To determine random hit locations Roll 1D12.

Each section of the body has SDC and Hitpoints that are a fraction of the whole. To calculate Divide the total number of SDC by the Percentage shown for each segment and then do the same for hit points:

• Head - 13%
• Neck - 8%
• Main Body - 20%
• Pelvis - 7%
• Arms (2) - 7% each
• Hands (2) - 5% each
• Legs (2) - 9% each
• Feet (2) - 5% each

Combat

The Palladium Fantasy combat system is relatively simple, quick and realistic. It has been thoroughly play tested and has appeared in a dozen different RPGs with great success. It is designed to be fast-moving and easy to understand. All combat moves (strikes, parries, dodges, etc.) are resolved by rolling a twenty-sided die (1D20).

STEP 1: Determine Initiative

Any time opponents square off for battle, the Game Master must determine who has the initiative. In other words, who will attack first. Successful Sneak Attacks or Long-Range Attacks will always have initiative for that melee round (15 seconds). Otherwise, whoever rolls highest on a twenty-sided die will attack first. In the case of a tie, reroll. Initiative is rolled only once per melee round. That roll will determine the pace for the entire melee.

STEP 2: Attacker Rolls Strike

The next step is for the first attacker to roll a twenty-sided die. If the result is a four or less (counting bonuses), the attacker misses. Any roll above a four will hit the opponent, unless the defender can parry or dodge the attack.

• Body Armour

  Body armour may absorb the damage from a successful strike. To hit the physical body of one's foe, the strike roll must be higher than the Armour Rating (A.R.) of the protective armour.
  For example: Studded leather armour has an A.R. of 13, this means the attacker must roll 14 or higher to penetrate the armour and inflict damage directly to his foe's body (deduct damage first from the physical S.D.C. of the body, and when that's reduced to zero, deduct damage from hit points).
  A roll of 5-13 would strike, unless parried, but would only inflict damage to the body armour (studded leather armour has 38 S.D.C.). When all the S.D.C. of the armour is destroyed (reduced to zero), the armour is so tattered that it no longer affords any protection (no A.R. and no S.D.C.). Any attacks that are five or higher will strike and do damage to the character's body, unless they are parried or dodged.
  Note: Rolls that penetrate the AR do full damage to the Armours SDC as well as to the SDC to the body.

• Inflicting Damage to a Particular Body Location: Limb.
  • To target a specific limb/location requires a "Called Shot."That means the player must announce his character's intention to attempt to strike, hit, shoot, chop off. etc., that particular limb or area of the body. Such attacks require a roll of 15 or higher, as the roll of a 5-14 is generally absorbed by natural A.R., andrelatively smaller size of the target as compared to the Main Body.
  • Roll to strike as usual. Include combined bonuses to strike (a bigh P.P., Hand to Hand Combat skill, and W.P. skill may all provide a bonus to strike). If the Target has a bonus to parry or dodge incoming at- tacks it can be applied to defend against this attack however a suprise attack leaves the target at a -10 to parry or Dodge.
  • If the strike is successful it does damage to the targeted Limb. If not successful, the attack does NO DAMAGE. Make sure any bonuses to damage (typically from a high P.S. or Hand to Hand Combat skill) are applied. Note: A Natural Twenty (the number twenty, rolled on a twenty sided dice, before any bonuses or modifiers are added) always hits the intended target location and does double damage to target location's limbs or main body or Triple damage to the neck and head/skull. If the damage inflicted depletes the location's S.D.C. tbat limb (hand, arm, foot, leg) is gone, chopped, bashed or shot off the target, and it drops to the ground!
  • Penalties from loss of limb: Destroying a limb reduces the mobility and number of attacks of the target.
  • Reduced mobility: Eliminating an arm reduces attacks per melee by one. Eliminating both arms further reducs the number of attacks by 1 and limitss all further attacks to bite attacks (2D6 damage) or head butts (2D4 damage), or the usual number of kick attacks minus one for lack of balance.
  • Eliminating one leg reduces speed by half.
    • Eliminating both legs forced the target to drag itself along the ground by its arms, reducing speed by 80%.
    • Eliminating both arms and both legs reduces the number of attacks to one bite attack.
    • A cut or blasted off a limb can be reattached under some circumstances
• Inflicting Damage to the Neck or Head: Fundamentally the same as targeting a limb with a few differences
  • The player must announce his character's intention to attempt to attack the target's neck or head.
  • Roll to strike as usual, only this time DO NOT include ANY of your character's usual combined bonuses to strike, Natural die rolls ONLY!
  • Strike. penalty: The neck and bead are small, moving targets, difficult to strike in the heat of combat. Consequently, the attacker needs to roll a 17-20 to strike.
  • Only a Natural die roll (no bonuses applied) of 17-20 hits and does damage. If the number rolled is a Natural 20 it does three times the usual damage from that weapon. If the number rolled to strike is 15 or 16, the attack misses the head or neck. but hits the main body and does nonnaJ damage.
  • lf a "Called Shot" to the neck is successful (a roll of 17 or higher), the attack struck the neck and does damage. lf the damage inflicted depletes the S.D.C. of the neck, the head is decapitated! If the damage inflicted depletes the S.D.C. of tbe bead, the skull is fractured and the Target is Dead.
  • Head shot "instant kill." An instant kill happens when the damage inflicted to the head in a single attack is three time., (3x) the S.D.C. of the head in one strike, Otherwise, the attacker must first deplete the S.D.C. of the head and then deplete the full Hit Points to destroy the brain thus killing the target.
  • Depleting tbe S.D.C. of the main body to zero or below reduces tbe Natural A.R., number of attacks per melee. combat bonuses, P.S. and Spd by half and also exposes the target's Hit Points. Each attack from this point forward goes direct to Hit PointS. Destroying the Hit Points (reduce to zero or below) and the target falls over dead.

