Combat Basics
The galaxy is currently a dangerous, brutal place, many worlds isolated by the blackout learned to survive through violence and strength and now that they are coming back together in an interstellar community, they are taking the same approach to dealing with the competition. From death worlds to criminal syndicates to alien creatures and rogue mechs, it is likely characters will eventually encounter situations where they cannot talk their way out.
Fighting depends heavily on Challenge tests, that means, tests in which the difficulty is dependent on the enemy's skill.
Setting up a Combat Encounter
It is recommended that any combat is done over a Hex grid where each hex is 5 feet. Each character occupies a single hex or space 5 feet in diameter, though larger creatures and enemies may occupy more space. If one is not available, players can use measuring tape and translate every 5 feet described in the rules as 1 inch or 2 cm on the battlefield.
Optional Rule: Theatre of the Mind
If a particular engagement doesn't require a battle map or your group prefers not to use them, you can adopt a theatre of the mind style where players visualize the positions of enemies and characters rather than having them displayed on a map or grid. In this case, you can use the following shorthand terms to gage distances.
Close Quarters - Someone within approximately 10 or 15 feet of you, who could easily approach and swing a melee weapon.
Short Range - Someone between approximately 15 and 45 feet of you, who could fire short range or small arms in your direction.
Mid Range - Someone between approximately 45 and 90 feet of you, who could fire mid range weapons in your direction.
Long Range - Someone approximately 90 feet or more from you, who could fire long range or heavy weapons in your direction.
Character would be able to use a Walk action to move from one range increment to the next or a Run action to move two steps at once.
Elements of a Combat Encounter
Turns and Rounds
Combat is divided into turns and rounds. During their turn, each character gets to act and once all characters have acted, the round ends. Some effects and abilities may take effect during your turn or at any point during the round.
Initiative
Initiative determines the order in which characters can act during a combat encounter and it is divided in Initiative Steps which go from 1 to 18, which characters on the lower end going first. At the beginning of a combat encounter, each character in it decides how many Initiative Dice they would like to roll from a minimum of one to a maximum of three. For each die rolled, the character receives one action point to spend during their turn.
You add together the rolled values on the dice and that is the Initiative step your character will act on. Characters may also delay their turn once per round to another initiative step of their choosing, however once they have decided when they will act, they may not change it again.
As opposed to player characters, enemies will have a fixed initiative step determined by the GM and will always have at least 3 action points, a free action and a reaction, though some enemies might have more. If an enemy and a player character share the same Initiative step, the player character always goes first. If two player characters go on the same initiative step, the players can decide who goes first, but one character must always end their turn before another character can start theirs.
Surprise Attacks
Sometimes one side in a combat encounter will get the drop on another and be able to perform a surprise attack. All the members of the attacking group will roll a group Dexterity [Sneak] test and members of the defending group will roll an Insight [Perception] test. Any members of the defending group that do not match or beat the average amount of successes obtained by the attacking group are Surprised.
Action Points and Actions
Almost everything a character does during combat is considered an action. On their turn, character will receive a number of Action Points, determined by how many Initiative Dice they rolled and they may spend those action points on different actions. Some actions may require you to be proficient and some may be used only once per round. Many actions also require Stamina as a resource, which is recovered at a rate of one Stamina per round.
The most common types of actions are:
Free Actions: Free Actions consume no Action Points, but a character may only use one every turn. An action point can also be spent to use a second free action once per round.
Movement Actions: Movement actions usually consume one or two Action Points, and a character may only use one every turn.
Standard Actions: Standard actions consume between 1 and 3 action points.
Reactions: Reactions are used outside of the character's turn and do not consume action points but can only be used when specific circumstances trigger then. A character can use one reaction every round.
Taking Your Time
Whenever you take an action in combat that requires a test, you may take your time to gain an advantage on the test. Taking your time means you commit an extra action point. Many abilities will require you to take your time in order to trigger.
Movement
Blackout is a highly tactical game which is best played using a tokens on a virtual map or with physical miniatures using a hexagonal grid/measuring tape. If playing on a hexagonal grid, each space in the grid a 5 x 5 foot area and characters occupy a single 5 x 5 foot space. If played without a grid using measuring tape, each inch on the measuring tape represents a 5 foot increment, with characters likewise occupying a 5 x 5 foot area. A character's walking and running speed determines how far they can move with a move or run action. While moving, a character may have to surmount obstacles, hazards or difficult terrain which they may be able to do via climbing, swimming, vaunting or jumping, all of which they can attempt as part of moving or running.
Obstacles can be objects, structures, plants and other elements that would prevent a character from easily passing through an area. Small changes in elevation are also considred Obstacles. Obstacles are not dangerous but can stop characters on their tracks. Obstacles up to 5 feet in height can be vaunted over or treated as difficult terrain, but anything taller needs to be climbed.
