT. Success means you are still alive; roll a death roll for each multiple of -HP. If you only fail the roll by 1 or 2, you don’t die immediately, but you have a mortal wound. You are incapacitated, and must make a HT roll every half hour to avoid death. On a failure, you die. On a critical success, you miraculously pull through. Major medical intervention is required to stabilize a mortal wound. Just fixing the HP via a healing potion or spell isn’t enough; the trauma has to be repaired. This might require surgery, or a Restoration spell.

Techniques

Acrobatic Stand (MA65, MA98) This represents your ability to get back on your feet in a hurry. A successful roll lets you go from lying down to standing as a single Change Posture maneuver; on a critical success you do it as a “step”. It allows you to go from a sitting or crawling posture to standing as a “step”. You can also do an “All Out Stand Up” maneuver, giving a +4 to the skill, but at the penalty of no active defenses.
Attack from Above (MA67) Quick Contest of your Stealth vs. your victim’s Vision (at -2). If they don’t see you, they are surprised, and get no active defense against your attack. When you drop onto your opponent, you are at -2 to attack (this can be bought off using the Attack From Above technique). Regardless of the results of your attack, you will take falling damage if you drop from more than 2 yards. An Acrobatics roll can reduce this by up to 5 yards. You can land on your target if you wish; the victim is a soft thing to land on, unless they have DR 3+ (rigid armor).
Falling Falling is simply a collision with the ground. See pgs 430-431 for Collisions and Falling. In summary, the damage is (HP x Velocity)/100. If striking a hard target, double the HP value. In reference to Attacking From Above, a 3 yard fall generates a velocity of 8; 4 yds 9, 5 yds 10. A 15’ drop should be sufficient for most situations; if not, consult the table. Acrobatics can reduce 5 yards off of a fall.

Counterattack (MA70) This is the ability to attack immediately after defending, taking advantage of a hole in your opponent’s defenses. You do not have to use the parrying or blocking weapon; you can block with a shield, and while the opponent’s weapon is out of line you can attack with your sword. Roll against Counterattack to hit, and your foe is at -2 to parry, or at -1 to block or dodge.
Disarming (MA70) See Striking At Weapons (p400). You are at -5 to attack a Reach C weapon (knife -4 to hit a melee weapon of Reach 1 (sword, axe, mace -3 to hit a larger melee weapon (spear, halberd). Attempting to Disarm is at a further -2. If you hit and the foe fails to defend, roll a Quick Contest of your Disarm skill vs their Weapon skill. If you win, his weapon flies off a yard in a random direction (although if you win by a large margin you could have some control over the basic direction). If the foe wins, he retains the weapon, although unless he made it by 3 or more his weapon is unready. If you crit fail, you disarm yourself, and your foe gets to laugh at you. Note: this might be useful for Eykit. Disarming can get as high at Skill+5, and it will be cheaper than raising the base skill level. The important thing for Eykit is that it’s showy, and if he uses his speechifying skills he might be able to convince foes he’s a lot better than he actually is, just by disarming them “with ease”. It might sidestep combat in some situations (that is, the foe might need to make a Fright Check, and might bolt when he is disarmed so easily).
Ear Clap (MA70) Smacking your opponent’s ears can cause deafness and stunning. Basically, you smack his ear(s), he makes a HT roll vs your Ear Clap skill. If he fails, he is Deaf, physically Stunned, and at -1 DX for 1d seconds. If you manage to smack both ears at once (requiring All Out Attack-Two Attacks, or similar multiple attack), roll a single Quick Contest, and the effects last for 2d seconds. There is a chance that the effects might be lasting or permanent, depending upon how bad they roll.
Elbow Strike (MA71) You may attack someone behind you. Targeting specific locations is at a further -1. Damage is Thr-1 crushing.
Evade (Acrobatics) (MA71) Can be bought up to Acrobatics+5. This technique represents training at avoiding opponents who wish to obstruct your movement. This lets you flip over, tumble under, or twist around your foe. It replaces DX when trying to evade (B368). Normal penalties apply.

Evading (B368) Evading is moving through ground occupied by an opponent without trying to knock him down. You can attempt this as part of any maneuver that allows movement, provided you can move fast enough to go past your foe, not just up to him. If the foe isn’t trying to stop you, evading is automatic. If he wants to stop you, however, there is a Quick Contest of DX (or Evade Technique skill). Modify your DX as follows: -5 if your foe is standing up, -2 if your foe is kneeling, +2 if you are approaching your foe from the side, +5 if you are approaching from the rear, +5 if you foe is lying down.
Eye-Gouging, Eye-Poke, Eye-Rake (MA71-72) Going for the eyes can temporarily (or perhaps permanently) blind your foe. Eye-Gouging is thumbs in the eye; Eye-Poe is a finger (or two, if you are a Stooge and Eye-Rake is clawing at the eyes. Eyes are crippled (blinded) if they take more than 1/10HP, usually 1 pt. If you Eye-Poke, and miss by 1, you hit the face, and your finger has a chance of taking damage from hitting the facial bones. Blindness can last for seconds to minutes under most circumstances.
Feint (MA73, B365) Feinting is tricking an opponent by faking an attack. Make a Quick Contest of skills, your weapon skill vs his weapon skill. If you win, the MOS of your attack is subtracted from his defense on your next turn. So, if your skill is 14 and you roll a 9, your MOS is 5. If the foe fails to win the Quick Contest, he has a -5 penalty to his Defense roll. If you fail, or your foe does at least as good as you, your feint fails.
Ground Fighting (MA73) Fighting while laying down or crawling is at -4 to attack skill, and -3 to defenses. This technique allows you to buy these off. For every 2 points you put in, you negate 1 of the -3 penalty to defend. You best you can reduce the penalty is to -1.
Jam (MA74, 75) A Jam is basically an aggressive parry using the legs and feet, to parry low line attacks. If you succeed with the parry, roll against the underlying skill (Brawling, or Karate), using the following modifiers. The usual -2 for kicking. Against unarmed opponents, +0 to hit a leg, -2 to hit an arm or foot, -4 to hit a hand, -1 if the foe knows Rapid Retraction. Against armed foes, a basic -3, another -3 to -5 for weapon size, a further -3 for Brawling against a swung weapon. Success on this skill roll inflicts thrust-3 crushing damage to the weapon or body part. Failure means that you didn’t parry forcefully enough to inflict damage.
Kicking (MA 75) Kicking covers all kicks not defined as standalone techniques (crescent kicks, hook kicks, snap kicks, roundhouse kicks, etc). Feel free to embellish when describing the kick used. Use Brawling or Karate skill to determine damage; the Kicking Technique defaults to Brawling or Karate at -2. Kicking inflicts thrust crushing damage. Kicking can be combined with Committed Attacks, All Out Attacks, Defensive Attack, and Deceptive Attack to simulate different kinds of kicks.
Knee Drop (MA 76) Usable against a foe who is prone, usually as a follow up to a takedown. It is Committed Attack or All Out Attack. When you attack with a Knee Drop, your foe may defend at -2; if he parries your body, your body is considered a weapon with weight equal to your ST. If the Knee Drop succeeds, it does thrust+2 damage. Brawling adds its usual bonus. If you miss, your leg can take damage by hitting the ground. In any case, you end up kneeling.

