Combat Sequence
Everybody acts in turn in a regular cycle. Generally, combat runs in the following way:
- Each combatant starts the battle flat-footed. A flatfooted character doesn’t add a Dexterity bonus to Defense. Once a combatant acts, he or she is no longer flat-footed.
- The GM determines which characters are aware of their opponents at the start of the battle. If some but not all of the combatants are aware of their opponents, a surprise round happens before regular rounds begin. The combatants who are aware of the opponents can act in the surprise round, so they roll for initiative. In initiative order (highest to lowest), combatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take a single action (an attack action or a move action; no full-round actions allowed) during the surprise round. Combatants who were unaware do not get to act in the surprise round. If everyone starts the battle aware (or if no one does), there is no surprise round.
- Combatants who have not yet rolled initiative do so. All combatants are now ready to begin their first regular round.
- Combatants act in initiative order.
- When everyone has had a turn, the combatant with the highest initiative acts again, and steps 4 and 5 repeat until combat ends.
Combat Statistics
Several fundamental statistics determine how well you do in combat. This section summarizes these statistics, and the following section details how to use them.
Attack Roll
When you make an attack roll, roll 1d20 and add your attack bonus. If your result is equal to or higher than the target’s Defense, you hit and deal damage. Lots of modifiers affect the attack roll, such as a +1 bonus if you have the Weapon Focus feat with your weapon, a +2 bonus if your opponent is stunned, and so forth.
Attack Bonus
Your attack bonus with a melee weapon is.
spaceBase Attack Bonus + Strength modifier + size modifier
With a ranged weapon, your attack bonus is.
spaceBase Attack Bonus + Dexterity modifier + size modifier + range penalty**
Strength Modifier
Strength helps you swing a weapon harder and faster, so your Strength modifier applies to melee attack rolls.
Dexterity Modifier
Since Dexterity measures coordination and steadiness, your Dexterity modifier applies to attacks with ranged weapons.
Size Modifier
The smaller you are, the bigger the other opponents are relative to you. A Human is a big target to an Ewok, just as a rancor is a big target to a Human . Since this same size modifier applies to Defense, two characters of the same size strike each other normally, regardless of what size they actually are.
Size (Example) | Modifier |
Colossal (Sarlacc) | -8 |
Gargantuan (Fambaa) | -4 |
Huge (Bantha) | -2 |
Large (Hutt) | -1 |
Medium-size (Human) | +0 |
Small (Ewok) | +1 |
Tiny (Ysalamiri, Cat) | +2 |
Diminutive (Rockwart, Kouhun) | +4 |
Fine (Stingfly) | +8 |
Range Penalty
The range penalty with a ranged weapon depends on what weapon you’re using and how far away the target is. All ranged weapons have a range increment, such as 10 meters for a blaster pistol (see Weapons). Any attack from a distance of less than one range increment is not penalized for range, so a blaster shot (range increment 10 meters) can strike at enemies up to 9 meters away with no penalty. However, each full range increment causes a cumulative -2 penalty on the attack roll. For example, a character firing a blaster pistol at a target 38 meters away suffers a -6 penalty on his attack roll (because 38 meters is at least three range increments but not four increments).
Thrown weapons, such as grenades, have a maximum range of five range increments. Energy or projectile weapons such as blasters, can shoot up to ten range increments.
Damage
When you hit with a weapon, you deal damage according to the type of weapon (see Weapons). Unarmed strikes and a creature’s natural physical attack forms (such as bites or claws) are considered to deal weapon damage for the purpose of effects that provide a bonus to weapon damage.
Minimum Weapon Damage
If penalties to damage bring the damage result below 1, a hit still deals 1 point of damage.
Strength Modifier
When you hit with a melee weapon, you add your Strength modifier to damage.
Off-Hand Weapon
When you deal damage with a weapon in your off hand, you add only half your Strength modifier (if it’s a bonus).
Wielding a Weapon Two-Handed
When you deal damage with a weapon that you are wielding two-handed, you add one and a half times your Strength modifier (if it’s a bonus). This higher Strength modifier does not apply to two-handed attacks with weapons that are smaller than your size category.
Defense
Your Defense represents how hard it is for opponents to hit you. It’s the attack roll result that an opponent needs to get to successfully attack you. The average character has a Defense of 10. Calculate your Defense as follows.
space10 + Class Bonus + Dexterity Modifier + size modifier
Class Bonus
Your class and level grant you an innate bonus to Defense. This bonus measures your combat savvy and applies in all situations, even when you’re flat-footed or when you would lose your Dexterity bonus for some other reason.
Dexterity Modifier
If your Dexterity is high, you are particularly adept at dodging blows or blaster fire. If your [Dexterity] is low, you are particularly inept at it. That’s why you apply your Dexterity modifier to your Defense.
Wearing armor limits your Dexterity bonus. If you’re wearing armor, you might not be able to apply your full Dexterity bonus to your Defense (see Armor).
Sometimes you can’t use your Dexterity bonus (even if you have one). The bonus to Defense that you get from a high Dexterity represents your ability to dodge incoming attacks. If you can’t react to a blow, you can’t use your Dexterity bonus to Defense. For example, you lose your Dexterity bonus if you’re hanging onto the face of a crumbling cliff high above a Sullustan river of molten lava, or when you’re caught flat-footed at the beginning of combat.
Size Modifier
The bigger a target is, the easier it is to hit in combat. The smaller it is, the harder it is to hit. Since this same modifier applies to attack rolls, an Ewok, for example, doesn’t have a hard time hitting another Ewok (see the Size modifier table above).
Other Modifiers
Other factors can improve your Defense.
Dodge Feat
The Dodge feat improves your Defense by +1 against a single opponent.
Dodge Bonuses
Some other bonuses to Defense represent actively avoiding blows. These bonuses are called dodge bonuses. Any situation that denies you your Dexterity bonus also denies you your dodge bonus. (Wearing armor, however, does not limit these bonuses the way it limits your Dexterity bonus to Defense.) Unlike most sorts of bonuses, dodge bonuses stack with each other.
Touch Attacks
Some attacks disregard a character’s class bonus to Defense. For example, a grappling opponent can grab you and inflict damage regardless of what your class bonus to Defense happens to be. In such cases, the attacker makes a melee touch attack roll.
To lock onto a target, a missile launcher needs to succeed at a ranged touch attack (the same as a melee touch attack, but with a range increment). The attacker makes her attack roll as normal, but your Defense does not include your class bonus. Your size modifier and Dexterity modifier apply normally.
Vitality Points and Wound Points
Your vitality points and wound points tell you how much punishment you can take before dropping. Your vitality points are based on your class, your level, and your [Constitution] modifier. Your wound points are equal to your Constitution score.
When your vitality points reach 0, you no longer have the innate energy to roll with the attack. The next successful attack against you deals damage that reduces your wound points, representing a physical injury. (If an attack reduces your vitality points to 0 and damage remains to be applied, the damage immediately reduces your wound points.)
When you take any wound damage, you become fatigued (see fatigue). In addition, you must make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 5 + the number of wound points lost in this round). If the save fails, the character is knocked out (see knocked out).
When your wound points reach 0, you’re disabled (see disabled).
When your wound points are reduced to a number between -1 and -9 inclusive, you’re dying. A dying character is unconscious and can take no actions. Each round, a dying character makes a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10). If the save fails, the character loses 1 wound point. If the save succeeds, the character stabilizes and stops dying, no longer losing 1 wound point every round (though he or she remains unconscious).
Speed
Your speed tells you how far you can move in a round and still do something, such as attack or use a skill. Your speed depends mostly on your species. (Armor can also affect your speed; see Heroic Characteristics.)
Small creatures, such as Ewoks, have a speed of 6 meters.
Medium-size creatures, such as Humans, have a speed of 10 meters.
You can move up to your speed and attack in the same round. If you don’t attack, you can move up to twice your normal speed in a single round. If you run, you can move up to four times your normal speed as a full-round action.
Initiative
In every round during combat, each combatant gets to do something. The combatants’ initiative checks determine the order in which they act, from highest to lowest. As General Crix Madine has been known to say, “Striking first is good, but striking last is better.”
Initiative Checks
At the start of a battle, each combatant makes a single initiative check. (The GM rolls for the opponents, while the players roll for their characters.) An initiative check is a Dexterity check. The GM records the order the characters act in, counting down from highest initiative result to lowest. Each character acts in turn, on the initiative count that corresponds to her initiative check result. A character’s initiative count remains the same for all rounds of the combat unless a character takes an action that causes her place in the initiative order to change (see Special Initiative Actions farther down).
The GM should write the names of the characters on a piece of scrap paper in initiative order. That way, in subsequent rounds the GM can more quickly from one character to the next. If two combatants have the same initiative count, the tied combatants act in order of Dexterity (higher Dexterity goes first). If there is still a tie, roll a die.
Joining a Battle
If characters enter a battle after it has begun, they roll initiative at that time and act whenever their turn comes up in the existing order.
Opponent Initiative
Typically, the GM makes a single initiative check for the opponents. That way, each player gets a turn each round and the GM also gets one turn. At the GM’s option, however, he can make separate initiative check for different groups of opponents or even for individual foes. For instance, the GM may make one initiative check for an Imperial officer and another check for all seven of his stormtroopers.
Flat-Footed
At the start of a battle, before your first regular turn in the initiative order, you are flat-footed. You can’t use your Dexterity bonus (if any) while flat-footed.
Surprise
When combat starts, if you are not aware of your enemies but they are aware of you, you’re surprised. If you know about your opponents but they don’t know about you, you surprise them.
Awareness and Surprise
Sometimes all the combatants on a side are aware of their opponents; sometimes none are; sometimes only some of them are. Sometimes a few combatants on each side are aware and the other combatants on each side are unaware.
Determining Awareness
The GM determines who is aware of whom at the start of a battle. She may call for Listen checks, Spot checks, or other checks to see how aware the characters are of their opponents. Some example situations are below.
- The mission team enters a cantina and immediately spots a gang of Rodians. Alert and watchful, the Rodians also notice the heroes. Both sides are aware; neither is surprised. The heroes and the Rodians make initiative checks, and the battle begins.
- While exploring an abandoned armory, the heroes are being watched by a pack of Jawas. The [Jawas] lurk in hiding places, waiting for the right time to strike and defend their new lair from intruders. Sia-Lan spots one of the Jawas as it tries to sneak behind a partially destroyed battle droid. The Jawa shriek and leap from their hiding places, surrounding the heroes. The Jawas and Sia-Lan each get to act during the surprise round. The other heroes, caught unaware, can’t act. After the surprise round, the first regular round of combat begins.
