Violent Conflict (Combat)

You can find the following topics in the Violent Conflict (Combat) section:

What is Combat?

Combat is the narrative of an unfolding violent conflict that pits the characters against enemies controlled by the narrator. As with social conflict, violent combat begins with determining initiative, if it has not been determined already.

Attacks

A character performs an attack by making an instant skill test using the appropriate combat ability. For example, a character wielding a short sword would roll an instant skill test using their 1-Handed Melee skill rating. A successful skill test (one that generates goal points) results in the potential of damage being dealt to the target.

In Spectrum, damage is an abstraction used to represent the physical or mental trauma caused by an attack.

Within physical combat, there are two types of attacks: Melee and Ranged.

• Melee: Melee attacks are non-projectile attacks from a weapon held by the user, where damage is dictated by the user’s physical attributes.
• Ranged: Ranged attacks are projectile attacks launched or fired from a weapon held by the user. Damage is dictated by the weapon and the ammunition type.

Damage

Upon successfully striking a target there is the opportunity for that strike to damage the target.

Damage exists in two states: damage dealt and damage sustained.

• Damage dealt is the total amount of damage imparted on the target prior to accounting for mitigating variables, such as armor.
• Damage sustained is the damage that the target accrues after any mitigating factors.

The types of damage that can be caused are determined by the weapons and techniques used.

• Sharp damage represents damage caused by cutting, piercing, and rending tissues and subtracts from a target’s life points. Weapons that cause this type of damage include swords, spears, arrows, knives, etc.
• Blunt damage represents damage that is caused by a force that does not overtly cut, pierce, or rend tissues and subtracts from both life and will points. Weapons that cause this type of damage are staves, baseball bats, maces, hammers, etc.
• Ballistic damage represents damage caused by large amounts of kinetic energy displacing surrounding tissues, causing crushing, stretching, and tearing injuries; it subtracts from both life and will points. Firearms are the most common weapons that cause ballistic damage.
• Stun damage represents damage that only effects the target’s will points. The most common cause of stun damage is fisticuffs, falling, and metaphysics.

Attack Modifiers  

Attack modifiers are static conditions that affect attack rolls. Unless the narrator dictates otherwise, these conditions will always apply and should be factored into every melee and ranged attack roll.

In Spectrum, there are two basic types of Attack Modifiers.

Shift Modifiers

Shift modifiers are situational and environmental factors that can increase or decrease the overall outcome of attacking a target. Modifiers increase or decrease the gp generated from an attack roll.

Example:

• Using a magically enhanced sword
• Using a scope on your rifle for a long-range shot
• Striking your opponent from concealment

Shift modifiers do not increase the chance of success or failure in the to-hit attempt, but instead, change the value of the attempt, making it more or less impactful.

Adjustment Modifiers

Adjustment modifiers are situational and environmental factors that can make it easier or harder to hit a target. For example, taking a moment to aim a shot at a target will make the target easier to hit. Likewise, targets that are immobilized or moving can make an attack easier or harder to land, respectively. Lighting conditions may also cause an adjustment to the roll.

Melee Attacks

Melee Attacks are attacks made against opponents in close range, generally with a handheld weapon or part of the attacker’s body.

A melee weapon is useless unless it is drawn. A melee weapon may be drawn from a sheath or other easily accessible location as a simple action.

A combatant may only make a melee attack if their target is within their weapon’s range. Melee weapon ranges are expressed as a range of distances representing both the minimum and maximum number of meters at which a character may attack with the weapon.

Unarmed melee attacks, such as punches, kicks, and headbutts, are made with the Unarmed skill. Unarmed strikes have a melee range of 0-1. damage unless the attacker uses a modified strike, such as with a fist weapon, a technique, or a manifestation.

A range of 1 or higher means there needs to be at least one meter between the attacker and their target before they can make an attack.

A range of 0 represents no minimum distance and allows for attacks against opponents that are in physical contact with the attacker, such as when biting or grappling.

How to Make a Melee Attack

A melee attack is made in two parts:

The Hit roll: determines if and how well an attack lands and if you succeed in striking the target

The Damage roll: determines the damage inflicted on the target.

Hit Roll

1. The player declares they are making a melee attack.
2. Using the appropriate melee skill the Player finds the appropriate column for their skill rating (If the skill rating falls between two columns, always round down to the closest column)
3. The narrator and player determine any appropriate shifts and/or adjustments.
4. The player rolls d100, references the die results on The Chart, and announces the number of goal points generated or the extent of their failure. If goal points are generated, they will be added as an adjustment to the subsequent damage roll. A failure means the attack has failed to strike the target.

