Simple close combat actions:
Parry:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
None
None
0
None
If successful, the enemy attack is avoided
In this case, the attack is either blocked with one's own extremities or the target of the attack (for example, the head) is moved out of the way. More details at the parrying rules.
Punch:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
1 D3 + Unarmed damage
1,5 cm
3
None
None
This is the simplest, most basic attack any kid knows. It's a simple, straight punch.
Kick:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
1 D3 + Unarmed damage +1
3 cm
4
- 10
The damage is based on naked feet or jogging shoes or similar footwear. If heavy boots are used, the damage is increased by 1. (If you want to, that can add further handicap. This depends heavily on the situation and should be done at the master's discretion).
A simple kick in the shins, the stomach or the knee of the opponent. It's a simple, frontal kick, not the more acrobatic and painful kicks done by martial artists.
Knee kick:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
1 D3 + Unarmed damage +1
0 cm
4
- 30
If the enemy is being held, the handicap does not apply.
The hit person must immediately perform a test on body control, that's handicapped by twice the amount of damage. If he fails the test, he immediately drops to the floor and looses half his AP for 1 D3 rounds. For males hit in this way, it's 1 D3 + 1 rounds.
You ram your knee into your opponent's soft parts. Not exactly sanctioned by the Marquee of Queensberry, but in any case, your opponent won't stand up again that fast.
Choke:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
-2 AP per combat round in which one is chocked
1,5 cm
4
- 20
The chocked one can do an athletics test per round to reduce the AP loss by one.
This test is handicapped by 20 points for each round in which one has been previously chocked. Once he reaches 0 AP, the chocked one looses consciousness. Chocking him to death takes as many combat rounds as he has points on endurance. If the chocking is stopped at this time, the opponent stays unconscious for 2 D10 rounds.
One grabs the neck of the enemy with one's hands and presses firmly, until he looses consciousness – or life.
Headlock:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
None
0 cm
4
- 30
The enemy is not in a position to attack anymore – or to move himself much in any way. Furthermore, he is in a position from which his head can easily be attacked (all handicaps reduced by half).
Your arms pinch your enemy's head into your armpit. He is completely at your mercy now.
Clinch:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
None
0 cm
4
- 10
The enemy is not in a position to attack or to move around – at all.
You clasp either his upper body or his head. Usually done as preparation for further techniques, like knee kick, throws, etc...
Boxing:
Boxing is the most popular form of unarmed combat in the western world and has, especially in New Reno, a long and bloody tradition. In Reno's boxing clubs one does not only learn to punch the hardest punches of the wastes, but also how to defend against attacks. In boxing the focus is not only laid on hitting power, but also on endurance, since a fight might last as long as 20 or even more rounds.
Boxing can be learned in many settlements, bar brawls or various armies, but nowhere else as under the “loving” tutelage of the former former boxer Bud “the Wrecking Ball” Pedersoli in New Reno. A man that once boxed against super mutants and has since developed his own special attack, that he teaches only his most gifted students.
Rules
If you have learned boxing, all your parries get a bonus of 10 points. Your punches receive the same bonus and all punches do +2 damage. Furthermore you can perform the special punches: “Hook”, “Upper cut” and “elbow strike” (the damage bonus mentioned above does not apply to those punches, since it has already been accounted for in their table).
The so called “Wrecking Ball” attack can only be learned in New Reno and only if you can convince Pedersoli, that your worthy to be taught. To ask a student of Pedersoli is senseless, since they all promised to never teach this technique and all that know him are scared shitless of him.
Additional techniques:
Hook:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
1 D3 + Unarmed damage + 3
1,5 cm
3
See special rule
The boxer must announce on what body part he aims: Head -20, Torso +5
In this attack, one tries with a mighty, circular movement to hit the head, the liver or the kidneys. Due to the circular movement, the punch receives a lot more energy than a simple straight punch.
