Core Combat Terms

Turn Order

Regardless of whether characters are involved in Space of Ground Combat, they will utilize Turn Order to determine who acts in what order. At the start of any combat, players make a Turn Order Roll, which involves rolling 2d10 and adding both their Wisdom and Celerity Attribute Modifiers to the roll. Characters are then placed in order, with higher rolls being placed higher in the Turn Order.

If two characters tie on their turn order roll, the character with higher Wisdom Attribute Modifier is placed higher on Turn Order. If both characters have identical Wisdom, the character with a higher Celerity Attribute Modifier is placed higher. If the characters are still tied, have the characters perform a tiebreaker roll.

Next, characters are separated into those involved in Space Combat and those involved in Ground Combat. The Turn Order is split into the Space Turn Order and the Ground Turn Order. Once both lists are made, combat can proceed. Combat is performed in periods of six (6) seconds called Cycles.

Some Maneuvers (ex. Jostling) reference they "increase a characters position on the Turn Order". When a characters position on the Turn Order is increased, the move up on the Turn Order above the character who preceded them. Unless otherwise specified, if a character increases their Turn Order position on their turn, they typically do not receive any benefit until the next cycle.

Action Points

In order to perform actions and maneuvers, characters need Action Points (AP). Unless specified otherwise, characters always regain AP at the start of their turn in the Cycle. Characters may only gain AP once per cycle. So a character transitioning from different combat types or altering their position on the Turn Order do not gain AP twice in a single cycle.

When gaining AP, Characters gain AP equal to twelve (12) plus their Celerity Attribute Modifier. When characters regain AP, it is always reset back to this value, regardless of how much AP they had remaining. For example, if one character has two (2) AP remaining at the end of their turn and another has four (4), both characters would have twelve (12) AP (plus their Celerity Attribute Modifier) at the start of their next turn.

Damage Scales

Since SolarLink includes both Space and Ground Combat, there are two scales of hit points and damage. Generally, Ground Combat utilizes HP and dmg while Space Combat utilizes DHP and DDMG. One (1) DHP and one (1) DDMG is equal to ten (10) HP and ten (10) dmg.

Whenever a target with DHP is dealt dmg, there is a good chance no damage is dealt instead. Dmg dealt to targets with DHP is always divided by ten (10) and rounded down to the nearest integer. For example, an attack that does seven (7) dmg is rounded down to zero (0) DDMG to DHP targets. Alternatively, whenever a target with HP is dealt DDMG damage, the DDMG damage is multiplied by ten (10). This results in DDMG from spacecraft, on the rare occasion they hit an individual, to almost certainly be lethal.

Some maneuvers may refer to increasing or decreasing damage by one damage die. This means the type of dice rolled for damage is changed to a lower or higher die. The "die" order is: 1d2, 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, 1d12. If a die would be increased from a 1d12. If a damage die is increased from 1d12, it is upgraded to become 2d6 (same maximum, but increased minimum and average). If a character has multiple damage dice (ex. a d6 and a d8), always increase the lower of the two die (the d6 increases in the prior example).

Damage Types

All sources of damage to HP or DHP have a damage type associated with them. These damage types are chemical, electrical, light, light, physical, thermal (cold), and thermal (hot).

Negative Combat Effects

Dizzy

A character that is dizzy has trouble perceiving the area around them. They receive a minus three (-3) penalty to any Trade Roll that requires visuals of their surroundings, including attacks. Additionally, movement becomes more difficult, require one (1) more AP per square traveled.

A character may attempt to focus and clear their dizziness. By spending eight (8) AP, they may attempt a Willpower or Wisdom Attribute Roll with a difficulty of ten (10) plus one (1) for each cycle the remaining duration of their Dizzyness will last. If successful, the character is no longer Dizzy.

Insanity

Insanity represents instability of a character’s mind. Once a character begins to suffer from Insanity, they make a percentile roll. The result of that roll determines what they attempt to do throughout the duration of their insanity (Table: Insanity Effect Chart).

