The core rules of Savage Worlds are very simple — roll a skill die (and a Wild Die if a Wild Card). If the result is 4 or higher after all modifiers, you're successful. Below are some of the other rules you may want to know about.
Grenades, spell effects, breath weapons, and other attacks that cover a large area are “area effect attacks.” The most common are Small, Medium, and Large Blast Templates, and the Cone Template and Stream Template. There are copies you can print out and durable acrylic versions as well.
Area effect weapons target a location rather than individuals and so ignore defensive bonuses for specific targets covered by the template, such as the Dodge Edge or speed penalties. Cone templates are placed with the small end emanating from the attacker and fired with the Shooting skill (or Athletics for breath weapons and other natural attacks). Any power or other effect that uses a Cone Template may use the Stream Template instead. This is a straight line 1” (2 yards) wide and 12” (24 yards) long. A basic success means those beneath the template are hit. Failure means the attack didn’t occur for some reason—the creature failed to belch up noxious gas, the flamethrower malfunctioned, etc.
To attack with a blast template, the player places the template on the tabletop (or describes where he wants it to land) and rolls Shooting, or Athletics for thrown weapons and breath attacks. If the attack fails and there’s a chance it might deviate and hit someone else, see Deviation, below.
If the roll is successful, any target even partially beneath the template is affected, regardless of any attack penalties to hit such as the Dodge Edge. If the effect causes damage, roll for each victim separately. Attacks that hit with a raise cause bonus damage as usual.
If an attack with a Cone Template fails, it goes over the targets’ heads, hits the ground, or simply falters for some reason. The GM may still decide the attack affects the area around it—perhaps a flamethrower sets a room on fire or a gas canister spews a cloud of gas— but there’s no game effect on characters or other targets this time.
If a blast template misses, it deviates 1d6″ for thrown weapons (such as grenades) and 2d6″ for fired projectiles. Multiply by 2 if the attack was made at Medium Range, 3 if Long, and 4 for Extreme.
Next roll a d12 and read it like a clock facing to determine the direction the missile deviates. A weapon can never deviate more than half the distance to the original target (that keeps it from going behind the thrower).
Attacks Solid obstacles like trees or brick walls protect against area effect attacks if they’re between the origin of the blast and the GM reasonably thinks they’d apply. Reduce the damage by the amount listed on the Cover Bonus table under Cover & Obstacles, page 93.
Use the measurements below when you need to figure out how many enemies a template might affect.
The GM can also use the Targets Affected column to determine how many enemies are hit in narrative situations, modifying the results if the targets are more spread out (highly trained agents) or bunched up (a horde of zombies).
| Template | Diameter | Targets Affected | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inches | Yards | ||
| Small | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Medium | 4 | 8 | 3 |
| Large | 6 | 12 | 4 |
| Cone | 9 | 18 | 3 |
| Stream | 12-long | 24-long | 3 |
| 1-wide | 2-wide | ||
Occasionally a character may want to break a solid object, such as a weapon, lock, or door. Use the wielder’s Parry if held, or 2 if it’s motionless. If a damage roll equals or exceeds the object’s Hardness, it’s broken, bent, shattered, or otherwise ruined. The GM decides the exact effect.
Most anything can be broken given enough time and effort, so use this system only when attempting to break things in a hurry (such as during combat rounds).
Object Hardness Examples
| Hardness | Object |
|---|---|
| 4 | Net, rope, webs |
| 8 | Light Door, Locks |
| 10 | Heavy Doors, Knives, Swords, Shields |
| 12 | Handcuffs |
* A character must specifically state he’s trying to break a shield to do so—don’t check every time the shield-bearer is hit.
Attacks against solid objects don’t get bonus damage from raises, and damage rolls don’t Ace. Unlike a person or complex device like a computer or a vehicle, an attack can’t hit a “vital” area on a lock or a door and thus do more damage.
Certain types of attacks can’t break certain types of objects. A club can’t cut a rope, for example, and a single bullet won’t destroy a door. Use common sense when determining whether or not a particular type of weapon can destroy an object. See Cover & Obstacles to attack through barriers.
