[center]
[color=gray]
[h1][color=white][u][b]COMBAT RULES[/b][/u][/color][/h1]
[img]http://www.data-sphere.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/n3coverb_2_43.jpg[/img]

This section details how combat works in Infinity: Intervention. The RP focuses on stats, with the minimal amount of dice needed. Still, structure and a clear turn order is needed for combat to work as intended, and the dice will need to be rolled by both the players and the GM.

[hider=Turns]
[color=white][b][u]Turns[/u][/b][/color]

Turns are the time frame in which combat takes place. When in combat situations, the order in which players post is fixed and can only be changed at the GM's discretion, or if a player decides to spend an [color=tan]Infinity Point[/color] to insert himself somewhere in the post order of his choice. Otherwise, post order is determined by a character's [color=dodgerblue]Agility[/color] and [color=white]Awareness[/color] combined. The higher the score, the sooner the character will go in the post order.

[hider=Example]
Lena's [color=dodgerblue]Agility[/color] is 9, while her [color=white]Awareness[/color] is 10, making for a combined total of 19.

Her opponent, a Yu Jing man in superheavy Yan Huo power armor, has a combined total of 15 ([color=dodgerblue]Agility[/color] 7, and [color=white]Awareness[/color] 8).

Since Lena has a higher total than the Yan Huo, Lena goes first in the post order.
[/hider]
[/hider]

[hider=Actions]
[color=white][b][u]Actions[/u][/b][/color]

Both the Player Characters and the NPCs have two actions per turn. They use these actions in order to carry out their duties in combat. Actions can be broken into three categories: Free actions, minor actions, and standard actions. A player may spend an [color=tan]Infinity Point[/color] to add one additional action to their turn.

Free actions are actions that do not count towards the two action per turn limit. These are mainly fluff in order to spice up the action sequence and make it feel more alive. Free actions entail things like small talk, looking around, and coordinating with a group. Essentially, free actions have no direct impact on the battle.

Minor actions are actions that alter the flow of battle in some way, but are not the means to winning them. Up to four minor actions can be taken a turn, but two minor actions will count as a standard action. Minor actions entail things like moving to new cover, switching weapons, and observing the battlefield for additional opportunities. Essentially, minor actions serve as assisting utility skills.

Standard actions are the actions that accomplish complicated tasks. Two standard actions may be taken per turn. Standard actions entail things like exploiting opportunities, attacking an enemy, hacking, and attempting negotiation. Essentially, standard actions involve player stats and equipment.

When declaring actions in combat, it must be made clear what the intention is. A good way to do this is to have a post summary at the end of your post. Free actions do not need to be detailed, but other actions do. A post summary [color=white][b]must[/b][/color] be placed in the OOC tab after a post for the rest of the players to quickly see what is happening.

A whole turn has passed when all actors in the battle have expended all of their actions. Thus, a player can post in the battle without spending any actions, but not attributing toward it whatsoever. Another player might only spend a minor action in one post to reach a new position and wait to see what happens next before committing.

Once a player has expended all of their actions, then they are skipped in the turn order for the next player. This rotation will continue until all actors in the battle have expended their actions. A new turn begins, and all actors may again take up to two actions for the turn. When an action is carried out, the results of that action are given by the GM in the OOC, so that the players can keep up with what is happening, and write their posts accordingly.

[hider=Action Example]
Lena found herself pinned from enemy fire down behind a quickly deteriorating piece of concrete. She had to think quick, what were her options? Lena knew that she was up against a suit of Yan Huo super heavy power armor, certainly not the first time she has been up against one of those. With a grin, Lena lowered her hacking visor over her eyes. Unfortunately for the Yan Huo, his heavy armor made him the prime target for hackers. And Lena was one of the best.

With the visor down, Lena could see all of the accessible digital entities around her, the most prominent one being the nine foot tall suit of armor pinning her down. Lena quickly tapped away at the holographic interface in front of her and accessed the Yan Huo's system. "Night night~" she cooed as she quickly applied the CLAW-3 hacking program [color=white][b]Carbonite[/b][/color].