- The mission team advances down a dark corridor in the space-station fortress of Grumbog, an alien warlord, using glow rods to light the way. At the end of the corridor, three of Grumbog’s soldiers have set up an E-Web repeating blaster. They fire the weapon, using its multifire setting, to send two powerful blasts down the corridor. That’s the end of the surprise round. After determining whether any of the heroes were hit and calculating damage, the GM announces that the first regular round of combat begins. The mission team is in a tough spot, since they are facing a powerful weapon and still can’t see who is attacking them.
The Surprise Round
If some but not all of the combatants are aware of their opponents, a surprise round happens before regular rounds begin. The combatants who are aware of their opponents can act in the surprise round, so they roll initiative. In initiative order (highest to lowest), combatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take a single action – either an attack action or a move action, but not both – during the surprise round. If no one or everyone is surprised, a surprise round doesn’t occur.
Unaware Combatants
Combatants who are unaware at the start of battle do not get to act in the surprise round. Unaware combatants are flat-footed because they have not acted yet, so they lose any Dexterity bonus to Defense they may have.
Actions In Combat
The fundamental combat actions of moving and attacking cover most of what you want to do in a battle. They’re all described here. Other, more specialized options are described farther down.
The Combat Round
Each round represents 6 seconds in the game world. In the real world, a round is an opportunity for each character involved in a combat to take an action. Anything a person could reasonably do in 6 seconds, your character can do in 1 round.
Each round begins with the character with the highest initiative result and then proceeds, in descending order, from there. Each round uses the same initiative order. When a character’s turn comes up in the initiative sequence, that character performs his entire round’s worth of actions
For almost all purposes, there is no relevance to the end of a round or the beginning of a round. The term “round” works like the word “month.” A month can mean either a calendar month, or a span of time from a day in one month to the same day the next month. In the same way, a round can be a segment of game time starting with the first character to act and ending with the last, but it usually means a span of time from one round to the same initiative number in the next round. Effects that last a certain number of rounds end just before the same initiative number that they began on.
Action Types
An action’s type essentially tells you how long the action takes to perform within the framework of the 6-second combat round, and how movement is treated. The four types of actions are move actions, attack actions, full-round actions, and free actions.
Attack Action
An attack action allows you to do something. You can make an attack, use a skill or feat (unless the skill or feat requires a move action or a full-round action to perform; see below), or perform other similar actions. During a combat round, you can take an attack action and a move action. You can take a move action before or after performing an attack action.
Move Action
A move action allows you to move your speed or perform an action that takes the equivalent amount of time (see the table below). You can move your speed, climb, draw or reload a weapon, pick up an item, or use certain skills, for example. In a combat round, you can take an attack action and a move action, or you can take a move action first and then take an attack action. You can also take two move actions in a round, but in this case you take no attack actions (you’re using the second move action in place of an attack action).
Move actions also allow you to perform actions that are equivalent to moving. Using Climb to climb a distance equal to one-quarter of your speed and using Ride to control a tauntaun during combat are move actions. If the action you take in a round results in you moving no actual distance, you can take a 2-meter step. If you take an action that makes you move an actual distance, you can’t take a 2-meter step in that round.
Full-Round Actions
A full-round action consumes all of your effort during a round. The only movement you can take with a full-round action is a 2-meter step before, during, or after the action. Attacking more than once (if you are permitted to do so) or using a skill or feat that require a full round to accomplish, such as using Search to examine a 2-meter-by-2-meter area, uses a full-round action.
Free Actions
Free actions consume a very small amount of time and effort, and over the span of a round their impact is so minor that they are considered to be free. You can perform one or more free actions while taking another action normally. However, the GM puts reasonable limits on what you can really do for free. Calling out to your friends for help, for example, is free. Reciting the epic history of the Rodian hunter clans takes several minutes (or more).
Actions In Combat Table
Actions in Combat | ||
Action | Attack of Opportunitya | Movementb |
Attack Actions | ||
Attack (Melee) | No | Move Action |
Attack (Ranged) | No | Move Action |
Attack (Unarmed) | Yes | Move Action |
Feint (see Bluff) | No | Move Action |
Strike an objectc | Yes | Move Action |
Total Defense | No | Move Action |
Use a Skilld | No | Move Action |
Move Actions | ||
Move | No | 1 x speed |
Climb | No | ¼ speed |
Draw or Holster a Weapone | No | 2-meter step |
Open a Door | No | 2-meter step |
Pick up an item | Yes | 2-meter step |
Retrieve a Stored Item | Yes | 2-meter step |
Move a Heavy Objectf | Yes | 1 x speed |
Stand up from Prone Position | No | 2-meter step |
Load a Weapon | Yes | 2-meter step |
Use a Skilld | No | 2-meter step |
Full-Round Actions | ||
Charge | No | 2 x speed |
Coup de Grace | No | 2-meter step |
Full Attack | No | 2-meter step |
Fight Defensively | No | 2-meter step |
Run | Yes | 4 x speed |
Disengage | Maybe | 2 x speed |
Use a Skilld | Yes | 2-meter step |
| Free Actions | ||
Activate an Item | Yes | Move Action |
Switch Weapon Mode | No | Move Action |
Drop an Item | No | Move Action |
Speak | No | Move Action |
Readyc | No | Move Action |
Delayc | No | Move Action |
Special Actions | ||
Bantha Rush (Charge)c g | No | Varies |
Disarmc g | Maybe | Move Action |
Grapplec g | Maybe | Move Action |
Trip an Opponentc g | Maybe | Move Action |
Aimingc g | Yes | 2-meter step |
Suppression Firec g | Yes | 2-meter step |
Pulling a Blowc g | No | Move Action |
aRegardless of the action performed, if you move within, through, or out of an opponent’s threatened area, you usually prove an attack of opportunity. This column indicates whether the action itself, not moving provokes an attack of opportunity. bThis column describes the kind of movement that can accompany the action, in some cases, a move action can accompany the action described. cSee Special Initiative Actions for details on read and delay. See Special Attacks and Damage for details on striking an object, bantha rush, disarm, grapple, trip, aiming, suppression fire, and pulling a blow. d Use a skill that requires an attack action, a move action, or a full-round action. eThis can be reduced to a free action with the proper feat. fIf the object is extremely large or awkward (GM’s call), this is a full-round action. gThese attack forms substitute for a melee attack. As melee attacks, they can be used once as an attack action or one or more times in a full attack (full-round action). |
Attack Actions
The most common activities covered by an attack action are described below. More specialized attack actions are covered in the Special Attacks and Damage section, farther down.
Melee Attacks
With a melee weapon, you can strike any enemy within 2 meters of your position.
Ranged Attacks
With a ranged weapon, you can throw or shoot at any target that is within the ranged weapon’s maximum range and in line of sight. A target is in line of sight if there are no obstructions (including other characters) between you and the target. The maximum range for a thrown weapon is five range increments. For projectile or energy weapons, it’s ten range increments. Some specific ranged weapons have shorter maximum ranges, as specified in their descriptions.
Point Blank Range
A target that’s 2 meters away is considered to be at point-blank range. You get a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls when making a point-blank shot with a ranged weapon. (The Point Blank Shot feat increases the range of a point-blank shot to 10 meters.)
Improvised Thrown Weapons
Sometimes objects not crafted to be weapons get thrown: small rocks, vases, pitchers, lightsabers, and so forth. Because these objects are not designed for such use, all characters who use improvised weapons are treated as not proficient with them and receive a -4 penalty on their attack rolls. Improved thrown weapons have a range increment of 4 meters. Their size and the damage they deal have to be adjudicated by the GM.
Dropping an object from a great height is very different from throwing it. A dropped object has a range increment of 20 meters and no upper range limit. (Even if you drop an object from kilometers above the surface, it would eventually hit the ground.) Dropped objects are considered to be improvised weapons, giving a –4 nonproficiency penalty to your attack roll — after all, a grenade is really meant to be thrown, not dropped. (If dropping an object from a moving vehicle, don't forget to apply the vehicle's speed modifier to your attack roll; see Vehicle Combat) If the target square is more than altitude/5 meters laterally from your position, instead calculate your range penalty based on the lateral distance as per a normal thrown weapon. The lateral distance cannot exceed 5 x the object's thrown range increment (4 meters for grenades, for a maximum lateral throw of 20 meters). Lateral distance can be measured from any point you occupy during your attack action, so if in a moving vehicle, you may drop the object at whatever point is closest to your desired target. (If you're also piloting the vehicle, of course, the vehicle will continue moving in a straight line at its declared speed while you make your attack.)
Make an attack roll against a Defense of 5 (as normal for a grenade) and, if you miss, your dropped object deviates 1d3 meters + 1 meter per two range increments. Once you determine what square the object hits, apply the rules for falling objects (Star Wars Roleplaying Game rulebook, page 289) normally.
Finally, in the case of a grenade, thermal detonator, or other weapon with a burst radius, apply its damage normally.
Total Defense
As an attack action, you can defend yourself (you don’t actually make an attack, but you can take a move action). Using total defense provides you with a +4 dodge bonus to your Defense for 1 round.
Attack Rolls
An attack roll represents your attempt to strike your opponent. It does not represent a single swing of a lightsaber or one shot from a blaster, for example. Rather, it indicates whether you managed to connect solidly over the course of perhaps several attempts.
Your attack roll is 1d20 + your attack bonus with the type of weapon you’re using (Melee or Ranged). If the result is at least as high as the target’s Defense, you hit and deal damage.
Automatic Misses and Hits
A natural 1 (the d20 comes up 1) on the attack roll is always a miss. A natural 20 (the d20 comes up 20) is always a hit. A natural 20 is also a threat – a possible critical hit (see Critical Hits, below).
Damage Rolls
If the attack roll result equals or exceeds the target’s Defense, the attack succeeds and you deal damage. Roll the appropriate damage for your weapon (see Weapons). Damage is deducted from the target’s current vitality points, if the target has any. If not, the damage is deducted from the target’s wound points. (If damage reduces a target’s vitality points to 0, and there’s still damage left over, it’s applied to wound points.) If the opponent’s wound points drop to 0 or lower, he’s in bad shape (see Injury and Death, farther down).
Critical Hits
When you make an attack roll and get a natural 20 (the d20 actually shows 20), you hit regardless of your target’s Defense, and you have scored a threat. The hit might be a critical hit. To find out whether it’s a critical hit, you immediately make another attack roll with all the same modifiers as the attack roll that scored the threat. If the second attack roll also results in a hit, your attack deals a critical hit. (The second roll just needs to hit to confirm a critical hit; you don’t need to roll a second 20.) If the second roll is a miss, then your attack just deals the damage of a regular hit.
