From: jtd@world.std.com (Jonathan T Drummey)
Subject: Modified Shadowrun Combat System - part 4: Combat Rules pt. 2
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 01:29:53 GMT

See the previous postings for the rest of the information.

jonathan drummey

jtd@world.std.com

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COMBAT PROCEDURE


ORDER OF ATTACK

Order of Attack Table
1.   Find the Base Target
     Number
2.   Apply Modifiers
3.   Make the Success Test
4.   Count Successes /
     Calculate Damage
5.   Reduce Damage
6.   Apply Damage



BASE TARGET NUMBERS - RANGED WEAPONS
Each ranged weapon has a given range, which is the extreme
range in meters for that weapon.  The range to the target
then falls into one of the following Range Categories.


Ranged Weapon Target Numbers Table
Range     Range               Base T#
Category
Point     0-1 meters          2
Blank
Short     up to 1/10 Extreme  4
          Range
Medium    up to 2/10 Extreme  5
          Range
Long      up to 1/2 Extreme   7
          Range
Extreme   Extreme Range       9
Extreme+  2x Extreme Range    10
1         (firearms only)
Extreme+  3x Extreme Range    11
2         (firearms only)
etc.                          


The maximum range for a firearm is about 10x Extreme Range.
The Falloff Range will generally be the limiting factor.


BASE TARGET NUMBERS - MELEE
In melee combat, once the attacker has announced his
intention to attack the defender has one of two options - to
counterattack or to avoid combat.  If the defender is
avoiding combat, the attacker chooses one of the actions
described below or attacks using a weapon and then uses his
Armed or Unarmed Combat Skill, whichever's appropriate, with
a target number of 4.  If the attack succeeds, the defender
reduces damage normally.

If the defender decides to counterattack, he also chooses
one of the possible maneuvers listed below.  The two
characters then make an Opposed Success Test using the
appropriate.  Whoever gets more successes will succeed,
causing damage if that is the case.

**This section is unfinished - using a combination of
CP2.0.2.0. Martial Arts and GURPS Martial Arts.


USING TWO WEAPONS
When the defender or the attacker is using two weapons
simultaneously, two separate rolls are made by that
character, one for each weapon. The weapon considered to be
the secondary weapon receives a +2 to the target number. In
addition for Melee Combat, if the character does not have
the Two Weapons skill, the attack with the secondary weapon
also receives a positive modifier of the difference between
the Reach bonuses of the two weapons being used or the Reach
advantage of either weapon, if both have the same Reach
advantage.  Attacks vs. an opponent using two weapons use
the skill of the opponent in the primary weapon to determine
the Target Number.  Successes by the single-weaponed
character are divided up by the character between the two
attacks.

     Example 1:  Joe the Street Samurai, wielding a Katana
     (Reach +1) and Wakizashi (Reach +0) has Japanese
     Swordplay at 5.  He's fighting DokterDum the troll
     (that's DoctorDoom, but he doesn't spell very well).
     When Joe attacks with both weapons, the katana will act
     normally and attacks with the wakizashi will be at a +3
     (+2 for second weapon and +1 for Reach).
     

CALLED SHOTS
Called shots use the appropriate base target number and
modifiers from the tables below.  The Target Size modifier
is required.  Shots to a vital area (such as a head) are
automatically at +1 Wound Category.  See the Applying Damage
section below for details on the damage.