STEP 3: Defender may Parry, Dodge or Entangle

Any time an attacker rolls a successful hit, the defender can choose to parry, dodge, or entangle. Parrying can be done automatically by anyone trained in any form of hand to hand combat.

• A parry blocks the attacker's strike, preventing damage from being inflicted. For example, a punch can be blocked by the character's hands or arms. A weapon attack (sword, axe, mace, etc.) can be parried/blocked by a shield, sword, or other weapon or object held in the defender's hand. A weapon should only be parried with another object. Trying to parry a weapon with one's hand or arm is likely to result in a failed parry and the usual amount of damage being inflicted by the weapon. Parrying a weapon barehanded is dangerous and all such attempts are without benefit of the character's parry bonuses.
  A parry can be performed without wasting a melee attack/action.
  Characters with no hand to hand combat training will lose their next melee attack every time they parry.
  Energy attacks such as fire, lightning, and so on, cannot be parried, but can be dodged.
• Defending by dodging or entangling means automatically giving up the next melee attack.
  • Entangle means the character actually pins or snares an opponent's weapon(s) or arm.
  • A dodge means the character physically moves out of the path of the attack. Each dodge uses up one of the character's attacks per melee round. So constantly dodging means the defender has no opportunity to attack.
  • Note: The defender can only defend against attacks within his line of vision. Attacks from the rear cannot be parried, dodged or entangled. The defender always wins ties when parrying, entangling or dodging.

STEP 4: Attacker Rolls Damage

If a successful strike is not parried, dodged or tangled, the attacker hits his target and rolls for the amount of damage inflicted. Each weapon description will indicate the type and number of dice to roll to determine damage. For example, a knife does 1D6 damage (roll one six sided die), while a claymore sword does 3D6 damage (roll three sixsided dice), and a war club 2D4 damage (roll two four-sided dice). In addition to the weapon damage, the attacker may also get damage bonuses from hand to hand combat skills, P.S. (strength), quality craftsmanship of the weapon. All bonuses are cumulative, so if the character has a P.S. of 20 he adds +5 to the damage. If he is also using a weapon that is +2 to damage that is also added, as well as +2 from hand to hand combat skill. Thus the total amount of potential damage inflicted in this example is from the weapon, say 2D6 and +9 from cumulative bonuses (x2 if a critical strike). Critical strikes do double damage. Combined critical strikes, like a natural 20 and a jump attack, do triple damage. Add the damage bonus to the roll before doubling or tripling damage. A natural, unmodified 20 is always a critical strike. A normal human punch inflicts 1D4 damage; a normal kick 1D6. A pulled punch/strike, whether with fist or weapon, inflicts as little damage as the attacker desires (down to one point), provided he was successful (rolled an 11 or better on a 1D20). A failed attempt to pull a punch means full damage, bonus and all, has been inflicted.

