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Arcane
gestures & magic words are not part of the magic itself, but a method used
by the spell caster to achieve a certain mental state (self-hypnosis?) needed
for magic use. Call this a “mantra”. The mantra can reflect whatever
culture or background the player feels would fit the character best.
Channeling a spell without the mantra slows the PPE channeling by half. Note
that if the caster is high enough a level the spell would take just as long to
cast with the mantra as without (as the half-speed channeling still is enough
to provide the PPE before the spell is cast), reflecting the degree of power
possessed by the caster.
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A
spell caster can channel 1 PPE per half-second, per level. Thus a 5th
level spellcaster can channel 5 PPE per half-second. This number is reduced by
half (rounded down) when the caster is not using her or her mantra (the
“arcane gestures” and “odd words”). Channeling can happen while the
character is performing another action (such as fighting), but they can do no
combos, and are –1 to all bonuses, -1 to all power levels and –5% to all
skills per PPE they are channeling.
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Minimum
casting time is 1 second (or 2 h.s.) per level of the spell. Thus a 6th
level spell, takes 6 seconds (12 half-seconds) to cast, minimum.
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Saving
throws against magic is a contested roll between the caster and the target.
The caster gets to add his/her spell caster level to the D20 rolled. The
minimum result is the spell strength; if the 1D20+level is lower than the
mage’s spell strength, than the spell strength is what must be saved
against. This makes magic much more powerful and harder to save against, which
is more cinematic.
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One
half-second must be spent to recover after casting a spell.
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Much
like spell casters, psionics use methods to keep the channeling of ISP as
quick as possible. The psionic, however, does not use gestures and “magic
words”. Instead, the psionic uses such methods as closing one’s eyes to
concentrate, holding out one’s hand to “feel” or “manipulate”,
breathing techniques, rubbing the temples, taking a particular stance and so
on. Like the spell caster, the psionic can perform the power without these
sorts of activities, but at half the channeling rate.
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Can
channel 1 ISP per half-second, per level of psionic (half if not able to use
the focusing techniques stated above). Minimum time to activate a psionic is 1
second for a minor and 3 seconds for a master psychic ability. Time spent is
defined by the time it takes to channel the ISP, but can’t fall below the
minimum.
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Channeling
can happen while the character is performing another action (such as
fighting), but they can do no combos, and are –1 to all bonuses, -1 to all
power levels and –5% to all skills per ISP they are channeling.
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Saving
throws against psionics are a contested roll between the psychic and the
target. The psychic gets to add his/her psionic level to the D20 rolled. The
minimum result is 15 against non-psionics, 12 against minor/major psionics and
10 against masters; if the 1D20+level is lower than the psychic’s psionic
strength, than the strength (10, 12 or 15) is what must be saved against.
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An
alternate rule to the 3 levels of psionic strength is to just give minor &
major psychics a +3 against psionic powers, and give masters a +5. Then the
default strength is always just 15.
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One
half-second must be spent to recover after performing a psionic power.
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Can
channel 1 Chi per half-second, per level of the martial artist. Minimum time
to use a chi power is 2 seconds. Default time is defined by the time it takes
to channel the Chi.
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The
“free chi action” each round still needs to take the same time as any
other regular chi power, except that this free action can happen in the
background, while the martial artist acts normally (fighting, performing
skills or stunts, etc.). The result of the chi action remains the same; if it
lasts 1 melee, it lasts until the exact same time next round (allowing for
“wrap-around” if you're actually using 15 seconds as a melee).
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As
with spell casting and psionics, the chi master channels chi best when
performing a particular activity. Often times the chi ability is accompanied
by breathing exercises, isometric movements, mudra-like gestures or special
stances. Channeling chi without doing these accompanying activities will
reduce the channeling rate by half. Channeling can happen while the character
is performing another action (such as fighting), but they can do no combos,
and are –1 to all bonuses, -1 to all power levels and –5% to all skills
per Chi they are channeling. The free chi action provided to all chi masters is an
exception to this.
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One
half-second must be spent to recover after performing a chi power.
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Each
attack takes a half-second, generally speaking (for simplicity’s sake). Such
attacks as jump-kicks and power strikes can take a second or more to do… I
leave that up to GM discretion, though as a rule of thumb, I say a jump kick
takes 1 second, and a flying jump kick requires at least 1 second of running
(but other than that is just a 1-second jump kick).
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The
character’s “attacks per melee” is the maximum number of combat attacks
that can be chained together into a combo before their opponent can retaliate.
Each strike in a combination has to be declared and explained in a realistic
manner, and can only be selected from the character’s repertoire. It is
assumed that all characters have at least a 1d4 punch and a 1d4 low kick in
their repertoire, such as untrained individuals and those with the more
simplified hand-to-hand. Any extra attacks not declared in a combination are
spent as free non-automatic defensive actions. A combination can be broken by
running out of attacks, by completing the combination, by being knocked down
or away, or by taking painful damage (such as from a power block, a
simultaneous strike or third party intervention). One half-second must be spent to recover after performing a combo.
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Automatic
defense actions (such as the popular auto-parry) are defensive actions that
can be used to defend against every defendable attack in a combination, and can also be used during recovery periods. Defenses that aren’t automatic can only defend against one attack in a combination. As stated earlier, a character can reserve attacks for extra
defensive actions, allowing for more defenses against more attacks in a
combination or against multiple opponents. Automatic actions can also be used ANY time instead of another action. Thus someone can use auto-parry or aut-dodge during recover periods.