Damage Roll

1. The attack has struck the target (bravo). The player finds the column on The Chart that corresponds to the weapon’s damage rating.
2. The narrator and player determine any appropriate shifts and/or adjustments. The goal points generated by the attack roll are counted as bonus adjustments to the damage roll.
3. The player rolls d100 and references the die results on The Chart and announces the number of goal points generated. This number is the damage dealt to the target with the type of damage dictated by the attack being used.

Ranged Attacks

Ranged attacks involve propelling projectiles such as bullets, arrows, bolts, or thrown weapons.

Before a character may perform a ranged attack, their ranged weapon must be drawn and loaded. Simple and compound bows require arrows to be nocked on the bowstring prior to firing. The act of drawing an arrow from a quiver (or other location) and nocking it on the bowstring constitutes a simple action.

Firearms have different loading mechanisms, depending on the weapon. Some, such as pump shotguns and lever action rifles, require manual cycling (working the loading mechanism), which can be done as a simple action.

Reloading a spent firearm will have different action requirements, depending on the firearm.

A combatant may take one shot with a ranged weapon as a simple action. A shot is defined as:

Ranged weapons have various minimum, optimum, and maximum ranges that define the extent to which they can be effectively used.

• Ultra Close: Often mistakenly called “point blank,” this range describes using a ranged weapon so close to the target that they are considered nearly impossible to miss. In most cases, this is considered 5 meters or less.
• Close: The minimum distance before reaching “point blank.” At this range, hitting a target is easier, but so is closing the distance. A “don’t shoot till you see the whites of their eyes” distance.
• Medium: The maximum distance at which the weapon is capable of making non-arcing shots at a target.
• Long: The maximum distance at which, without special equipment and training, the weapon and ammunition are capable of making consistent hits.
• Extreme Long: The maximum distance at which, with specialized equipment and training, the weapon and ammunition is still capable of making consistent hits. Uses the Targeting Skill.
• Ultra Long: The maximum distance at which, with specialized equipment and training, the weapon and ammunition are still capable of effectively damaging a target. Uses the Targeting Skill.

How to Make a Ranged Attack

A ranged attack is made in two rolls: a hit roll and a damage roll. The hit roll determines how well the attack lands, and the damage roll determines the total potential damage that will be inflicted by this attack.

To make an attack with a ranged weapon, the user must have a shot prepared, i.e., an arrow knocked, a sling stone loaded, or a round chambered.

Hit roll

1. The player declares they are making a ranged attack.
2. Using the appropriate ranged skill the Player finds the appropriate column for their skill rating (If the skill rating falls between two columns, always round down to the closest column)
3. The narrator and player determine any appropriate shifts and/or adjustments.
4. The player rolls d100, references the die results on The Chart, and announces the number of goal points generated or the extent of their failure. If goal points are generated, they will be added as an adjustment to the subsequent damage roll. A failure means the attack has failed to strike the target.

Damage roll

1. The attack has struck the target (bravo). The player finds the column that corresponds to the weapon’s damage rating, on The Chart.
2. The narrator and player determine any appropriate shifts and/or adjustments. The goal points generated by the attack roll are counted as bonus adjustments to the damage roll.
3. The player rolls d100 and references the die results on The Chart, and announces the number of gal points generated, this number is the damage dealt to the target with the type of damage dictated by the attack being used.

Ranged Attacks into Melee

Melee represents a dynamic event where multiple creatures are moving around in close proximity. Because of this, making a ranged attack against a target involved in a melee always represents an inherent risk, as missing the intended target could mean hitting an unintended target, such as a teammate.

Shooting into melee occurs when a ranged attack is used against a target engaged in melee combat.

1. The player declares the target of the ranged attack, adding ◄ 1 for each character within 2 meters of the target.
2. The player makes their attack roll using the appropriate Ranged skill, factoring in the penalty shifts and any other adjustments.
3. On an ULTRAVIOLET or above color result, the attack hits the intended target.
4. On a WHITE, the attack simply misses.
5. On a LIGHT GREY, DARK GREY, or BLACK color result, all qualifying characters or creatures perform a kismet check. The character or creature that generates the fewest goal points in this check is hit by the ranged attack. In the event of a tie, the narrator decides who is hit.

