Whether they’re the burning plains of the Cinderlands or the cursed battlefield of the Plain of Ten Thousand Swords—these are Savage Worlds and they are often violent.
The rest of this chapter tells you how great heroes and terrible monsters battle in Savage Pathfinder. The combat rules are designed for use with miniatures or pawns by default, but it's easy to use these concepts when you're playing without them.
Distance: Because the game assumes you are using terrain or a battlemat and standard 28mm miniatures, movement and weapon ranges are listed in inches To translate that to regular distance, one inch equals two yards.
If you’re using miniatures and need to accommodate a larger battlefield, simply set each inch as five or 10 yards, for example, and adjust movement and ranges appropriately.
Time: When a fight breaks out, game time breaks down into rounds of about six seconds each. Ten rounds equal one minute.
Round: A “round” is an entire countdown of Action Cards, from the Ace to the Deuce (Two).
Turn: A character’s “turn” occurs when his Action Card comes up in the countdown. A hero with the Six of Diamonds, for example, takes his turn when that card comes up in the round.
Action: A single attack, skill use, etc. Characters may perform multiple actions on their turn (see Multi-Actions).
The action in Savage Pathfinder is fast and furious. To help the Game Master keep track of who goes in what order and add a little randomness to the game, we use a single deck of playing cards with both Jokers left in to determine everyone’s initiative order. We call these “Action Cards.”
The GM can deal cards face up or face down as she sees fit. She might also deal the players’ cards face up and the villains face down to increase the players’ tension and uncertainty!
At the start of each round:
Deal each Wild Card an Action Card (plus any extra cards for Edges). Allies under a player’s control act on his Action Card.
Groups of nonplayer characters and creatures, such as all zombies, all wolves, and so on, should share an Action Card so they act together. This breaks each group up a bit for dramatic purposes and game balance and keeps things easy for the Game Master to manage.
Shuffle: Shuffle the deck after any round in which a Joker was dealt.
Large Groups: In very large groups or time-sensitive games, the Game Master can deal a single card per side (heroes and villains). On the heroes’ turn, simply start at one end of the group and work quickly around. This speeds things up if that’s more important than varying initiative order. If one or more characters have Level Headed or Quick, let that apply to the draw (but only once).
Once the cards are dealt, the Game Master starts the round by counting down from Ace down to Two, with each group resolving its actions when its card comes up.
Ties: Ties are resolved by suit order: Spades ♠ are first, then Hearts ♥, Diamonds ♦, and Clubs ♣. That’s reverse alphabetical order as used in many common card games.
Jokers: Characters (or groups) with a Joker act whenever they want in the round, even interrupting another’s action. They also add +2 to all Trait and damage rolls this round!
Characters perform “actions” when their Action Card comes up each round. This is their "turn." A character can move (see Movement, below) and perform one regular action at any point in her movement, attacking, casting a spell, and so on, without penalty.
Characters can choose from a multitude of actions on their turn. Common actions include Supporting allies, Testing foes, using a power, or attacking with Fighting or Shooting. See Multi-Actions to perform more than one action per turn (though only one of these can be a limited action (see below)).
More complex actions like lighting a torch or digging through a backpack might require more than a round to complete (GM's call).
Speaking a short sentence or two, moving up to the character’s Pace, falling prone, or dropping an item are all free actions. A hero can generally perform several free actions on her turn simultaneously (speaking and dropping an item while walking, for example), though only one of these can be a limited free action (see below). The GM decides how much is too much.
Some free actions occur automatically at the beginning of a character’s turn and may only be tried once, such as recovering from being Shaken or Stunned.
Free actions that are “reactions,” such as resisting opposed rolls or powers, occur each time the situation presents itself.
Some actions are so complex or involved they require greater concentration. A character may only perform one limited action on their turn. It may be part of a Multi-Action as usual.
A character may only perform one limited free action per turn. For example, the barbarian's Intimidating Glare allows her to make an Intimidation Test as a limited free action. If the barbarian also had access to another limited free action, she could not do it in the same turn as she used Intimidating Glare.
Characters can move a number of tabletop inches equal to their Pace each turn, and may freely set their facing as they do so.
Each inch of movement spent climbing, crawling, or swimming uses 2″ of Pace.
Running: A hero can “run” as a free action once per turn, increasing her Pace for the round by her running die (a d6 by default) at the cost of a -2 penalty to all other actions that turn. Running dice never Ace. (The running die is random to account for nuances of terrain not depicted on the tabletop and for the “risk to reward” decision players must make.)
Out of combat situations, a character can move twice the sum of her full Pace + maximum running die for a number of minutes equal to half her Vigor die type. Thus a Fleet-Footed character with Vigor d6 can sprint at a Pace of 32 for three minutes.
