Melee Schticks (Action)

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Heroic Action Role-Play

All-Out Attack

Basic Action

Make a Melee attack with a +2 bonus. Until your next shot comes up or the end of the round, you cannot take a Trigger Action. You can use All-Out Attack and Rash together.

Blocker

Trigger Action

You can do a Interference stunt using your Melee skill.

Charge

Focus

When your shot comes up and you are not adjacent to any enemy, and you move adjacent to an enemy and make a Melee attack, you can focus.

Clinch

Basic action

When you do a Grab stunt, you gain several advantages.

  • You gain a +3 defensive bonus against all Dodge and Impress stunts, not just from the person you grabbed.
  • You can still employ a small or tiny weapon, both when grabbing someone or being grabbed.
  • You can attack others not involved in your grapple.
  • When an opponent has a grab on you, and you score an attack on them, you can either can free yourself or grab them.
  • You can grab a number of creatures at once equal to your number of arms (or similar limbs). Each must be grabbed separately, but you can maintain several grabs at once.

Combat Banter

Trigger Action (Combo)

After you perform a successful Browbeat, Distraction, Scare, or Trick attempt, you can use this to perform a Normal Melee Attack against the same target.

Combat Binding

Basic Action

You are skilled in using ropes or cuffs to restrain an opponent in melee. Make a Melee check against the target's Dodge. On a success the target is partially bound and suffers one of the penalties noted below. On an Outcome matching the target's Reflexes he is more severely bound and suffers three of the conditions, or you can apply one restriction of your choice. Restraints are applied in this order: bound arms, immobilized, bound legs, blindfolding, hogtie. Physical restraint in Action does not completely prevent a hero from action, they impose handicaps to be overcome.

  1. Gagging prevents mundane speech. Stymies all Charm and Impress checks.
  2. Handcuffing is when your hands are tied in front of you, but not so tightly as to make them completely unusable; you can still use one hand effectively, such as using weapons or tools of Small size or smaller.
  3. Hobbling indicates restrained legs, but not fixed to each other. It means you cannot move as part of a normal Basic Action, and can only move your normal move when you do a Full Move action or otherwise do an action that grants extra movement..
  4. Immobilized, stuck to something, alternatively on a short leash which prevents movement beyond one or two meters. If you are stuck to a creature whose Body is greater than yours, you are forced along as it moves, otherwise you are both immobilized unless you two cooperate.
  5. Bound Legs you fall prone and cannot stand unsupported, which prevents and hinders many actions as determined by the situation and stunt description. Your Move is reduced to 1. Swimming and flying creatures are entangled, with similar effects.
  6. Bound Arms prevent most physical manipulation and the use of weapons and implements. You can still use tackles and head butts for (Body +0) damage or a Tiny Ranged Weapon, but limited to Close range.
  7. Blinded restricts your awareness, giving you only a rough estimate of objects and creatures in a diameter equal to your Mind; you are insensitive to things beyond this range. Everyone has enough concealment to Sneak on you, and against creatures beyond your perception range, you have to use Reflexes rather than Recon for defense against Recon stunts.
  8. (or more) Hogtie A hogtied character cannot act physically and can only move one meter as a standard action; no movement is otherwise allowed. This also prevents all Defense actions.

These restraints can be escaped with a Contortions stunt pitting Reflexes against your Melee or destroyed by another person; ropes have a Body of around 12 while metal cuffs have 15 or more. Weapons larger and more unwieldy than a dagger take an attack penalty equal to their damage add when attacking bonds.

You can aim for a specific condition. Threat any roll higher than that condition as that condition. If you are aiming for a specific condition and instead achieve another, you can choose to forgo that effect to get and Advantage that can add a +3 bonus on a later attempt.

Daredevil Stunt

Basic Action

Use your melee weapon (or unarmed attack) to make a Bait, Disarm, Feint, and Wingclip stunt with a +3 bonus. Typical stunts include trips, feints, called shots, disarm, and particularly outrageous and dashing maneuvers such as carving your initials or adjusting your opponent's coiffure in combat. It enables you to do all the fun but somewhat silly things done in pulpy Three Musketeers and pirate movies.

Dauntless Attack

Limit Break

You make a flashy Normal melee Attack that renews your confidence. Hit or miss, you regain 1 Hit. If you damage your opponent you instead regain 3 Hits.

Double Damage Dealing

Trigger Action (Combo)

You can use two one-handed melee weapons together. When using two melee weapons, one in each hand, you can follow up each Melee attack you use to attack with one of these melee weapons with a Normal Melee Attack from your second weapon on the same or a different target within reach.

When armed with a pole weapon without reach, you can make this additional attack with the butt of the weapon, which inflicts Body +3 damage. The simplest example of this is the quarterstaff.

Some prefer special double weapons, that combine two one-handed melee weapons into one, such as the lajatang (a double sword), double mace, mace-spear and so on. These weapons work as if you were wielding these two weapons separately.

Duel

Limit Break

You confront an opposing character in a way where others cannot easily intervene. This is usually because of the physical setting, somehow you and your opponent end up isolated from others and lasts until the end of the next round. Against opponents with a code of honor this can be a purely social barrier. If there is no such barrier you can use, the schtick will not work, but pretty strange coincidences are allowed.

Others can try to break the isolation with stunts against your Melee, but need to achieve an Outcome equal to your Reflexes to do so, collecting an Advantage for each success that does not have enough of an outcome. Those not involved in the duel cannot distract you with these stunts and are restricted to Gain Advantage attempts.