TARGET MODIFIERS


General Target Modifiers Table
Condition                            Modifier
Target Standing Still                -1
Target Moving:                       
   1-20 m/s                          +0
   21-60                             +1
   61-200                            +2
   201-600                           +3
   601-1000                          +4
Attacker Moving                      +1*
Attacker Jogging                     +2*
Attacker Running                     Cannot shoot
Attacker In Vehicle                  Use Target
                                     Moving mods,
                                     but at +1
Partial cover (up to 50%)            +2
Full Cover (more than 50%)           +4
Target Size:                         
   Very Large (a great dragon)       -2
   Large (sides of cars, shop        -1
windows, etc.)
   Small (heads, A4 paper, etc.)     +4
   For each quadroupling of          -1,
metahuman (1m2) size                 cumulative
   For each halving of metahuman     +1,
(1m2) size                           cumulative
Aiming                               -1 per
                                     action, max
                                     1/2
                                     Intelligence
Target Silhouetted                   -2
Blind Fire                           +8
Ambush                               -3
Facing Change (for >90 change)      +1
Multiple Actions                     +4
                                     (cumulative
                                     for each
                                     extra action
                                     in the phase)
* Rough Terrain imposes another +1


Visibility Modifiers Table
Condition   Normal   Low-   Thermograp
            Vision  Light   hic Vision
                    Vision
Full          +4      +2        0
Darkness
Glare         +2      +4        +4
Mist          +2      +2        0
Reduced       +2      0         0
Light
Smoke or      +4      +4        +2
Heavy Fog



Melee Modifiers Table
Condition      Mod  Notes
Reach          -1   Great advantage
Advantage           gives -2 or
                    more.
Position       -1   ditto.
Advantage



Ranged Weapon Modifiers Table
Modifier Type        Modifier            Notes
Weapon Flash         +1 for normal       At night, in fog,
                     vision              etc.
                     +2 for thermo and   Full Auto only
                     low-light
Tracers              -1 for Full Auto    
Ricochet or Indirect +3                  
Fire
In Melee Combat      +1 per Opponent     
Fast Draw            +2                  Initiative moves
                                         up 3 phases for
                                         this action only
Changing mode of     +2                  Smartgun links
fire and                                 ignore this
  shooting                               penalty.
Firing Shoulder Arm  +2                  
from Hip
Laser Sight          -1                  
Smart Goggles or     -1                  Smartlinked weapon
Datajack                                 only
Smartgun Link        -2                  ditto.
Image Magnification  -1 Range Category   Minimum range is
                     per rating          Short*
                                         
Weapon Recoil        # of shots fired/2, x2 for Heavy
                     round up            Weapons
  Weapon ROF>=30     # of shots fired/3, 
                     round up
Recoil Compensation  Negate Recoil mods  
                     up to rating
Gyro Stabilization   Negate attacker     
                     movement and Recoil
                     mods up to rating
Using two hands on   -1 Recoil           Can't jog or run.
pistol
  (includes machine
pistol)
Using shoulder stock -1 Recoil           Can't move, jog or
                                         run
Bod Attribute is x2  1/2 Recoil mods,    **
base Power           round up.
  Level  of weapon
or more
Power Level of       1/2 Recoil mods,    **
weapon is 3 or less  round up
Using bipod or       1/3 Recoil, round   *** Cannot use w/
tripod               up                  hip pads.
Pintle Mount         1/10 Recoil, round  ***
                     up
Ring Mount           1/10 Recoil, round  ***
                     up
Firmpoint (fixed     1/10 Recoil, round  ***
mount)               up
Hardpoint (fixed     1/20 Recoil, round  ***
mounts and           up
  turrets)


* Note:  No more than one shot or burst per action.
       Attacker cannot move, jog or run.
** Note:  Effective after any other recoil mods.
*** Note:  Effective before any other recoil mods.


HITTING AND DAMAGE


SUCCESS TEST ROLL
The character rolls a number of dice equal to the
appropriate skill, with the Rules of 1 and 6 applying.
Don't forget the misfire die for firearms!  Each result that
equals or exceeds the the Modified Target Number is a
success.  If there are no successes, the attack misses.
Count up the number of successes and proceed to Calculating
the Damage. When an Opposed Success Test has been made, like
in melee combat, then the character with more successes has
hit and will inflict damage.


CALCULATING DAMAGE
People ain't tanks.  You hit someone, they're most likely
going to feel it.  A quick, realistic and consequently nasty
system for handing out damage is presented below.


