Armed close combat
'Armed close combat' is one of the combat rules, in particular one of the close combat rules. The melee weapons can be found here.
Armed close combat: Basics:
Fundamentally, the armed close combat is just like the unarmed: Various attacks hit on parries (or, ideally, of course, the enemy). Extraordinary skills, like those for unarmed combat, exist but unlike those (that is, the fighting styles “Judo”, “Boxing” and “Kung Fu”) they just ease the handling of certain close combat weapons – but don't give the user new attacks or parries.
The table in which the close combat weapons are described in detail, looks a bit different than, say, the table for pistols. Let's look at the example of the machete and explain the various points.
| Machete | ||
|---|---|---|
| Price: | 30 $ | |
| Damage: | Swing: 3 D6 + Close combat damage + 4 Thrust: 3 D6 + Close combat damage + 8 | |
| AP-costs: | Swing: 2 AP + handicap Thrust: 3 AP + handicap | |
| Type: | Bladed weapon, One handed, Short sword | |
| Size category: | Medium. | |
| Rarity: | Very common. | |
| Minimal strength: | 2 | |
| Weight: | 2 pounds. | |
| Special rule: | None. | |
Kind: The kind is especially important for extraordinary skills, but also for the starting equipment.
Cost: As always, given in NCR Dollars.
Damage: The formula of which the damage is calculated. It's recommended to add together the values in the combat sheet.
AP Costs: How much the single attacks cost. Here you'll find all possible attacks listed, as well as the formula for the test. Details further down.
Size category: The size is most important for hiding, but often also for the starting equipment.
Rarity:Again, mostly used for starting equipment, but also useful for the master.
Minimal strength: Characters that lack the minimal strength, have disadvantages when using this.
Weight: The weight in pounds.
Special rule: Possible special rules are listed here, just like they would be for firearms.
Description: As with all other items, a short description of said item.
The attacks:
In principle, most melee weapons have at least one, usually two basic attack types. Nearly always, those are swing and thrust. Usually one of the attacks costs less AP and does less damage, the other one costs more AP and does more damage. Tested is the skill melee. An especially good fighter can add a self imposed handicap onto the roll. Doing so, he must announce before the test that he increases the attack's cost by X AP and will therefore receive (X*5) points of ease on the test.
The parrying:
Parries always follow directly after the attack. If combatant A attacks combatant B in close combat, combatant B may roll his parry directly after the successful attack roll by combatant A and thereby maybe prevent being hit.
Only exception: Critical hits always hit.
Parries can not be eased, but are handicapped by the self imposed handicap the attacker put on his attack roll. With parries, it also always depends on what the fighters have in their hands. More details are to be found at the parrying rules.
Optional, additional combat rules:
Aimed attack:
An aimed attack is one, that directly attacks one of the hit zones. Those are the following 7 areas of the body: Arms, legs, torso, head and weapon.
Wait a second, 7? Those are 5.
Correct, but usually, people have 2 arms and 2 legs. And now we have the missing two hit zones. They even become 8, if the target swings two weapons.
An aimed attack costs one AP more and is especially handicapped. The handicap is added to that of the self imposed handicap.
The handicap is:
When aiming for the head by 25 points.
When aiming for the legs by 30 points.
When aiming for the weapon by 35 points.
When aiming for the arms by 20 points.
When aiming for the torso by 5 points.
The chance for a critical hit is raised by half of the handicap for hitting a certain body part. Furthermore, it's of course immediately clear where the damage is created. The raised probabilities for critical hits are as follows:
When aiming for the head by 13 points.
When aiming for the legs by 15 points.
When aiming for the weapon by 18 points.
When aiming for the arms by 10 points.
When aiming for the torso by 3 points.
Two handed fighting:
Two handed fighting, that is, using a weapon in each hand is easily possible. There are some extra AP costs and handicaps, but also a level 6 perk ambidextrous that negates the handicaps.
In principle, the minimal strength requirement of the used weapon is raised by 1. The AP costs for the attack are also raised by 1. The attack counts, in terms of damage, as two separate attacks (therefore, with a bit of luck when rolling the dices, double damage). However, there is only one test to see if one hit and it needs just one parry to deflect the whole attack.
Instead of going by lists like those used with firearms, this time it's separated by kind. Are both weapons of the completely same kind, the handicap is 10 points.
Is one of the kinds different, the handicap is 25 points.
Are to or more kinds different, the handicap is 40 points.