She had no time to wait and see if the hack had completely locked down the suit of armor, she needed to move to better cover and get ready to fight the Yan Huo on her terms. Quickly, Lena [color=white][b]dived to better cover[/b][/color] and [color=white][b]unslung the CombiRifle from her back[/b][/color].

[hider=Post Summary][color=white]
Standard Action - Opportunity: [color=lime]Hacking 16[/color] [CLAW-3 Carbonite]
Minor Action - Moved to cover
Minor Action - Switched weapon: Hacking Device to CombiRifle
[/color][/hider]
[color=lime][b]__________[/b][/color]

--In the OOC tab--

Lena's player would copy their Post Summary...
[hider=Post Summary][color=white]
Standard Action - Opportunity: [color=lime]Hacking 16[/color] [CLAW-3 Carbonite]
Minor Action - Moved to high cover
Minor Action - Switched weapon: Hacking Device to CombiRifle
[/color][/hider]

The GM would then reveal the results of the actions taken in that post...

Yan Huo fails hack defense. Result: [color=red]Immobilized[/color]
Lena's exploitation of the [color=lime]Hacking 16[/color] opportunity has reached the Focus Threshold of 2.
Future hacking opportunities against the Yan Huo can be taken with a +3 expertise bonus to [color=lime]Hacking[/color]
4 Damage to Yan Huo's Firewalls

When the Yan Huo posts next, it [color=white][b]must[/b][/color] spend a standard action to attempt to undo the damage the hack has done. It can not move or attack until the hack is undone.
[color=lime][b]__________[/b][/color]

The Yan Huo fired a steady stream of shots with its shoulder mounted machine gun. He was certain that this lightly armored girl would fall victim to his armored superiority. He had noted the CombiRifle slung to the woman's back, and grinned, "Your peashooter wont do much against me, girl! Come out and so I can save ammunition and put one bullet between your eyes!"

Suddenly, a number of lights and warnings beeped and flared in his visor. He was being hacked! Damn... He had a feeling there was more to this girl... Quickly, the Yan Huo began to fight back against the rapidly expanding hack. His multi-tasking between keeping the girl suppressed and fighting back the aggressive hack wasn't doing him any good. Before he knew it, the hack had somehow slipped right past his firewalls, taking control and deactivating key motor functions in his suit with the least amount of resistance. He could feel the whole suit beginning to resist his body's movements. He let out a frustrated scream as the suit became increasingly difficult to move around in.

With the muscle actuators completely seized, all the Yan Huo could do was watch and curse in Chinese as the hacker moved to a better position. He saw the woman readying her CombiRifle and knew what was coming. If it weren't for this damn hack, he would have turned her to red mist for stepping out of cover like that... But now, he couldn't help but feel fear for that tiny peashooter in the woman's hands. The Yan Huo fiercely battled with the hacked still in place, hoping he would be able to regain control of his suit in time.

[hider=Post Summary][color=white]
[color=red]Immobilized[/color]
Standard Action - Reset
[/color][/hider]
[/hider]
[/hider]

[hider=Health and Damage]
[color=white][b][u]Health and Damage[/u][/b][/color]
Characters have three types of health to consider in combat: Wounds, Consciousness, and Firewalls.

Wounds are calculated by a combination of a character's [color=darkorange]Brawn[/color] attribute, and their [color=darkorange]Resistance[/color] stat. Items, such as armor, may modify these stats. If wounds are depleted to 0, the character is killed.

Consciousness is calculated by a combination of a character's [color=blueviolet]Willpower[/color] attribute, and their [color=blueviolet]Discipline[/color] stat. If consciousness is depleted to 0, the character is incapacitated.

Firewalls are calculated by a combination of a character's [color=lime]Intelligence[/color] attribute, and their [color=lime]Hacking[/color] stat. Items, such as hacking devices, may modify these stats. If firewalls are depleted to 0, the focus threshold on [color=lime]Hacking[/color] opportunities is always 0.

