Combat

## **Combat Sequence**

Combat takes place in a series of rounds, with each character taking on turn each round. Generally, combat runs in the following way:

**Step 1**. The GM determines which characters are aware of their opponents at the start of the battle. If at least some combatants are unaware of their opponents, a surprise round happens before regular rounds begin. If there is a surprise round, each combatant starts the battle flat-footed. A flat-footed character doesn't add a Dexterity bonus to his Reflex Defense. Once combatants act, they are no longer flat-footed.

**Step 2**. The combatants who are aware of the opponents can act in the surprise round, so they make an Initiative check. in the initiative order (highest to lowest), combatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take a single action (a standard action, a move action, or a swift action, no full-round actions allowed) during the surprise round. Combatants who were unaware do not get to act in the surprise round.

**Step 3**. Combatants who have not yet made an Initiative check do so. All combatants are now ready are now ready to begin their first regular round. If all combatants were aware of their opponents when the battle began, there is no surprise round and this is the first step in the combat sequence. If there is no surprise round, no one starts flat-footed (everyone was alert enough to be ready for a fight).

**Step 4**. Combatants act in initiative order.

**Step 5**. When everyone has had a turn, the combatant with the highest initiative acts again, and steps 4 and 5 repeat until combat ends.

### **The Combat Round**

Each round represents 6 seconds in the game world. In the real world, a round is an opportunity for each character involved in a combat to take one or more actions. Anything a person could reasonably do in 6 seconds, your character can do in 1 round.

Each round begins with the character with the highest Initiative check result and then proceeds, in descending order, from there. Each round uses the same initiative order. When a character's turn comes up in the initiative sequence, that character performs his entire round's worth of actions.

For almost all purposes, there is no relevance to the end of a round or the beginning of a round. The term "round" works like the word "month." A month can mean either a calendar month, or a span of time from a day in one month to the same day the next month. In the same way, a round can be a segment of game time starting with the first character to act and ending with the last, but usually means a span of time fron one round to the same initiative number in the next round. Effects that last a certain number of rounds end just before the same initiative number that they began on.

## **Actions in Combat**

Every round, on your character's turn, you may take a standard action, a move action, and a swift action (in any order). You may take a move action or a swift action in place of a standard action, but not the other way around. You may also take a swift action in place of a move action, but not the other way around. Finally, you may sacrifice all three of these actions to perform a single full-round action on your turn.

**Standard Action**: A standard action is usually the most important action you'll take in a round, and it often consists of some sort of attack - swinging a lightsaber, firing a blaster, throwing a punch, hurling a grenade, and so on. You can perform one standard action on your turn.

**Move Action**: A move action represents physical movement. The most common move action is moving your speed. Standing up from a prone position, opening a door, and drawing a weapon are also move actions. You can perform one move action on your turn, or two if you give up your standard action.

**Swift Action**: Most swift actions enable you to perform your standard action. Examples include switching a weapon's mode and dropping a held item. You can perform one swift action on your turn, or two if you give up either your standard action or your move action, or three if you give up both your standard action and your move action.

**Full-Round Action**: A full-round action consumes all of your effort during a given round, effectively replacing all other actions on your turn. Some uses of skills require a full-round action to complete. Examples include bypassing a lock (using the Mechanics skill), searching an area for clues (using the Perception skill), and entering a Force trance (using the Use the Force skill). A full-round action that replaces your move action and swift action in the first round and your standard action in the following round.

### **Free Actions and Reactions**

Some actions take such a negligible amount of time that they can be performed in addition to other actions or they can happen out of turn:

**Free Action**: Free actions consume almost no time or effort, and you may take one or more free actions even when it isn't your turn. Examples include calling out to your friends for help and taunting a foe. The GM puts reasonable limits on what counts as a free action. Reciting the epic history of the Rodian hunter clans takes several minutes (or more) and therefore isn't a free action. You can't take free actions when you're flat-footed.

**Reaction**: A reaction is an instantaneous response to someone else's action, and you can use a reaction even if it is not your turn. Examples of reactions include making a Perception check to notice a bounty hunter sneaking up behind you and instantly activating a Force power to absorb damage from an incoming blaster bolt.