Characters have a change to suffer from Insanity if their Wisdom is negative three (-3) or lower. At a Wisdom of negative three (-3) they have a 20% chance to suffer from insanity, increasing by 20% for every point their Wisdom drops. Characters with insufficient Wisdom begin making this roll at the start of every cycle during which they remain in a stressful situation, such as being involved in Combat. Once a character leaves Combat, they continue to suffer from Insanity for a number of rounds equal to their negative Wisdom Attribute Modifier.

Table: Insanity Effect Chart.

Open Wounds

The most commonly suffered combat effect is Open Wounds. Open Wounds represent when a character begins to bleed profusely, resulting in further harm to their body overtime. Characters suffering from open wounds receive one (1) damage at the end of their turn each cycle. Open Wounds stack. For each stack of Open Wounds a character receives, they take an additional one (1) damage each cycle.

Open Wounds my be treated by a character with a medical kit. To remove a stack of Open Wounds requires a Trade(Emergency Medic) Roll. This Trade Roll requires a full minute (60 AP) and has a difficulty of ten (10) plus one (1) for each stack of Open Wounds a character has. This difficulty increase by six (6) if a character is attempting to treat themselves. If successful, the character removes one stack of Open Wounds. Characters may also utilize a Trade(Emergency Medic) Roll to simply delay the bleeding. This Trade Roll requires six (6) AP and has a difficulty of five (5). If successful, they reduce Open Wounds damage by one (1).

The damage from Open Wounds can be reduced by limiting a character’s movement. If a character has greater than zero (0) HP remaining, they may choose to take no actions, other than talking. If they do so, they reduce each of their Open Wounds stack damage to one (1) per minute. Additionally, by not moving, characters have a chance for their wounds to close naturally. For every one (1) bonus to their Constitution Attribute Modifier, they gain a five percent (5%) to close one (1) stack of Open Wounds at the end of the minute they spend inactive.

Space Exposure

When characters are exposed to space without any form of protection, the combination of freezing, low pressure, and a lack of oxygen rapidly kill the character.

When a character is exposed to space, they receive one (1) thermal (cold) damage and one (1) physical damage at the start of their turn in the cycle. This damage cannot be reduced by clothing. At the end of each turn a character is exposed to space, they make a Constitution Attribute Roll against suffocation with 0% breathable air. All forms of damage from space exposure ignores DHP a character might have from an exoskeleton or cybernetic unless either of those provide explicit protection against space exposure.

Additionally, whenever a character receives damage from space exposure, if they are below half their maximum HP, they also gain a stack of Open Wounds. If a character receives any damage from Space Exposure while below zero (0) HP, they receive an Injury to a randomly determined body part.

Suffocation

A common danger of space adventures is suffocation. This can occur due to a character being choked, exposed to space, or being in a SolarLink with non-functioning life support. When these events occur, the percentage of breathable air for the character decreases, which forces them to resist suffocation.

When breathable air levels fall to ninety percent (90%) or lower, characters begin to make Constitution Attribute Roll against suffocation every minute. The difficulty for this Attribute Roll is equal to ten (10) plus one (1) for every 10% of breathable air missing. The first failure results in a character losing consciousness, becoming prone (if gravity is present), and receiving one (1) damage per 10% of missing breathable air. They continue to make Constitution Attribute Rolls every minute. Each additional failure results in a receiving damage again.

Tiredness

Tiredness is a minor, but common, negative effect a character may suffer from. The most common source of Tiredness comes from overworking crew members.

When a character becomes tired, they randomly receive a penalty of one (1) to their Strength, Dexterity, Celerity, or Constitution. Additionally, they receive a penalty of one (1) to their Wisdom and their Tiredness increases by one (1). If a character would become tired when they already have a Tiredness stack, the simply gain an additional Tiredness stack and receive an additional random and Wisdom penalty.

Curing tiredness is straightforward. A character must rest for eight (8) hours plus one (1) hour for every point of tiredness they have. After which, all Tiredness stacks are removed as well as the Attribute penalties caused from Tiredness.