COMBAT

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It's time to start combat. The first thing we have to establish is who goes first. Everyone will be involved in the scene, but right now the spotlight is on Vex and the big man, which basically means that they are where the action is at the moment—I'll explain more on that in a moment. First, let's see who gets to act first between the big man who appears to want to grab Vex, and Vex who wants to try and grab his hand first. Since neither of you are surprised or being sneaky about this, it boils down to who's quickest—which one of you can react first. Go ahead and roll your reaction skill.

Alright, reaction is under the dexterity attribute, which is a 2 for me. So I roll 2d10 and take the highest one. My highest roll is a 6 and my reaction skill is a +3 so my total is a 9.

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This guy is trained challenge rank in dexterity, so he gets to roll 2d6. He rolled an 8, so you got him by 1. Vex gets the spotlight first.

Alright, as his hand comes towards me, I strike his wrist with my knuckles so that it's nice and painful.

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Yeah, that'll get his attention. Is your intent just to hurt him by causing physical stress? Or did you want to add a condition like numb fingers or something to his hand so that he has a penalty when using that hand until he can recover?

Hmm... tough call. Do I want to just put a condition on his hand so that he has trouble using it and then maybe we can try to talk our way out of this. Or do I want to actually take a few points off of his stress and turn this into a real fight... You know what, Vex has been itching for a real fight ever since they had to flee from those bounty hunters, so I'm just going to cause physical stress.

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Alright, that sounds like an unarmed combat check to me. Go ahead and roll it against his defense. This guy is well trained, so his defense is 2d6+2. He rolled a 3, with his +2 bonus that brings him to a total of 5. Vex needs a 6 or better to beat him.

Alright, my vitality dice is 2 and my unarmed combat skill is 3. So I roll 2d10 and take the highest and add 3 to it. Well... I rolled 3 twice. So my highest is a 3. Plus 3 from my unarmed skill puts me at 6. Exactly what I needed!

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You did it, but just barely. You also just rolled doubles, which is special. It means you found a little advantage during your action and you get a point of spin. Spin is a special type of temporary 10acity point. Positive spin only lasts for the current scene. So you'll want to spend it before the scene ends, which in this case is a combat scene, so it lasts until all combat is resolved and neither side is still fighting. I'm going to put a spin token on your character so that we can track that. + 1 SPIN

Nice! That means I don't have to spend my regular 10acity points yet if I want to activate any of my special abilities.

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+1 SPIN

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Okay, since you succeeded in your attack to cause stress to your opponent, you can now roll your attacking skill's impact dice and add any equipment or special ability bonuses to that.

Alright, unarmed combat impact is still a 1 for me, so that's 1d4. But I also have a +1 from my combat gloves and another +1 from my heavy handed special ability. I rolled a 2, plus 2 from my equipment and ability, gives me a 4.

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+1 SPIN

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The big guy takes 4 points of stress damage. I'll put a counter on him representing that damage. Next, since Vex attacked him, the spotlight passes to him to see how he responds. + 4 DAM

The big guy grunts and pulls his arm back as Vex strikes him. "Fine! We'll do this the hard way." He brings his finger up to his mouth and let's loose a piercing whistle that rings through the cantina then he raises one giant size 15 boot into the air to smash little Vex out of his way. With his +2 from vitality skills, he rolls a 9. Vex, how do you plan to defend?

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4 DAM

+1 SPIN

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We started this as a bar brawl, I'll keep it that way. I'll used unarmed combat to try and catch that boot, then I'm gonna make him eat it. My vitality dice is 2, so I roll 2d10 and take the highest roll, then add 3 from my unarmed combat skill. That's a 5 plus my 3 for an 8. Not quite enough. Since he rolled a 9, do I have to beat a 9 to defend?

Nope, you're the defender. So you are setting the challenge that the attacker needs to beat. If you can modify your roll up to a 9 or better, you defend. You have a couple of options. If you have a special ability that would give you a bonus to your unarmed skill, you could use that. Otherwise you can use raw 10acity points or spin to give you a +1 per point you spend.

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I don't actually have a special ability to boost my unarmed attacks... I think I'll look into taking one at my next level. For now though, I only need a +1, so I'll spend that point of spin that I just got to give me a 9. - 1 SPIN

Great! At this point we start the special ability bidding war. Since you did something to alter your result, the big man has the option to respond by activating any special abilities or spending points to boost his result to beat your 9. Then we would go back and forth activating abilities or spending points until someone stops. In this case, the big guy is not going to do anything. He'll take the failed action because he wants the free spin he gets from failing an action. I'll put that token on him now. + 1 SPIN

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So the little golden haired girl catches that giant boot in both of her hands, sliding backwards a few inches from the impact, but not backing down from the attack at all. Now I didn't actually catch the boot with that defense, right? I don't have him grappled?

Correct, your defense can't perform an action like that unless you have some special ability that allows you to perform an action as part of your defense. For now, you just have his boot in your hands as part of the block, but you don't actually have him grappled. He can pull it back and use it without any issue. You could try to grapple it on your next action after everyone else goes and we move on to a new round if you want to. So now the spotlight would pass from the big guy to Vex because she was the only one that was attacked. But since Vex has already acted this round she can't go again, so she gets to pass the spotlight to a character of her choice.

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Alright, let's pass the spotlight over to Finnick since he's standing right next to me.

You know... I'm a pilot and a sniper. I really shouldn't be trying to stand toe to toe with brawlers like this.

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Want to pass the spotlight to me? I'm willing to go toe to toe with this guy next to Vex.

Actually, I'm thinking I need to get away from the doorway. I'm willing to bet that he didn't whistle like he did because he thinks we're cute. He was calling for help, and I don't want to be just standing at the door when they come. If I move away from the door, does this thug get a parting shot on me since I'm in melee range?