THE DAMAGE CODE
Each weapon has a Damage Code.  That for average firearms of
each type is found above, that for everything else can be
found in the Shadowrun book, page 135.  The Damage Code is a
number, a letter, then another number.  The first number is
the Power Level, the letter the Wound Category, and the
second number the Staging.  Sometimes the Damage Code is
followed by the word "Stun," which indicates that the weapon
does Stun damage and not Lethal damage to the target.

The Power Level is used in the determination of the target's
ability to withstand damage.  With many melee attacks, the
Power Level depends on the attacker's Strength attribute.
When the weapon's Damage Code indicates that the attacker's
Strength should be divided, always round down any fractions.

The Wound Category is a letter indicating the severity of
the wound to be inflicted.  There are four standard
categories and an infinite number of extended categories.
The standard categories are Light, Medium, Serious and
Deadly, respectively.  Beyond that, the extended categories
are D+1 (Deadly+1), D+2, D+3, etc.

The Staging is used in the determination of how easily the
defender can resist the attack.  All weapons have an
effective Staging for the attacker of 2, except for weapons
with a Staging of 1.  For instance, a punch by a troll does
8L1 damage, and therefore has a 1 Staging for both the
attacker and defender.  For an assault rifle doing 5S3
damage, the attacker then has an effective 2 Staging while
the defender uses the 3 Staging.


MAKING THE DAMAGE
Remember the number of successes from the Success Test Roll?
Every one of these successes is used to stage the damage.
For each number of successes equal to the appropriate
Staging, the Wound Category is increased one step.  A Light
Wound becomes a Medium, a Deadly Wound becomes D+1, etc.
The exact Wound Categories are Light, Medium, Serious,
Deadly, D+1, D+2, and so on.


WOUND LOCATION (Optional, I don't use it)
Taking the time to aim an attack in combat just means you
die before the other guy does.  So, we use a random Hit
Location system. However, GM's are encouraged to use a
little sense with it (someone sticking his arm out of a car
to shoot, though he gets full cover benefits, when hit will
get hit in that arm and not in his leg). Some weapons do
damage to an entire area, though, so don't use the following
table.  Hit location is determined by a roll of 2D6, and
check the table below:


Wound Location Table
 Roll  Damage Location
  2    Head
  3    Left Leg
  4    Torso
  5    Left Arm
  6    Left Leg
  7    Torso
  8    Right Leg
  9    Right Arm
  10   Torso
  11   Right Leg
  12   Head


     Note:  This table roughly matches body surface area
     with the probability of a hit to that location.
     

Hit Location Diagram

                           ----
                          /    \
   Head - 2,12           |      |
 Hits are +1 Wound Level  \    /
                       ----+  +----
                      /   Torso    \
    Right Arm - 9    /  /|4,7,10|\  \    Left Arm - 5
                    /  / |      |  \  \
                    |  | |      |   |  |
                     \/  |      |    \/
                        /        \
    Right Leg - 8,11    |   /\    |     Left Leg - 3,6
                        |   | |   |
                        |   | |   |
                        |   | |   |
                        |   | |   |
                        +---+ +---+

APPLYING DAMAGE


REDUCING DAMAGE
Once the target is hit, it gets a Resistance Test to reduce
the damage.  The exact procedure is:


Steps for Reducing Damage Table
1.  Reduce damage due to Falloff
    Range of firearms or
    distance from center of
    explosion.
2.  Make a Resistance Test using
    Body and Dodge Pool vs. the
    Power Level of the weapon.
3.  Reduce damage using cover.
4.  Reduce damage using armor.


All of these reductions use the given Power Level and
Staging of the weapon, with the Wound Category determined by
the number of successes the attacker rolled.


Range Reduction
Each multiple of the Falloff Range from the attacker to the
target results in one success to be used in staging the
damage down.  Each multiple of the range of effect of an
explosive from the epicenter to the target results in a
success as well.


