05.01 Rd6 Combat
Version 3.0
When resolving a situation calls for force, time becomes broken into rounds, as discussed in the Basics section. Within these rounds, three steps occur:
- Generating initiative
- Attacking and Defending
- Determining Damage
- Repeating the steps, if necessary.
Discover herein what happens in each of those steps.
1: Generating Initiative
As discussed in the Basics chapter, determine initiative based on the first significant action or on initiative rolls.
2: Attacking and Defending
On the player’s turn, he or she gets to decide what type of action their character is going to do. Once he or she chooses, he or she makes a skill roll, if applicable.
Note that a character need not attempt to engage in combat, but this chapter only discusses what to do if the player decides to attack, defend, or do both (typically with a multi-action penalty).
Base Combat Difficulty
In Ron D6, the difficulty to attack someone is 1 Success. However, if the target decides to Actively Defend, the Difficulty may be modified by the result of target’s Active Defense total.
| Defense Type | Total Defense Difficulty | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Passive Defense | Agility > 4D or Dodge > 4 Ranks = +1 | No |
| Active Defense | Base Difficulty + Defense Result | Yes |
| Partial Defense | Defense Result | Yes |
| Full Defense | Base Difficulty + Defense Result +2 | All |
Passive Defense
Base Difficulty = 0
(+1 Agility >= 4D or Dodge >= 4 Ranks)
Passive DEfense
+ Parry Bonus if in Melee (+1 if 1-handed weapon with minimum STR less than or equal to half Strength and Melee Weapons skill >= 4) Ranks
If the character has an Agility greater 4D, then the character’s Passive Defense Modifier is a 1. Alternatively, if the character’s Dodge Skill Ranks are above 4, the character has a Passive Defense value of 1. The Passive Defense Modifier is added as a Difficulty Modifier when attacking the character, increasing the number of Successes he must obtain.
Parry Bonus
In Melee Combat as well as Hand-to-Hand Fighting, a weapon in hand is always beneficial in Passive Defense. However, it must be a one-handed weapon that has a minimum Strength of more more than half the characters Strength. Also, the character must have Melee Weapons of at least 4 ranks. Given these factors are all true, then the character gains a +1 to Defense.
Active Defense
Total Combat Difficulty = Base Difficulty + Defense Result
Active DEfense
The target character can opt to use an Active Defense. This affects all attacks that occur after the defender’s turn in the current round through to defender’s next turn in the next round. Active Defense is a defensive maneuver that the target consciously exercises, such as dodging, blocking, or parrying. Each of these is represented by a skill and counts as an Action (Multi-Action Penalty applies).
A character may make an Active Defense only when his turn comes up in the initiative line, but the total successes for the roll is effective for all relevant attacks made against the character that occur after the character’s current turn but before his turn in the next round.
Each success from the Defense Test roll (Defense Result) becomes Defense Result value against the attacker. This is a Difficulty Modifier added to the Difficulty that the attacker must achieve.
For example, Attacker A and B wish to attack against Target C who is Actively Defending. Target C rolls his Dodge roll to get 2 successes (4D rolls a 12 to get two successes). The Base Attack Difficulty is increased by 2 for Target C. This does not take into account range if the attacks are Ranged or other factors.
Remember, if a character acts later in a round than his attacker, he cannot take his turn sooner and use an active defense to replace the passive defense value – his reactions just weren’t fast enough.
Active Dodge
Skill: Dodge
The character attempts to anticipate the final location of an attack from any source and be in another place when it comes. This is done by rolling the Dodge skill.
Block/Parry
Skill: Fighting or Melee Weapons.
The character attempts to stop his opponent’s attack by intercepting it and either stopping it with a block or deflecting it with a parry. The character may roll his relevant skill to block it. If the character uses a sharp or energized weapon (sword or dagger, for example) to parry an unarmed blow and is successful at the block, the attacker takes damage from the weapon. However, do not add the defender’s Strength to the listed weapon damage score when determining injuries inflicted this way.
If the opponent strikes at the character with a bladed or energized hand weapon and the character uses any part of his body to intercept the attack, the defender always takes the weapon’s damage total. If the block was successful, then the attacker’s Strength Damage is not added to the listed score. If the block was unsuccessful, then the target character takes damage as normal. The character may avoid this aspect by having armor, a special ability, or a suitable close combat specialization in melee parry.
Partial Defense
Total Combat Difficulty = Defense Result
Partial Defense
A character who chooses to do something else in addition to guarding against attacks may take a partial defense. In this case, the Defense Result roll replaces the base combat difficulty from the time the character takes his turn in one round to his turn in the next round.