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Yes, unless you have a special ability that prevents the parting shot or want to spend your action to withdraw. If you take your action to withdraw, then you keep your guard up as you leave the melee and they can't get free shot at you, but you also can't take any other standard action this round.

That's fine, I think setting myself up to be in a better position next round is probably the smartest choice. I'm going to withdraw and go dive behind one of the booths as I draw my plasma pistol. I'll join in on the fun next round.

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Alright, Finnick dives for cover. His action didn't really bring anyone else into the spotlight, so the spotlight would pass back to one of his opponents. The big guy already acted, so it can't be him, but Finnick was right, that whistle was calling for help.

Another man walks through the door, he's a few inches shorter than the first man, but he's still incredibly large and no less intimidating. "Duncan, what in the blazes is going on here?!" He pauses and looks at Duncan then down at Vex who is holding Duncan's giant size 15 boot in her small hands after blocking his stomp kick.

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"Umm... He was like this when I got here?"

"Well don't just stand there, Max! Do something!"

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4 DAM+1 SPIN

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"Right!" Max steps over to Vex and tries to scoop her up in a bear hug. Max is trained in vitality skills, so he rolls 2d6. Rolling two sixes, which gives him a point of spin for rolling doubles, and sets the grapple attack at a 12. Vex, how would you like to defend? + 1 SPIN

"Wow, everyone's so handsy today!" I sneer at Max as he comes grabbing for me. That 12's going to be tough to match, but Vex is going to let go of the boot with one hand in order to try and grab one of Max's hands and twist it away from her using unarmed combat. That's 2d10 from her vitality plus 3 for her unarmed combat skill. I got a 10! With my plus 3 from unarmed combat, that brings me to 13! Suck it Max!

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Not only that, but you also rolled a natural 10 as your highest die, that's special too. If you ever roll a natural 10, then you get a free die to add to the action. That die could be another d10 to add to the skill check to boost it even higher, or another d4 impact die if your action causes impact. In this case your action was a defense, so there's no impact roll. So you can only take another d10 for skill check.

Alright, I had him beat before, but let's see how much higher I can get just in case he has a special ability that can bump up his attack. Another 4 brings my total to 17. Good luck beating that.

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Not a chance, he has to take the fail, which also gives him another point of spin. Vex grabs and twists Max's hand away from her to keep his big mits off of her. Now she has one guy by the foot and the other by the hand. + 1 SPIN

"Ya know, if you guys wanted to dance, all ya had to do was ask." So… these guys are starting to really rack up the spin. That's kind of concerning.

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Exactly. That's the danger of opponents that stick around for a while. Even if they can't hit you at first, it's only a matter of time before they can rack up enough spin to make up the difference. But now that Vex was attacked again, the spotlight goes back to her. Since she's already gone this round and can't take another action yet, who do you want to pass the spotlight to?

Alright, Ajax, I know you've been chomping at the bit to get in on this action. The spot light is yours.

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Finally! Alright, these guys look like they mean business. I'm okay unarmed, but I'm much better with a weapon in my hand. I draw my telescopic baton and extend it out as I rush in. Since Vex is holding his leg up in the air so conveniently like that, I'll bring my attack straight down on Duncan's knee. "Hey! Pick on someone your own size!" Ajax isn't quite as big as these guys, but he's a lot closer to their size than Vex.

No problem. Every turn a character gets an interaction, a movement, and an action. You use your interaction to draw and extend the baton, your movement to rush in, and your action to attack. Go ahead and roll your melee attack.

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Alright, I've got 2 dice in vitality. So I roll 2d10 to start. That's a 4 and an 8. I take the 8 as the highest roll then add plus 3 for my melee skill. That gives me an 11.

Duncan sees Ajax swinging his baton and tries blocking it with his combat gloves before it can come down on his knee. That's 7, plus 2 from his bonus only brings him to a 9. He does have a rank 2 skill focus in unarmed combat and he really doesn't want to know what that baton feels like coming down on his knee, so he spends his point of spin to activate his skill focus and boost his defense to an 11. - 1 SPIN

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4 DAM+1 SPIN

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At this point, we enter a sort of bidding war between special abilities. When one character alters the results of their roll against another character, the other character then gets a chance to alter their results as well. This transaction goes back and forth until one of the characters no longer alters their results and then the action plays out with the new modified results. Ajax, at this point did you want to use any special abilities or points to modify your result?

No, that's alright. I made him spend his spin and I'll get a point of spin by failing to hit. That's a pretty good trade off.

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Sounds good. Max, seeing the attack, stretches his defense as far as he can and deflects the baton with the knuckles of his combat gloves, but his awkward movement puts Ajax in a better position for the future. One spin to Ajax. + 1 SPIN

Since Ajax attacked Max, the spotlight goes to Max. Since Max has already gone this round by attacking Vex, that means it would pass to another of his allies. Since Max doesn't have any allies left that haven't gone, he has to choose one of his opponents to go next, in this case the only one who hasn't gone yet is Missa. So, Missa, it's your turn.

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I pull out Noisy Cricket, that's what I named my plasma pistol, from the holster on my hip and poke my head up enough to be able to rest the pistol on the back of the booth seat and aim at the big guys attacking Ajax and Vex. Then I shout at them. "You're outnumbered two to one! You should do the doings of surrendering and we promise we won't hurty harm you!" Then I hold my action to shoot if they decide to ignore my sage advice.

Alright, with Missa's action of holding her shot until one of your opponents attacks, that means all characters involved in the combat have gone and it's time to reset to a new round. This means everyone has their full turns again. The spotlight didn't really transfer to anyone when Missa took her action, she was pretty much just addressing everyone. So Vex, you can start the new round since you won the spotlight last round.

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