Upper-Cut:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
1 D3 + Unarmed damage +3
1,5 cm
3
-25
The hit opponent must immediately test on his body control skill. The test is handicapped by double the amount of damage taken. If the test is failed, the hit opponent goes down and looses all his AP for one round.
This is a very complex sequence of movements that can wreak immense damage, when one hits. First, one turns the shoulder a bit in, leans the upper body a bit closer to the enemy. Then one pulls the fist and upper body upwards and aims for the lower jaw of the opponent.
Elbow strike:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
1 D3 + (unarmed damage +3) * 2
0 cm
3
- 35
The hit opponent immediately performs a test on his body control skill. The test is handicapped by trice the amount of damage taken. If the test fails, the hit opponent goes down and looses all AP for 1 D3 rounds.
The most brutal “punch” in the repertoire of a boxer. In civilized times this punch was forbidden, but those times are long gone. The bottom line: one swings towards the head, but hits with the elbow, therefore concentrating all the force onto a tiny, hard point with enough energy to even shatter a skull.
Wrecking ball:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
Note:
1 D6 + (unarmed damage +3 ) * 2
1,5 cm
5
- 45
The hit person immediately looses consciousness for 2 D6 rounds.
This is the destructive punch that Pedersoli developed to perfection. Basically, the fist is moved in a circular movement and comes from above, to shatter the enemy's top of the skull.
Please remember that this punch can only be learned from Bud “Wrecking Ball” Pedersoli.
Kung Fu:
Without a doubt there has been one or another survivor of the Great War in California, that knew Kung Fu. But certainly there has not been a group that did as much for the preservation of this martial art in California as the people of the Shi-Huang-Ti in San Francisco.
In this thousands of years old ancient art, both body and mind are trained: in San Francisco there are two great Kung Fu schools, that even teach the children of many Shi and whose leaders, Lo Pan and the Dragon, stand in continuous competition. Both schools represent their own style and both leaders choose carefully those who are worthy of learning their mightiest techniques.
Rules:
If you have learned Kung Fu, all your parries against kicks and punches receive a +5 bonus. So do all kicks and punches you use to attack. Furthermore, each kick does an additional 2 points of damage and each punch 1 more point.
You are furthermore able to perform the special kicks and punches further down: “Hand edge punch”, “straight punch”, “High Kick” and “Spin Kick”
(the damage bonus mentioned above does not apply to those punches, since it has already been accounted for in their table).
The special attacks “Dragon technique” and “The Whirling Cobra” can only be learned in the schools of San Francisco's Chinatown and only, if a character succeeds in convincing one of the Masters, that he is worthy of learning that technique.
Additional techniques
Hand edge punch:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
1 D3 + (unarmed damage +2) * 2
1,5 cm
3
See special rule
The attacker must predict on which body part he aims.
Head: +5, Torso or arms: -10
The attacker punches in a downward movement or one coming from the side, but does not hit with the full area of the fist, but only with the thin edge of the hand, thereby concentrating the force of the hit.
Straight Punch:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
1 D3 + Unarmed damage + 2
0 cm
2
-10 to the head, +5 to the torso or arms
If more than one straight punch hit is made by the same attacker against the same opponent in the same round, the second hit does +1 damage, the third +2, the third +3 and so on...
A punch with closed fist, that keeps the elbows of the attacker close to the body. While this prevents a maximum of kinetic energy in each punch, the fast sequence of attacks this allows should compensate for the relatively weak single punches.
High Kick:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
1 D3 + (unarmed damage +2) * 2
3 cm
4
-40: Head
-30: Torso/Arms
The chance for a critical hit is increased by 20 points for a hit to the head, and by 10 for a hit to the torso.
A kick in which the attacker, in part through a special way of standing, in part by leaning back his upper body, lifts the kicking leg up to head level.
Spin Kick:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
2 D3 + (unarmed damage + 2) * 2
3 cm
5
-45
None.
The attacker spins around his own axis for this kick, thereby giving the kick that extra bit of energy. A challenging technique that can wreak considerable havoc.
