Introduction

"Combat" systems are really made of three parts, which are usually totally intertwined with one another in their presentation, but not in their underlying mechanics. Those parts are timing, striking, and damage; i.e. when an attack can be made, whether it hits, and what happens when it does. At root, these are not actually required to be connected to each other, so in the spirit of Fudge-style modularity, this article presents a possible Striking or "To-Hit" system which could easily be used along with just about any timing and damage rules.

If we've done our job correctly this system will not only allow plenty of variations in different characters' offensive and defensive abilities, but will use only a couple of easily-calculated numbers, and will let each attack's success be determined quickly on a single roll of 4dF. In the heat of battle, players shouldn't need scrap paper or calculators.

You might notice that no mention is made of Scale in this system. That's deliberate: Scale differences will affect damage, but usually not affect whether or not a blow lands; things that are bigger will present a larger, easier target, while at the same time being an order of magnitude tougher and harder to deal damage to.

Strike Rating & Defense Rating

With each weapon they have, a character will have a Strike Rating. This is simply an aggregate score based on the character's skill with the weapon and the quality of the weapon itself, representing how likely the character is to hit any particular target aimed at.

Further, each character will have a Defense Rating, which represents a combination of the character's armor, shielding, prowess at dodging, etc. Both of these values will usually be within the range 3-10, but they may each be anything. In both cases, higher is better for that character.

Since characters will usually have a few of these each (one per weapon for SR and one each for situations like normal, surprised, rear, etc. for DR), but those values only rarely change, it's usually a good idea to precalculate these and have them ready on the character sheet.

Calculating Strike Rating (SR):

The basic form of SR is 5 plus the character's skill with the weapon. Note that this means characters without training with the weapon, or with very low skill, will generally have less than 5 points in that weapon's SR, while specialized characters can get high ones. At the GM's discretion, it is also recommended that bonuses for high appropriate attributes (or penalties for low ones) be applied; half of the attribute in question (rounded toward 0) is a good choice, unless the GM wishes to create tables of bonuses. Other skills like fighting styles may also influence the results; in addition, the weapons may themselves alter the results if they are magical, of very poor quality, cursed, etc.

Examples:

• Cardiff the paladin wields a 2-handed sword. He has been well-trained with it (Great skill, +2). Furthermore, he is impressively strong (Superb "Strength" attribute, +3), which the GM decided is relevant (Half of +3 is +1.5, rounded toward zero to +1), but he has no other appropriate attributes. The sword, however, is itself a magically sharpened and blessed weapon (Good, +1). So his SR for using his sword is:
  • [Base of 5] + [Skill of +2] + [Bonus of +1] + [Weapon of +1] = 9

• Brooklyn the cat burglar finds herself forced to use a dropped pair of nunchaku to defend herself in battle. She has never used them before, and it's hard to do so (default Poor skill, -2), but she is extremely agile and dexterous (Great "Agility" attribute, +2), and reasonably strong (Good "Strength" attribute, +1) which the GM decided were both relevant (Bonuses of +1 and 0, respectively). The nunchaku are perfectly ordinary and functional (Fair, 0). So her SR with them is:
  • [Base of 5] + [Skill of -2] + [Bonus of +1] + [Weapon of 0] = 4

• Madoc the wizard has been cornered by soldiers in a tavern. He has no magic left, and has been reduced to battling his way out with the broken leg of a table as a makeshift club (Mediocre weapon, -1). He's not trained at all with clubs, although they're not that hard to use (default Mediocre Skill, -1); he's of average strength (Good "Strength", 0, providing a bonus of 0), but painfully nearsighted (Poor "Vision", -2, penalty of half that for -1). Madoc's SR with the club is:
  • [Base of 5] + [Skill of -1] + [Bonus of -1] + [Weapon of -1] = 2

Calculating Defense Rating (DR):

Calculating DR is a very similar process to calculating SR. The base value of Defense Rating is 3; various articles of armor or shielding add their own assigned DR values to this value, as would any skills or attributes which the GM decides are relevant to the act of deflecting or avoiding incoming attacks. The base value of 3 represents an untrained individual of average agility wearing normal clothes or less, in combat and doing their best to not be hit. In the following examples, the DR values that the pieces of armor provide are themselves only suggestions; GMs may use different protection values than those shown here.