A critical hit against a heroic opponent (that is, one with one or more levels in a hero class or a prestige class) means that you apply the weapon’s damage to the target’s wound points. A critical hit against an ordinary opponent (an opponent with no levels in a hero class or a prestige class) automatically reduces the ordinary opponent’s wound points to -1.
Increased Threat Range
Sometimes a weapon has a threat range that includes more than one number. That is, you can score a threat on a die roll lower than 20. Lightsabers, for instance, give you a threat on a natural attack roll of 19 or 20. In such cases, a die roll of less than 20 is not an automatic hit. Any attack roll that doesn’t result in a hit can’t threaten a critical hit.
Improved Critical
The Improved Critical feat enables a character to increase his threat range when using a particular kind of weapon.
Multiple Attacks
A character with more than one attack per round must use a full attack action to make more than one attack. A full attack counts as a full-round action.
Shooting or Throwing into a Melee
If you shoot a ranged weapon or throw a weapon at a target engaged in melee with an ally, you take a -4 penalty on your attack roll. Two characters are engaged in melee if they are enemies and are adjacent to each other. (An unconscious or otherwise immobilized character is not considered engaged unless he is being attacked.)
Precise Shot
If you have the Precise Shot feat, you do not take this penalty.
Unarmed Attacks
Striking for damage with punches, kicks, and head butts is essentially like attacking with a weapon, except for the following modifications.
Attacks of Opportunity
Making an unarmed attack provokes an attack of opportunity from your opponent, provided that your opponent is armed. The attack of opportunity occurs before your attack. The reason you provoke an attack of opportunity is because you must close with your target to make an unarmed attack.
An unarmed attack against one opponent doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity from other opponents or from an unarmed foe.
“Armed” Unarmed Attacks
Sometimes a character’s unarmed attacks count as armed attacks. A character with the Martial Arts feat, for example, is considered to be armed, as is a character making a touch attack, or a character or creature with some kind of natural weapon, such as claws or fangs.
Not only does a character with the Martial Arts feat not provoke an attack of opportunity when making an unarmed attack against an armed opponent, but an opponent provokes an attack of opportunity when making an unarmed attack against a character with the Martial Arts feat.
Unarmed Strike Damage
An unarmed strike by a Medium-size character deals 1d3 points of damage. An unarmed strike by a Small character deals 1d2 points of damage. An unarmed strike by a Large character deals 1d4 points of damage. You can’t score a critical hit with an unarmed strike unless you have the Martial Arts feat.
Unarmed strikes count as light weapons for purposes such as determining two-weapon attack penalties.
Move actions
With the exception of specific movement-related skills, most move actions don’t require skill checks. In some cases (such as shouldering a stuck door), ability checks might be required.
Move
The basic move action lets you move up to your character’s speed. If you take this kind of move action during your turn, you can’t take a 2-meter step.
Many nonstandard modes of movement are also covered by this type of action, including climbing and riding an animal.
Manipulating an Item
In most cases, moving or manipulating an object is a move action. This includes drawing or holstering a weapon, picking up an item, retrieving a stored item, loading a weapon, opening a door, or moving a heavy object.
If you take this kind of move action, you can take a 2-meter step.
Standing up
Standing up from a prone position requires a move action.
Full-Round Actions
A full-round action requires an entire round to complete. Thus, it can’t be combined with an attack action or a move action. If the full-round action doesn’t involve actual movement, you can take a 2-meter step before, during, or after the action.
Charge
Charging is a special full-round action that allows you to move more than your speed and attack during the same round. However, there are tight restrictions on how and when you can move.
Movement during a Charge
You must move before you attack, not after it. You must move at least 4 meters and may move up to twice your speed. All movement must be in a straight line, with no backing up allowed. You must stop and make a melee attack as soon as you are within striking range of your target (2 meters away). You can’t run past a target and attack it from another direction.
Spring Attack and Charge
Spring Attack cannot be used with a Charge because Charging requires that you move before your attack, not after it.
Attacking
After moving, you may make a single melee attack. Since you use the momentum of the charge in your favor, you get a +2 charge bonus on the attack roll. Since a charge is impossible without a bit of recklessness, you also take a -2 penalty to your Defense for 1 round (until your next action).
Even if you have extra attacks, such as from having a high enough base attack bonus or from using multiple weapons, you only get to make one attack during a charge.
Weapons Readied against a Charge
Spears and other long piercing weapons deal double damage when readied (set) and used against a charging opponent (see Ready, farther down).
Full Attack
If you get more than one attack per round because your base attack bonus is high enough, or you fight with two weapons, or you’re using a double weapon, or for some special reason (such as a feat), you must take a full attack action to use your additional attacks.
A full attack is a full-round action. Because of this, the only movement you can take during a full attack is a 2-meter step. You may take the step before, between, or after your attacks.
If you get multiple attacks because of your base attack bonus, you must make the attacks in order from the one with the highest bonus to the one with the lowest. If you are using two weapons, you can strike with either weapon first. If you are using a double weapon, you can strike with either part of the weapon first.
After your first attack, if you have not yet taken a 2-meter step, you can decide to move instead of making your remaining attacks. Essentially, you can decide whether to make one attack (with a move action) or take the full attack (forfeiting your move action) depending on how the first attack turns out.
Attacking with Two Weapons
If you wield a second weapon in your off hand, you can get one extra attack per round with that weapon. Fighting in this way is very difficult, however; you take a -6 penalty on your regular attack or attacks with the weapon in your primary hand and a -10 penalty on the attack with the weapon in your off hand.
You can reduce these penalties in three ways.
- If your off-hand weapon is light, the penalties are lessened by 2 each. A light weapon is one that’s smaller than a weapon you could use in one hand. Its size category is smaller than yours. (An unarmed strike is always considered a light weapon.)
- The Ambidexterity feat lessens the off-hand penalty by 4 (to -6).
- The Two-Weapon Fighting feat lessens both penalties by 2 (to -4 and -8 respectively).
Double Weapon
You can use a double weapon to make an extra attack as if fighting with two weapons. The penalties apply as if the off-hand weapon were light.
Two Weapon Fighting Table
Circumstance | Primary Hand | Off Hand |
Normal Penalties | -6 | -10 |
Off-Hand Weapon is Light | -4 | -8 |
Ambidexterity feat | -6 | -6 |
Two-Weapon Fighting feat | -4 | -8 |
Off-Hand Weapon is Light and Ambidexterity feat | -4 | -4 |
Off-Hand Weapon is Light and Two-Weapon Fighting feat | -2 | -6 |
Ambidexterity feat and Two-Weapon Fighting feat | -4 | -4 |
Off-Hand Weapon is Light and Ambidexterity feat and Two-Weapon Fighting feat | -2 | -2 |
Fighting Defensively
You can choose to fight defensively when making a full attack. If you do so, you take a -4 penalty on all attacks in a round to gain a +2 dodge bonus to your Defense for the same round.
Disengage
You can disengage from combat as a full-round action. To disengage, the first 2 meters of your movement must take you out of your opponent’s threatened area by the shortest possible route.
If you must move more than 2 meters to escape the threatened area, you can’t disengage. You can move normally (take a move action) in order to escape an opponent, but you provoke an attack of opportunity when doing so.
Once you clear the threatened area, you may continue to move, up to a total of twice your speed.
You can disengage from more than one opponent in the same round, but only if you can clear all threatened areas in your first 2 meters of movement.
Disengaging protects you from attacks of opportunity from the opponent or opponents in whose threatened area you started the round, but your movement may provoke attacks of opportunity from other opponents if, for example, you move within or through their threatened areas.
Run
You can run as a full-round action. (You do not get a 2-meter step.) When you run, you can move up to four times your normal speed in a straight line. You lose any Dexterity bonus to Defense while you’re running, since you can’t actively avoid attacks.
You can run for a number of rounds equal to your Constitution score without any trouble. If you want to continue running after that, you must succeed at a Constitution check (DC 10). You must check again each round in which you continue to run, and the DC of this check increase by 1 for each previous check you made. When you fail this check, or when you stop anytime after running for a number of rounds greater than your Constitution score, you must rest for 1 minute (10 rounds) before running again. During this rest period, you can only move your speed.
A run represents a speed of about 20 kph for an unencumbered Human.
Miscellaneous Actions
Some actions don’t fit neatly into the above categories. Some of these options are actions that take place of or are variations on the actions described earlier. For actions not covered by any of this material, the GM determines how long they take to perform.
Use Feat or Skill
Certain feats, such as Whirlwind Attack, let you take special actions in combat. Others are not actions themselves; instead, they give you a bonus when attempting something you can already do. Some feats are not meant to be used within the framework of combat. The individual feat descriptions tell you what you need to know about them.
Likewise, the skill descriptions note how long it takes to make a skill check. Unless you’re using a movement-related skill, you should be able to make a 2-meter step during the round you make the check.
Attacks of Opportunity
The combat rules assume that combatants are actively avoiding attacks. You don’t have to declare any special action for your character to defend himself. Even if your action figure just stands on the table like a lump of plastic, you can be sure that if some super battle droid attacks your character, your character is weaving, dodging, and even threatening the super battle droid with his own weapon.
Sometimes, however, in melee combat, a combatant lets her guard down and doesn’t maintain a defensive posture. In this case, nearby combatants can take advantage of the opening to attack her for free. Such free attacks are called attacks of opportunity.
Threatened Area
With a melee weapon, you threaten the area into which you can make a melee attack, even when it’s not your turn to act. Generally, that area represents the space within 2 meters of your position.
You never get to make attacks of opportunity with ranged weapons, thrown weapons, or heavy weapons.
Provoking an Attack of Opportunity
Three actions can provoke attacks of opportunity
- Moving out of a threatened area
- Moving through or within a threatened area
- Performing an action that distracts you from defending yourself and lets your guard down while within a threatened area
Moving out of a Threatened Area: When you move out of a threatened area, you generally provoke an attack of opportunity. There are two important exceptions, however. You don’t provoke an attack of opportunity if all you move is a 2-meter step, or if you disengage (a full-round action).
Moving through or within a Threatened Area: When you enter a threatened area, you must immediately stop or else provoke an attack of opportunity. If you start your movement within a threatened area, you may move up to 2 meters without provoking an attack of opportunity. (Moving farther than that provokes an attack of opportunity.)
Performing an Action that Distracts You: Some actions, when performed in a threatened area, provoke attacks of opportunity because they make you divert your attention from the fight at hand. The Actions in Combat table notes many of the actions that provoke attacks of opportunity.