Drachentechnik:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
Note:
1 D3 + (unarmed damage + 2) * 5
0
3
- 50
With a hit to the head or torso, the hit opponent immediately looses consciousness for 2 D6 rounds. A hit to the extremities leads to a test on luck. Is the test passed, this body part can't be used for the rest of the fight. Is it failed, one of the bones of said arm or leg is broken and that extremity can't be used for the rest of the fight and several weeks after that.
A technique that creates, on very short distances, an impressive amount of energy, due to some complicated movements especially in the wrist. Usually, the opponent is only hits by two knuckles of the striking hand, thereby concentrating the force of the blow.
The dragon claims to have learned this technique by studying records about the old styles of south China. Lo Pan deridingly claims that he stole it from bad Hollywood movies.
This technique can only be learned from the dragon, one of the two great martial artists of the Shi, and only by succeeding in convincing him, that one is worthy of being taught.
“The whirling Cobra”:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
Note:
1 D6 + (unarmed damage + 4) * 3
3 cm
6
- 60
The hit opponent is pushed back by 4 D3 cm and must perform a body control test that is handicapped by twice the amount of damage taken. If he succeeds, he can stand up for 6 AP in his next round. If he fails, he looses consciousness for 1 D6 rounds – before he's allowed to stand up for 6 AP.
The Whirling Cobra is a breathtaking technique, in which the attacker jumps towards his opponent, performs a 360° turn in the air, that leaves the enemy no clear target to defend against and that usually confuses even more, since the jump is mostly angled slightly sideways, before the attacker finally rams his foot with incredible power into the breast of his opponent.
Lo Pan claims that nobody can take a hit of the Whirling Cobra. The Dragon claims that Lo Pan might well be right, if he succeeded in weakening the Dragon with poison before a fight.
This technique can only be learned from Lo Pan, one of the two great martial artists of the Shi, and only by succeeding in convincing him, that one is worthy of being taught.
Judo:
Originally developed in far Japan in the 19th century, by a Karate trainer that was searching for a possibility to have tournaments with less risk of injury while maintaining the “difficulty” of the complicated Karate techniques.
Of course, this is not what is taught in the wasteland. Judo is just a name for a large number of techniques that are used by a large number of wild tribes, slavers and police units, too.
Rules:
If you have learned Judo, all holding and chocking techniques you perform receive a +10 bonus. So do your parries, when defending against such attacks. If you are thrown down by any attack and must perform a body control test, this test is also easier by +10.
The special techniques “Judo roll”, “Mutant Massacre” and “Brahmin Tackle” are used by three very different 'organizations': the slavers guild in the Den, the Vault-City guards and various wild tribes. They can only be learned there.
Additional techniques
Shoulder throw:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
1 D10
1,5 cm
5
-30
The thrown one must pass a body control test that is handicapped by five times the amount of damage. If he passes, he can stand up in the next round for 3 AP. If he fails, he is incapable of movement in the next round. While he is on the floor, all parries are handicapped by 50 points.
One grabs the opponent, usually at an extended arm and with help of a clever movement throws him once over the whole own shoulder, so that he hits the floor hard on his back.
Hip throw:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
none
0 cm
4
-20
The hit opponent must stand up in his next round for 3 AP. While he's on the floor, all parries are handicapped by 50 points.
You close extremely to the enemy and push his center of gravity quite fast (for example by pressing against his breast, after placing a leg behind his own legs), so that the enemy goes down. While one rarely does damage this way, one can at least put him in such a bad position, that he might reconsider the whole fighting idea.
Police grip:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
none
0 cm
4
From the front: 45
From the back: 20
If the defender is at least 3 points stronger, his parry is 20 points easier. For each further point in strength it get's 10 points easier.
Is the attacker more than three points stronger, he receives a +10 bonus for each additional point of strength when attacking with the police grip.
You grab the arm of the opponent, either at the metacarpus or at the wrist and pull it up behind his back. This grip is used to incapacitate the opponent, since most attempts at defense will result in a dislocated shoulder or even worse injuries.