STEP 5: Defender May Attempt to Roll with Impact/Punch

If the attack is a physical impact attack from things like a punch, kick, club, mace, hammer, staff, thrown rock, fall, explosion, and similar, the defender can attempt to roll with the impact/punch/fall. In order to roll with the impact, the defender must roll a twenty-sided die and match or better the attacker's roll to strike. Successfully rolling with a punch/impact or fall means the character takes half damage! Successfully rolling with a knockout punch means the character takes double damage, but is NOT knocked unconscious or stunned. Rolling with a death punch results in the loss of half of all remaining S.D.C. or hit points if S.D.C. is less than 12. Failing to roll with impact means the character has used up one of his melee actions/attacks and still takes full damage from his attacker. Roll with impact/punch/fall counts as one melee action/attack.

Combat Terms & Moves

Note: The following combat maneuvers are applicable to many forms of hand to hand combat and martial arts. A specific or special "move" like disarm or jump kick, will be indicated under the particular hand to hand skill description.

Armour Rating or A.R.: The A.R. indicates what an attacker must roll above in order to strike and do damage to the character's physical body (hit points or physical S.D.C.). Any roll above the A.R. of the body armour will penetrate the armour and directly damage the person underneath.
The higher the A.R. the better the protection. Any roll above four but below the A.R. hits and damages the armour only. When the armour is destroyed (all S.D.C. has been depleted), so the A.R. protection.
All subsequent attacks will hit the character's body; subtract damage first from the character's physical S.D.C. and then, when all S.D.C. is gone, from hit points.

Natural A.R.: Some beings possess a natural protective skin or body armour. These living creatures have a natural armour rating (A.R.). Any rolls to strike below the creature's natural A.R. may hit and even sting (like a slap), but inflicts no damage! Arrows and spears bounce off harmlessly, stabbing swords skitter across the armour plates, scales or skin, and so on. Only rolling a number higher than the creature's A.R. or using a weapon that has a Penetration Value (P.V.) that is higher then the A.R. inflicts damage. For example: If a creature has a natural A.R. of 15, only strike rolls of 16 or higher penetrate its natural armour and inflict damage! Any rolls of 15 or below only annoy, not hurt, it. A roll of 1-4 won't even hit.

Natural A.R.: Some beings possess a natural protective skin or body armour. These living creatures have a natural armour rating (A.R.). Any rolls to strike below the creature's natural A.R. may hit and even sting (like a slap), but inflicts no damage! Arrows and spears bounce off harmlessly, stabbing swords skitter across the armour plates, scales or skin, and so on. Only rolling a number higher than the creature's A.R. or using a weapon that has a Penetration Value (P.V.) that is higher then the A.R. inflicts damage. For example: If a creature has a natural A.R. of 15, only strike rolls of 16 or higher penetrate its natural armour and inflict damage! Any rolls of 15 or below only annoy, not hurt, it. A roll of 1-4 won't even hit.

Penetration Value (P.V.): Penetration value is a measure of hardness or consistency of a specific weapon and in some cases determines the effetivness of a weapons ability to do damage. Some Creatures have a natural A.R. as well as the fact that there are various A.R.s for different types of Metal and various Armours. In some cases a weapon will not have the ability to inflict damage because it is not strong enough to penetrate even if it directly contacts the metal (even on a critical hit). For example, Hitting an armoured truck with a stick would not do any damage to the Armoured truck save perhaps scratch it's paint. If fact the armour of the truck would most likely destroy the stick after a few swings. However an Armour peircing projectile might rip completely through the Armoured vehicle. There are 7 levels of Penetration value A through G:

1. A will penetrate A.R. of S.D.C. and D.D.C. but have no effect on anything of a higher Damage Capacity
2. B will penetrate A.R. of S.D.C., D.D.C. and C.D.C but have no effect on anything of a higher Damage Capacity
3. C will penetrate A.R. of S.D.C., D.D.C., C.D.C. and K.D.C. but have no effect on anything of a higher Damage Capacity
4. D will penetrate A.R. of S.D.C., D.D.C., C.D.C., K.D.C. and M.D.C. but have no effect on anything of a higher Damage Capacity
5. E will penetrate A.R. of S.D.C., D.D.C., C.D.C., K.D.C., M.D.C. and G.D.C. but have no effect on anything of a higher Damage Capacity
6. F will penetrate A.R. of S.D.C., D.D.C., C.D.C., K.D.C., M.D.C., G.D.C. and T.D.C. but have no effect on anything of a higher Damage Capacity
7. G will penetrate A.R. of any Damage Capacity.