Hazards are specially dangerous sections of terrain that may require special actions from a character to traverse safely or even survive, zero-g environments, rough waters, quicksand, poison fogs, laser fields, etc, are all hazards. Hazards can usually be considered difficult terrain or obstacles as well.
Difficult Terrain are areas that, while may not be dangerous, make traversal slow and laborious. A character moving through difficult terrain gains the slowed condition whenever they are in the terrain.
Vaulting
When a character doesn't want to be slowed down by a smaller obstacle they may attempt to simply vault over it. A character vaulting over or up an obstacle must make an [Athletics] test using their Strength or Dexterity against a difficulty of 1 to 3 depending on the obstacle, with 2 being the average for a 5 foot tall obstacle.
On a success, the character can treat the obstacle as clear terrain and move past it without committing additional movement.
On a failure, the character needs to treat the obstacle as difficult terrain.
On a critical failure (two under the difficulty), they are knocked prone (which may end their movement).
Climbing
A climbing character is considered slowed. Depending on the surface or if the character takes damage, the GM may ask for a Strength(Athletics) or Dexterity(Athletics) test at the end of each round of climbing to determine if the character falls. A character that is knocked back, knocked unconscious or knocked prone also immediately falls. The difficulty of the test depends on how difficult the surface is to climb. Using a rope or some simiar aid can reduce the climbing difficulty by 1.
A ladder or another surface designed to be easily and quickly climbed is considered an automatic success.
A rough surface which is simply slopped as opposed to vertical or closed to it would have a difficulty of 1.
A rough vertical surface with a variety of handholds and footholds would have a difficulty of 2.
A slick vertical surface with few handholds or footholds would have a difficulty of 3 and above.
Jumping
With a running start of at least 15 feet, a character can jump a distance equal to 10 feet+5 feet per success on a Strength(Athletics) test and up to their Walking Speed. A character jumping vertically or without a running start can jump 5 feet per success on a strength(Athetics) test and up to their Walking Speed.
A character can vertically jump down with a Strength or Dexterity (Athletics) test. If a character makes a vertical jump down but does not get enough successes to reach the ground, they are instead considered to be falling.
When part of a movement action, a jump consumes 15 feet of movement regardless of the actual distance jumped and a character can only jump once per movement action.
Swimming
A swimming character is considered slowed and can swim without need for a test in calm waters. In dangerous waters the character will need to pass a Strength(Athletics) test to move at all - the difficulty of the test is determined by the GM depending on the roughness of the water.
Swimming in the ocean against a light current would be a difficulty of 1
Swimming against a stronger current or in a fast moving river would be a difficulty of 2.
Swimming in a storm or in rapids would be a difficulty of 3 and above.
If a character fails two tests in a row, they are taken under until they can succesfully pass a swimming test. For every 30 seconds the character is under the water, they must pass a Fortitude(Endurance) text of incremental difficlty or be knocked unconscious- at which point they risk death in the water after a maximum of 5 minutes.
This would be a traumatic experience for a character and maybe even their player, so GMs should discuss how they would treat drowning mechanically with their players beforehand and make sure their group is comfortable with it as a possibility. A GM may also give a character an Endurance wound for a near death experience such as this.
Falling
A character that falls at least 10 feet takes D3 points of Direct Damage for every 5 feet they fell and they are knocked Prone.
The character can attempt an Endurance[Fortitude](X) test, where X is 1 plus an additional 1 for every 10 feet the character fell to half the damage from falling and about being knocked prone.
Attacking
The first is the Attack Test, which determines if an attack hits an enemy character. The second is a Damage Test, which determines if an attack gets through the enemy armor and actually deals any damage
Each weapon a character can equip will have an Attack section which lists what characteristics & skill can be used to attack with that weapon. Most melee weapons will use either Strength [Strike] whereas most ranged weapons will use either Dexterity [Aim] or, for thrown weapons, Strength [Aim]. Sometimes, special Training Options will allow other skills to be used as attacking skills.
Unarmed Attacks
Any attacks a character does while not wielding a weapon, or using an object not intended to be a weapon, are usually considered unarmed attacks, these have the Finesse quality, usually deal only non-lethal damage and use the character’s Strength(Strike) or Dexterity(Strike) to hit and deal a number of damage dice equal to the character’s Strength.
An attack test is a Challenge Test where the Difficulty is determined by the enemy’s Passive Evasion, to a minimum of 1 - and the attacking character rolls a minimum of 4 dice. If the attack test is successful then the attacking character can attempt a Damage test. Furthermore, on a Critical Success you add damage bonuses to the attack based on the following table:
Cover
When making a Ranged Attack against a target, obstacles or other characters on the way can affect the odds to hit, as can some qualities (Such as Stealth). These obstructions and obstacles are generally referred to as Cover. When selecting a target for a ranged attack, draw a line from your character’s front arc to the target, if the line crosses through another characters or an obstacle, the target is in Partial Cover. If the target would benefit from several instances of Partial Cover, then they are in Full Cover.