Difficult Ground: Each inch a hero moves over rough terrain such as thick forest, up or down a steep incline, slippery ice, etc., counts as 2″ of her Pace. Crawling is unaffected by Difficult Ground.
Hazards: If the GM feels movement is hazardous for some reason — climbing under duress, swimming a fast-moving river, walking a tightrope—she can require an Athletics roll to move. Success means she continues on normally. Failure means she can't move. With a Critical Failure the character takes Fatigue from Bumps & Bruises, falls if climbing or in a precarious position (Falling), or drowns if swimming (Drowning).
Jumping: Characters can jump 1″ (two yards) horizontally, or 0.5″ vertically as a free action. Double these numbers if the hero can run at least 2″ (four yards) prior to the jump. If the hero chooses, she may make an Athletics roll as an action to increase her horizontal distance by 1″ (2″ with a raise), or half that vertically. Jumping does not allow a character to exceed her total Pace for the turn.
Prone: A hero may fall prone as a free action during her turn. She may crawl while prone (see above). Standing is a free action but reduces total Pace for the turn by 2.
The basics of fast, furious combat are discussed below. Many additional options and situations are covered under Situational Rules.
The Target Number to hit an opponent is equal to his Parry (2 plus half his Fighting die type; 2 if he has no Fighting skill).
The Shooting skill covers everything from bows to crossbows and even some magic items that shoot projectiles. Throwing knives, spears, and other thrown projectiles uses the Athletics skill.
All ranged weapons have a Range statistic written like this: 5/10/20, or Short/Medium/Long Range.
Range Modifier
Short -
Medium -2
Long -4
Extreme (see notes) -8
The base Target Number to hit something at Short Range is 4. Firing at longer ranges inflicts the penalties listed above.
Extreme Range: Extreme Range is up to 4× a weapon’s Long Range. Firing at such a great distance requires the Aim option. When used in this way, Aim doesn’t reduce any penalties—it simply allows the character to fire at Extreme Range.
Characters may not throw weapons at Extreme Range.
Rate of Fire: Rate of Fire is how many shots (Shooting dice) a ranged weapon can fire in one action. A longbow with a RoF of 1, for example, can fire one shot per action. For weapons with a Rate of Fire 2 or more, declare how many shots you are firing. Then roll that number of Shooting dice and assign them in whatever order you like to the chosen targets.
For Wild Cards, roll their Shooting dice plus a single Wild Die, which can replace any one Shooting die if desired.
After a successful melee or ranged hit, the attacker rolls damage. Ranged weapons do fixed damage as listed in the Gear section. Most bows, for example, cause 2d6 damage.
Hand weapons cause damage equal to the attacker’s Strength die plus a second die, which depends on the weapon. For barbarians with a d12 Strength and a longsword (d8 damage) roll d12+d8 damage. Add the rolls on the damage dice together to get the damage total.
Even though Strength is used to determine melee damage, this isn’t a Trait roll so Wild Cards don’t add a Wild Die to the roll.
All damage rolls can Ace.
Unarmed Damage: For an unarmed combatant, roll only his Strength die unless he has an Edge like Brawler that grants him a damage die.
Well-placed attacks are more likely to hit vital areas and do more damage. If your hero gets a raise on his attack roll (regardless of how many raises), he adds +1d6 to the final total. Bonus dice can also Ace!
Bonus damage applies to all attacks, including spells and area effect weapons.
If the damage roll is less than the target’s Toughness, the victim is beaten up a bit but there’s no game effect. If the damage is equal to or greater than his Toughness, he’s Shaken. Each raise on the damage roll also inflicts a Wound:
Success: The character is Shaken. If he was already Shaken and the second result is from physical damage of some kind (not a Test that results in Shaken, for example), he remains Shaken and takes a Wound.
Raise: The character suffers a Wound for every raise on the damage roll, and is Shaken.
Damage can result in three effects: Shaken, Wounds, and Incapacitation.
Shaken characters are nicked, bruised, or otherwise rattled. They may only take free actions, such as moving (including running). At the start of their turn, Shaken characters must attempt to recover from being Shaken by making a Spirit roll. This is a free action.
Failure: The character remains Shaken. She can only perform free actions.
Success: The character is no longer Shaken and may act normally.
Bennies: A player may spend a Benny at any time to remove her Shaken status (even when it’s not her turn).
Every raise on the damage roll inflicts a Wound. Extras are Incapacitated if they take a single Wound (and aren’t Resilient). They’re dead, injured, or otherwise out of the fight.
Wild Cards can take three Wounds and still function (more with certain Edges or abilities). Further damage doesn’t cause additional Wounds but Incapacitates them instead.
Wound Penalties: Each Wound a character suffers causes a -1 cumulative penalty to his Pace (minimum of 1″) and all Trait rolls—up to a maximum penalty of -3.