Attribute bonuses: Combat and saving bonuses gained through physical or mental strengths that give a character an extra added degree of agility, strength, endurance, etc. (See the eight attributes.)

Back Flip: The back flip involves throwing oneself backwards with the arms and shoulders, flipping the legs completely up, over, and back down on the ground into a standing position. The result is that one quickly moves backwards by a full body length. Doing a back flip counts as one melee attack/action and can be used as a dodge or for entertainment. If used in place of a dodge, the character must roll higher than his opponent's strike roll using only the natural die roll (do not include any dodge bonuses). Failure to beat the strike means taking full damage without a chance to Roll with Punch. Success means avoiding the attack like a dodge.

Body Block/Tackle: This is a combination of moves that involves a body block and a knockdown attack (counts as two melee attacks). A successful body block strike does 1D4 damage plus P.S. damage bonuses, and the opponent is likely to be knocked down. A successful strike always inflicts damage (from a shoulder, elbow, or tucked head), unless his opponent dodges (no damage and no knockdown), but the victim who is hit can avoid being knocked down only by trying to maintain his balance; roll percentile dice, characters with no special balancing abilities must roll above 80% or be knocked down. Those with a special balancing ability from acrobatics or gymnastics must roll under their current skill level (if 45%, they must roll under 45, if 80%, they must roll under 80). A successful maintain balance means the victim is not knocked down but loses one melee attack, and takes full damage. Being knocked down causes the struck character to lose initiative (if he had it) and one attack/action for that melee round, plus he is knocked 1D6 feet away from where he was standing at the moment of the attack. A roll with impact can reduce damage by half, but counts as one melee action.

Body Flip/Throw: A judo style throw or flip that uses an attacker's own momentum and leverage to "flip" or "throw" him off his feet and onto the ground. Damage is 1D6 points plus P.S. damage bonus (if any), and the victim also loses initiative (if he had it) and one melee attack. A body flip counts as one melee attack. A victim of a throw can try to roll with impact/fall to diminish the damage (half if successful), but other penalties are unchanged.

Combat Bonuses: All appropriate bonuses available to the character are added to the various fighting abilities such as strike, parry or dodge, as well as initiative and saving throws. High physical attributes, certain physical skills, weapon proficiencies (W.P.), the occasional O.C.C. bonus, racial bonus, and magic may provide one or more combat bonuses. All applicable bonuses are combined and added to the character's dice rolls. Do not combine the strike bonus with the parry bonus, and so on; each combat maneuver is considered a separate category, so only the various bonuses to strike are added to the strike roll, bonuses to parry added to the parry roll and so forth.

Critical Strike: A powerful, special or nerve shattering strike that inflicts double the usual amount of damage. Critical strike/damage can be inflicted with bare hands or with a weapon.

Death Blow: A special attack designed to kill an opponent in one or two strikes! This attack is often limited in hand to hand combat to the roll of a "natural" strike number; i.e. death blow on a natural 19 or 20. Whenever the words "death blow" are presented without limitation, the character can use a death strike whenever he desires; however, such a devastating attack counts as two melee attacks/actions. Human vs Human: Against humans and S.D.C. creatures, the attack does double the normal damage, plus P.S. bonuses direct to hit points! This attack can be used with punches and kicks or hand-held weapons such as swords, clubs, etc. It is not applicable to bow and arrows, thrown weapons or guns and does not work through armour; the armour must be removed or penetrated (the strike must be above the A.R.).

Death Blow against Supernatural Beings and Creatures of Magic: The attack does double normal damage, plus P.S. bonuses, and it is so devastating to the creature's body that it cannot bio-regenerate injury from a death blow for 1D4 hours! This attack is not applicable against animated dead, zombies, mummies, golems, living statues, or similar creatures.