Attacks of Opportunity and Ranged Weapons
You can’t make an attack of opportunity with a ranged weapon. Furthermore, using a ranged weapon that requires two hands to operate can provoke an attack of opportunity if all other criteria are met.
Disengaging
Disengaging from a fight is a full-round action that lest you leave your opponent’s threatened area and move up to twice your speed without provoking an attack of opportunity.
To disengage, your first 2 meters of movement must take you out of the threatened area. If you must move more than 2 meters to escape the threatened area, you can’t disengage.
Disengaging only protects you from attacks of opportunity from the opponent or opponents in whose threatened area you started your action. It doesn’t make you immune to attacks of opportunity you may provoke as you complete your movement.
Making an Attack of Opportunity
An attack of opportunity is a single free melee attack. You can only make one attack of opportunity per round. You don’t have to make an attack of opportunity if you don’t want to.
An attack of opportunity is always made at your highest attack bonus, even if you’ve already made your normal attacks in the round. For example, Vor’en Kurn, a 6th-level soldier, makes two attacks per round, the first with a +6 bonus and the second with a +1 bonus. He has already acted in a round attacking twice, when his opponent provokes an attack of opportunity from him. Vor’en makes the free attack, if he wants to, using his +6 attack bonus.
Burst of Speed in Action
Although each of the “speed feats” (Burst of Speed, Force Speed, Knight Speed, and Master Speed) requires a free action to use, certain situations arise from their use that call for some clarification. A character using a speed feat to move through or out of threatened squares is not subject to attacks of opportunity from opponents who threaten those squares.
Injury and Death
Your vitality points and wound points measure how hard you are to hurt and kill. The damage from each successful attack and each fight accumulates, dropping your vitality point or wound point totals until you run out of points or even drop into the negative range. Then you’re in trouble. Luckily, you also have a number of ways to regains vitality points and wound points. If you have a few hours (or days) to rest, you can recover lost vitality (or wound) points on your own. Technology provides faster ways to restore lost vitality points and wound points.
What Vitality Points Represent
Vitality points represent your character’s ability to avoid the nastiest effects of being hit in combat, turning a potentially lethal blow into a glancing blow as you roll with the attack. Losing vitality points from a blaster shot doesn’t mean the blaster hits you, but rather that you just barely avoided taking significant damage from it. As you lose vitality points, you can become tired and less able to roll with potentially deadly attacks. A high-level character has a much greater pool of vitality points, and so he or she is much better able to avoid deadly damage.
What Wound Points Represent
Wound points represent your character’s capacity to withstand physical trauma. Losing wound points from a blaster attack means the blaster bolt hit you squarely, dealing deadly damage.
Effects of Damage
For heroic characters, damage first reduces vitality points. You only take wound damage after all your vitality points have been exhausted or if you take a critical hit.
0 Vitality Points
At 0 vitality points, you can no longer avoid taking physical damage. Any additional damage you receive reduces your wound points.
Fatigued (Lost Wound Points)
If you take wound damage, you become fatigued. A fatigued character can’t run or charge and takes a -2 penalty to Strength and Dexterity until his wounds are healed.
In addition, in a round in which you take wound damage, you must make a Fortitude saving throw. The DC for this save is 5 + the number of wound points lost in the round. If the save fails, you become knocked out.
For example, Rorworr gets hit with a blaster in the fourth round of combat. The damage wipes out the last of his vitality points with 2 points of damage left over. Those points of damage reduce Rorworr’s wound points by 2. Now Rorworr is fatigued and he has to make a Fortitude save. The DC is 7 (5 + 2 = 7). He gets a result of 12, so the physical damage doesn’t knock him out….this time.
Knocked Out
A character who takes wound damage in a round and fails a Fortitude save (DC 5 + the number of wound points lost in the round) becomes knocked out. A knocked-out character falls to the ground and can take no actions. A character remains knocked out for 1d4 rounds or until he receives help (see the [Treat Injury] skill).
An opponent can automatically grapple or bind a knocked-out character, but can’t perform a coup de grace on a knocked-out character. Such a character is not considered helpless.
Disabled (0 Wound Points)
At 0 wound points, you are disabled. A disabled character can only perform a single move or attack action in a round, which means the character can’t perform full-round actions. Making an attack action while disabled deals more damage to the character – he or she takes 1 point of wound damage.
Dying (-1 to -9 Wound Points)
When you current wound points drop below 0, you’re dying. A dying character has a current wound point total between -1 and -9 inclusive.
A dying character immediately falls unconscious and can take no actions.
A dying character loses 1 wound point every round. This continues until the character dies or becomes stable naturally or with help (see below).
Dead (-10 Wound Points)
When your character’s current wound points drop to -10 or lower, he’s dead.
A character also dies if his or her Constitution score drops to 0 or lower.
Damage Reduction
Armor provides damage reduction. A character wearing armor reduces the number of wound pints lost to wound damage by the amount of the armor’s damage reduction. Damage reduction does not apply to vitality points.
Damaging Helpless Defenders
Even if you have lots of vitality points, a blaster in the face is still a blaster in the face. When a character can’t avoid damage or deflect blows – when he’s really helpless – he’s in trouble (see Helpless Defenders, farther down).
Stable
A dying character (one with -1 to -9 wound points) is unconscious and loses 1 wound point every round until he or she becomes stable or dies.
Recovering without Help
Each round, a dying character makes a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10). If the save fails, the character loses 1 wound point and must make another save in the next round.
If the save succeeds, the character becomes stable. A stable character stops losing wound points every round and remains unconscious.
If no one tends to the stable character (see below), he now makes a Fortitude save every hour. If the save succeeds, the stable character regains consciousness. (If a dying character is stabilized and conscious, treat him as though he were disabled as far as actions and movement are concerned.) Each time the character fails the hourly save, he loses 1 wound point.
An unaided stable, conscious character who has negative wound points or who is disabled has a 10% chance to start recovering wound point naturally that day. If the roll is greater than 10%, the character loses 1 wound point.
Once an unaided character starts recovering wound points naturally, he is no longer in danger of losing additional wound points (even if his current wound point total is still negative).
Recovering with Help
A dying character can be stabilized by the use medical kit option of the Treat Injury skill (DC 15), or by the successful use of the Heal Another Force skill (DC 10).
One hour after a tended, dying character becomes stable, roll d%. He has a 10% chance of regaining consciousness, at which point treat him as though he were disabled. If he remains unconscious, he has the same chance to regain consciousness every hour. Even while unconscious, he recovers wound point naturally, and he can return to normal activity when his wound points rise to 1 or higher.
Healing
After taking damage, you can recover vitality points and wound points through natural healing (over the course of hours or days), by using medical equipment (the rates varies), or by Force healing (nearly instantly). In any case, you can’t regain vitality points or wound points above your full normal totals.
Natural Healing
You recover 1 vitality point per character level per hour of rest, 1 wound point per day of rest, and 1 ability score point per day of rest. For example, a 5th-level soldier recovers 5 vitality points per hour of rest and 1 wound point per day of rest. You may engage in light, non-strenuous travel or activity while healing naturally, but any combat prevents you from healing during that hour (or day).
Higher-level characters recover lost vitality points faster because they’re tougher and also because a given number of lost vitality points represents less of a loss for a higher-level character. A 5th-level soldier who has lost 10 vitality points isn’t seriously hampered, but a 1st-level soldier who has lost 10 vitality points is.
Assisted Healing
A trained healer can double the rate at which a person recovers lost wound points and ability score points. Using the long-term care option of the Treat Injury skill, a healer can increase the rate of recovery to 2 wound points or ability score points per day.
Equipment Healing
Certain items can restore lost vitality or wound points. A medical kit helps a character with the Treat Injury skill to stabilize a dying character or restore a number of vitality pins. Medpacs can restore a number of wound points. The Surgery feat, combined with the Treat Injury skill, allows a character to restore a greater number of lost wound points. Finally, a bacta tank treatment restores both wound points and vitality points at an advanced rate.
See Equipment for more information on these devices.
Force Healing
Jedi and other Force-Using characters are capable of healing vitality or wound damage through the use of Heal Another or Heal Self Force skills.
Healing Limits
You can never get back more vitality points or wound points than you lost. Even Force healing won’t raise your vitality points or wound points higher than your full normal totals.
Movement and Position
Few characters in a fight stand still for long. Enemies appear and charge the party. The heroes reply, advancing to take on new foes after they down their first opponents. Jedi move quickly from place to place, staying in the thick of the action. Scoundrels quietly skirt the fracas, seeking an unwary opponent to strike from behind cover. Finally, if the fight is lost, most characters find it to their advantage to remove themselves from the vicinity. Movement is important if you want to gain the upper hand on the battlefield.
Movement and position are most easily handled by using miniatures or action figures to represent the heroes and their opponents. The standard scale equates 1 inch on the tabletop to 2 meters in the game world. Whenever possible, use units of 2 meters for movement and position. Calculating distance any more precisely than that is more trouble than it’s worth.
If you use Star Wars action figures instead of miniatures, the scale becomes 2 inches for every 2 meters.
Standard Scales | |
One inch | 2 meters |
“Next to” or Adjacent” | 2 meters away |
30 mm figure | 1.8-meter-tall character |
3.5 inch action figure | 1.8-meter-tall character |
A Medium-size character occupies an area 2 meters across | |
One Round | 6 seconds |
Tactical Movement
Where you can move, how long it takes you to get there, and whether you’re vulnerable to attacks while you’re moving are key questions for combat.
How Far Can Your Character Move?
Your speed is determined by your species and any armor you may be wearing (see the table below). Your speed while unarmed is called your base speed.
Encumbrance
A character encumbered by a large amount of gear may move more slowly than normal (see Carrying Capacity).
Movement in Combat
Generally, you can move your speed in a round (a move action) and still do something, such as slashing at an opponent with a lightsaber (an attack action). You can substitute a second move action for your attack action if you wish, allowing you to move twice your speed that round. If you flat-out run (a full-round action), you can quadruple your movement rate. If you do something else that requires a full-round action, such as attacking more than once, you can only take a 2-meter step.
Size | No Armor or Light Armor | Medium Armor | Heavy Armor |
Medium-size | 10 meters | 8 meters | 6 meters |
Small | 6 meters | 4 meters | 2 meters |
Passing Through
Sometimes you can pass through a space occupied by another character.
Friendly Character
You can move through an area occupied by a friendly character.
Unfriendly Character Not an Obstacle
You can move through an area occupied by an unfriendly character who doesn’t present an obstacle, such as one who is dead, unconscious, bound, dazed, stunned, knocked out, or just cowering.
Charging
As part of a charge, you can attempt to move through a space occupied by a resisting enemy (see Overrun, farther down).