Knee Strike (MA76) This is a snapping blow with the knee, and only useful in close combat. If you have grappled your opponent, he defends at -2. If you have grappled him from the front, you can target the Groin at no penalty. It does thrust crushing damage, plus Brawling or Karate bonuses. Grabbing the head and slamming into a knee is a common tactic, see Grab and Smash! (MA 118).
Leg Grapple (MA76) Useful against someone trying to kick you somewhere in the upper body. You parry the kick, and grab the leg. Once you parry, you need to get into close combat and roll against Leg Grapple: your foe can only dodge, this represents him pulling his leg back after the kick. If you succeed, you grab the leg. When he tries to break free on his next turn, you have a +4 to the Quick Contest. Most fighters follow this technique with a Leg Lock or a takedown (B370). If you try a takedown, you get a +3.
Leg Lock (MA76) You twist a grappled leg to try to restrain or damage a foe. Takes 2 hands, and you must have previously done a successful Leg Grapple. Roll vs your Leg Lock skill; the foe can use any defense. If successful, you trap his leg in a lock. On your next turn, you start twisting. Quick Contest between your ST+Wrestling bonus or Leg Lock vs. the higher of the foe’s ST+4 or HT+4. If you win, you do crushing damage equal to your margin of victory. Rigid DR works normally, flexible DR doesn’t help at all. This technique is also useful offensively, using Wrestling or Judo to grapple the foe’s leg. Rolls to inflict damage are completely passive and don’t count as attacks. You can simultaneously make close combat attacks on your opponent, who defends at -4 in addition to any penalties due to the damage caused by the lock itself.
Low Fighting (MA77) This is the ability to fight from a crouching or kneeling position, which is normally at -2. This technique also allows you to negate the penalties to defend from a crouch/kneel (which are -2).
Push Kick (MA78) This is a kick that shoves the foe away instead doing damage. See Shove (B372). If you succeed in your kick (and the foe doesn’t defend) you do double damage, which is applied as for Knockback (B378). No injury is done to the foe. A Push Kick to the leg gives the foe -2 to avoid falling down due to knock back. Targeting the skull, face, or neck makes the penalty -3.

Retain Weapon (MA78) This is the “Anti-Disarm” technique. You can use this instead of your weapon skill to avoid being disarmed.
Scissors Hold (MA79) This is a wrestling move where you lock your legs around your foe’s. If successful, he can try to break free, at a cumulative -1 per turn. If he is standing, and you want to try a takedown, you are at +3.
Stamp Kick (MA80) This kick consists of a swift, downward stamp with the heel, using your entire body weight to give additional force to the kick. It can only target an opponent who is lying down or the foot or leg of a standing foe. Damage is thrust+1, plus any Brawling or Karate bonuses. On a miss, you stamp the ground, and must make a DX roll to avoid ending up off balance and unable to retreat until your next turn.
Sweep (MA81) This technique lets you knock down an opponent in a single attack rather than by grappling him and executing a takedown. It’s an attempt to clothesline his neck or head, knock his legs out from under him, or otherwise unbalance him. Roll to hit. Location is a special effect, don’t apply a penalty to it. The foe defends normally. If he fails, make a QC: your Sweep or ST vs his ST, DX, or Acrobatics, or best grappling skill. Use the highest value in both cases. If he fails, he falls down. Sweep is a slow, pushing attack that doesn’t inflict damage.
Trip (MA81) Trip lets you cause a two legged foe to stumble and miss with a slam. It counts as a Wrestling parry. Success means you avoid the slam and your attacker must make a DX or Acrobatics roll at -5 or fall down. Some foes may be too large to trip unless you are strong enough. ST 9 (Eykit) can trip opponents up to ST 16, for example. Taid can trip foes up to ST 51 (giants). You can also trip someone running past you, either through your hex or an adjacent one, however, you must use the Dive maneuver or use a free foot to intercept a runner who isn’t trying to slam you.
Uppercut (MA81) This is a short punch directed upward from a low stance. Close combat only. It can only be used against the upper body, unless your SM is smaller than the foe’s, in which case you can target anything but his feet. Groin shots seem to be popular with the Ball Busters. Damage is thrust crushing, plus Brawling skill bonuses.