Timing: Characters sometimes take multiple hits on the same Action Card. Resolve each damage roll separately before moving on to the next (including any Soak rolls).
In Savage Pathfinder, characters can never suffer more than four Wounds in a single hit and therefore never have to Soak more than four wounds either. This rule keeps combat dangerous but reduces the chances of heroes (and villains!) dying from a single lucky blow. It can still happen, but it is far more rare.
Ignore the cap for catastrophic damage such as falls from great heights, extreme environments such as lava, and so on.
Large Creatures: The Wound Cap still applies to large or Resilient creatures with more than three Wounds. A Huge dragon that can take five Wounds before being Incapacitated, for example, can’t take more than four from a single attack, so it can’t be killed with a single attack even if it fails to Soak.
Incapacitated characters may not perform actions but are still dealt Action Cards for the remainder of the encounter in case they recover or must roll for other effects such as Bleeding Out (below). Edges or Hindrances that affect card draws, such as Quick, Level Headed, or Hesitant are ignored when the hero is Incapacitated.
If Incapacitated by damage or injury, he must make an immediate Vigor roll:
Critical Failure: The character dies.
Failure: Roll on the Injury Table. The Injury is permanent and the character is Bleeding Out, see below.
Success: Roll on the Injury Table. The Injury goes away when all Wounds are healed.
Raise: Roll on the Injury Table. The Injury goes away in 24 hours, or when all Wounds are healed (whichever is sooner).
Characters cannot take actions of any kind and might be unconscious (GM’s call). The victim makes a Vigor roll each day thereafter and is no longer Incapacitated (or unconscious) if successful. They may also heal Wounds during this time (see Natural Healing).
Bleeding Out: The injured character is dying and must make a Vigor roll at the start of his turn. Failure means he perishes. With success he survives but must roll again next turn (or every minute if not in combat). With a raise, he stabilizes and no further rolls are required.
Other characters may stop a victim’s bleeding by making a Healing roll (the skill or the spell). This is an action, and if successful the patient is stabilized.
The healing power can also stabilize Wounds, as can a successful “natural” healing roll by a being with regeneration of some sort.
2D6 Wound
2 Unmentionables: If the injury is permanent, reproduction is out of the question without miracle surgery or magic. There is no other effect from this result.
3-4 Arm: The victim can no longer use his left or right arm (rolled randomly if not targeted).
5-9 Guts: The damage is to the victim’s core. Roll 1d6:
1-2 Broken: Agility reduced a die type (minimum d4).
3-4 Battered: Vigor reduced a die type (minimum d4).
5-6 Busted: Strength reduced a die type (minimum d4).
10-11 Leg: Gain the Slow (Minor) Hindrance, or Major if already Slow or injured in either leg.
12 Head: A grievous injury to the head. Roll 1d6:
1-3 Hideous Scar: Your hero now has the Ugly (Major) Hindrance.
4-5 Blinded: An eye is damaged. Gains the One Eye Hindrance (or the Blind Hindrance if he only had one good eye).
6 Brain Damage: Massive trauma to the head. Smarts reduced one die type (min d4).
After taking damage but before applying any Wounds, the defender may spend a Benny to make a “Soak” roll. This is a Vigor check, with each success and raise reducing the number of Wounds suffered from that attack by one.
If the character Soaks all of the Wounds from an attack, he removes his Shaken condition too (even from a previous source). Don’t count the Wound modifiers he’s about to suffer when making this roll— that hasn’t happened yet.
Characters can’t Soak more than once per attack, but may spend Bennies as usual to reroll
the Vigor check if they aren’t satisfied with the results.
Shaken: A character can spend a Benny to immediately eliminate a Shaken condition. This is instant and can be done at any time.
Figuring out how Shaken and Wounds work together takes a little getting used to, but is worth it for the gameplay it provides. In essence, it means Shaking an Extra twice usually takes it off the table. It gets a bit more complicated with Wild Cards or creatures that can take more than one Wound, so here’s a table that might help.
Examples:
A character takes a Wound. She’s also Shaken.
A character is Shaken, then takes a Wound. She has one Wound and remains Shaken.
A character is already Shaken, then Shaken again (without a Wound). She now has one Wound and remains Shaken.
A character has two Wounds and is Shaken. She takes another Wound, so she has three Wounds and remains Shaken.
Damage Victim is Unshaken Victim is Already Shaken
Success (0-3 points of damage over Toughness) Shaken 1 Wound and remains Shaken
1 Raise (4-7 points of damage over Toughness) 1 Wound and Shaken 1 Wound and remains Shaken
2 Raises (8-11 points of damage over Toughness) 2 Wounds and Shaken 2 Wounds and remains Shaken
3 Raises (12-15 points of damage over Toughness) 3 Wounds and Shaken 3 Wounds and remains Shaken