Dodging

A dodge is an intentional attempt to move out of the way of an incoming attack. A Dodge is declared as a Ready action and is performed as either a Simple or Complex action.

• Simple Action: The character can attempt to dodge the next attack that targets them.
• Complex Action: The character can attempt to dodge the next three attacks that target them.

When attempting to Dodge:

• During their turn, the player declares either a Simple or a Complex Dodge as a Ready action.
• After an attacker has declared their attack against the character, but before the attacker rolls, the character rolls their dodge skill.
• Any gal points generated from the dodge are subtracted from the attacker’s hit roll.

Note that dodging can absolutely reduce an attack’s result to grey or black.

Examples:

• During their turn, the player readies a dodge action.
• The player’s character is attacked
• The player has a dodge skill of 10 and makes a dodge skill rolls referencing the 10 column on The Chart.
• The player rolls a 41, a GREEN color result generating a total of 5 goal points
• The attacker, using their 1H melee skill of 17, makes their hit roll and rolls a 32.
• The 5 goal points generated by the player’s dodge roll are subtracted from the hit roll. 32-5= 27.
• The attacker now scores a CYAN color result generating 7 goal points on their hit roll.

Blocking

A block is a character’s attempt to interpose an object between themselves and an incoming attack. A Block is declared as a Ready action and can be performed as either a Simple or Complex action.

• Simple Action: The character can attempt to block the next attack that targets them.
• Complex Action: The character can attempt to block the next three attacks that target them.
• When blocking with a melee weapon, the Block is rolled using the same skill the character would use to attack with the weapon.
• When blocking with a shield, the character uses the Shield skill.

Performing a Block action:

• During their turn, the player declares either a Simple or a Complex Block as a Ready action.
• After an attacker has made their hit against the character, but before they roll for damage, the character rolls their relevant block skill.
• Any goal pints generated from the block are subtracted from the attacker’s damage roll.

Note that blocking can absolutely reduce an attack’s result to grey or black.

Examples:

• During their turn, the player readies a Block action.
• The character is attacked.
• The player has a Shield skill of and makes a melee, shield kill rolls referencing the 13 column on The Chart. The player rolls an 87, an ORANGE result, generating a total of 13 goal points
• The attacker, using their 2-handed melee skill of 10, makes their hit roll and rolls a 60, a YELLOW color result. generating 7 goal points on their hit roll.
• The attacker then makes their damage roll. With a strength (STR) of 10, the attacker makes a damage roll referencing the 10 column on The Chart and gets a 41. The attacker first adds the 7 goal points generated from the hit roll (41+7=48) and then Subtracts the 13 goal points from the Block roll (48-13=35)
• The attacker scores a GREEN color result generating 5 goal points, dealing 5 points of life damage to the player’s character.

Armor

Armor is a protective covering that reduces damage dealt. It can be the outer metal shell worn over clothing or, in the case of natural armor, hide, scales, chitin, or other biological features that protect the body.

When damage is dealt to a character who is wearing armor:

• The character wearing armor is attacked, and the attacker has made their damage roll
• The character uses the column on The Chart that corresponds to the armor’s protection rating.
• Goal points generated from this roll are subtracted from the damage dealt to the character. If the attack would deal both life and will damage, the goal pints generated from the roll will reduce both types of damage.

Examples:

• A character is struck with a war hammer for 10 life damage and 10 will damage.
• The character’s armor has a protection rating of 10
• The character rolls an armor test using the 10 column on The Chart.
• The roll generates 5 goal points.
• The 5 goal points are subtracted from both the 10 life damage and the 10 will damage.
• The character takes 5 points of life damage and 5 points of will damage from the attack.

Sustaining Damage

Damage that isn’t blocked, dodged, reduced by armor, or mitigated in any other means is sustained, which begins to reduce a character’s life and/or will point totals. As a character continues to sustain damage, they may lose consciousness, or worse, their life. When a character reaches 0 will points, they may be inflicted with loss of consciousness (LoC) condition. When a character reaches 0 life points, they may be inflicted with the dying condition. 

Medical Intervention During Conflict

Eventually, everything breaks, including characters. This is especially true during conflict.

There is extraordinarily little field medicine that can be completed in a single initiative round. Medical intervention is restoring the body to a condition in which it can begin to repair itself. Furthermore, it should be understood that mundane medical interventions do not give life points back to characters but are used to address conditions such as poisoning, disease exposure, bleeding, fractured bones, torn ligaments, dying, and death.