Body and Dodge Pool
The target then gets a Resistance Test.  He uses his Body
Attribute plus any dermal armor, plus dice selected from the
Dodge Pool.  If more successes rolled by Dodge Pool than
attacker's successes, clean miss.


Cover
If the target is behind hard cover then use it's Barrier
Rating (see the SR rulebook) as autosuccesses (automatic
6's) for reducing the damage.  If the target is standing
behind a vehicle, he's well off.  Vehicles have a Barrier
Rating of 3xBody (count as Thick) and if armored have an
additional Barrier Rating of 6xArmor (count as Reinforced).
Only use this for calculating damage against non-vehicle
targets.


Armor
The appropriate type of armor (Ballistic for firearms and
explosives, Impact for armor-piercing ammo and everything
else) counts as autosuccesses to reduce the damage.

Physical (Lethal) damage beyond Deadly (D+1, D+2, etc) which
hits the target's armor permanently reduces the armor's
effectiveness for the type by one point per staging beyond
Deadly.  That armor does work in reducing the damage,
however.  In addition, in armor with both Ballistic and
Impact protection whenever the Impact rating drops the
Ballistic rating drops an equal amount.

Once the final damage has been calculated, the damage is
applied to the character.


TAKING THE DAMAGE
If the damage is Stun damage, it is applied as boxes to the
Mental Damage track on the Character Record Sheet.  If the
damage is Physical (Lethal), then it is applied as boxes on
both the Physical and Mental tracks.  A Light wound fills up
one box, a Medium three boxes, a Serious six boxes and a
Deadly ten boxes.  Each staging beyond Deadly adds three
boxes.


Effects of Damage
The effects of damage are different in this system as well.
A character receives a +1 to all target numbers and a -1 to
Initiative (both cumulative) for each three boxes filled on
a track.

     PHYSICAL  MENTAL
       +---+   +---+
       | D |   | D |
       +---+   +---+
       |   |   |   | +3 to Target Numbers, -3 to Initiative
       +---+   +---+
       |   |   |   |
       +---+   +---+
       |   |   |   |
       +---+   +---+
       | S |   | S | +2 to Target Numbers, -2 to Initiative
       +---+   +---+
       |   |   |   |
       +---+   +---+
       |   |   |   |
       +---+   +---+
       | M |   | M | +1 to Target Numbers, -1 to Initiative
       +---+   +---+
       |   |   |   |
       +---+   +---+
       | L |   | L |
       +---+   +---+




WOUND EFFECTS


KNOCKOUTS
People will be KO'd by anything from the sight of blood to
having a limb shot off.  (Sometimes not even then, tho.)
When a character is injured, and/or the GM feels like it,
the character should roll an Unresisted Success Test of Body
or Willpower vs. a target number of his current Physical or
Mental wound level, whichever of the two is higher,
respectively.  If the character fails this test, he falls
unconscious at the end of the turn.

The period of unconsciousness is determined by the following
table:


Unconsciousness Table
Wound   Target  Time
Level   Number  Unconscio
                us
Medium  4       10 min
Seriou  6       30 min
s
Deadly  10      60 min


Once fallen unconscious, the character rolls the particular
attribute again, using the appropriate target number above
based on wound level. The base time is divided by the number
of successes.  Once the character wakes up, then he can
begin the recovery process. Stimulants and suchlike will
allow another roll vs. unconsciousness.


PERMANENT DAMAGE
As a general rule of thumb, Severe damage (in total) to a
limb will make it unusable and require a check for permanent
damage (see Shadowrun book page 145).  Medium damage (in a
single blow) to any of the finer body parts (i.e. eyes,
nose, fingers, feet) will make that body part unusable and
require a check for permanent damage.  Deadly damage (in
total) to any single area definitely makes it toast.


CYBERWARE DAMAGE
The following rules are for a single zap, blow, bullet, etc.
Damage from explosives, fire, and other area-effecting
things uses the rules in Street Samurai Catalog the whole
way.

