Melee (Action)

Heroic Action Role-Play

Melee is the skill to kick butt - with or without weapons.

Unskilled Use

Melee skill defaults to Body. An outcome matching this attribute on a stunt directed against Melee will often result in a Setback.

Use in Action

This is a primary combat skill, it is used with Weapons, Schtiks, and Powers to make attack rolls. As such, the rules are fairly detailed and precise.

Knowledge

You know the history of your school or gang, and of its great masters of the past and present. You know the philosophy or code of your group, both as it pertains to fighting and to life in general. If it has an oral or written code of conduct, you have memorized all of it. You have a basic grasp of the histories and teachings of rival schools and gangs. You know by reputation the great fighting masters of your time. You know others in you neighborhood who can fight, either as colleagues or rivals. You can identify a good fighter, even if you cannot name his style. And you instinctively understand the many unwritten codes of fighting, when it is all right to use weapons, when single combat is appropriate and so on.

Contacts

You know other practitioners and teachers of your style. You know members of rival groups, who may be your enemies. You know people involved in martial competitions, from judges to fans to patrons. You know street people involved in fights: ring managers, bar owners, gang members and little-old-ladies-with-sharp-eyes-in-need-of-protection.

Perception

You recognize other fighters and weapons, including what weapons they use and where they hide them. You can tell that a fight happened in a location, and get a reasonable idea of who fought and how it went. You recognize the advantages offered by a potential battlefield, and can spot a suitable site for an ambush.

Powers

Melee is linked to the forms of Air, Light, and Metal.

Stunts

Bait

Basic Action

You present an attractive target for a split second, causing your opponent to take a wild swing or otherwise expose or make a fool of himself.

Make a Melee vs. Dodge roll against your target. If you succeed, you gain an Advantage. It you score an Outcome matching the target's Reflexes, you also inflict a Setback; the target suffers some direct penalty, as appropriate to the situation and how you described your outmaneuver. He might strike past you at a friendly target, run out of ammunition, lose his weapon, or otherwise temporarily make a fool of himself.

Body Shield

Trigger Action (Defense)

When you are hit at range by an opponent who has an ally adjacent to you, you can use your Melee in place of your Dodge for the shot.

Disarm

Basic Action

You can disarm opponents causing them to drop their weapons. Make an Melee vs Dodge roll. If you succeed, the opponent loses the grip on his weapon. He can immediately spend three shots retrieving it. If he chooses not to, he loses the weapon and you can either kick it away or pick it up. If your Outcome matches his Reflexes, he loses both the weapon and the shots.

Feint

Basic Action

You baffle others with false maneuvers. Make a Melee vs. Dodge roll; on a success, your target loses 3 shots and you can move past a position they covered or otherwise get a small respite in a fight - he cannot take Trigger Actions to hinder your movement. If your Outcome matches the target's Reflexes, you cause him major consternation; he loses six shots any anyone can move by him until his next shot comes up.

If you are using a melee weapon with the Entangle ability, the target looses an additional shot on a successful stunt.

Find Weakness

Limit Break

Make a Melee attack against which the target cannot use Resist powers; targets do not get to add their Mind to their Action to soak damage from this attack.

Guard

Inherent

When attacked and have an opponent in your reach, you can opt to use your Melee in place of your Dodge for Dodge stunts, not for schticks or powers. You can use this with the Weapon Abilities of Melee Weapons.

This is intended for creatures that don't understand ranged attacks, like most Animals.

Grab

Basic Action

Make a Normal Melee Attack with a damage of Body +0 soaked by Body. If you cause any damage, you do not inflict a Hit but instead grab hold of your opponent and move close, body-to-body. If you score a damage outcome matching the target's Reflexes you also score an Advantage but still do no actual damage.

You are holding on to your Grab of that opponent until one of the following happens:

• He succeeds at an attack directed at you.
• He succeeds at a stunt specifically to get free.
• You are no longer adjacent.
• You suffer a Setback—this is in addition to the effect of the setback itself.
• You can voluntary end the grab at any time.

After grabbing an opponent, you get a +3 bonus to Dodge and Impress as a defense against attacks and stunts from that opponent. Both you and your target are restricted to only attacking each other. If your Body scores are within 1 point of each other, neither of you can move with a Basic Action, but you can move both of you your Move as a basic action. If either of you have 2 or more Body higher than your opponent, the stronger one can move normally, carrying the weaker one around.

Normal Melee Attack

Basic Action

You make an attack roll against your target's Dodge and inflicting damage equal to your Body plus relevant modifiers for the weapon used. A basic unarmed attack like a fist or kick does Body Blunt damage and has the Stun ability, while a dedicated natural attack like claws or jaws does Body +1 Cutting damage. Weapons, powers, and schticks can greatly enhance these values.

Strength Push

Trigger Action

The Body and Mass table shows what kinds of loads can be lifted depending on Body. Handling such loads does not require an action or roll. Handling greater loads is done with a Trigger Action triggered by whatever event required greater strength. Make a Melee roll against your Body; for every 3 points of Outcome, your effective Body is increased by one, with a minimum bonus of +1 for a successful roll. An Outcome of of 1-5 allows lifting at +1 Body, 6+ allows +2 Body, 9+ allows +3, 12+ allows +4 and so on.

Wingclip

Basic Action

You use this to prevent a creature from using special movement modes, such as flight, wall walking, burrowing and the like. It does not work against walking or swimming targets. Make a Melee check against Maneuver, on a success the special movement mode is negated for the rest of the scene. On an outcome matching the target's Body the special movement is negated for the rest of the session. Successful First Aid with a difficulty equal to your Melee skill negates this. A creature that would be stuck in a dangerous position due to this maneuver can still move to safety, but can perform no Basic Actions or Limit Breaks until they are safely on the ground.