Medical intervention is broken down into the following:

Triage 

The preliminary assessment of a patient determines the significance of the problem(s) and the urgency in which they need to be attended. Triage is rolled as a complex action. The more goal points generated, the more that is understood about the severity of the problem. In the event of multiple problems or patients, it provides a general sense of treatment priority.

Example: An emergency department doctor walking into the trauma bay can quickly assess that the gentleman with flu like symptoms, while not having his best day, is not nearly as critical as the person one bay who has managed to sever a limb. With that knowledge, the ED doctor would likely choose to treat the severed limb before dealing with the shrapnel case next door. 

Diagnose 

Diagnosing a patient’s condition determines what the issues are. While some issues are straightforward to diagnose, such as a compound fracture in a patient’s leg, other issues can take considerably longer. The more complicated or cryptic the problem is, the more difficult it is to diagnose. If a patient is awake and able to communicate, that can often (but not always) help. Diagnosing a patient while in conflict is an extended action.

Example: Assessing a patient in the field, the paramedic takes a minute to determine that the patient is hypoxic, hypotensive, pinpoint pupils, with a low respiratory rate, and unresponsive. The paramedic places opiate overdose as primary on the differential list.

Treatment 

After a patient has been diagnosed, the medic may be able to administer treatment. Given the delicate nature of living creatures, the medic must make an extended contested roll to represent the dynamic nature of the condition.

The narrator will generate goal points referencing the column on The Chart that corresponds to the value of the condition while the intervening character rolls their appropriate skill test. If the medic scores more goal points, the excess goal points are subtracted from the condition’s value. If the condition scores more goal points than the medic, the excess points are added to the condition’s value.

Example: A patient with severe allergies was stung by a bee and is beginning to experience anaphylactic shock. The paramedic pulls an epinephrine auto-injector from his kit and administers a shot to the patient’s thigh. Within minutes the symptoms begin to subside, and the patient’s vitals begin to return to normal.

Stabilize 

When a medic lacks the necessary tools, equipment, or even skills to properly treat a condition, they can at least attempt to keep the problem from getting worse. Stabilizing is an extended action that prevents a condition from worsening. For example, a tourniquet is not a long-term solution, but it might keep a patient from bleeding out long enough to find help. If the narrator determines that the medic lacks the proper gear to sufficiently treat a condition, the medic makes a contested roll against the value of the condition. The goal points generated by the medic are only ever subtracted from the goal points generated by the condition and not the condition itself.

Example: After witnessing a gruesome accident involving a cyclist and a delivery van, a Ash rushes to the cyclist’s aid. While no Doctor, they have had some first aid training and begins to apply pressure to the wound until the ambulance can arrive.

Temporize

Temporizing is an extended action in which the medic applies a stopgap treatment to temporarily restore a patient to a working condition. This could be anything from applying enough morphine to allow a soldier to continue fighting through the pain or strapping a sword to a character’s hand so they can continue to fight with broken fingers.

A temporized condition does not go away on its own. On the contrary, it tends to get worse. When a character has a condition temporized, the narrator will roll the condition’s value on The Chart every turn the character takes an action that would exacerbate the situation, using a broken hand, for example. Any goal points generated by the condition are added to the condition’s value, causing it to worsen over time.

Example: A character suffers a tremendously painful wound in combat. In order to prevent the effects of the pain they take a triple dose of morphine in order to ignore the condition long enough to escape.

Resuscitate

When a character has gone from dying to dead, they may still be brought back to the dying status. To resuscitate a dying character, the medic makes a medical skill roll, and the rest of the responsibility is on the dead character.

1. The medic makes a medical roll, and any resulting goal points will be added to the dead character’s roll.
2. The dead character then makes a contested Toughness check against their negative life point value.
3. If the character scores higher the goal points are added to their life point total. If the Dead condition scores higher, the goal points are subtracted from the character’s life point total.
4. This process repeats until the character is no longer dead and only dying OR until the character’s life points are negative 2x their endurance, at which time they transition from mostly dead to all dead.
5. If the character is brought back from dead to dying, the medic is no longer able to make a resuscitate roll and must instead begin either treating, stabilizing, or temporizing the dying character.

Remember: “There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is still slightly alive.“

Example:

A dying character exceeds their Endurance rating in negative life points and is now considered “Dead.” Fortunately for the recently deceased, the party medic is able to rush to their aid and begin performing CPR.

