These are some of the other actions you can take in combat that are not covered on the combat page
Shooting rolls assume a character is moving about, dodging attacks, and keeping an eye on the chaos around her. If she focuses her attention and aims, however, she can make a much more accurate shot.
If a character spends her entire turn Aiming a ranged weapon at a particular target and takes no other actions, on her next turn she may ignore up to 4 points of Range, Cover, Called Shot, Scale, or Speed penalties; or add +2 to her roll. Her attack must be used on the first action of her next turn or the bonus is lost.
The shooter must be “stationary” to Aim. She can’t walk, run, ride a horse, or otherwise move under her own power. She could Aim from a vehicle traveling over or through a smooth surface, or one using the Hold Steady Chase maneuver (see page 108).
Targeting a particular part of the body is a Called Shot. The modifier to the attack roll depends on the Scale of the target itself (not the creature it’s part of). Use the Scale Modifiers table to determine any bonus or penalty for the target’s Scale. These modifiers are already listed in parentheses below for Normal scale creatures, along with any specific game effects:
Use the Scale of the target when making called shots against creatures, not their Scale. If a hero wants to blast the eye of a Huge robot destroying the city, for example, use the Scale of the eye, not the robot. If the eye is about the size of a car, the hero adds +2 to his roll because a car is Large, a +2 bonus.
A character can choose to focus all her energy and skill into defense against melee attacks with the Defend maneuver. This increases her Parry by +4 and takes her entire turn— she cannot perform Multi-Actions. She may move normally but may not run. The bonus lasts until the beginning of her next turn.
Desperate attacks are frantic efforts to hit a target at the expense of damage. The attacker adds +2 or +4 to any Fighting roll and subtracts a like amount from damage if he hits. This can be determined per attack (before rolling), and can’t be combined with Wild Attack.
A character can try to make an opponent drop a weapon (or other object) or attempt to damage it, by making a melee or ranged attack.
The attacker must first hit the object or the opponent’s limb or hand (see Called Shots).
If the attack hits the weapon, the attacker rolls damage normally for an item (no raise effect or Aces, see Breaking Things). The defender must make a Strength roll equal to the damage or drop the item. If the attack is against the wielder and Shakes or Wounds him, the defender must make a Strength roll at −2 if it hit his limb, or −4 if it hit his hand, plus any Wound penalties that result as usual. Failure means he drops whatever item is in that hand.
A completely helpless victim may be dispatched with a lethal weapon of some sort as an action. This is automatic unless the GM decides there’s a special situation, such as a particularly tough or naturally armored victim, a chance for escape, and so on.
The killer must usually dispatch his foe up close and personal, but the GM may occasionally let Finishing Moves be performed at range if the situation warrants.
Grappling is an opposed roll between the attacker and defender’s Athletics. If the attacker wins, the foe is Entangled. With a raise, he’s Bound. (Success on a foe who was already Entangled makes him Bound.) See Bound & Entangled.
If a foe is Bound, the grappler is also Vulnerable while maintaining his hold.
The Gang Up bonus applies when grappling a defender, but other maneuvers don’t unless the Game Master rules otherwise in a specific situation.
Size Matters: If there’s a difference in Scale between the attacker and defender, the grappler subtracts the difference from his total (the defender does not).
Creatures may not generally grapple a foe more than two Sizes larger than themselves unless they have exceptional reach or Strength for their Size (GM’s call).
Crush: As an action, a grappler may make a Strength roll as damage against a target he has Entangled or Bound. (This is a damage roll so Scale modifiers are ignored.)
A hero may choose to wait and see what happens by going on “Hold.” This allows her to resolve her turn later in the round if she wishes, and lasts until it’s used. If a character is on Hold when a new round begins, she’s not dealt a new Action Card but can go at any point in the round she chooses. (Discard her current card and mark her as “On Hold” with a counter of some sort.)
Shaken and Stunned: If a character is Shaken or Stunned while on Hold, she immediately loses her Hold status and her turn for the round. (Shaken or Stunned characters can’t go on Hold either.)
Interrupting Actions: If a character on Hold wants to interrupt an action (including a rival who was also on Hold), she and the opponent make opposed Athletics rolls. Whoever rolls highest goes first. In the rare case of a tie, the actions are simultaneous.
If the character interrupting fails, she loses her Hold status but gets a turn after the foe finishes his. She may take whatever actions she wishes when her turn comes up—she’s not locked into whatever she was trying to do when she failed to interrupt.
Sometimes characters may want to push a foe in hopes of knocking him out of position, prone, or even into a deadly hazard.
Pushing a foe is an opposed roll of Strength. If the attacker is successful he pushes the foe back up to 1″ (two yards). With a raise, increase the distance to 2″ (four yards). Double either distance if the attacker’s Scale is larger than the foe’s.
A character who’s successfully Pushed must make an Athletics roll (at −2 if the attacker got a raise) or be knocked prone.
Running: If the attacker ran at least 2″ (four yards) before the Push, he adds +2 to his total. Size Matters: Creatures may not generally Push a foe more than two Sizes larger then themselves unless they have exceptional Strength for their Size (GM’s call).