[hider=Health Types Example]
Lena is a top notch hacker, but front line fighting isn't exactly what she is built for.

Wounds ([color=darkorange]Brawn[/color] 7 + [color=darkorange]Resistance[/color] 0): 7
Consciousness ([color=blueviolet]Willpower[/color] 8 + [color=blueviolet]Discipline[/color] 1): 9
Firewalls ([color=lime]Intelligence[/color] 13 + [color=lime]Hacking[/color] 4): 17
[/hider]

Damage is done to these 'health types' by succeeding actions taken against the target in question. A weapon's or hack's damage line looks something like this:

Damage: Wounds 1 (2)

This damage line tells us that the item in question deals its damage to the Wounds health type. A regular success deals 1 damage, while the number in the brackets shows the damage dealt if the focus threshold is reached.

[hider=Damage Example]
Lena's use of Carbonite on the Yan Huo bought her some time to come up with a plan. Carbonite's qualities are:

Damage: Firewalls 1 (2)
Immobilizing
Double Strike

This means that the CLAW-3 hacking program deals one damage per success. It has the immobilizing quality, which is what stopped the Yan Huo from doing anything during his post. And finally, it has the Double Strike quality. Double Strike means that the target must make [b]two[/b] saving rolls instead of the normal single save. One failed save means one damage, allowing this hack to deal two damage if both saves are failed. Additionally, this means that if the focus threshold is reached, each failed save would deal two damage instead. This is reflected by the damage number in the brackets.
[/hider]
[/hider]

[hider=Critical Hits, Face Offs, Reactions, and Defense]
[color=white][b][u]Critical Hits, Face Offs, Reactions, and Defense[/u][/b][/color]

When a character is the target of an attack, they have have a choice to make. They can simply take the attack and hope their defenses hold, or they can react by immediately declaring a standard action. If the target decides to react, then both sides must roll a d20. The roll required must be below the character's relevant stat, but above their opponent's roll. Whoever wins the face off, carries out their action instead.

If the rolled number is the same as the character's target number, they achieve a critical hit! A critical hit automatically wins the face off, and immediately applies its damage and effects with no saving roll able to be made. The only defense against a critical hit is spending an [color=tan]Infinity Point[/color] to turn the attack into a normal hit. Another [color=tan]Infinity Point[/color] may be spent to negate the hit altogether. Critical hits count as reaching a Focus threshold, applying any effect that normally reaching the threshold would. If a character has focus in the stat that is being rolled with, then the roll required for a critical hit is added to the target number.

If both characters roll a critical hit in the face off, then nothing happens for either character.

Some characters have stats that are above twenty, this is reflected by their superior skills and training in that field. On a d20, a character with a stat line above twenty theoretically never fails. In fact, for every point above twenty, the critical hit range expands by one.

[hider=Critical Hit Example]
Lena's [color=lime]Hacking[/color] stat line is E:4 || F:2.

If the Yan Huo decided to react to turn Lena's hack attempt into a face off. Since Lena's target number is 17, she would normally need to roll a 17 in order to critically hit the Yan Huo. Because she has 2 focus in [color=lime]Hacking[/color], the critical hit range is expanded to 15, 16, and 17.

If Lena's [color=lime]Hacking[/color] stat brought her target number above twenty, 23 for example, then Lena's critical range would be 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 (3 points above 20, and 2 focus).
[/hider]

Certain weapons have qualities that would allow an opportunity to be exploited twice, or even three times in one action. In a face to face roll however, this translates to how many dice a character rolls against the other. A character that is reacting only gets to roll one dice regardless of any qualities a weapon might have.

[hider=Reaction Example]
The Yan Huo successfully undid the Carbonite hack on his suit and regained control, just in time to see the hacker lining up her CombiRifle for a shot. The Yan Huo spent an action to reset his suit, but still has one left to spend. So, he decides to spend his last action by reacting against Lena, declaring a [color=aquamarine]Ballistics[/color] attack against her own. Lena opens fire with her CombiRifle, if the Yan Huo hadn't reacted, then the attack would go through and the Yan Huo would have to hope his armor would be enough to stop the shots. But since the Yan Huo reacted, they must both roll a d20 to compete for the hit.

