Body (Action)

Body is a measure of strength, mass, and resilience. It is closely linked to size and weight. Heroes sometimes have more body than their size indicates, but unless supernatural forces are at work, the difference is unlikely to be very large. Body is the only attribute that can have a negative value.

Body Schticks

Toughness

Toughness is a calculated value in Action, it is used to soak most physical damage damage.

Normally, Toughness equals Body plus armor worn.

Many special abilities makes you ignore armor, and thus do damage directly to Body.

Body and Mass

Weight is a ceiling on Body values. The table below gives minimum weight (in kilograms) and length (in cm) for different Body ratings. This assumes a body that is very fit or heroic. Most creatures living a physically active life will be just below these values. Depending on fitness, the actual Body can be up to ten points lower. A very fit hero weighting 100 kilos has a Body of 10; an overweight couch potato weighting 100 kg can have a Body as low as 3 and be out-wrestled by a dog.

Length is greatest overall length based on weight; the tails of animals are not included. Animals that are very thin and stretched out can be up to twice as long. Body is tied to weight, not length; certain worms can be prodigiously long yet still have comparatively low Body scores. This does not take the cube/square law into account; real-world animals tend to grow proportionally shorter and more bulky as they advance in weight while fantastic creatures like giants do not; this table is for non-realistic giants.

The table covers common weights for living creatures, but can be used for items, vehicles and construction as well. As the table is logarithmic, it can be extended to greater or smaller values. For weights weights in excess of 1,000 kg, simply read the weight in tonnes and add 30 to the result. For weights less than 1 kg, read the weight in grammes and subtract 30.

Some very small creatures have a negative Body score. For people uncomfortable with negative numbers, simply use a Body score of zero; body scores this low doesn't matter a lot anyway.

Body	Weight	Length
-10	1.0	40
-9	1.3	43
-8	1.6	47
-7	2.0	50
-6	2.5	55
-5	3.2	60
-4	4.0	65
-3	5.0	70
-2	6.3	75
-1	8.0	80
0	10	85
1	13	95
2	16	100
3	20	110
4	25	115
5	32	125
6	40	135
7	50	145
8	63	160
9	80	170
10	100	190
11	130	200
12	160	220
13	200	230
14	250	250
15	320	270
16	400	290
17	500	320
18	630	340
19	800	370
20	1000	400

Physical Limitations

A very high Body score runs into the physical limitations of the setting. In a normal human milieu where equipment is made for characters in the 5-9 Body range, it is very hard to find gear appropriate for Body 12. Here are a number of proposed solutions.

Downgrade

If there are no pistols made for your Body, take what is ordinarily a heavier weapon and call it a lighter weapon for you. For example, take a Heavy Revolver for Body 9 and call it a Light Revolver for you. There is nothing odd about this, as all weapons are on a sliding scale - what is a heavy weapon for some is always a light weapon for someone stronger. What it does mean is that the heaviest weapons will be unavailable if you have a very high Body.

Improvise

The Improvised weapon quality is your friend. Improvised weapons can usually be found or adapted to any size.

Customize

Characters in Action are heroes and can usually get normal people to help them. This can be an adventure reward or a facet of your background. The drawback is a lack of flexibility; you have to get the gear ahead of time. Signature Gun works very well here, helping you bring your outsize weapons along.