The core rules for Pathfinder for 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.
In the following section are some of the more elaborate maneuvers characters can attempt.
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, she can make a much more accurate shot.
If a character spends her entire turn Aiming a ranged weapon at a particular target or spot (GM's call) and takes no other actions, on her next turn she may ignore up to 4 points of Range, Cover, Called Shot, or Scale 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 relatively stationary to Aim. She can’t walk, run, ride a horse, or be constantly jostled.
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 and Stream Templates. There are copies you can print out on our website.
Area effect weapons target a location rather than individuals and so ignore defensive bonuses for targets covered by the template, such as the Dodge Edge.
Cone and Stream Templates are placed with one end (usually the narrow end for the Cone Template) emanating from the attacker and fired with the Shooting skill (or Athletics for breath weapons and other natural attacks). 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 arcane device malfunctioned, etc. Area Effect Attacks that use the Small Cone Template function the same as a Cone Template. The only difference is the size of the template.
To attack with a blast template, the player places it 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 the miss might 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.
Most of the time, the GM can ignore a missed area effect attack. If it's important to know where a missed blast lands, thrown items deviate 1d6″. Fired projectiles deviate 2d6". 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).
Solid obstacles like trees or thick walls protect against area effect attacks if they’re between the center of the blast and a victim and the GM thinks they’d offer protection. Reduce the damage by half the object's hardness, see Cover & Obstacles.
Grappling and powers like entangle cause characters to be Bound and Entangled. Here’s what each of those states means and how to break free from them. Characters are either Bound or Entangled—effects don't stack.
Entangled: The victim can’t move and is Vulnerable as long as he remains Entangled.
Bound: The victim may not move, is Distracted and Vulnerable as long as he remains Bound, and cannot make physical actions other than trying to break free.
Breaking Free: Attempting to break free from being Bound or Entangled is an action using Strength at -2 or Athletics.
Breaking Free from a Device: A character bound by a physical device (such as a net, manacles, or handcuffs) who fails to break free can’t try again until the situation changes in some way (GM’s call).
Bound or Entangled victims may try to destroy the entanglement with an accessible and appropriate weapon (GM’s call based on circumstances and the entangling material). Weapon attacks hit automatically (see Breaking Things), and attackers may Wild Attack for +2 damage. Webs, ropes, nets, and the like are generally Hardness 4. If successful the character is un-Entangled (others in an area effect entanglement must be freed separately unless the attack is an area effect itself).
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).
Hardness Object
4 Rope
6 Bow
8 Polearm, thin wooden door or wall
10 Shield*, longsword, thick wooden door or wall
12 Iron lock, manacles, shackles
*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.
No Bonus Damage or Aces: 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 vehicle, an attack can’t hit a “vital” area on a lock or a door and thus do more damage.
Damage Types: Certain types of attacks can’t break certain types of objects. A club can’t cut a rope, for example. Use common sense when determining whether or not a particular type of weapon can destroy an object.
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:
Hand (-4): Target may be Disarmed.
Head or Vitals (-4): Hitting the head or vital organs of living creatures adds +4 damage to the attacker’s total. The penalty is -5 if attempting to target the face of someone wearing an open-faced helmet (thus bypassing the helmet’s Armor).
Item (?): Use the dimensions on the Scale table for items. Targeting something the size of a dagger, for example, is -4.
Limbs (-2): Unless attempting to Disarm (see below), hitting a limb has no additional special effect since it’s already accounted for by Wound and Pace penalties (see Wounds).
Unarmored Area (?): The attack targets the unprotected area of a target otherwise covered in Armor. The penalty depends on the Scale of the area. The eye slit of a helmet is Tiny (-6), for example, while the flesh beneath the missing scale of a Huge dragon might be Very Small (-4).
Melee and ranged attacks suffer a penalty when attempting to hit a target behind Cover. Penalties only apply to the targeted area—a skeleton standing behind a knee-high wall doesn't get Light Cover, but it does if a quarter of its body is protected by a door frame.
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 hidden or barely visible.
Sometimes characters have sufficient power to attack their foes through obstacles (See Breaking Things to actually destroy intervening obstacles.)
When this happens, add an Armor bonus equal to half the obstacle's Hardness to the target beyond (round up if necessary).
If the obstacle is a person or creature, subtract its Toughness from the attack instead.
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.
Determined to land a blow, the warrior unleashes a frantic attack, focusing on hitting his target at the expense of damage. He 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 by making an attack against the limb or hand (see Called Shots). If the attack hits a 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 an attack against a target's hand or limb Shakes or Wounds him, he must make a Strength roll at -2 if it hit his limb or -4 if it hit his hand. Failure means he drops whatever item is in that hand.
Characters may be Distracted or made Vulnerable by special abilities, Tests, or powers. These states last until the end of the character’s next turn unless otherwise noted. If a hero becomes Distracted or Vulnerable during her current turn, it lasts until the end of her next turn. Like effects don't stack.
Distracted: The hero subtracts 2 from all Trait rolls until the end of his next turn.
Vulnerable: Actions and attacks against the target are made at +2 until the end of his next turn. This doesn’t stack with The Drop (see below).