Lena's target number is 13 ([color=aquamarine]Coordination[/color] 11 + [color=aquamarine]Ballistics[/color] 2), whereas the Yan Huo's target number is 16 ([color=aquamarine]Coordination[/color] 10 + [color=aquamarine]Ballistics[/color] 6). Since she is wielding a CombiRifle, she gets to exploit the opportunity twice. But since she and the Yan Huo are facing off, she gets to roll two dice instead.

Lena succeeds one shot with a 4, but fails another by rolling higher than her target number with a 17. The Yan Huo succeeds with a roll of 10. They both succeeded with at least one shot, but since the Yan Huo rolled a higher number, he succeeds with his reaction and carries out his attack against Lena. The Yan Huo's weapon details are:

Damage: Wounds 1 (3)
Triple Burst

The Yan Huo's weapon may be terrifying with Triple Burst, allowing him to shoot three times in one action, but since he snap fired to defend himself from the hacker, he only gets a single shot. Nevertheless, his success means Lena must now pass a saving roll or be damaged by the Yan Huo's shoulder mounted machine gun.
[/hider]

If a character chooses not to react, and simply take the enemy attack, they must make a saving roll, or spend an [color=tan]Infinity Point[/color] to automatically pass the save. The character must roll a d20, using only the stat of the relevant Health Type being damaged to modify the roll (Resistance for Wounds, Discipline for Consciousness, and Hacking for Firewalls). The roll is then added to the relevant stat. If the final number is [b]greater[/b] than the opportunity number (or the opponent's face off roll), then the attack is saved and nothing happens.

If the target is behind low cover, they add +2 to their saving roll on top of their stat modifier. If the target is behind high cover, they add +4 to their saving roll.

[hider=Saving Roll Example]
Lena is hit with the Yan Huo's reactive shot! Since she was in high cover when she took the shot, gets a +4 bonus to her saving roll. The Yan Huo rolled 10 on the face off, so Lena must beat that number in order to prevent being wounded. Lena has 0 [color=darkorange]Resistance[/color], so she is only benefiting from the high cover modifier adding to her roll. She rolls a 7, lower than the Yan Huo's face off roll. Luckily, the high cover adds +4 to that roll, resulting in 11 and beating her opponent's face off roll! Lena is lucky to be alive.

Should Lena have failed, she would have taken one damage to her Wounds from the Yan Huo's machine gun.
[/hider]
[/hider]

[hider=Heat]
[color=white][b][u]Heat[/u][/b][/color]

[color=orangered]Heat[/color] is the GM's equivalent [color=tan]Infinity Points[/color]. Whenever a focus threshold is reached by a player, the GM gains one [color=orangered]Heat[/color]. In face off rolls, a critical hit generates one [color=orangered]Heat[/color]. [color=orangered]Heat[/color] is used to complicate things for the players. The GM may hold onto [color=orangered]Heat[/color] for as long as they like, spending it when the time seems most fitting to them.

[color=orangered]Heat[/color] is the GM's way of playing God in between the rules. It can be used to increase specific stats on enemies, or change the post order in the middle of combat. It may even be used to complicate things on the battlefield, such a reinforcements arriving, or an escape being blocked off. The GM is encouraged to be creative when using [color=orangered]Heat[/color], but not to use it over zealously or to directly harm the player characters. [color=orangered]Heat[/color] is constantly on display in the OOC post for the players to see, so they may plan around any eventualities to attempt counteract the GM's nefarious plans.

Additionally, when a mission begins, the GM gains [color=orangered]Heat[/color] equal to the amount of Infinity Points all of the player characters have.
[/hider]

On occasion, combat may not include guns, knives, and explosives; sometimes, combat rules can be applied to battles of wit or stealth.
[/color]
[/center]