Melee and ranged attacks suffer a penalty when attempting to hit a target behind Cover, per the table below:
| Penalty | Cover |
|---|---|
| -2 | Light Cover: A quarter of the target is obscured. |
| -4 | Medium Cover: Half the target is obscured, or target is prone. |
| -6 | Heavy Cover: Three-quarters of the target is obscured. |
| -8 | Near Total Cover: The target is barely visible |
Obstacles Sometimes characters have sufficient power to attack their foes through obstacles. (See Breaking Things to actually destroy intervening obstacles.) If a missed attack would have been successful without the Cover modifier and the GM thinks the target is likely to be hit, the obstacle acts as Armor. If the obstacle is a person or creature, subtract its Toughness from the attack. Use the table below as a guide for other materials.
Sometimes characters have sufficient power to attack their foes through obstacles. (See Breaking Things to actually destroy intervening obstacles.) If a missed attack would have been successful without the Cover modifier and the GM thinks the target is likely to be hit, the obstacle acts as Armor.
If the obstacle is a person or creature, subtract its Toughness from the attack. Use the table below as a guide for other materials.
| Bonus | Obstacle |
|---|---|
| +2 | Heavy glass, thick leather, drywall, wooden shield, aluminum car door |
| +4 | Sheet metal, steel car door |
| +6 | Oak Door, Cinder Block Wall |
| +8 | Brick Wall |
| +10 | Stone Wall, Bulletproof glass, a tree |
Sometimes an attacker is able to catch a foe off-guard and gets “The Drop” on him. The GM decides when this is in effect—usually it’s when the victim is bound or completely unaware of an attack. The Drop usually happens up close but the GM can also allow it in other situations as she sees fit (a sniper attacking an unaware and stationary target).
The Drop adds +4 to a character’s attack and damage rolls against that target for one action.
Knockout Blow: If a character takes enough damage to be Shaken or worse from an attacker with The Drop on him, he must make a Vigor roll (at −2 if the attack was to the head) or be knocked unconscious.
KO’ed characters stay that way for about half an hour or until the GM decides it’s dramatically appropriate to wake up. Note that Knockout Blows come from any kind of damage, not just blows to the head!
Some attacks are slow or require the user to “telegraph” their delivery, like flamethrowers or dragon’s breath. Such attacks state they may be “evaded.” If an attack doesn’t say it can be evaded, it can’t—victims are simply hit if the attack is successful and take damage.
If an attack can be evaded and the character is aware of it, he makes an Agility roll at −2. Those who are successful manage to avoid the attack and take no damage. If this was an area effect attack, the GM should place the figure to the side or rear of the template as makes sense in the situation.
Some Edges, such as Counterattack and First Strike, or options such as Withdrawing from Melee, allow a character to make a free attack.
Free attacks are a single attack unaltered by the attacker’s other Edges or combat options. This is usually a Fighting or grappling attack, but could include Shooting if the attacker is armed with a pistol or other ranged weapon that can fire in melee.
Ganging up allows attackers to flank, exploit openings, and generally harass a foe. Each additional adjacent foe (who isn’t Stunned) adds +1 to all the attackers’ Fighting rolls, up to a maximum of +4. If three goblins attack a single hero, for example, each of the three goblins add+2 to their Fighting rolls.
Each ally adjacent to the defender cancels out one point of Gang Up bonus from an attacker adjacent to both. This means troops in opposing lines, such as a medieval formation where each man has three adjacent foes and two adjacent allies, don’t get the bonus unless actually flanked.
Darkness conceals details and makes it more difficult to detect objects and targets. Subtract the following penalties from rolls affected by Illumination, such as attacks, Notice rolls, the use of powers, etc..
| Penalty | Lighting |
|---|---|
| -2 | Dim: Twilight, light fog, night with a full moon. |
| -4 | Dark: Typical night conditions with some ambient light from stars, a clouded or partial moon, emergency lights in an office building, a few flickering torches in a large space, etc. Targets aren’t visible outside of 10″. |
| -6 | Pitch Darkness: Complete and total darkness (or the target is hidden or invisible). Powers that require sight may not be possible. |
Heroes often fight with objects that aren’t intended for use as weapons. Torches, vases, chairs, tankards, bottles, tools, and other mundane items are frequently pressed into service in combat.