Remember that characters who aren't aware of an incoming attack cannot apply things like dodge skills or agility bonuses to their DR for that attack - what you don't know can hurt you.

There's no specific rule for which different situations for a character would create different DR values; having several handy on the character sheet for special cases is basically a convenience meant to avoid having to figure out the character's DR over and over again. The examples below show what sorts of specific conditions would cause different DR values for particular characters.

Examples:

• Cardiff, as befits his calling, wears incredibly polished steel plate mail armor (DR +4). However, he has no tumbling skills, and is extremely slow and cumbersome in battle (Terrible "Agility", -3, bonus of -1). He has gauntlets, greaves, and a helmet added to his basic torso armor, which the GM has decided is enough extra coverage for the armor to be worth one more DR point (total DR +6). His usual DR is:
  • [Base of 3] + [Skill of 0] + [Bonus of -1] + [Armor of +5] = 7
• As long as he's wearing his armor, this stays pretty much the same; if Cardiff is attacked from the rear or surprised, he is still relying only on his metal lobster shell for protection.

• Brooklyn was not expecting to be attacked on the job; she's wearing only her usual black working outfit, which the GM ruled to be sufficiently covered in buckles and reinforced with leather to be worth one extra point of DR (DR +1 total). However, being so nimble (Great "Agility", +2, bonus +1), and possessing some serious acrobatic skill (Great "Tumbling" skill, +2, and the GM rules this directly applicable), she still presents a difficult target. Brooklyn's usual DR is:
  • [Base of 3] + [Skill of +2] + [Bonus of +1] + [Armor of +1] = 7
• Normally, Brooklyn is almost as hard to hit as Cardiff. However, if she were the victim of an ambush or otherwise surprised, she will not have an opportunity to dodge the attack, so her Tumbling skill and Agility bonus cannot be applied:
  • [Base of 3] + [No Skill 0] + [No Bonus 0] + [Armor of +1] = 4

• Madoc, like Cardiff, has only armor to rely on; he's only as nimble as the average guy (Fair "Agility", 0, bonus 0), and has no special martial arts or dodging skills. What Madoc has is a special magical artifact, a "Steel Pendant", which creates a magical barrier around his body (DR 4). Usually:
  • [Base of 3] + [Skill of 0] + [Bonus of 0] + [Armor of +4] = 7
• Surprised, Madoc still relies on the Pendant's barrier. However, he also has a "Ring of Protection from Flame", which (among other things) will boost his DR by 3 points (total DR +7) whenever fire is involved in attacking him (e.g. clubbed by a torch, a flaming arrow, etc.). So against flaming attacks:
  • [Base of 3] + [Skill of 0] + [Bonus of 0] + [Armor of +7] = 10
• But if Madoc were the victim of an anti-magic effect which caused his artifacts to lose their power, he would be left in nothing but normal robes: [Base of 3] + [Skill of 0] + [Bonus of 0] + [Armor of 0] = 3

The Strike Roll

A Strike roll, which is a simply a single toss of 4dF, determines the general outcome of any single attack. While it is mechanically very similar to an attack roll, the Strike roll represents not only the skill and viciousness of the attacker, but also the prowess and steadfastness of the defender. Conceptually, +'s rolled on a strike roll represent good attacking while -'s represent good defense. Consequently, while it would be perfectly valid to have the attacker always make these rolls, it is valid for the defender to do so as well (albeit hoping for -'s). In the most common case of a player fighting an NPC or monster, we recommend allowing the player to make both the rolls for their attacks and also the rolls for their defense (when the enemy attacks); this creates the maximum amount of player involvement while leaving the underlying mechanics untouched.

Determining a Hit:

This system is designed to provide as quick of a mechanic as possible for determining whether each individual attack lands, while nonetheless allowing plenty of room for variability in the protections and weapon skill of each combatant. If the attacker's SR plus the value of the Strike roll exceeds the defender's DR, then the blow lands. On a tie, the blow does not land; the defender is considered to have just barely avoided being hurt.