Flank Attack

Basic Action

You must not be in reach of any enemy to use this schtick. Make a Normal Melee Attack or Outmaneuver against an opponent that is not adjacent to any of his allies. You gain a +1 bonus on your check for each of your allies adjacent to him, to a maximum of +2. You do not count as your own ally.

Guarded Attack

Basic Action

Make a Normal Melee Attack attack. Until your next action you count as actively dodging, and get a +3 bonus to Dodge. It stops when you take any action, including a trigger action. Trigger actions you take the same shot you use Guarded Strike do not end the Dodge bonus. This is particularly useful against Riposte and attacks that do not allow an active defense.

Heart Attack

Limit Break

Make a Normal Melee Attack attack. If you hit the opponent, you cause a single Hit in addition to normal damage.

Iron Fist

Inherent

You have hardened yourself so that you can do Body +4 Blunt damage with unarmed attacks. This attack does not cause any direct injury on a Damage Setback, instead favoring stun, knockback, and other non-lethal effects.

Junk Fu

Basic Action

You are very good with improvised weapons, such as beer bottles or chairs. Use this maneuver to pick up and wield some object lying about. For the rest of the round, you get a +3 bonus to Melee when using this object as a weapon. By the end of the round, if you drop the object, or if you roll snakeyes on your action die, the improvised weapon is destroyed and the effect ends. Objects with script immunity are not destroyed, merely dropped, but this schtick is still canceled for the sequence.

Improvised weapons generally do Body +1 damage, but particularly inventive items can function like some regular Melee weapon, generally with a damage penalty.

Melee Technique

Inherent

Pick one of the following weapon abilities. Any melee weapon you use, not including natural weapons and unarmed attacks, get these weapon techniques. You can take this schtick several times, selecting different changes each time.

Limitations As an option, you can instead remove one for the following weapon abilities. You can remove limiting weapon abilities gained from Melee Techniques.

Power Attack

Basic Action

Make a Melee attack that does +2 additional damage.

Rage

Stance

Gain a +2 bonus on Melee and suffer a -2 penalty on Dodge and to Melee used to Guard.

Seven-Sword Strike

Basic Action

Make a Normal Melee Attack against all adjacent enemies. You cannot move as a part of this basic action, nor can you do Trigger Actions until your next shot comes up. See Combination Action for how you can combine this with movement.

Shield Feint

Trigger Action (Combo)

When you are wielding a melee weapon with shield in the name in one hand and another melee weapon that is of a smaller Size than the shield in the other hand, you can use this Combo to improve your attack. Opponents cannot use a Trigger Action (Defense) check against such an attack.

Shield Sacrifice

Trigger Action (Damage)

To use this, you must be using a shield. Add 10 to your Body, Mind, Reflexes, or Toughness to soak one specific attack, after the attack roll and defenses. You cannot benefit from a shield for the rest of the scene. A shield you are using breaks and is destroyed. If the shield has plot immunity, is of superior make, or of a higher tech level than the attacking weapon, you instead drop it.

Signature Melee Weapon

Inherent

Select one specific melee, like the family ancestral sword or the shiv that saved your life in prison. Your fate is linked to this melee weapon.

  • Even a small signature melee weapon is dangerous in your hands. Increase the weapon's damage by one, to a minimum of Body +4.
  • You can own and carry this melee weapon even if it would normally be beyond your means, illegal, or require some special license. People tend to not question your right to take it along; unless the GM makes a montage of how it is taken, the melee weapon stays with you. It can also pop up in the unlikeliest places seemingly on its own.
  • It is harder to steal or disarm you of this weapon. You are Confident on any stunt to hide or interaction check to keep it. When others try stunts to disable or make you lose your item, they are Stymied. Even if it is stolen, it always crops up later — it is never permanently lost.
  • The melee weapon is tougher than normal, having a minimum Toughness score equal to your Melee. Even when seemingly destroyed, the melee weapon can always be repaired.
  • Finally, the melee weapon becomes infused with your essence. It is considered a supernatural or magical melee weapon in situations where this matters.

Slayer

Inherent

You are an expert at attacking a particular type of enemy. This is generally a nemesis or ancestral enemy, but might also be focused skill and practice. When you make an attack against such an enemy, the attack roll is Confident. But if you roll snake eyes on such an attack, you suffer a Setback as your zeal backfires.

The kind of targets you can select as favored enemies depend on the campaign and must be approved by the GM. In general, a favored enemy should apply about 10% of all enemies you fight. Ethnicities and organizations work, even clans. Fantasy Races are usually appropriate, except against the dominant race of the setting (usually humans) where only specific ethnicities are applicable. Even more applicable in setting where they exist are different kinds of monsters, such as fairies, dragons, and so on.

Soft Strike

Basic Action

You make an attack when you use an enemy's strength against him. Make a Melee attack against the higher of your target's Dodge or Body, inflicting Concussion Stun damage equal to your Reflexes. Concussion damage is soaked using Reflexes. The target can use Body as Dodge if Body is higher.

Strongman

Inherent

When you make a Strength Push stunt, the Melee roll is Confident.

Takedown Counter

Trigger Action (Combo)

You use the power of an enemy's attack against him. Make a melee attack against a target that just missed you in melee, inflicting Concussion Stun damage equal to your Reflexes. Concussion damage is soaked using Reflexes. If you manage to do any damage, your target loses a shot. If the target moved before attacking you, you can throw him three meters in the direction he was moving before the attack, but then the damage is not stun. The target can use Body as Dodge if Body is higher.

Trample

Trigger Action (Combo)

One per Basic Action you take, you can trample a creature that is prone or that has a Body 5 or more lower than yours. Make a Normal Melee Attack that inflicts Body damage.

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