Skill: The attacker or defender may roll Athletics instead of Strength if they choose.
Shields: Attackers and defenders add their shield’s Parry bonus to their Strength (or Athletics) rolls when pushing.
Sometimes characters may want to cooperate or help an ally with a task. If so, and the GM decides it’s possible, supporting characters roll the relevant skill (on their action if the game is in rounds) and declare which of their ally’s Traits they’re attempting to Support.
Success grants the ally +1 to one Trait total this round, and a raise adds +2. A Critical Failure on the support roll subtracts 2 from the lead’s total—sometimes extra hands just get in the way!
Remove all Support bonuses at the end of the recipient’s turn, whether he used them or not (perhaps by taking an action different than the one he was Supported for).
The maximum bonus from all Support rolls is +4. Strength checks are an exception and have no maximum bonus since more muscle can always manage more mass.
Players and GMs should be creative when making Support rolls. An adventurer with Survival, for example, might make a roll to find useful herbs for an ally attempting a Healing check, or a galactic explorer with Science might calculate slingshot vectors that help a friend make a tricky Piloting roll.
General encouragement (a Persuasion roll) such as “You can do it!” or “Check your six!” are perfectly acceptable, but at the GM’s discretion lose effectiveness if repeated.
The Support option can be used against an opponent narratively, but the only effect it can have is as detailed above. If a character wants to “trip up” an ogre to help a friend make a Fighting roll against it, for example, she can add +1 or +2 to his roll, but she doesn’t actually trip the ogre. It’s not made prone, Distracted, Vulnerable, or Shaken as it might if she had used the Test option.
The advantage for a player in making a Support roll over a Test is to help an ally and avoid a more difficult opposed roll for the Test (even though narratively it might seem like it should be an opposed roll).
Suppressive Fire turns a firearm or other rapid-firing weapon into an area effect attack. It trades accuracy for a hail of ammo to keep the enemies’ heads down.
A weapon must be able to fire at least as rapidly as a revolver and can’t require reloading in between shots.
Suppressive Fire uses three times the usual number of bullets for its Rate of Fire and always incurs Recoil regardless of the weapon’s original Rate of Fire (the Rock and Roll! Edge, bipods, and tripods negate Recoil as usual).
To make the attack, the shooter places a Medium Blast Template on the tabletop and makes a Shooting roll (a single Shooting die regardless of Rate of Fire—RoF comes into Maximum Casualties, below.) Figure Range, Illumination, Recoil, etc., as usual, to the center of the template.
Next compare the total to each target in the template and consider any modifiers that apply to each (Cover, the Dodge Edge, the deflection power, etc.). Success means the target is Distracted, and a raise means he’s actually hit (no bonus damage is possible from Suppressive Fire).
Every target under the template can be Distracted, but it can only cause damage to a number of targets equal to the weapon’s Rate of Fire. The attacker chooses which targets are hit among his possible choices.
The Support option allows a character to help out her allies. Test is the opposite—it lets him make things more difficult for his foes! Tests include embarrassing an opponent, throwing sand in his eyes, staring him down with a steely gaze, or anything else a clever player can think of to rattle his enemy and put him off-balance.
To perform a Test, the player describes the action and works with the GM to determine the most appropriate skill to roll for it. Tests are resisted instinctively, so the “attacker’s” skill roll is opposed by the attribute it’s linked to. Tripping someone is an Athletics roll versus Agility since that’s what Athletics is linked to. Taunt is linked to Smarts, so verbally humiliating someone is resisted by that attribute. Fighting, when used as a Test instead of an actual attack, isn’t compared to Parry—it’s opposed by Agility.
If the attacker wins the opposed roll, he can choose to make his foe Distracted or Vulnerable. If he wins with a raise, the target is also Shaken or there may be other subjective effects as the GM allows, such as a tripped foe being knocked prone.
The GM must determine which modifiers apply to a Test. Shooting, for example, should include Range, Cover, Illumination, Recoil, etc. A hero with a bonus to his Parry does not add it to his Agility when challenged with a Fighting roll, however, because the defender resists with Agility— not his Parry.
Take the details into consideration as well— using Taunt to hit a rival’s ego where it hurts, for example, might be worth a +2 bonus to the attacker.
Using the same or similar action repeatedly quickly grows less effective, so the GM should apply a steep penalty if a character’s Tests become repetitive (or disallow it entirely).
If characters have additional dice for a Test, such as when using a weapon with a high Rate of Fire, he may roll all the dice but takes only the highest as his Test total. He doesn’t get multiple results and he can’t spread them out to other targets.
A character who simply wants to touch a foe (usually to deliver a magical effect of some kind) may add +2 to his Fighting roll.
Sometimes a desperate character may want to throw caution to the wind and attack with everything he’s got.
A Wild Attack adds +2 to the character’s Fighting attacks and resulting damage rolls for the turn, but he is Vulnerable until the end of his next turn (not this one).
Wild Attacks can be used with multiple attacks, such as from Multi-Actions or the Frenzy and Sweep Edges.