This can occur before the characters turn if the Character has declared it at the beginning of Combat. Since the character is taking multiple actions, the multi-action penalty applies. The GM may call for a partial defense roll (as a free action) if he decides that the character might have a little awareness of an impending attack, yet not enough foresight to prepare for it.
Full Defense
Total Combat Difficulty = Base Difficulty + Defense Result +2
Full Defense
A character who foregoes all of her actions for a round to completely protect herself from attacks makes a Full Defense. The total number of Successes rolled by the defense skill plus 2 takes the place of the base combat difficulty from the time the character makes the full defense on her turn to her turn in the next round.
Combat Difficulty Modifiers
Here are a few of the most frequently used modifiers to the combat difficulty. Others are discussed in Combat Options. Regardless of the number of modifiers to either the Skill roll or the Difficulty, the total Difficulty may never go below 1 or be Automatic.
Range
The effectiveness of a punch, weapon, Special Ability, or any other attack made at a distance depends on its range. All range modifiers are added or subtracted from the Difficulty, because it is technically a Property of the target.
Unarmed Range: Unless a special maneuver allows otherwise, characters may use unarmed close combat attacks at Point Blank range only.
Melee Range: In most cases, this is true for using various melee weapons as well, though the distance can be increased to Short range if the weapon is longer than two meters. For instance, a character with a support beam can whack an opponent at Point Blank or Short range.
| Range | Distance to Target (m) | Modifier |
|---|---|---|
| Point Blank | 0–3 | -1 |
| Short | 3 to first value listed for weapon | 0 |
| Medium | Second value listed for the weapon | +1 |
| Long | Third value for the weapon | +2 |
Cover
When a target is protected by something – poor lighting, smoke, fog, a table – it makes her harder to hit. This is represented by a cover modifier. There are two types of Cover – Environmental and Persona. Environmental act as Skill Modifiers and Personal are either Difficulty Modifiers or Armor.
| Situation | Modifier |
| Environmental Cover | |
| Light smoke/fog | -1D |
| Thick smoke/fog | -2D |
| Very thick smoke/fog | -4D |
| Poor light, twilight | -1D |
| Moonlit night | -2D |
| Complete darkness | -4D |
| Personal Cover | |
| Object hides 50% of target | +1 |
| Object hides 75% of target | +2 |
| Object hides 100% of target | Armor Value |
If cover offers protection, the attacker cannot hit the target directly, but damage done to the cover might exceed the Armor Value it provides, and, indirectly, damage the target. Most of the time, the attacker must eliminate the cover before having a chance to hit the target.
Aiming
Aiming involves careful tracking of the target. Characters may perform it against moving targets, but they cannot themselves do anything else in the round in which they aim. Each consecutive round of uninterrupted aiming add +1D to the character’s Ranged Weapons skill up to a maximum bonus of +3D.
Determining Success
Once the combat difficulty has been determined, the attacker rolls the Skill Dice applying applicable modifiers. The character then determines the number of successes (how many multiples of six did her roll above 6) and compares the total to the Difficulty. If it equals or exceeds the Difficulty, the attack hits, probably doing damage or having another effect that the attacker intended. Result Points are also determined in this case. If it was less than the Difficulty, then the attack misses.
3: Determining Damage
If a character successfully hits his target, he may have done damage to it. To determine the amount of injury caused, roll the Total Damage Dice for the attack:
Total Damage Dice = Damage Dice of the Weapon + 1D (non-Wild) per Result Point + modifiers from a special combat action.
Optional Result Point Rule: See Result Points Feats.
Some weapons – called Strength based melee weapons usually – list their score as a damage dice with a plus sign (“+”) in front of it. In this case, add the damage dice to the attacker’s Strength Damage dice to the Total Damage Dice. After the player or the GM has figured out how much damage is done, see 05.03 Damage, Wounds, & Healing to determine how much of that damage the target sustained.
Determining Strength Damage
To figure the Strength Damage dice, drop the pips from the character’s Strength (but include any relevant Disadvantages or Special Abilities), divide the number by 2, and round up. The Increased Attribute: Strength Special Ability affects the total. Example: A character with 3D in Strength has a Strength Damage of 2D. A character with 6D+2 in Athletics: Lift has a Strength Damage of 3D.
4: Repeat
If the fight isn’t finished after one round, then return to Step 1 in the Combat chapter and do it all over again. Repeat these steps until the fight is resolved in favor of one side or the other.