Tumbling
A trained character can attempt to tumble through an area occupied by an enemy. (See the Tumble skill.)
Area Occupied by Target Three Sizes Larger or Smaller
Any character can move through a space occupied by an opponent three size categories larger or smaller than the moving character is.
Flanking
If you are making a melee attack against an opponent and an ally directly opposite you is threatening the opponent, you and your ally flank the opponent. You gain a +2 flanking bonus on your attack roll. The ally must be on the other side of the opponent so that the opponent is directly between you and your ally.
You don’t gain a flanking bonus when making a ranged attack.
Combined Fire
If a group of characters make a ranged attack at a single target, they can combine fire to improve the chance of scoring a single hit. For each character who contributes to the effort, the primary shooter gains a +1 synergy bonus on his attacks (to a maximum synergy bonus of +5). The contributing characters essentially give up any chance of hitting the target to increase the primary shooter’s bonus. Combining fire is a full-round action for both the contributing characters and the primary shooter.
Big and Little Characters in Combat
Characters or creatures smaller than Small or bigger than Medium-size have special rules relating to position. These rules concern the characters’ “faces,” or sides.
Face
“Face” is how wide a target a character presents in combat. This width determines how many character can fight side by side in a 4-meter-wide corridor and how many characters can attack a target at the same time. A face is essentially the border between the square space that a character occupies and the space next to it. These faces are abstract, not “front, back, left, and right,” because combatants are constantly moving and turning in battle. Unless a character is immobile, he or she doesn’t have a front or a left side – at least not one you can locate on the tabletop.
Reach
A character or creature has reach – the distance it can reach when making a melee attack. It threatens the area within that distance from itself.
Big Opponents
Big characters (Large, Huge, Gargantuan, or Colossal creatures) take up more space on the battlefield than a Medium-size Human does. More combatants can attack them because more combatants can surround them. Assuming that one Small or Medium-size combatant can get to each 2-meter length of the creature and four more can fit into the “corners” where one side meets another. (You can get eight people around a Medium-size creature at once: One fits on each 2-meter side, and one fits on each corner.)
A creature with greater than normal reach (more than 2 meters) can still strike at opponents directly next to it. A creature with greater than normal reach usually gets an attack of opportunity against opponents when the opponent approaches it, because the opponent must enter and move within its threatened area before making a melee attack.
Very Small Creatures
Very small creatures (Fine, Diminutive, and Tiny) must be in your space to attack you. You can attack into your own space if you need to with a melee attack (but not a ranged attack), so you can attack very small opponents normally.
Bigger Creatures Attacking Smaller Creatures
Big and small creatures can attack a defender in different numbers. For example, a rancor occupies a space 4 meters wide; only four of them could attack a Medium-size creature because each rancor would take up a side or face as well as a corner.
Size (Example) | Facea | Defense Modifier |
Colossal (Krayt Dragon) | 18 m x 18 m | -8 |
Gargantuan (Fambaa) | 14 m x 14 m | -4 |
Huge (Bantha, Rancor) | 4 m x 10 m | -2 |
Large (Hutt) | 2 m x 4 m | -1 |
Medium-size (Human) | 2 m x 2 m | +0 |
Small (Ewok) | 2 m x 2 m | +1 |
Tiny (Ysalamiri, Cat) | 1 m x 1 m | +2 |
Diminutive (Rockwart, Kouhun) | 0.5 m x 0.5 m | +4 |
Fine (Stingfly) | 0.2 m x 0.2 m | +8 |
aListed width by length |
Combat Modifiers
Sometimes you just have to go toe-to-toe in a fight, but you can usually gain some advantage by seeking a better position, either offensively or defensively. This section covers the rules for when you can line up a particularly good attack or are forced to make a disadvantageous one.
Favorable and Unfavorable Conditions
Depending on the situation, you may gain bonuses or take penalties on your attack roll. Your GM judges what bonuses and penalties apply, using the table below as a guide.
Circumstance | Melee | Ranged |
Attacker Flanking Defendera | +2 | - |
Attacker on Higher Ground | +1 | +0 |
Attacker Prone | -4 | +0 |
Attacker Concealed | +2b | +2b |
Defender Sitting or Kneeling | +2 | See Cover |
Defender Prone | +4 | See Cover |
Defender Stunned, Cowering, or Off Balance | +2b | +2b |
Defender Climbing | +2b | +2b |
Defender Surprised or Flat-Footed | +0b | +0b |
Defender Running | +0b | -2b |
Defender Grappling (Attacker not) | +0b | +0c |
Defender Pinned | +4b | -4b |
Defender has Cover | See Cover | |
Defender Concealed | See Concealment | |
Defender Helpless (such as bound or sleeping) | See Helpless Defenders | |
aYou flank a defender when you have an ally on the opposite side of the defender also attacking the defender. bThe defender loses any [Dexterity] bonus to Defense. cRoll randomly to see which grappling combatant you strike. That Defender loses any [Dexterity] bonus to Defense. |
Cover
One of the best defenses available is cover. By taking cover behind a pillar, a wall, a landspeeder, or the bulkhead in a space station corridor, you can protect yourself from attacks especially ranged attacks.
Cover provides a bonus to your Defense. The more cover you have, the bigger the bonus. In a melee, if you have cover against an opponent, that opponent probably has cover against you, too. With ranged weapons, however, it’s easy to have better cover than your opponent has. Indeed, that’s what blaster slits in garrison walls are all about.
The GM may impose other penalties or restrictions to attacks depending on the details of the cover.
Degree of Cover
Cover is assessed in subjective measurements of how much protection it offers you. Your GM determines the value of the cover. This measure is not a strict mathematical calculation, however. After all, you gain more value from covering the parts of your body your opponent wants to hit. If the bottom half of your body is covered (as when a Human stands behind a meter-high wall), that only gives you one-quarter cover. You also get one-quarter cover against range attacks if you are sitting or kneeling, because you’re presenting a smaller target to your attacker than if you were standing.
If the left or right half of your body is covered, as when you’re part of the way behind a corner, you get one-half cover. You also get one-half cover against ranged attacks when you’re in a prone position (whether intentionally or otherwise).
The cover table below gives examples of various situations that produce certain degrees of cover, and even these examples might not hold true in exceptional circumstances. For example, a 1-meter high wall might provide a Human one-half cover in melee against Ewok opponents, who have a hard time striking a Human’s upper body, but the same wall might grant a Human no cover in melee against a Wookiee.
Cover Defense Bonus
The cover table below lists the bonuses to Defense for different degrees of cover. Add the appropriate number to your Defense. Different cover bonuses to Defense do not stack; if more than one condition from the cover table applies, use the largest cover bonus. For example, kneeling gives you a +2 cover bonus to your Defense against ranged weapons. Knelling behind a low wall could change your cover from one-quarter (+2) to three-quarters (+7). You would not get the +2 bonus for kneeling on top of the +7 bonus for having three-quarters cover.
Cover Reflex Save Bonus
The cover table gives the Reflex save bonus for different degrees of cover. Add this bonus on Reflex saves against attacks that affect an area, such as a grenade blast. These bonuses only apply to attacks that originate or spread out from a point on the other side of the cover.
Striking the Cover Instead of a Missed Target
If it ever becomes important to know whether the cover was actually struck by an incoming attack that missed the intended target, the GM should determine if the attack roll would have hit the protected target without cover. If the attack roll falls within a range low enough to miss the target with cover but high enough to strike the target if there had been no cover, the attack hits the object used for cover. This can be particularly important to know in cases where a character uses another character as cover. In such a case, if the cover is struck and the attack roll result exceeds the Defense of the covering character, the character suffers the damage intended for the target.
If the covering character has a Dexterity bonus to Defense or a dodge bonus, and this bonus keeps the covering character from being hit, then the original target is hit instead. The covering character has dodged out of the way and didn’t provide cover after all.
Cover Table
Degree of Cover | Example | Cover Defense Bonus | Cover Reflex Save Bonus |
One-Quarter | A Human standing behind a 1-meter high wall; a character who is targeted by a ranged attack while sitting or kneeling | +2 | +1 |
One-Half | Fighting from around a corner; standing at an open window or behind a character of the same size; a character who is targeted by a ranged attack while prone | +4 | +2 |
Three-Quarters | Peering around a corner | +7 | +3 |
Nine-Tenths | Standing at a narrow opening; behind a door that’s slightly ajar | +10 | +4a |
Total | One the other side of a solid wall | b | b |
aHalf damage if save is failed; no damage if save is successful. bYou can’t be the target of an attack in this situation. |
Concealment
Besides cover, another way to avoid attacks is by making it hard for opponents to know where you are. Concealment is a factor in circumstances where nothing physically blocks a blow or shot but where something interferes with an attacker’s accuracy.
Concealment is subjectively measured by how well it conceals a defender. Examples of what might qualify as concealment of various degrees are given on the concealment table below. Concealment always depends on the attacker. Total darkness, for example, is meaningless to a character with darkvision. Moderate darkness doesn’t hamper a character with low-light vision, and near total darkness is only one-half concealment for such a character.
Concealment Miss Chance
Concealment gives the target of a successful attack a chance that the attacker missed because of the concealment. If the attacker hits, the defender must make a miss-chance percentile roll (a “d% roll”) to avoid being struck.
Actually, it doesn’t matter who makes the roll or whether it’s rolled before or after the attack roll. To save time, you can make the roll that’s most likely to result in a miss first, so that you’re less likely to have to make two rolls, or you can just make both rolls at the same time.
When multiple concealment conditions apply to a defender (behind dense foliage and in near total darkness, for example), use the one that would produce the highest miss chance. Do not add miss chances together.
Concealment Table
Concealment | Example | Miss Chance |
One-Quarter | Light Fog; Moderate Darkness; Light Foliage | 10% |
One-Half | Dense Fog at 2 meters; Precipitation | 20% |
Three-Quarters | Dense Foliage | 30% |
Nine-Tenths | Near Total Darkness | 40% |
Total | Total Darkness; Attacker Blind; Dense Fog at 4 meters | 50% and must guess target’s location |
Helpless Defenders
A helpless foe – one who is bound, sleeping, unconscious, or otherwise at your mercy – is an easy target. You can sometimes approach a target who is unaware of your presence, get adjacent to him, and treat him as helpless. If the target is in combat or some other tense situation, and therefore in a state of acute awareness and readiness, or if the target can use his Dexterity bonus to Defense, then that target can’t be considered unaware. Further, any reasonable precautions taken by a target, including stationing bodyguards, placing his back to a wall, or being able to make Spot checks, also precludes catching that target unaware and helpless.
