Chapter VI: Combat, Damage & Movement
Bearing all this in mind, the GM must decide which combatants are surprised. While it’s often the case that one entire side or the other is surprised, there can be individual exceptions. For example, Outlaws may easily surprise a small unit of drunken Soldiers, but not their keen-eyed (and unusually sober) Scout. If no one is surprised, proceed with combat as normal. Surprised characters lose their turn in the first round. They can do nothing except stand dumb-founded whilst their opponents fall upon them. After the first round surprised characters recover their wits and can act normally. D uring each round every character gets a turn to act (unless surprised). On his turn a character can take one or more actions. There are three types of actions in WFRP : • Full Action: A full action requires a character’s complete attention to accomplish on his turn. A character that takes a full action cannot take any half actions this round. Half Action: A half action is fairly simple, like moving or drawing a weapon. A character can take two half actions on his turn instead of taking a full action. Free Action: A free action takes but a split second and so can be taken in addition to any other actions you make in a round. There is no formal limit to the number of free actions a character can make in a round, but the GM should use common sense and set reasonable limits on what can be done. A character could, for example, make a charge attack (full action) or aim and shoot (two half-actions). It’s important to remember that the entire round is 10 seconds long, so the character’s turn within that round is but a few moments. • •
Example: Let’s return to Wilhelm and Gertrude. Instead of attacking in the open, where they could clearly be seen approaching, let’s say the Goblins set up an ambush instead. The combat begins when the Goblins attempt to shoot arrows from concealed positions. The GM decides that Wilhelm and Gertrude are surprised. The Goblins aim and shoot at the unlucky adventurers. Since they are surprised, Wilhelm and Gertrude do not get a chance to act. Once the Goblins have taken their shots the surprise round ends. The GM starts at the top of the Initiative order for round 2 and the combat proceeds as normal.
— a CTIons —
Typical actions include drawing a weapon, attacking, and moving. During his turn a character can perform one full action or two half actions as desired, with two exceptions: 1. A character cannot take more than one “attack” action in his turn. An attack action is any action with the word “attack” in the title. A character cannot take more than one “cast” action in his turn. Cast actions allow characters to use magic spells. Any action can be combined with talking, banter, battle cries, and other short verbal expressions—these are considered free actions. It is left to the GM to decide exactly what a player might be able to say in the time—obviously a terse warning or wry aside to a comrade would be acceptable while performing lengthy verse recitals from the works of notorious rake and playwright Detlef Sierk would not. 2. Example: Gertrude, an Outlaw, has rolled an Initiative of 44 this round. When her turn comes, she must decide what to do. A Roadwarden is chasing her, so Gertrude decides to shoot an arrow at the rapidly approaching lawman, and then move away into the woods. Attacking and moving are both half actions, so Gertrude can’t do anything more this round. Once her actions are resolved, the next combatant in initiative order (in this case, the Roadwarden, with an Initiative of 35) takes his turn. Most actions must be completed during your turn. You can’t start a charge attack in one round and finish it on the next, for example. Some actions, however, take longer than a single round to complete. These are known as extended actions and they are noted in the description of each action. A character attempting an extended action must continue with this action until it’s finished (he can’t start to reload a pistol, move, and then finish reloading, for example). A character may, however, abort the action part way through, but this means all time spent thus far is wasted. Example: Galland, an Engineer, needs to reload his pistol, which takes two full actions. He starts on his next turn, taking one full action. On his following turn, he finishes reloading by spending another full action. If he had chosen to abandon his reloading efforts after the first round, the extended action would have been aborted and he’d have to start the process all over again later if he wanted to reload. b asIC a CTIons There are eleven actions that cover the most common combat manoeuvres. It is recommended that players stick to these actions when first starting to play WFRP . These actions cover most combat situations. They are:
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