Judo roll:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
Note:
None
0 cm
4
Towards the front: 20
Towards the back: 30
Towards the side: 40
The judo roll may be performed instead of the normal parry.
If used offensively, i.e. to get closer to the enemy, the parry against an attack
immediately following the roll of the Judoka is handicapped by 20 points.
The Judo roll is used by slavers to either bring some more distance between themselves and tribal warriors or to reduce the distance between themselves and tribal warriors.
The 4 cm that one gains in whatever direction, bring the slave hunter either close enough to his quarry to quickly stun him with a cattle prod or similar or far enough out of the range of the big, stubborn tribal warrior to simply shoot him.
The Judo roll can only be learned from the slaver's operating out of the Den – and they are more than reluctant to teach it to strangers.
Mutant Massacre:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
Note:
-4 AP per round in which one is chocked
1,5 cm
4
- 45
A parry against the mutant massacre is handicapped by 30 points. If the test fails, a test on Luck must be performed. If that test fails, the wound “broken shoulder joint” has been inflicted (details to be found under “critical hits, fails and wounds”)
The chocked one can perform one athletics test per round to reduce the AP loss by one point. This is handicapped by 20 points for every round that one is chocked. When the chocked one reaches 0 AP, he looses consciousness.
Chocking him to death takes now as many rounds as he has points on endurance.
If the chocking is aborted now, he remains unconscious for 3 D10 combat rounds.
According to the field manual, this technique is officially called “aggravated chocke hold” and it constitutes pretty much the meanest method of being chocked. The attacker grabs an arm of his victim in such a way that this arm lies on the neck of the victim and exerts pressure on his air and blood flow, usually standing behind the victim.
This beautiful illustration of the point of view that Vault-City guards have of noncitizens and all ghouls can only be learned from Vault-City guards – and they don't usually teach this technique to outsiders.
Brahmin-Tackle:
Damage:
Range:
AP-Costs:
Handicap:
Special rule:
Description:
Note:
0
0 cm
3 (Running not included)
- 30
The attacking character must have run for at least 18 cm before he launches the attack (4 AP using the optional combat rule 'running'. This may include a run that
has started the round before, as long it did not stop in between).
Attacker and defender roll for 1 D10 cm across the floor, following the direction
of the jump. All holding or chocking attacks that the attacker wants to perform
until one of the two stands up, receive a bonus of 20 points.
A technique that is used by various wild tribes to hunt (and for sport). Basically, you run as fast as you can towards your prey, jump and grab it in that jump – thereby taking it down. Many a young tribal hunter has taken down a full grown Brahmin bull like that.
This special hunting technique is only used by some tribes – and those tribes regard such a hunt often as a rite of passage for young hunters. Strangers may pass such a rite usually only with permission of the chief and/or the shaman.
Parrying rules:
A parry means moving out of the way of a close combat attack. Parries are rolled directly after a successful attack roll (if the attack roll fails, the parry is unnecessary since one does not have to evade a hit that doesn’t hit anyway).
For parries, we differentiate what the attacker uses as a weapon and what the parrying character holds in his hands. The table below gives clear handicaps for the various weapon types:
Armament of the attacker →
Armament of the defender ↓
Unarmed
Melee weapons
Handgun
Rifle or heavy weapon
Unarmed
No handicap
10 points handicap
15 points handicap
20 points handicap
Melee weapons
10 points handicap
No handicap
15 points handicap
20 points handicap
The handicapped skill depends on the active armament of the defending character: If the character has any kind of weapon in his hands (from a simple pocket knife to a flame thrower, everything that is not a weapon that falls under the “unarmed weapons”) the skill that is tested is Melee.
If the character is unarmed (or uses weapons falling under the “unarmed” skill), the test is done on Unarmed, even if the character is attacked with a melee weapon.
Heavy weapons that are mounted on tripods, can of course be left standing without much trouble. In that case, if no other weapons is used, the defender counts as unarmed.