Characters with improvised weapons count as armed but subtract 2 from attack rolls. Range, damage and Minimum Strength are determined by type:
The GM can adjust the damage down a level or two if the item is softer than the examples above, like a duffel bag full of money.
When an attacker misses a Shooting or Athletics (throwing) roll, it may sometimes be important to see if any other targets in the line of fire were hit. The GM should only use this rule when it’s dramatically appropriate—not for every missed shot in a hail of gunfire.
Each skill die that’s a 1 can hit a random victim adjacent to or directly in the line of fire to the original target. Wild dice never hit innocent bystanders.
A Wild Card must miss with his Wild Die for a RoF 1 weapon to hit an Innocent Bystander (except for shotguns, see below).
This means it’s sometimes easier to hit an adjacent victim than the original target. That may not be entirely realistic, but is simple, dramatic, and requires some care in tight tactical situations. This is why this happens only sometimes at the DMs call when appropriate such as when firing into a physical struggle.
ROF 2 + OR SHOTGUN: Weapons that spray bullets or buckshot are much more likely to hit others. Each skill die that rolls a 1 or a 2 hits a bystander.
Characters fighting from horseback (or other strange beasts) have certain advantages and disadvantages in combat, as described below.
Mounts aren’t dealt Action Cards—they act with their riders. Animals may attack any threat to their front during their rider’s action.
Horsemanship: Characters who wish to fight from horseback must use the lowest of their Fighting or Riding skills. This makes it important for cavalrymen to actually be able to ride well!
Falling: If a character is Shaken, Stunned, or Wounded while mounted, or his mount is Incapacitated, he must make a Riding roll. If he fails, he falls. If the mount was running (GM’s call), the rider suffers 2d4 damage (2d6 with a Critical Failure).
Missed Ranged Attacks: Mounts and riders are affected by the Innocent Bystander rules. If a shot intended at a rider rolls a 1, it hits the horse instead.
Wounded Mounts: When an animal is Shaken or Wounded, it rears or bucks. A rider must make a Riding roll to stay mounted, or falls as above.
A rider on a charging horse adds +4 to his damage roll with a successful Fighting attack. To be considered charging, the rider must have moved at least 6″ or more in a relatively straight line toward his foe.
Setting Weapons: A weapon with a Reach of 1 or greater can be “set” against a cavalry attack. To do so, the attacker must be on Hold and win an opposed Athletics roll to interrupt as usual. Whoever has the most Reach adds +2 to his roll.
The winner attacks first. If successful, he adds the +4 charge bonus to his damage (whether he’s the rider or not).
Characters can perform up to three actions on their turn. Each additional action beyond the first inflicts a −2 penalty to all actions. Taking two actions, for example, incurs a −2 penalty to both, and three actions is a −4 penalty.
Wild Cards get their Wild Die on each action as usual.
All actions must be declared at the start of the turn and before any dice are rolled. Penalties remain even if a later action doesn’t happen (usually because it was dependent on an earlier success).
Movement and Multiple Actions: A character may perform multiple actions at different points in his movement.
Free Actions: Multi-Action penalties do not apply to free actions, and free actions never inflict a penalty on other actions.
Creatures with natural weapons such as fangs, claws, or horns may attack with any or all of them using their Fighting skill. Damage is stated for character ancestries and beasts in their various descriptions.
Creatures with natural weapons are always considered armed. This means they aren’t Unarmed Defenders and foes fighting with Two Weapons gain no advantage against them. Here are a few additional notes for each type of attack:
BITE: The creature may bite a target it’s grappled (most attackers can only crush their prey, see Grappling, page 95).
CLAWS: +2 to Athletics (climbing) rolls on any rough or soft surface (not sheer steel, glass, etc.).
HORNS: Add +4 damage at the end of one Fighting action in which it Runs, moves at least 5″(10 yards), and successfully hits with its horns.