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 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 hazards, stress, powers, or circum stances may cause Fatigue instead of damage. This represents mental stress or minor but lingering injuries that make a person less effective. Fatigue stacks until the victim is Incapacitated.
Fatigued: The victim subtracts 1 from all Trait rolls. If he takes another level of Fatigue, he’s Exhausted.
Exhausted: The victim subtracts 2 from all Trait rolls. If he takes another level of Fatigue, he’s Incapacitated.
Incapacitated: The victim cannot perform actions and may be unconscious (GM’s call).
Unless otherwise specified by the source, Fatigue and Exhaustion improve one level per hour. Characters Incapacitated from Fatigue are helpless and may be unconscious (GM’s call) for 2d6 hours. If treatment is possible (food, water, etc.; depending on the source of Fatigue), and a Healing roll is made, the character improves to Exhausted.
Mixed Fatigue: If a hero suffers Fatigue from different sources with different recovery times, remove one level when the effect with the shortest duration expires, then another level when the longest expires.
Fatigue from hunger, thirst, etc., sometimes has different recovery conditions. See Hazards.
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.
Occasionally, heroes have to fire into the middle of hand-to-hand fights. The trouble is that even though we might see figures standing perfectly still on the tabletop, in “reality,” they’re circling each other, wrestling back and forth, and moving erratically. For that reason, firing into a tangle of people, such as a melee, is quite dangerous. Use the Innocent Bystander rules when this occurs.
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 other Edges or combat options. This is usually a Fighting or grappling attack, but could include Shooting if the attacker is armed with a hand crossbow, wand, or small device (GM's call, see Ranged Weapons in Melee).
Ganging up allows attackers to flank, exploit openings, and generally harass a foe. Each additional adjacent ally (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 adds +2 to their Fighting rolls.
Each of the defender's adjacent allies cancels out 1 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.
As an action, an attacker can make an opposed Athletics roll to grapple a defender. 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 doesn't get a bonus or penalty for Scale difference).
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).
Example: A dragon (Huge +4) tries to pin a humanoid thief (Normal). The difference between Huge and Normal Scales is 4, so the dragon must subtract 4 from its Athletics roll. The rogue doesn't get a bonus or penalty.
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 delay her turn by going on “Hold.” This allows her to resolve her actions 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.
Darkness conceals details and makes it more difficult to detect objects and targets.
Subtract the Illumination penalties (see the Illumination Penalties table below) from active Trait rolls affected by illumination, such as attacks, arcane skill and Notice rolls, etc.
It’s up to the Game Master exactly what Trait rolls are affected, but here are a few examples of rolls that should not be penalized:
Resisting powers
Resisting grappling attempts
Recovering from a negative status, such as being Shaken or Stunned
Verbal Support rolls
Verbal Tests
A friendly, cooperative, adjacent character in Pitch Darkness where touch and communication overcome lack of sight
Note that foes may get bonuses for attacking a target that can’t see them (see Attacking from Stealth).
Penalty Lighting
-2 Dim: Twilight, light fog, night with a full moon. Visibility is generally limited to 25” (50 yards).
-4 Dark: Typical night conditions with some ambient light from stars, a clouded or partial moon, 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:
Light: Beer stein, fist-sized rock, dagger pommel (as a club). Range 3/6/12, Damage Str+d4, Min Str d4.
Medium: Hammer, pick, wooden chair. Range 2/4/8, Damage Str+d6, Min Str d6.
Heavy: Head-size rock, sack of stones, log. Range 1/2/4, Damage Str+d8, Min Str d8.
The GM should adjust the damage and other factors as makes sense for the particular item.
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 arrows.
Each skill die that’s a 1 hits a random victim adjacent to or directly in the line of fire to the original target
A Wild Card must miss with his Wild Die for a RoF 1 weapon to hit an innocent bystander— Wild Dice never hit innocent bystanders.
This sometimes means it's 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.
ROF 2+ : Although rare on Golarion, weapons with a Rate of Fire of 2 or more, or that fire in a spread, 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 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 during their rider’s action if desired.
Horsemanship: Characters who wish to fight from horseback must use the lowest of their Fighting or Riding skills. This also applies to other more extraordinary mounts.
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, the rider suffers 2d4 damage (2d6 with a Critical Failure). Increase the damage by an additional die or two if the mount is particularly fast, flies, or the rider falls in particularly rough or dangerous terrain.
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 mount 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 mount adds +4 to his damage roll with a successful Fighting attack. To be considered charging, the rider must have moved at least 5″ (10 yards) 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 (one of which may be a limited action). 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 hero may take her actions at different points of her movement as she wishes.
Free Actions: Multi-Action penalties do not apply to free (or limited free) actions.
Creatures with natural weapons such as fangs, claws, or horns may attack with 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). This is a Fighting attack.
Claws: Add +2 to Athletics (climbing) rolls on any rough or soft surface (not sheer steel, glass, etc.).
Horns: Add +4 damage from a successful attack with a creature's horns if it runs and moves at least 5″ (10 yards).
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 cannot Bleed Out.
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.