Damage: The following are some of the typical damage amounts inflicted by the various types of punches and kicks. Remember to add P.S. attribute bonuses to damage. Hand Strikes: Backhand Strike — 1D6 Body Rip—1D6 Human Fist (punch) — 1D4 Karate Strike/Punch — 2D4 Elbow/Forearm — 1D6 Power Punch — does double damage, but counts as two melee attacks. Applicable to all hand strikes. Foot Strikes: Average Human Kick Attack - 2D4 Karate Kick Attack — 2D6 Jump Kick — 3D6x2 Roundhouse Kick — 3D6 Snap Kick—1D6 Wheel Kick — 2D6 Knee—1D6 Backward Sweep - No damage, but knocks down opponent if strike is successful (he loses one melee action and initiative). Power Kick — Does double damage, but counts as two melee attacks. Applicable to all kick/foot strikes that inflict damage, except leap and jump kicks.

Disarm: The act of disarming is simply getting rid of the opponent's weapon; it does no damage. It can be used as a defensive move in place of a dodge or parry, or can be done as an attack/strike. The disarm move is a strike, hold or grappling maneuver that causes an opponent to drop his weapon or whatever he's holding. The maneuver counts as one melee attack/action. Disarm does not give the weapon to the character making the disarm move. True, the item is forced out of the victim's grasp, but it is either knocked away or falls to the ground. Typically an opponent is disarmed on a roll of a natural 19 or 20 when used as a defensive move. A disarming strike to attack requires the usual strike roll — high roll wins. A failed disarming attack does no damage and means one's opponent remains armed, is probably mad, and ready to strike.

Entangle: A defender can attempt to trap the weapon or arm of an attacker. This is done instead of parrying or dodging, and counts as one melee attack/action. An entangle is successful if the defender rolls above the attacker's strike roll. It takes one roll to entangle to keep an opponent's arm or weapon trapped/pinned every melee round. In order to get free, the entangled opponent must roll a dodge against the entangle roll; high roll wins. The character using the entangle move cannot attack without releasing his entangling hold.

Hand to Hand Combat: Fighting skills that provide the character with attacks per melee, bonuses, techniques and special moves. Characters without combat training only have one attack per melee round and have no automatic chance to parry or special moves. Hit Points: The number of points of damage a character can take before dying.

Hold (optional): Using both hands, the attacker grabs on to some part of the opponent's body and attempts to immobilize him. If the strike is successful, then the victim is helpless until released. Holds do no damage. Neither the attacker nor the victim can attack, parry or dodge while the hold is working. It's easy for the attacker to hold the victim so that some third character can attack unopposed or from the rear. Getting out of a hold requires agility. Both the victim and attacker roll twenty-sided dice and add in their P.P. attribute scores. The person doing the hold also gets to add in all his bonuses to hold and from the P.P. attribute (if any). High roll wins! If the attacker wins, then the hold continues. If the victim wins, then the hold is released and combat can continue.

Types of Holds Include:

• Arm Hold: This involves twisting the arm around to the victim's back. Any items in the hand of the arm being held can be easily removed.
• Leg Hold: The victim is on the ground with his leg held up. There's no way for him to get up until the hold is released.
• Body Hold: Any number of wrestling holds. The victim can be held on the ground or in a standing position.
• Neck Hold: The victim is held around the neck from behind. This leaves the victim totally vulnerable to attacks from any other character.

Kick Attack & Flying Jump Kicks: There are a whole range of foot-based attacks. Each kick attack works differently and does different amounts of damage.

Kick Attack: This is a conventional, karate-style, kick. It starts with bringing the knee, folded, up to chest level, then the foot is completely extended. Does 2D4 damage.

Snap Kick: A very short, very fast kick. Usually delivered low, striking the opponent somewhere below the waist. It works well in confined spaces and in grappling range but does relatively little damage; only 1D6.

Roundhouse Kick: By turning the body and swiveling the hips, there's tremendous power packed into this kick. Can be used only once per melee round, and no other kicks can be used in that melee round. Does 3D6 damage.

Wheel Kick: A damaging kick that involves sweeping the leg completely around the body. Cannot come right before or right after another kick. Does 2D6 damage.

Crescent Kick: A swivel-hipped kick that sends the foot out on a sweeping arc. Does 2D4+2 damage.

Axe Kick: A very high kick that goes up and over the opponent, coming down on the neck or shoulder. Can't be used in the same melee round with any other kicks. Does 2D6 damage.

Backward Sweep: Used only against opponents coming up behind the character. Does no damage, it's purely a knockdown attack. Cannot be parried.