## **Combat Statistics**

Several fundamental statistics determine how well you do in combat. This section summarizes these statistics.

Attack Roll

Damage

Defenses

Speed

Hit Points

Conditions

## Initiative

In every round during combat, each combatant gets to do something. The combatants' Initiative checks determine the order in which they act, from highest to lowest.

### **Initiative Checks**

At the start of a battle, each player makes an Initiative skill check for his character. (A character can make an Initiative check untrained.) The GM rolls Initiative checks for the opponents. All combatants act in order, from the highest Initiative check result to the lowest. A character's initiative count remains the same for all rounds of the combat unless a character takes an action that causes her place in the initiative order to change.

The GM should write the names of the characters on a piece of scrap paper in initiative order. That way, in subsequent rounds the CM can move quickly from one character to the next. If two combatants have the Initiative check result, the character with the highest Initiative check modifier acts first. If there is still a tie, roll a die.

To save time, the GM can make a single Initiative check for all of the bad guys, rolling 1d20 and adding the lowest Initiative check modifier in the group. That way, each player gets a turn each round and the GM also gets one turn. At the GM's option, however, he can make separate Initiative checks for different groups of opponents or even for individual foes. For instance, the GM may make one Initiative check for an Imperial officer and another check for his squad of stormtroopers.

### **Joining a Battle**

If characters enter a battle after it has begun, they make their Initiative check at that time and act whenever their turn comes up in the existing order.

### **Flat-Footed**

In any battle that begins with a surprise round, you start the battle flat-footed. You remain flat-footed until your first regular turn in the initiative order. You can't apply your Dexterity bonus (if any) to your Reflex Defense while flat-footed.

## **Surprise**

When combat starts, if you are not aware of your enemies but they are aware of you, you're surprised. If you know about your opponents but they don't know about you, you surprise them.

### **Awareness and Surprise**

Sometimes all the combatants on a side are aware of their opponents; sometimes none are; sometimes only some of them are. Sometimes a few combatants on each side are aware and the other combatants on each side are unaware.

#### **Determining Awareness**

The GM determines who is aware of whom at the start of a battle. She may call for Perception checks to see how aware the characters are of their opponents. Some example situations:

* The mission team enters a cantina and immediately spots a gang of Rodians. Alert and watchful, the Rodians also notice the heroes. Both sides are aware; neither is surprised. The heroes and the Rodians make Initiative checks, and the battle begins.
* While exploring an abandoned armory, the heroes are being watched by a pack of Jawas. The Jawas lurk in hiding places, waiting for the right time to strike and defend their new lair from the intruders. Sia-Lan spots one of the Jawas as it tries to sneak behind a partially destroyed battle droid. The Jawas shriek and leap from their hiding places, surrounding the heroes. The Jawas and Sia-Lan each get to act during the surprise round. The other heroes, caught unaware, can't act. After the surprise round, the first regular round of combat begins.
* The mission team advances down a dark corridor in the space-station fortress of Grumbog, an alien warlord, using glow rods to light the way. At the end of the corridor, three of Grumbog's soldiers have set up an E-Web repeating blaster. They fire the weapon, sending a powerful blast down the corridor. That's the end of the surprise round. After determining whether any of the heroes were hit and calculating damage, the GM announces that the first regular round of combat begins. The mission team is in a tough spot, since they are facing a powerful weapon and still can't see who is attacking them.

#### **The Surprise Round**

If some but not all of the combatants are aware of their opponents, a surprise round happens before regular rounds begin. The combatants who are aware of their opponents can act in the surprise round, so they make Initiative checks. In initiative order (highest to lowest), combatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take a single action - a standard action, a move action, or a swift action - during the surprise round, If no one is surprised, a surprise round doesn't occur.

**Unaware Combatants**: Combatants who are unaware at the start of battle do not get to act in the surprise round. Unaware combatants are flat-footed because they have not acted yet, so they do not apply their Dexterity bonus (if any) to their Reflex Defense.