• The assisting medic rolls her Medicine Skill, generating goal points.
• The dead character rolls his Toughness rating, adding the goal points generated from the medic’s Medicine roll to his Toughness roll.
• The dead character generates 3 goal points.
• Death uses the character’s negative life point rating to generate goal points using The Chart.
• Death generates 7 goal points.

The character’s life points drop by another 4 points (7-3=4) as Death begins to sink its icy fingers into the soul of the nearly departed. The medic continues her efforts.

• The medic once again rolls her Medicine Skill, generating goal points.
• The dead character rolls his Toughness rating, adding the goal points generated from the medic’s Medicine roll to his Toughness roll.
• The dead character generates 10 goal points.
• Death uses the character’s negative life point rating to generate goal points using The Chart.
• Death generates 3 goal points.

The dead character’s life points total increases by 7 (10-3=7). The character begins to turn away from the light at the end of the tunnel, but they are not out of the woods yet.

• The assisting medic rolls their Medicine skill a third time but does not generate goal points.
• The dead character rolls his Toughness rating, without any added benefit from the medic’s CPR roll.
• The dead character generates 13 goal points.
• Death uses the character’s negative life point rating to generate goal points using The Chart.
• Death generates 1 goal point.

The dead character gains another 12 (13-1=12) life points, putting them above their negative Endurance rating. With a weak cough and splutter, the dying character begins to breathe on their own, albeit weakly. The character is pretty far from okay, as they are merely dying, instead of dead. The medic begins to diagnose the patient so that she can hopefully treat the cause of the character’s condition. dying, instead of dead. The medic begins to diagnose the patient so that she can hopefully treat the cause of the character’s condition.

Stealth in Combat

Making a Stealth test in combat is a complex action.

When applying stealth mechanics to a combat scenario, the narrator should keep two questions in mind:

1. Where is the focus of the combatants whose attention the sneaking character wants to avoid?
2. Is it reasonable that the sneaking character could avoid attention, given their actions?

Stealth in combat is made possible by two circumstances: concealment and distraction. At least one of these factors must be present before a combatant can even attempt a stealth test.

Concealment

A combatant who makes use of concealment may make a Stealth test to avoid their opponents’ notice. The combatant ducks behind bushes, hides behind a stack of crates, or lingers in the shadows in hopes of being ignored or forgotten. Factors to be considered for using concealment in combat:

Distraction

A combatant who relies on distraction makes a Stealth test to avoid being detected by opponents who are focused on other combatants or events in the combat scenario. After all, who is going to notice the assassin tiptoeing behind his back when he is crossing swords with a seven-foot-tall berserker?

Steps to Performing Stealth in Combat

If the narrator determines that a Stealth test is permissible the character may perform a contested stealth skill test versus their opponent(s). Furthermore, if a character is able to utilizes both concealment and distraction, they will make their Stealth test with 2 ►.

• If the opponent is not actively looking for the character’s presence or action, they use their awareness instinct value for the contested skill test

Or

If the opponent is actively looking for the character or their action, then the opponent may use their awareness instinct or search skill for the contested skill test.

• Shifts and adjustments for both the character and the opponent are established
• Character and opponent(s) perform a contested Stealth check.
• If the character achieves a number of goal points equal to or greater to the goal points achieved by their opponent, they or their action has gone unnoticed. If the character fails to achieve a greater number of goal points than their opponent(s) they have failed to go unnoticed in their stealthy endeavors.

Hiding in Combat

In addition to the clear benefits of being hidden, a character gains the following benefits:

• The ability to traverse the battlefield and change position unnoticed without an additional roll until they or their environment undergo a state change.
• The ability to ignore any benefit the target would normally receive from a declared Block or Dodge.
• The ability to perform certain Techniques specified in the Treatise.

Critical Effects

Sometimes a well-placed or lucky strike can do more than just damage a target. To represent this, when an attacker achieves a RED, DARK RED, or INFRARED on a hit roll, they may choose to spend kismet to perform a critical effect roll on the critical effects table to reflect the attack having a greater than expected effect. The amount of kismet required to make a critical effect roll is determined by the color of the attack result. Critical effects are in addition to the damage that is dealt to the target.

• RED – One roll for 2 kismet.
• DARK RED- One roll for 1 kismet.
• INFRARED – Two rolls for 1 kismet. Effects from multiple rolls are cumulative.

* Unless this is the result of a called shot, the Narrator chooses the location of the trauma.