Regular Attack
A melee attack against a helpless opponent receives a +4 bonus on the attack roll (equivalent to attacking a prone target). A ranged attack gets no special bonus. A helpless defender (naturally) can’t add a Dexterity bonus to Defense. In fact, his Dexterity score is treated as if it were 0, and his Dexterity modifier to Defense is -5.
Coup de Grace
As a full-round action (allowing no movement other than a 2-meter step), you can use a melee weapon to deliver a coup de grace to a helpless opponent. You can also use a ranged weapon, provided you are adjacent to the target. You automatically hit and score a critical hit. If the defender survives, he must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + the amount of damage inflicted) or die.
You can’t deliver a coup de grace against an opponent who is immune to critical hits.
Special Initiative Actions
Usually you act as soon as you can in combat, but sometimes you want to act later, at a better time, or in response to the actions of someone else.
Delay
By choosing to delay, you take no action when your spot in the initiative order arrives. Instead, you act normally at whatever later initiative pint you decide to act. When you delay, you voluntarily reduce your own initiative count for the rest of the combat. When your new, lower initiative count comes up later in the same round, you can act normally. You can specify this new initiative result or just wait until sometime later in the round and act at that time, thus fixing your new initiative result at that point.
Delaying is useful if you need to see what your friends or enemies are going to do before deciding what to do yourself. The price you pay is lost initiative. You never get back that time you spend waiting to see what’s going to happen.
Delaying Limits
The longest a character can delay before taking an action is until everyone else has acted in the round. At that point, the delaying character must act or else forfeit any action in that round.
Multiple Characters Delaying
If multiple characters delay their actions, the one with the highest initiative bonus (or higher Dexterity, in the case of a tie) has the advantage. If two or more delaying characters both want to act on the same initiative count, the one with the highest initiative bonus gets to go first. If two or more delaying characters are trying to go after everyone else has acted, the one with the highest initiative bonus gets to go last.
Ready
Readying lest you prepare to take an action later, after your turn is over but before your next turn has begun. Readying is an attack action, so you can perform a move action in the same round that you ready an action.
How Readying Works
Deel and his friend Sia-Lan have just encountered a trio of Tusken Raiders in the wilds of Tatooine. On initiative count 14, Deel specifies that he is going to fire his blaster at the first Raider to try making an attack. On count 10, Sia-Lan moves next to Deel and readies an attack with her lightsaber so that she can strike any foe that comes within 2 meters of their position. On count 7, the Tusken Raiders charge, brandishing their gaffi sticks. As soon as the lead Raider raise his weapon, Deel fires his blaster, but misses. Next Sia-Lan swings at the first Raider to reach her and drops him. Other Raiders, however, reach Sia-Lan and attack her. From this point on, both Deel and Sia-Lan act on initiative count 7 (and before the Raiders).
Readying an Action
You can ready a single attack action or move action. To do so, specify the attack or move you will take. Then, any time before your next action, you may take the readied action in response to those circumstances. Note that the expression of an intent to act can trigger a readied action, even though that expression is not an action itself. (In the example above, Deel’s readied action kicks in when the lead Raider raises his weapon, thereby expressing his intent to make an attack.)
Initiative Consequences of Readying
The count on which you took your readied action becomes your new initiative result. If you come to your next action and have not yet performed your readied action, you don’t get to take the readied action (though you can ready the same action again). If you take your readied action in the next round, before your regular action, your initiative rises to that new point in the order of battle, and you do not get your regular action in that round.
Readying a Weapon Against a Charge
You can ready certain piercing weapons, such as spears, by setting them to receive an opponent’s charge attack. A readied weapon of this type deals double damage if you score a hit with it against a charging character.
Special Weapon Effects
Some weapons, such as grenades, have special effects or additional options that you can use in combat.
Autofire
You may attempt two extra attacks per round with a weapon that has autofire. The extra attacks are at your highest base attack bonus, but each attack (the extra ones and the normal ones) take a -6 penalty. You must use a full attack action to use autofire. (A full attack is a full-round action.)
Autofire generates a lot of recoil, making the weapon very hard to control if not braced. When using autofire, increase the autofire penalty by –2 if the weapon is not wielded in two hands (unless the weapon is at least two sizes smaller than the wielder’s size) and an additional –2 if the weapon is not in the blaster rifles group or mounted on a tripod (or equivalent support). These penalties are cumulative, so if both conditions are true, the base autofire penalty would be –10.
Furthermore, multifire/autofire-only weapons (such as repeating blasters) apply these penalties when using multifire as well as autofire. For example, using a heavy repeating blaster without a tripod increases the multifire and autofire penalties to –6 and –8, respectively.
Grenadelike Weapon Attacks
A grenadelike weapon is one that affects an area, rather than a specific target. Its effect is broad enough that it can hurt characters just by landing close to them. Grenadelike weapons include grenades, explosives, vials of acid, and any other weapon that can affect an area. Attacks with grenade-like weapons are ranged attacks. Direct hits deal direct hit damage; those struck may make a Reflex saving throw to take half damage.
Instead of targeting an opponent with a grenade, you can throw a grenade so that it will land in the target’s immediate vicinity (in game terms, in a target’s 2-meter-by-2-meter-square). The square has an effective Defense of 5, plus you receive a -2 range penalty on your attack roll for every range increment beyond the first needed to make the throw. (Most grenades have a range increment of 4 meters.) If the attack succeeds, the grenade lands at the target’s feet.
If you miss your target, roll 1d3 to see how many meters away from the target the grenade lands. Add +1 meter for every two range increments of distance you threw the weapon. Then roll 1d8 to determine the direction in which the object deviated: 1 means long, 2 means long and to the right, 3 right, 4 short and right, 5 short, 6 short and left, 7 left, 8 long and left.
Once you know where the weapon landed, it deals burst damage to all targets within the “burst radius” of the weapon. Those within this are may make a Reflex save to reduce damage. See Grenades in Equipment for more details on grenade damage.
Multifire
You may attempt one extra attack per round with a weapon that has multifire capability. The extra attack is at your highest base attack bonus, but each attack (the extra one and the normal ones) take a -4 penalty. You must use a full attack action to use multifire. (A full attack is a full-round action.)
Switching modes between normal fire and multifire is a free action.
Multifire generates a lot of recoil, making the weapon very hard to control if not braced. When using multifire, increase the multifire penalty by –2 if the weapon is not wielded in two hands. (Ignore this penalty for weapons at least two sizes smaller than the wielder.)
Multiple Ranged Attacks
The tables below provides a list of attack bonuses for a character using a weapon in autofire or multifire mode. Find the character’s base attack bonus in the left-hand column, then refer to the appropriate column across the table. One of the columns incorporates the Rapid Shot feat, another column factors in the Multishot feat, and the right-hand column gives the attack bonus when both feats are employed.
The attack bonuses on this table may be altered by other factors, such as a character’s Dexterity modifier.
Multifire Table | ||||
Base Attack Bonus | Multifire Weapon | Multifire Weapon with Rapid Shot | Multifire Weapon with Multishot | Multifire Weapon with Both Feats |
+0 | -4/-4 | -6/-6/-6 | -2/-2 | -4/-4/-4 |
+1 | -3/-3 | -5/-5/-5 | -1/-1 | -3/-3/-3 |
+2 | -2/-2 | -4/-4/-4 | +0/+0 | -2/-2/-2 |
+3 | -1/-1 | -3/-3/-3 | +1/+1 | -1/-1/-1 |
+4 | +0/+0 | -2/-2/-2 | +2/+2 | +0/+0/+0 |
+5 | +1/+1 | -1/-1/-1 | +3/+3 | +1/+1/+1 |
+6 | +2/+2/-3 | +0/+0/+0/-5 | +4/+4/-1 | +2/+2/+2/-3 |
+7 | +3/+3/-2 | +1/+1/+1/-4 | +5/+5/+0 | +3/+3/+3/-2 |
+8 | +4/+4/-1 | +2/+2/+2/-3 | +6/+6/+1 | +4/+4/+4/-1 |
+9 | +5/+5/+0 | +3/+3/+3/-2 | +7/+7/+2 | +5/+5/+5/+0 |
+10 | +6/+6/+1 | +4/+4/+4/-1 | +8/+8/+3 | +6/+6/+6/+1 |
+11 | +7/+7/+2/-3 | +5/+5/+5/+0/-5 | +9/+9/+4/-1 | +7/+7/+7/+2/-3 |
+12 | +8/+8/+3/-2 | +6/+6/+6/+1/-4 | +10/+10/+5/+0 | +8/+8/+8/+3/-2 |
+13 | +9/+9/+4/-1 | +7/+7/+7/+2/-3 | +11/+11/+6/+1 | +9/+9/+9/+4/-1 |
+14 | +10/+10/+5/+0 | +8/+8/+8/+3/-2 | +12/+12/+7/+2 | +10/+10/+10/+5/+0 |
+15 | +11/+11/+6/+1 | +9/+9/+9/+4/-1 | +13/+13/+8/+3 | +11/+11/+11/+6/+1 |
+16 | +12/+12/+7/+2/-3 | +10/+10/+10/+5/+0/-5 | +14/+14/+9/+4/-1 | +12/+12/+12/+7/+2/-3 |
+17 | +13/+13/+8/+3/-2 | +11/+11/+11/+6/+1/-4 | +15/+15/+10/+5/+0 | +13/+13/+13/+8/+3/-2 |
+18 | +14/+14/+9/+4/-1 | +12/+12/+12/+7/+2/-3 | +16/+16/+11/+6/+1 | +14/+14/+14/+9/+4/-1 |
+19 | +15/+15/+10/+5/+0 | +13/+13/+13/+8/+3/-2 | +17/+17/+12/+7/+2 | +15/+15/+15/+10/+5/+0 |
+20 | +16/+16/+11/+6/+1 | +14/+14/+14/+9/+4/-1 | +18/+18/+13/+8/+3 | +16/+16/+16/+11/+6/+1 |
Autofire Table | ||||
Base Attack Bonus | Autofire Weapon | Autofire Weapon with Rapid Shot | Autofire Weapon with Multishot | Autofire Weapon with Both Feats |
+0 | -6/-6/-6 | -8/-8/-8/-8 | -4/-4/-4 | -6/-6/-6/-6 |
+1 | -5/-5/-5 | -7/-7/-7/-7 | -3/-3/-3 | -5/-5/-5/-5 |
+2 | -4/-4/-4 | -6/-6/-6/-6 | -2/-2/-2 | -4/-4/-4/-4 |
+3 | -3/-3/-3 | -5/-5/-5/-5 | -1/-1/-1 | -3/-3/-3/-3 |
+4 | -2/-2/-2 | -4/-4/-4/-4 | +0/+0/+0 | -2/-2/-2/-2 |
+5 | -1/-1/-1 | -3/-3/-3/-3 | +1/+1/+1 | -1/-1/-1/-1 |
+6 | +0/+0/+0/-5 | -2/-2/-2/-2/-7 | +2/+2/+2/-3 | +0/+0/+0/+0/-5 |
+7 | +1/+1/+1/-4 | -1/-1/-1/-1/-6 | +3/+3/+3/-2 | +1/+1/+1/+1/-4 |
+8 | +2/+2/+2/-3 | +0/+0/+0/+0/-5 | +4/+4/+4/-1 | +2/+2/+2/+2/-3 |
+9 | +3/+3/+3/-2 | +1/+1/+1/+1/-4 | +5/+5/+5/+0 | +3/+3/+3/+3/-2 |
+10 | +4/+4/+4/-1 | +2/+2/+2/+2/-3 | +6/+6/+6/+1 | +4/+4/+4/+4/-1 |
+11 | +5/+5/+5/+0/-5 | +3/+3/+3/+3/-2/-7 | +7/+7/+7/+2/-3 | +5/+5/+5/+5/+0/-5 |
+12 | +6/+6/+6/+1/-4 | +4/+4/+4/+4/-1/-6 | +8/+8/+8/+3/-2 | +6/+6/+6/+6/+1/-4 |
+13 | +7/+7/+7/+2/-3 | +5/+5/+5/+5/+0/-5 | +9/+9/+9/+4/-1 | +7/+7/+7/+7/+2/-3 |
+14 | +8/+8/+8/+3/-2 | +6/+6/+6/+6/+1/-4 | +10/+10/+10/+5/+0 | +8/+8/+8/+8/+3/-2 |
+15 | +9/+9/+9/+4/-1 | +7/+7/+7/+7/+2/-3 | +11/+11/+11/+6/+1 | +9/+9/+9/+9/+4/-1 |
+16 | +10/+10/+10/+5/+0/-5 | +8/+8/+8/+8/+3/-2/-7 | +12/+12/+12/+7/+2/-3 | +10/+10/+10/+10/+5/+0/-5 |
+17 | +11/+11/+11/+6/+1/-4 | +9/+9/+9/+9/+4/-1/-6 | +13/+13/+13/+8/+3/-2 | +11/+11/+11/+11/+6/+1/-4 |
+18 | +12/+12/+12/+7/+2/-3 | +10/+10/+10/+10/+5/+0/-5 | +14/+14/+14/+9/+4/-1 | +12/+12/+12/+12/+7/+2/-3 |
+19 | +13/+13/+13/+8/+3/-2 | +11/+11/+11/+11/+6/+1/-4 | +15/+15/+15/+10/+5/+0 | +13/+13/+13/+13/+8/+3/-2 |
+20 | +14/+14/+14/+9/+4/-1 | +12/+12/+12/+12/+7/+2/-3 | +16/+16/+16/+11/+6/+1 | +14/+14/+14/+14/+9/+4/-1 |
Special Attacks and Damage
This section covers a number of special attack forms, such as attacking your opponent’s weapon, disarming, and grappling.