When hit for a Medium wound or greater in an area where
cyberware is located, roll 1D6 and check the following table
for the number of potential damaged systems.


Cyberware Damage Table
Wound   No. of  Chance
Level   potent  for
        ial     internal
        system  dmg.
        s
Medium  1       1
Seriou  1-2     1-2
s
Deadly  1-3     1-3


All other results are treated as no damage.  For each
potential system, the character makes a second roll of 1D6
to determine whether or not the system will be an internal
or external one.  Use the "Chance for internal dmg." above.
If an internal or external system is to be damaged where one
doesn't exist, the character gets away without damage.
Determine the damaged system randomly.  GM's shouldn't have
too much trouble deciding what cyberwear is internal and
external.


ARMOR BULK

Optional Rule, I'm currently not using this.

Total bulk cuts initiative.  There is a reduction to the
Initiative score equal to the total Bulk/2 (round up).
Armor with a total Bulk rating of 3 or more adds one to the
character's decrement for Initiative as well.  If
character's Body is 2x bulk, bulk is halved.  (and round
up).


Armor Table
Armor          Coverage       Protectio  Bulk  Cost
                              n
Dermal Armor   Everywhere     +1         0     Var.
                              Bod/ratin
                              g
Forearm        Forearms       4/3        0     250
Guards
Armor          All but Head,  3/0        0     500
Clothing       Hands
Secure         ditto.         3/0        0     450
Clothing
Armor Vest     Torso          2/1        1     200
Secure Vest    Torso          2/1        1     175
Vest w/        Torso          4/3        1     600
Plates
Secure Ultra-  Torso          3/2        1     350
Vest
Long/Lined     All but Head,  4/2        1     700
Coat           Hands, Lower
               Legs    4/2
Secure L/L     ditto.         4/2        1     650
Coat
Armored        Torso, Arms    5/3        2     900
Jacket
Secure Jacket  ditto.         5/3        2     850
Form-Fitting   Torso          2/0        1     150
Body Armor
(Level 1)
ditto (Level   Torso, Upper   3/1        1     250
2)             Legs
ditto (Level   All but Head,  4/1        2     500
3)             Hands and
               Feet
Leather        Depends on     0/2        max   var.
               what it is                1
               and where
Synth Leather  ditto.         0/1        max   var.
                                         1
Lt. Security   All but Head   6/4        2     7.5k
Armor
Med. Security  ditto.         6/5        3     9k
Armor
Hvy. Security  ditto.         7/5        3     12k
Armor
Partial Heavy  ditto.         6/4        2     10k
Armor
Hvy. Armor     ditto.         8/6        3     20k
Security       Head           6/4        1     250
Helmet
Standard       Head           5/3        1     200
Helmet
Hvy. Leather   Head           3/3        1     200
Helmet
Hvy. Synth     Head           2/2        1     75
Helmet
Leather        Head           1/2        0     150
Helmet
Synth Helmet   Head           0/1        0     50
Small R-S      For ease,      1/0+2      0     1500
Shield         everything     Dodge
Lg. R-S        ditto.         2/0+3      1     3200
Shield                        Dodge



VEHICLE COMBAT AND EQUIPMENT DAMAGE

Vehicle Combat and Equipment Damage   Conduct of Combat
Damage   Damage Reduction

** Still to be done

 Damage from all weapons is (PL/2)(WL-1)(S/2), fractions
rounded down.


PREPARATION FOR COMBAT

How to Prepare for Combat   Characters   Weapons

** Still to be done

     Notes:  Characters with automatic weapons should figure
     out damage and modifiers based on the recoil and the
     weapon itself for particular types and rates of fire
     before playing.  For instance, for an SMG figure out
     the damage and recoil for Burst Fire and Autofire at 5,
     10, 15 and 20 rounds in an action.
     


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Comments, questions, anyone?

jonathan drummey

jtd@world.std.com