Tripping/Leg Hook: An attack on the opponent's legs. Does no damage, it's purely a knockdown attack. Cannot be parried.

Knockout/Stun: This special attack will momentarily knockout or stun/daze its victim for 1D4 melee rounds. Usually available on an unmodified strike of 19 or 20 and can be used in place of a critical strike — player's call.

Jump Kicks: are performed by leaping completely off the ground and attempting to land foot-first on an opponent. Jump kicks can be used only by those skilled in hand to hand martial arts. The advantage of a jump kick is that it works as a critical strike and doubles the normal damage inflicted. The disadvantage of a jump kick is that no other attack may be performed in that melee round (all attacks for that melee are used up in the kick). The jump kick must be the character's first attack of that melee round. For the rest of the melee round, the character can only parry, dodge or move into position.

Jump Kick: Critical strike inflicting 6D6 damage!

Flying Jump Kick: Must be made from long range. The character launches into the air, taking a position that will smash one foot into the opponent. Does 4D6 damage but counts as two melee attacks.

Leap Attack: An airborne assault where the weapon and/or fists or feet are wielded in mid-leap. An attack must be made only at the beginning of a melee round and, like a jump kick, uses up all attacks for that melee round. Usually only a single strike can be made during a leap attack. However, if two opponents are close together, the attacker can leap between them and strike both at the same time; roll to strike for each character. After the leap, the character may not attack again until the next melee round, but can parry or dodge or move into position. Note: Automatic parries work in mid-leaps but dodges are impossible.

Magic Combat: See the Magic Combat Section for details.

Psionic Combat: See the Psionic Combat Section for details.

Maintain Balance: When some kind of knockdown attack has succeeded, while the character is starting to fall over, this is his last chance attempt to recover. A successful roll (over the opponent's strike roll) means that the character will immediately regain his balance and remain standing. He can continue to fight but the act of retaining balance means he used up one melee attack/action. When maintain balance is used, roll with punch/fall/impact can't be.

Melee Action: Instead of attacking, a character can elect to do something else, i.e. look for something in his backpack, drink a magic potion, run to a different position, hide, climb a tree, etc. Each action counts as one melee attack.

Melee Attack: During combat, every attack action (strike, dodge, entangle) counts as one melee attack or action. Parries are automatic and don't count as a melee attack or action. Multiple Attackers:There will be times when a character is besieged by more than one opponent. Unfortunately, he can only attack one at a time and may elect to divide the number of his attacks per melee between the attackers or concentrate on only one, attempting to only parry the others. The lone defender can parry all attacks that are within his line of vision. If an opponent slips far to one side or behind him, the defender cannot parry the strike because he is concentrating on the assailants in front of him.

No Hand to Hand Combat Skill: Characters with no combat training get only one attack per melee at levels one, six and 12. Any attempt to dodge counts as a melee action. Likewise, this character does not get an automatic parry; any attempt to parry counts as one melee attack/action. The player must announce whether his character is attempting to parry or dodge; no announcement means no parry or dodge is made. To prevent the loss of an attack, the non-fighter must hold his ground, taking any damage from the attack, and then strike back. Any bonuses to strike or parry are from what few weapon skills (W.P.) or P.P. bonuses the character may have.

Paired Weapons: Certain kinds of weapons, such as sais, nunchaku, knives, clubs and swords, can be used as paired weapons. Users of paired weapons can strike and parry simultaneously, can do twin strikes against a single target or against a pair of targets, and can parry two different opponents at the same time. In other words, warriors skilled in paired weapons often can do two actions for every one of their melee attacks (i.e. strike and parry). However, a twin, simultaneous strike with both weapons means losing the automatic parry and leaves the character open to his opponent's next attack without benefit of a parry (dodge is optional but uses up a melee action).

Penalties: Some types of magic, psionic attacks, curses, poison, drugs, illness, or fatigue will afflict a character with penalties. These are negative modifiers or minuses to strike, parry, dodge, damage, etc., that are subtracted from the die roll, decreasing the chance of a successful maneuver. Penalties can also reduce attributes and skills performance.

Pull Punch: The ability to control the force of a hand to hand attack, whether it be a punch, kick or with a hand weapon. The character can choose to inflict half damage, quarter damage, a single point of damage, or no damage at all! A character must declare a pulled punch and the player must roll an 11 or better (1D20) to successfully pull his punch. A failed roll to pull means full damage is accidentally inflicted.