Aid Another
In some situations, such as using certain skills or in some combat situations, you can help an ally. When using skills, you can provide aid by make a skill check (DC 10). This is an attack action. If your check succeeds, your ally gains a +2 circumstance bonus to apply to his skill check to complete the task.
In combat, you can help an ally attack or defend by distracting or interfering with an opponent. If you’re in a position to attack an opponent who is engaged in melee combat with your ally, you can attempt to aid your ally as an attack action. You make an attack roll against a Defense of 10. If you succeed, your ally gains a +2 circumstance bonus that can either be applied to his next attack roll against that opponent or to his Defense when next attacked by that opponent (your choice).
Attack an Object
Sometimes you need to attack or break an object, such as when you want to strike an opponent’s weapon, blast a control console, or melt open a door.
Strike an Object
Objects are easier to hit than characters because they usually don’t move, but many are tough enough to shrug off some damage from each blow.
Object Defense and Bonuses to Attack
Objects are harder or easier to hit depending on several factors.
Held Objects
An object that is held by an opponent has a base Defense equal to 15 + its size modifier + the character’s Dexterity modifier + the character’s class bonus to Defense. This also applies to held weapons.
Carried or Worn Objects
An object that is carried or worn by an opponent has a base Defense equal to 10 + it size modifier + the character’s Dexterity modifier + the character’s class bonus to Defense.
Inanimate or Immobile Objects
An inanimate or immobile object has a defense of 10 + its Dexterity modifier (which is -5 since it can’t move) + its size modifier. When attacking such an object with a melee weapon, you also get a +4 bonus on your attack roll. If you take a full-round action to line up the shot, you get an automatic hit with a melee weapon, or a +5 bonus on your attack roll with a ranged weapon.
Size (Example) | Object Defense Held* | Carried* | Inanimate |
Colossal (broad side of a building) | 7 | 2 | -3 |
Gargantuan (narrow side of a building) | 11 | 6 | 1 |
Huge (landspeeder) | 13 | 8 | 3 |
Large (blast door) | 14 | 9 | 4 |
Medium (cargo crate) | 15 | 10 | 5 |
Small (chair) | 16 | 11 | 6 |
Tiny (datapad) | 17 | 12 | 7 |
Diminutive (comlink) | 19 | 14 | 9 |
*The Defense of a held or carried object also includes the [Dexterity] modifier and class bonus to Defense of the character who is holding or carrying the object. |
Damage to Objects
The amount of damage that an object can withstand depends on what it’s made out of and how big it is. Weapon damage is rolled normally against objects.
Ineffective Weapons
The GM may determine that certain weapons just can’t deal damage effectively to certain objects. For example, you will have a hard time breaking open a blast door with a cesta or cutting a cable with a club.
Vulnerability to Certain Attacks
The GM may rule that certain attacks are especially successful against some objects. For example, it’s easy to light a curtain on fire or rip a piece of cloth.
Damage Reduction
Each object has a damage reduction value that represents how well it resists damage. Whenever an object takes damage, subtract its damage reduction value from the damage dealt. Only damage in excess of the damage reduction value is deducted from the object’s wound points.
Wound Points
An object’s wound point total depends on what it is made of and how big it is. When an object’s wound points reach 0, it’s ruined.
Very large objects have separate wound point totals for different sections. For example, you can attack and ruin the door of a building without destroying the whole building.
Substance | DR | Wound Points |
Durasheet | 0 | 1 per cm of thickness |
Rope | 0 | 1 per cm of thickness |
Glass | 1 | 1 per 2 cm of thickness |
Wood | 5 | 4 per cm of thickness |
Stone | 8 | 6 per cm of thickness |
Metal (transparisteel) | 10 | 12 per cm of thickness |
Heavy Metal (durasteeel) | 15 | 12 per cm of thickness |
Saving Throws
Unattended items never make saving throws. They are considered to have failed their saving throws, so they always are affected by (for instance) an explosion. An item attended by a character (being grasped, touched, or worn) receives a saving throw just as if the character were making the saving throw.
Breaking Items
When you try to break something with sudden force rather than by dealing regular damage, use a Strength check to see whether you succeed. The DC depends more on the construction of the item than on the material.
If an item has lost half or more of its wound points, the DC to break it drops by 2.
Object | Damage Reduction | Wound Points | DC* |
Syntherope | 0 | 2 | 23 |
Liquid Cable | 1 | 3 | 23 |
Computer Console | 2 | 5 | 14 |
Wooden Door | 5 | 5 | 15 |
Weapon, Small | 5 | 2 | 14 |
Weapon, Medium | 5 | 5 | 17 |
Weapon, Large | 5 | 10 | 20 |
Permacrete Wall (30 cm thick) | 8 | 180 | 35 |
Chain | 10 | 5 | 26 |
Metal Binders | 10 | 10 | 26 |
Metal Bars | 10 | 15 | 30 |
Metal Door (10 cm thick) | 10 | 120 | 35 |
Metal Wall (15 cm thick) | 10 | 180 | 40 |
Blast Door (60 cm thick) | 15 | 720 | 45 |
*To break with Strength check |
Bantha Rush
As an attack action or as part of a charge, you can bantha rush. When you bantha rush, you attempt to push an opponent straight back instead of dealing damage. You can only bantha rush an opponent that is one size category larger than you, the same size, or smaller.
Initiating a Bantha Rush
First, you move into the defender’s space. Moving in this way provokes an attack of opportunity from each opponent that threatens you, including the defender.
Second, you and the defender make opposed Strength checks. You add a +4 bonus for each size category you are above Medium-size or a -4 penalty for each size category you are below Medium-size. You get a +2 charge bonus if you were charging. The defender gets a +4 stability bonus if he has more than two legs or is otherwise exceptionally stable.
Bantha Rush Results
If you beat the defender, you push him back 2 meters. If you wish to move with the defender, then for every 3 points by which you exceed the defender’s check result, you can push him back 1 additional meter. You can’t however, exceed your normal movement limit.
If you fail to beat the defender’s Strength checks., you move 2 meters straight back to where you were before you moved into his space. If that space is occupied, you fall prone in that space.
Burst of Speed in Action
Although each of the “speed feats” (Burst of Speed, Force Speed, Knight Speed, and Master Speed) requires a free action to use, certain situations arise from their use that call for some clarification.
A character using a speed feat can move through another character’s square and has the option of passing through harmlessly or colliding with the other character. If the speeding character chooses the latter option, treat the action as a bantha rush. The target of the bantha rush can attempt an attack of opportunity against the speeding character, but no other opponents along the speeding character’s path can choose to do so.
When resolving the bantha rush, the speeding character’s velocity increases his chance of successfully moving his opponent. He gains a +4 bonus if he is using Burst of Speed, a +8 bonus if he is using Force Speed or Knight Speed, and a +12 bonus if he is using Master Speed.
Collisions
When a speeding character (a character using a speed feat) collides with an immovable object, he suffers damage as though he had fallen his total declared movement distance (not the distance he actually traveled). As with a fall, the character can attempt a Reflex save (DC 10, +1 for each 4 meters of declared movement) to apply the damage to his vitality instead of his wounds.
Bantha Rushing and Hazards
If a character is bantha rushed into a square occupied by some hazard — a chasm, a chemical spill, hazardous machinery, or the like he's affected by the hazard as though he had moved into the square voluntarily. That is, if the hazard offers a saving throw, he gets a saving throw. Merely being pushed into the square doesn't prevent the target from getting a save.