Ranged attacks suffer a -4 penalty to hit prone characters from a range of 3″ (6 yards) or greater (this does not stack with Cover) and subtract 4 points of damage from area effect attacks.
If a prone defender is caught in melee, his Parry is reduced by 2 and he must subtract 2 from his Fighting rolls.
Standing from prone is a free action, but costs a character 2″ of movement.
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 action that requires opposed rolls of Strength. If the attacker is successful he pushes the foe back 1″ (2 yards), or twice that with a raise.
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 runs at least 2″ (4 yards) before the Push, he adds +2 to his total.
Size Matters: Double the distance pushed if the attacker’s Scale is larger than the foe’s. 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.
Heroes may fire ranged weapons when engaged in melee with a few caveats:
The attacker may only use a power or a one-handed ranged weapon (such as a thrown dagger) when in melee. He may not fire two-handed weapons such as a bow. The TN is the defender’s Parry instead of Short Range as he struggles back and forth, etc.
If attacking a non-adjacent target with a ranged attack while in melee, the attacker instantly becomes Vulnerable.
Characters may “ready” up to two items per turn as a free action. Readying means drawing, holstering, or otherwise moving an item into or out of an easy-to-reach location.
Each additional item readied is an action, as is recovering an item from a difficult location like an ankle sheath, off the floor after being disarmed, or other extenuating circumstances.
Nocking an arrow or loading a sling is a free action, but reloading any ranged weapon requires two hands (thrown weapons are readied, see above).
Some weapons, like heavy crossbows, are slower to reload. They require a number of actions to reload, listed as “Reload X” in their description.
Example: Our ranger fires a heavy crossbow (Reload 2) as part of a Multi-Action, using his other two actions that turn to reload. Since this is three actions, his Shooting roll is made at -4. On his next turn, he's ready to fire again.
Running & Reloading: Running and loading requires an Agility roll (at the usual -2 penalty for running). Failure means no progress toward reloading was made that action.
Whenever a party decides to rest for a prolonged period (at least eight hours of no activity), each Wild Card in the party recovers one Benny. Of course, the party's enemies are able to regather their strength, too, so the GM also regains a Benny.
Creature abilities, the stun power, electrical hazards, or other shocks to the brain or nervous system make a character essentially helpless until they manage to shake it off.
Restart the process if a Stunned character is Stunned again.
Are Distracted (this is removed at the end of a victim’s next turn as usual)
Are Vulnerable (this remains until a victim recovers from being Stunned)
Fall prone (or to their knees, GM’s call)
Can’t move or take any actions
Don’t count toward the Gang Up bonus
Recovery: At the start of a Stunned character’s turn, he makes a Vigor roll as a free action. Success means he’s no longer Stunned but remains Vulnerable until the end of his next turn. With a raise, his Vulnerable state goes away at the end of this turn.
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 (as an action if the game is in rounds) and declare which of their ally’s skills they’re attempting to Support.
Success grants the ally +1 to one skill 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 character with Academics might recall historical information helpful to a wizard doing research on an ancient relic.
General encouragement (a Persuasion roll) such as “You can do it!” or “From the back!” is perfectly acceptable, but at the GM’s discretion lose effectiveness if repeated.
Example: The heroes mount up for a day’s ride. Spooked by a pack of wolves, the horses bolt. The cleric, having no Riding skill, finds herself in danger of losing control of the mount. The paladin shouts “Hold the reins loosely!” She rolls Riding and gets a raise. The cleric adds +2 to the unskilled Riding roll to control her horse.
Combat often starts before everyone involved is prepared. An ambush, a sudden double-cross, or a trap might all give one side in a fight an advantage. 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. 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.
See the Stealth skill if someone attempts a sneak attack before the round begins.
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. Whatever skill is used, performing a Test is an action.
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, and there may be other subjective effects as the GM allows, such as a tripped foe being knocked prone.
Modifiers: The GM must determine which modifiers apply to a Test. Shooting, for example, should include Range, Cover, Illumination, 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 a shameful secret to hit a rival’s ego where it hurts, for example, might be worth a +2 bonus to the attacker.
Repetition: Using the same or similar action repeatedly quickly grows less effective, so the GM shouldn't allow players to use the same tactics, insults, or threats more than once an encounter.
Additional Dice: If a character has 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.
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).
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.
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 small ranged weapons offers no special advantage other than additional ammunition or narrative embellishments.
Those wanting to specialize further can take the Two-Weapon Fighting 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.)
A character attempting to fire or throw a ranged weapon from the back of a horse or other mount, a moving vehicle, or other “unstable platform” subtracts 2 from his Athletics (throwing) or Shooting totals.
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 or Athletics (throwing) 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. It can't be combined with a Desperate Attack.
Whenever a character retreats from melee, all adjacent non-Shaken and non-Stunned opponents get an immediate free attack (see Free Attacks).
Example: Our druid is surrounded by three bandits. She must get to a wounded sorcerer. She takes the Defend option (increasing her Parry by +4) and backs away from the bandits. All three of her opponents get a free attack, at +2 for Ganging Up. Fortunately, the druid’s Parry bonus fends them off and she makes her way to her injured friend.