A character who wants to beat someone up without killing them can choose to do nonlethal damage. This requires the attacker use only his fists or a blunt weapon of some sort. Edged weapons may be used if they have a flat side, but this subtracts −1 from the attacker’s Fighting rolls.
Nonlethal damage causes Wounds as usual, but if a character is rendered Incapacitated he’s knocked out for 1d6 hours instead.
Nonlethal Wounds are otherwise treated exactly as lethal Wounds. This means it’s much easier to render an Extra unconscious than a Wild Card. This is intentional, and should work well for most genres where heroes can take multiple punches before going down for the count, but most “mooks” go out with one or two good punches.
Characters are assumed to be right-handed unless the player decides otherwise. Actions that require precise eye-hand coordination, such as Fighting or Shooting, suffer a −2 penalty when done solely with the off-hand.
Off-hand weapons don’t add their Parry bonus unless the hero is Ambidextrous.
Heroes may fire ranged weapons when engaged in melee with a few caveats:
Unless it says otherwise in its description, firing at a Rate of Fire greater than 1 in one action causes Recoil, a −2 penalty to the attacker’s Shooting rolls. A submachine gun with a Rate of Fire of 3, for example, causes Recoil unless its user fires only a single shot.
Recoil isn’t cumulative between actions. If a character fires three shots (RoF 3) on one action and triggers the Recoil penalty, he ignores it on a second action if he only fires a single shot.
Nocking an arrow or loading a stone in a sling are free actions that may be performed once per action. Reloading a crossbow bolt, clip, magazine, speed loader, or single bullet so that it’s ready to fire (chambered, cocked, etc.) is an action.
Some weapons are slower to reload, like heavy crossbows or black powder weapons. They require a number of actions to reload, listed as “Reload X” in their description.
Running & Reloading: Characters who run and load must make an Agility roll (at the usual −2 penalty for running). Failure means no progress toward reloading was made that action.
Shotguns fire a spread of metal “shot,” and so do more damage at close range where more of the shot hits the target. Because of this, shotguns add +2 to the user’s Shooting rolls and cause 3d6 damage at Short Range, 2d6 at Medium, and 1d6 at Long. Shotguns may not be fired at Extreme Range.
Double Barrels: Some shotguns have two barrels welded side-by-side. If an attacker wants to fire both barrels at the same target, roll damage once and add +4.
Slugs: Shotguns can also fire slugs. The attacker doesn’t get the +2 shotgun bonus to his Shooting roll, but the damage is 2d10 regardless of Range (and they may be fired at Extreme Range). Innocent Bystanders are hit only on a 1 (instead of 1 or 2).
Combat often starts before everyone involved is prepared. An ambush, a sudden doublecross, or a trap might all give one side in a fight an edge over the other.
When this happens, the ambushers are automatically on Hold. Deal them in as usual anyway in case one of them gets a Joker.
The victims of the attack make a Notice roll (if they haven’t already, perhaps from ambushers sneaking up on them). Those who make it are dealt in as usual. Those who fail get no Action Card and can’t act in the first round of combat.
A character armed with two melee weapons adds +1 to his Fighting rolls if his foe has a single weapon or is unarmed, and has no shield. It adds no bonus against creatures with Natural Weapons.
Wielding two firearms offers no special advantage other than additional ammunition.
Characters who want to specialize further can take the Two-Fisted or Two-Gun Kid Edge.
It’s difficult to parry a blade with one’s bare hands. An attacker armed with a melee weapon adds +2 to his Fighting attacks if his foe has no weapon or shield. (This doesn’t stack with the Drop.)
Whenever a character retreats from melee, all adjacent non-Shaken and non-Stunned opponents get an immediate Free Attack (see Free Attacks).
Example: Red is surrounded by five strange xenos and must get to a wounded Gabe. She takes the Defend option (increasing her Parry by +4) and backs away. All five xenos get a Free Attack, at +4 for Ganging Up. Fortunately, Red’s high Parry fends them off and she makes her way to her injured friend.