Disarm
As a melee attack, you may attempt to disarm an opponent. If you’re attempting to disarm a melee weapon, follow the steps below. You provoke an attack of opportunity from the target you are trying to disarm. If the defender’s attack of opportunity deals any damage, your disarm attempt fails. You and the defender make opposed attack rolls with your respective weapons. If the weapons are different sizes, the combatant with the larger weapon gets a +4 bonus on the attack roll per difference in size category. If the defender is using a weapon in two hands, he gets an additional +4 bonus. If you beat the defender, the defender is disarmed. If you attempted the disarmed action unarmed, you now have the weapon. Otherwise, it’s on the ground at the defender’s feet. If you fail, then the defender may immediately react and make an attempt to disarm you with the same sort of opposed melee attack roll.
If the item you are attempting to disarm isn’t a melee weapon (for instance, a blaster or a comlink), the defender may still oppose you with an attack roll as described above, but he takes a –4 penalty and can’t attempt to disarm you in return if your attempt fails.
Grapple
Grappling means wrestling and struggling hand-to-hand. It’s tricky to perform, but sometimes you want to pin foes instead of killing them, and sometimes you have no choice in the matter. For creatures, grappling can mean trapping you in a toothy maw (a rancor’s tactic) or holding you down so it can bite and rend (a vornskr’s tactic).
Grapple Checks
Repeatedly in a grapple, you need to make opposed grapple checks against an opponent. A grapple check is like a melee attack roll. Your attack bonus on a grapple check is:
Base Attack Bonus + Strength Modifier + Special Size Modifier
Special Size Modifier
Your special size modifier for a grapple check is as follows: Colossal +16, Gargantuan +12, Huge +8, Large +4, Medium-size +0, Small -4, Tiny -8, Diminutive -12, Fine -16. Use this number in place of the size modifier you normally use when making an attack roll.
Starting a Grapple
To start a grapple, you first need to grab and hold your target. Attempting to start a grapple is a melee attack. If you get multiple attacks in a round, you can attempt to start a grapple multiple times (at successively lower base attack bonuses).
Grab
You can make a melee touch attack to grab the target, which provokes an attack of opportunity. If you fail to hit the target, you fail to start the grapple.
Hold
Once you grab your opponent, you and he make an opposed grapple check. If you succeed, you have started the grapple, and you deal damage to the target as if with an unarmed strike. If you lose, you fail to start the grapple. You automatically lose if the target is two or more size categories larger than you are (but you can still attempt to grab such a target, if that’s all you want to do).
Move In
To maintain the grapple, you must move into your opponent’s space.
Grappling
You and your opponent are now grappling.
Joining a Grapple
If your target is already grappling someone else, then you can use an attack to start a grapple, as above, except that your grab automatically succeeds. You still have to succeed at an opposed grapple check to deal damage and move in to be part of the grapple.
If You’re Grappling
When you are grappling (regardless of who started the grapple), you can make an opposed grapple check as an attack. If you win, you can use one of the following tactics.
Damage Your Opponent
If you want to deal damage, you suffer a -4 penalty on your grapple check. You deal damage as though you made an unarmed strike.
Pin
You hold your opponent immobile for 1 round. (If you get multiple attacks, you can use subsequent attack to damage your opponent. You can’t use a weapon on the pinned character or attempt to damage or pin a second opponent while holding a pin on the first.) While you’re pinned, opponents other than the one pinning you get a +4 bonus on attack rolls against you (but you’re not helpless).
Break Another’s Pin
You can break the pin that an opponent has on an ally.
Escape
You can escape the grapple you can take whatever movement you get. If more than one opponent is grappling you, your grapple check result has to beat all their check results to escape. (Opponents don’t have to try to hold you if they don’t want to.)
If You’re Pinned
When an opponent has pinned you, you are held immobile (but not helpless) for 1 round. You can make an opposed grapple check as a melee attack. If you win, you escape the pin, but you’re still grappling.
Other Grappling Options
In addition to making opposed grapple checks, you have a couple of other options while grappling.
Weapons
You can attack with a light weapon while grappling (but not while pinned or pinning). You can’t attack with two weapons while grappling.
Wriggle Free
You can make an Escape Artist check (opposed by your opponent’s grapple check) to get out of a grapple or out of being pinned (so that you’re just being grappled). Doing so counts as an attack action, so if you escape the grapple you can also move in the same round.
Multiple Grapplers
Several combatants can be in a single grapple. Up to four combatants can grapple a single opponent in a given round. Opponents one size category smaller than you count for half, opponents one size category than you count double, and opponents two or more size categories larger count quadruple.
For example, if you’re Medium-size, eight Jawas (Small), four Humans (Medium-size), two wampas (Large), or a single rancor (Huge) could grapple you. In the same way, four Jawas (counting as two opponents) plus one wampa (counting as two opponents) could grapple you. (An interesting situation, to be sure!)
Use the Force
You may use any Force skill or Force feat, as long as it does not require a full-round action to use. However, the distraction of grappling imposes a –10 penalty to your Force skill check, if applicable.
Grappling Consequences
While you’re grappling, your ability to attack others and defend yourself is limited.
You lose your Dexterity bonus to Defense against opponents you aren’t grappling. (You can still use it against opponents you are grappling.)
You do not threaten an area, nor can you make attacks of opportunity while grappling.
Lightsaber Locks
When two characters with lightsabers press their lightsabers together in a “saber lock” this is covered by normal grappling rules. Remember, because a normal lightsaber is not a light weapon for Medium-sized characters, you can't attack with it while grappling.
Trip
You can try to trip an opponent as a melee attack. You can only trip an opponent who is one size category larger than you, the same size, or smaller.
Making a Trip Attack
Make a melee touch attack. If the attack succeeds, make a Strength check opposed by the defender’s Strength check or Dexterity check (whichever has the higher modifier). A combatant gets a +4 bonus for every size category he is larger than Medium-size or a-4 penalty for every size category he is smaller. The defender gets a +4 stability bonus on his check if he has more than two legs or is otherwise more stable than a normal humanoid. If you win, you trip the defender. If you lose, the defender may immediately react by trying to trip you; he makes a Strength check opposed by your Dexterity check or Strength check.
Being Tripped
A tripped character is prone. A prone character suffers a -4 penalty on melee attack rolls. A melee attack against a prone character gets a +4 bonus; a ranged attack against a prone opponent gets a -4 penalty. Standing up from a prone position is a move action.
Overrun
You can try to overrun as part of a charge. You can only overrun an opponent who is one size category larger than you, the same size, or smaller you can only make one overrun attempt per action.
An overrun takes place during the movement portion of a charge. With an overrun, you attempt to plow past or over your opponent and move through his space.
First, you must move at least 4 meters in a straight line into the defender’s space. Doing this may provoke an attack of opportunity.
The defender chooses either to avoid you or to block you. If he avoids you, you keep moving. (You can always move through the space occupied by someone who lets you by.) If he blocks you, make a trip attack against him (see Trip, above).
If you succeed in tripping your opponent, you can continue your charge in a straight line as normal. If you fail and are tripped in turn, you fall prone in the defender’s space. If you fail but are not tripped, you have to move 2 meters back the way you came. If that space is occupied, you fall prone in that space.
Aiming
As a full-round action, you can try to zero in on a target using a ranged weapon. Aiming can deny a target its Dexterity bonus to Defense and reduce range penalties. You cannot aim with a thrown weapon.
To aim, make a ranged touch attack against the target. (This touch attack is not an actual attack and causes no damage; it simply establishes the aim.) Aiming provokes attacks of opportunity and causes you to lose all Dodge and Dexterity bonuses to Defense for one round. It is a full round action.
If the touch attack is successful, the target is denied its Dexterity bonus to Defense for your next single attack with the weapon which you aimed. If the target moves more than 2 meters between the time you make the ranged touch attack and your next single attack, he regains his Dexterity bonus and you gain no benefits from aiming.
A target with the Uncanny Dodge class ability retains its Dexterity bonus to Defense, as if struck by a hidden attacker. In other words, even the best aimed shot won’t deprive a 4th-level scout of her Dexterity bonus to Defense.
The following modifiers apply only to attack that follows a successful aim action.
Position
A lower center of gravity both stabilizes the weapon and reduces recoil. Kneeling decreases the range penalty on the attack by 1. Lying prone decreases the range penalty by 2. For instance, lying prone reduces a -4 range penalty to -2.
Mounted weapons, primitive weapons, and thrown weapons cannot gain a benefit from position. The benefit of position stacks with that of support.
Support
Support holds the weapon steady, reducing variations from minute muscle movements. Improvised support (a vehicle, crate, tree, or wall) decreases the range penalty on the attack by 1. A fixed support (a bipod, tripod, or weapon mount) decreases the ranged penalty by 2. Preparing support is a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity.
Mounted weapons, primitive weapons, and thrown weapons cannot gain a benefit of position stacks with that of position.
Suppression Fire
A standard tactic when facing off against an enemy that has taken refuge behind impervious cover is to use suppression fire to force him to keep his head down and reduce the accuracy of his aim. A character on the receiving end of suppression fire has less time to peek out from behind the safety of cover, and as a result must take shots before getting a chance to target them properly.
The suppression fire action can only be performed with a ranged weapon that has multifire or autofire capability. To lay down suppression fire, a character must target a 4-meter-by-4-meter area and make an attack roll against a Defense of 10 (modified by the range increment penalty for the area he is firing on).
If the attack roll succeeds, the character now threatens the targeted area, just as if he threatened that area with a melee weapon, and may make attacks of opportunity into the targeted area with his ranged weapon. In addition, actions that normally provoke attacks of opportunity, in any melee or ranged attacks made within the targeted area also provoke attacks of opportunity from the suppressing character.
Using suppression fire is a full-round action that provokes an attack of opportunity.
Combined Suppression Fire
Multiple characters may combine fire to better suppress an enemy location. They can suppress adjacent areas (to increase the area covered), or overlap their areas of suppression. When an attack of opportunity is provoked in an area being suppressed by more than one character, each suppressing character may make an attack of opportunity. The penalties imposed by multiple suppressors do not stack, however; a suppressed character suffers only a -1 penalty on attack rolls no matter how many opponents are suppressing him.
Pulling a Blow
When engaged in melee combat, some characters find the need to occasionally reduce the damage they deal with a weapon. This could be because an opponent is needed for questioning, needed alive as part of a bounty, or, in the case of the Jedi, killing the target could be the first step on the path to the dark side. Especially in the case of those who deal massive damage with their weapons, the ability to “pull” a blow and deal less damage can be valuable.
When using a melee weapon, a character may opt to pull the blow. Doing so imposes a -4 penalty on the attack. The attacker can choose to deal only vitality damage or deal damage normally, but only deal half damage.