Saving Throws: See Saving throws Here

Simultaneous Attacks: Combatants can parry or dodge each other's attacks or they can forfeit any type of defensive maneuvers (probably taking damage from the opponent's strike) and strike back simultaneously. The advantage of a simultaneous attack is that while opening oneself to damage, it deprives one's opponent from parrying or dodging the counterstrike. The reason the attacker loses his opportunity to parry when the defender attacks simultaneously is that he cannot both attack and defend at the same time. Thus, both combatants may take damage from each other's blows. This tactic can be used by any O.C.C.

Sneak Attacks or Attack from Behind: No initiative roll for the first melee round. When someone sneaks up (prowl or attack from behind) on his opponent, he has the initiative. The opponent is unaware that he is about to be attacked and has no time to prepare. The sneak attacker has the first strike. His victim stands totally unaware and does not even get a parry for the first strike. If the opponent survives the first strike, he can gather his wits and strike back and/or parry the next strike, but still lacks initiative for that melee round.

IMPORTANT: Note that regular crit hit and crit miss effects (extra damage dice or automatically miss respectively) still happen when 20s and 1s are rolled. These effects are meant to be layered ON TOP of the usual critical results.

Only apply these tables to crits and fumbles that take place on the first attack roll in an action. This is to prevent the awkward issue where high level heroes of the realm with multiple attack rolls seem to become more incompetent as they level.

Weapon Attack Critical Hit Table

Roll % Description Effect 1 You feel accomplished, but nothing remarkable happens. Regular critical hit. 2-5 You feel it is imperative to press the advantage no matter the cost. You can choose to gain advantage on all attacks against your target until the end of your next turn, but if you do all enemies have advantage on their attack rolls against you until the end of your next turn. 6-9 You feel it is imperative to press the advantage, but maintain awareness of your surroundings. You can choose to gain advantage on all attacks against your target next turn, your target has advantage on their attack rolls against you until the end of your next turn. 10-14 You know how to press the advantage. You gain advantage on all attacks against your target until the end of your next turn. 15-19 As you are fighting, you notice an effective route to escape danger. You are able to use the disengage action after your attack. 20-24 You feel the eb and flow of the battle, and know where to make your next move. After your turn you move to the top of the initiative order. 25-29 You begin to recognize patterns in your opponents fighting technique. You gain +2 to your AC against your target, and advantage on all savings throws from effects originating from your target until your next turn. 30-39 You are able to maneuver towards your opponent while attacking, and attempt to harass them. After your attack you can choose to attempt to grapple your opponent if you have a free hand, or attempt to shove your opponent if both hands are in use. 40-49 You are able to maneuver towards your opponent while attacking and harass them. After your attack you can choose to automatically succeed in grappling your opponent if you have a free hand, or shoving your opponent if both hands are in use. 50-59 You attempt to disarm your opponent. You are able to take the disarm action after your attack 65-69 You kick your target's weapon out of their hands. You are able to take the disarm action after your attack, and can steal your opponents weapon if you have a free hand. Otherwise you can knock it up to 20 feet away. 70-74 Your senses heighten and you become aware of threats around the battlefield. You are able to use the dodge action after your attack. 75-79 Your attack knocks your target over. Your target is knocked prone. 80-84 Your strike surprises your opponent. Your target is surprised until the end of their next turn. 85-89 You strike with great force. Roll an additional set of damage dice above and beyond your normal critical roll. 90-94 You strike with extreme force. Roll an additional set of damage dice above and beyond your normal critical roll, and the target suffers one unit of exhaustion. 95-99 You strike with debilitating force. Roll an additional set of damage dice above and beyond your normal critical roll, and the target suffers a permanent injury chosen by the DM. The permanent injury can be healed with extended rest of a length determined by the DM, but the attack leaves a scar. 100 You strike with devastating force. Roll an additional set of damage dice above and beyond your normal critical roll, and the target suffers 1 unit of exhaustion, and the target suffers a permanent injury chosen by the DM. The permanent injury can be healed with extended rest of a length determined by the DM, but the attack leaves a scar.

Weapon Attack Roll Fumble Table

Spell Attack Critical Hit Table

Spell Attack Fumble Table