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Characters
with combat forms, such as those from Ninjas & Superspies, require a
weapon proficiency to have a related kata in order for the combatant to access
the number of attacks, for combination purposes. Those with simpler combat
forms, such as those from basic Rifts and Palladium Fantasy, can perform
combinations with melee weapons, but only half as long as the Attacks Per
Melee the character possesses from the combat form (round towards 1). The "2 attacks for living" rule only applies when using a skill you possess. For example a fencer without hand to hand gets to use 2-hit combos, as does a professional boxer with W.P. sword but no kata.
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Level of accuracy is equal to the level of the weapon proficiency skill, plus one extra at levels 4, 7, 10 and 13. The level of accuracy is used for keeping a tight burst on a target. Base effective rate of fire for semi-automatic weapons is 1 shot per half-second. Add 1/10 of the character’s physical prowess plus level of accuracy, rounded up. Subtract 1 from this rate of fire (minimum 1) for revolvers and single-shot weapons. Aimed shots start with the strike bonus of burst fire, but can be increased up to the listed bonus for aimed shot (generally +2 more, +4 with the sniper skill) at a rate of +1 per half-second spent
aiming.
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Pump-action
shotguns and bolt-action rifles, take longer to fire. +1 half-second for pump
action, +1 second for bolt-action.
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Many
pump action weapons tend to have either a scatter-shot effect or more
knock-down power. Depending on the weapon, and at the GM’s discretion, the
target of a scatter-shot weapon is at a further –3 to dodge penalty, and
half the damage is done to those within 3 feet of the center of the blast.
Knock-down weapons require a roll with punch/fall from the target against the
strike roll. Failure means that the weapon’s power could knock down the
target, provided the target’s not too large or stabilized in some way.
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Beam
weapons tend to shoot in time increments, such as the standard ½-second laser
or ion beam. The down side to these weapons is that there is no applicable
burst fire. The advantage is that the weapon can perform a “sweeping line”
or an “arc”. Targets within the sweep are at –3 to dodge, but take less
damage. The gunner’s level of accuracy is used to determine this reduced
damage: L.A. is the total damage dealt, to a limit of the maximum damage of
the weapon… this damage value is evenly distributed among the many targets
(minimum 1 point), or “squiggled” into a single target.
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Fully
automatic weapons have a listed cyclic rate of fire. This is pretty basic
& easy to figure out. In fact if you can’t figure it out, go burn your
books because you’re too dumb to play.
- To use Level of Accuracy ("LA") for a burst, you roll to strike as normal, with bonuses. That first roll takes 1 away from your LA and is the strike roll for that bullet. If you have a lot of LA remaining or you the last roll was low, use another LA to roll again (if you have any left) for the next bullet. Repeat until you are either out of LA, out of bullets in the burst or roll very well and decide not to continue. From that last roll, each remaining bullet in the burst is -1 to strike. So if you were to fire a 20-round burst and had an LA of 5, and you rolled a 7 for your first bullet, you could roll again for the next bullet and maybe get a 12. Since you've rolled twice and accounted for 2 LA and 2 bullets, you have 3 chances to get a better roll. If that next roll were a 19, I would recommend that you stop rolling since you are likely not to roll as high in the last two throws of the dice available via your LA. The remaining 17 bullets (since 3 were rolled for) have strike values of 18, 17, 16 and so on until they miss or there are no more bullets in the burst. A multiple dodger could roll against this entire burst and is likely to be avoid some bullets, but not all. Thus the target will likely be hit. An automatic dodger would have to roll for each half second of the burst. An unskilled dodger (no multiple dodge or auto-dodge) would only be able to dodge a half-second of bullets from the burst. Dodging for cover is always the wisest choice.
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Everyone’s
–3 to hit moving targets, and –1 more per 10 miles per hour. Also, -1 per
50 feet away. Everyone’s at –10 to dodge weapon fire, and –15 to parry
weapon fire. In hand-to-hand range, you can parry the opponent’s weapon arm.
Bonuses are applicable in all cases.
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Firing
a shot or burst counts as performing a combo. Thus, one
half-second must be spent to recover after performing a burst or a single
aimed shot.
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The
spd attribute is the number of feet per second that can be moved. A character
can accelerate 1 foot per second, per each point of physical prowess, each
half second. So a character with a spd of 100 and a PP of 20 can reach a speed
of 20 in the first half-second, 40 in the next, then 60, and so on until 100.
Decelerating is PP + PS. If the PS is higher, the character is skidding to a
halt (and potentially tearing up the ground if they weigh enough or are going
fast enough).
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When
making a climb roll, the percent that you roll is the percent of your speed
attribute that you can climb. Thus only a skilled climber can climb quickly.
Furthermore, a character can climb at half their maximum climbing speed to get
2 rolls instead of 1 (only 1 roll needs to be successful), or 1/3rd
their rate for 3 rolls and so on. There are modifications to climbing speed
and difficulty, but for now these are the basics.
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A
character can jump up an average of 1 foot per 10 spd attribute points, with a
run. Add this height to the speed attribute for the distance of the running
long jump. If the character isn’t running, all jump distances are halved.
Gymnastics, track and field and acrobatics allow for 10 “virtual speed
points” for the purpose of jumping only. Twice the jumping height is
subtracted from the distance fallen for determining damage when a character
makes a successful roll with punch/fall.
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After
doing a jump, or accelerating, the character must do no other action (except
move or perform automatic defenses) for a half-second.
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Depends
on the skill. Use your common sense whether it takes seconds, melees, minutes
or hours. Come up with a difficulty for the skill (the higher, the harder to
do). The difference between the difficulty and the roll is the number of time
units it takes to perform. The base unit and the difference units of time need
not always match. For example a skill may take a minimum of an hour, with a
difference modifier of seconds.
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After
performing most skills, a half-second must be spent recovering or reorienting
one’s self.