Many qualities, actions, equipment and abilities can modify cover.
Additionally, some conditions or situations will grant a character Advantages or Disadvantages on an attack, you can check those advantages and disadvantages on the following table. You can find more information on specific conditions and situations in the Advanced Combat Rules section.
One-Two Attacks
Some training options enable characters to do One-two attacks. This means if the character hits an enemy with a weapon attack, they may perform another attack at no AP cost with the same weapon. One-two attacks cannot normally be used as reactions and do not generate further attacks.
Evasion
A character's evasion rank (specifically their Passive Evasion), determines the difficulty for a targeted attack to hit them. An attack needs to match or beat a character's passive evasion in order to hit them, and a passive evasion is equal to the character's Evasion rank +1. Characters will usually have a cap to their passive evasion determined by their encumbrance; which is usually determined by equipment and the sort. If a character is carrying more weight than their carrying capacity, their encumbrance increases by 1. If they are carrying 50% more than their maximum, it instead increases by 2. A character cannot carry more than twice their maximum carrying weight. After adding up a character's total encumbrance, you can check the following table for the effects of that encumbrance level.
Hitting a Friend
Sometimes you might want to target and hit a friendly character with an attack. For all intents and purposes, the evasion of a friendly character that is not actively trying to avoid your attacks is considered 1, however, cover and range advantages or disadvantages would still apply.
Damage
If an character is successfully hit by an attack, then the attacker may attempt a Damage Test. Each weapon will have a Damage score which determines how many dice are used on the Damage test, most melee weapons Damage score will depend on the character’s Strength. Each success on the damage test means 5 points of damage.
All the damage done by the character is added together and compared to the target’s Armor Value. The difference between the Damage and Armor is dealt to the target character as direct damage. Any damage that bypasses armor in one way or another is considered direct damage and can either reduce the target’s hit points or their damage resistance (Which function as Temporary Hit Points). Remember that Hit Points are not an actual representation of a character's well being, but an abstraction representing how many attacks a character can avoid or withstand before they start taking actual damage in the form of Injuries and Wounds.
Non-Lethal Attacks
Sometimes characters may attempt to knock enemies unconscious or safely incapacitate them. When you make an attack that takes a target out of the fight, you can declare if to be a non-lethal attack. The target may then attempt an Endurance [Vitality] test where the difficulty is 1+1 for every 5 points of damage they received. If the target succeeds on the test, they remain conscious with 1 Hit point, if they fail they are knocked unconscious or safely incapacitated in some other manner. Unarmed melee attacks can normally only be non-lethal attacks.
If you’re using a ranged weapon, the enemy must also pass this Endurance [Vitality] test, but if they fail the test then your attempt to incapacitate them accidentally kills them. If they succeed, they are instead knocked unconscious or safely incapacitated.
Out of the Fight
If a character is left with zero or negative hit points, they are Out of the Fight, and rendered prone until they are healed back to at least 1 Hit Point; this could mean they’ve fallen unconscious, are in shock, are in too much pain to act or are simply impaired.
A character who is Out of the Fight is afflicted by the following effects;
They cannot act or move.
Their passive evasion is set at 1.
Any Damage they take that is not absorbed by armor or DR is doubled.
Whenever a character is Out of the Fight, at the beginning of each of their turns they must pass an Endurance[Vitality] test.
If they fail (1 or two successes), they take D3 points of damage as they bleed out.
On a critical failure (No successes) the damage they take is doubled
On a 3 successes they stabilize and they remain unconscious but no longer take extra damage.
On a critical success (5 successes) they immediately regain 1 HP, and are no longer Out of the Fight.
Healing
During combat, a character’s Hit Points will be reduced by attacks and environmental conditions and character may be forced to take Injuries and Wounds to avoid being knocked Out of the Fight. However, characters can also be healed with a Heal HP action. To Heal someone, the character must be adjacent to them and perform an Intelligence[Medicine] test. With each success restoring 2 Hit Points. Injuries may also be treated in combat by using the Treat Injuries action, but only one injury may be treated at a time. Wounds, however, need to be treated out of combat.
Outside of combat, characters recover all Hit Points and Stamina within a minute as long as there are no imminent threats and they haven’t been knocked Out of the Fight. If a character has been knocked Out of the Fight, a single Intelligence[Medicine 3] test from another character or an Endurance[Vitality 3] test from the unconscious character required for them to regain consciousness. If the both tests are failed, they can be attempted again in one hour.