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Post by Stefan [GM] on May 3, 2011 8:29:21 GMT -7
Since we had this situation more than once, here is my take on it:
Using Melee as a simple action
Normaly, Melee attacks cover a series of movements to attack/block, rather than a single stab with a melee weapon, thus making it a complex action.
In some situations, you might just want to give it one single stab, slash, punch, kick, rather than going all out, thus keeping another action free for let's say firing a weapon.
In that case, you'll need to spend only a simple action to attack in melee, but since you're only using half a melee action (single instead of complex), you can only use half your melee dicepool to do so. The other simple action has to be used for something else the same turn, for example firing a weapon at another (or same) target.
All modifiers apply.
You will have to declare your intention before you roll anything. If you want to fire a weapon the same time you attack someone in melee, the ranged combat will suffer the -3 from being in melee, as well as the -2 for a different target (if you attack a different target, that is), regardless whether you fire the weapon first or not.
Off-hand rules also apply (unless you have qualities or maneuvers to counter it).
If the defender (melee) has a critical success (4+ net hits against your attack), he will gain the superior position modifier (+2 on next attack) and might even (gm discretion) knock your weapon out of your hand (seperate test).
On the flipside, regardless of the outcome the defender will be considered melee after your attack and suffers all modifiers from it (like -3 on ranged attacks, etc).
So you'll still be using a complex action, but you split it between a simple melee attack and a ranged attack (or other simple actions). If you want to use both simple actions to attack melee, you will have to go by the normal melee rules as normal, instead of attacking twice.
Also, since it seems to become a very unbalanced trend, firing at a target in melee range twice instead of attacking in melee will be changed up a little bit as well.
As attacker, nothing changes.
As defender, if the defender manages to dodge the first attack completly, he will jump out of the way, behind cover, behind the character, depending on situation. This will apply the full-cover option to the defender (if there was any cover close by) or at least a +4 to defend against the second attack from the same attackerin the same initiative pass (abstract use of partial cover, giving the defender more time to react against the next shot, since the attacker has turn around first).
If the defender has at least one hit on his dodge test, he will recive a +2 to his next defense, since he jumped partially out of the way (using a modified version of the new-target-rule, since the attacker has to 'lock on' again).
All other modifiers still apply (like being prone if knocked down, etc)
Opinions?
Using Melee as a simple action
Normaly, Melee attacks cover a series of movements to attack/block, rather than a single stab with a melee weapon, thus making it a complex action.
In some situations, you might just want to give it one single stab, slash, punch, kick, rather than going all out, thus keeping another action free for let's say firing a weapon.
In that case, you'll need to spend only a simple action to attack in melee, but since you're only using half a melee action (single instead of complex), you can only use half your melee dicepool to do so. The other simple action has to be used for something else the same turn, for example firing a weapon at another (or same) target.
All modifiers apply.
You will have to declare your intention before you roll anything. If you want to fire a weapon the same time you attack someone in melee, the ranged combat will suffer the -3 from being in melee, as well as the -2 for a different target (if you attack a different target, that is), regardless whether you fire the weapon first or not.
Off-hand rules also apply (unless you have qualities or maneuvers to counter it).
If the defender (melee) has a critical success (4+ net hits against your attack), he will gain the superior position modifier (+2 on next attack) and might even (gm discretion) knock your weapon out of your hand (seperate test).
On the flipside, regardless of the outcome the defender will be considered melee after your attack and suffers all modifiers from it (like -3 on ranged attacks, etc).
So you'll still be using a complex action, but you split it between a simple melee attack and a ranged attack (or other simple actions). If you want to use both simple actions to attack melee, you will have to go by the normal melee rules as normal, instead of attacking twice.
Also, since it seems to become a very unbalanced trend, firing at a target in melee range twice instead of attacking in melee will be changed up a little bit as well.
As attacker, nothing changes.
As defender, if the defender manages to dodge the first attack completly, he will jump out of the way, behind cover, behind the character, depending on situation. This will apply the full-cover option to the defender (if there was any cover close by) or at least a +4 to defend against the second attack from the same attackerin the same initiative pass (abstract use of partial cover, giving the defender more time to react against the next shot, since the attacker has turn around first).
If the defender has at least one hit on his dodge test, he will recive a +2 to his next defense, since he jumped partially out of the way (using a modified version of the new-target-rule, since the attacker has to 'lock on' again).
All other modifiers still apply (like being prone if knocked down, etc)
Opinions?
..