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.

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 slap it away, with my knuckles. I want to hit him in the wrist so that it's nice and painful.

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.

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.

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 three. Plus 3 from my unarmed skill puts me at 6. Could have been better, I hope he rolls low.

It's not a high roll, but you just rolled doubles and rolling doubles 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. I'm going to put a spin token on your character so that we can track that.
+1
SPIN

Oh good, that means I don't have to spend my regular 10acity points yet for any of my special abilities.

It's the big guy's turn to defend. He's pretty good with his vitality skills. He's about half way between trained and expert (2d6+3).

But he seemed to be caught by surprise by Vex's attack, he only rolled a five. Vex hurts him with that one. Go ahead and find your impact score next to your skill, that's how many four sided (d4) dice you get to roll and then add any bonuses you have from equipment.

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.

The big guy takes 4 points of stress, and since Vex attacked him, the spotlight passes to him for his action.

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?

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.

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.

Great! Now, at this point the big man could respond by activating any special abilities or spending 10acity to boost his result up to try and beat your 9. Then we go back and forth until someone doesn't have anything that they can do or decides not to do anything. 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.

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?

No, unless you have some special ability that allows you to perform an action as a defense. Otherwise, you 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 grapple it for real on your next action though once the round resets.

But before you get to act again, everyone else gets a turn. Right now, the spotlight would pass to Vex because she was the one who defended against the attack. But since she has already acted this round she can't go again, so she gets to pass the spotlight to a character of her choice.

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.

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?

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.

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 and someone else walks through the door next.

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