Example:

• Cardiff, on a mission to cleanse the countryside of a goblin scourge, draws his sword against a goblin sentry (SR 5, DR 6). His swing at the goblin rolls -1, but that's still good enough for the heavily-trained blessed-sword-swinging paladin to connect:
  • [Cardiff's SR of 9] + [Strike Roll of -1] > [Goblin's DR of 6]
• The goblin's return blow is quite well landed, rolling +2, but that still is just barely not good enough to pierce Cardiff's steel carapace (ties count for the defender):
  • [Goblin's SR of 5] + [Strike Roll of +2] = [Cardiff's DR of 7]

Parrying:

Many GMs allow active parrying in a campaign - deliberate attempts to block a specific attack with a weapon - as opposed to the general defensive feinting and blocking that's assumed to be going on all the time in battle. Actually landing a parry is not easy; it basically involves attacking the incoming attack. A parry - if the GM allows one to take place, based on the weapons in question - is a Strike roll, made against the final Strike value of the attack being parried (i.e. SR plus Strike Roll) instead of the opponent's DR.

Whether or not a particular character can parry in general, or has an opportunity to parry a particular blow is beyond the scope of this article - those are timing and skill issues. The penalty for missing a parry is generally nothing more than suffering the blow; depending on the timing system being used, it may also cost the character an action for the round, or something like that.

Example:

• While trying to dodge out of the building, one of the martial-arts-trained guards that caught Brooklyn on the job attempts to cut her down with his naginata spear (SR of 7). Using her bowie knife that she's fairly good with (total precalculated SR of 6), she tries to ward off his blows. The first thrust receives a Strike Roll of +2, totalling 9; this would be enough to hurt Brooklyn despite her acrobatics, but her parry attempt rolls an incredible +4, totalling 10 - since this is more than 9, she barely knocks the incoming blade aside at the last possible moment. The second thrust also rolls +2, but Brooklyn's parry rolls only +1 (attack total 9, parry total 7), and the spear scores on her hip.

Ranged Weapons

Ranged weapons differ only a little from melée weapons in combat. Each ranged weapon - bow, sling, catapult, Glock 9mm - has two range values included as part of its description, a Short range distance and a Range Strength distance. These distances describe, respectively, the maximum distance a given weapon can be fired without penalty, and the distance beyond that point after which penalties are accumulated.

In addition, launched weapons don't usually just disappear when used; if an attack misses badly enough, the GM may wish to hit something (or someone) else in the attacker's general line of sight.

The actual values for the Short distance and Range Strength would have to be provided by the GM, probably in the form of a table of weapons info; the values in the examples below aren't canonical.

Range Penalties:

The SR calculation of ranged weapons is identical to that of melee weapons, but with the addition of one more term.

Range penalties are based solely on the distance that the weapon is being fired. The range penalty for anything within the weapon's Short range is zero; within a distance beyond that up to Short range plus its Range Strength, the penalty is -1; up to one more Range Strength beyond that is -2, and so forth. Once the character is trying to shoot so far that their SR with the weapon has dropped to 0, there is no way that the character can hit anything at that distance (even if Guaranteed Success [qv] is being used).

Weapon damage for some weapons should also drop off beyond a certain distance (others may in fact increase), but damage is beyond the scope of this article.

Example:

• After managing to knock himself some elbow room, Madoc remembers a little surprise he'd put aside for just such an occasion. He draws a small glass marble from his robes, and tosses it at the leader of the guardsmen twenty feet away on the other side of the room. Madoc has practiced tossing stones and marbles such as this one, and has an SR of 6 with them; furthermore, the GM has decreed that his globes have a Short range of 25 feet and Range Strength of 5 feet, so the guardsman is near enough for Madoc not to suffer any range penalties. Madoc tosses the marble; his strike rolls 0, just barely enough to hit the leather-clad guardsman with his DR of 5. A paralyzing shock emits from the globe, incapacitating the soldier Madoc hit and the two nearest him, and creating enough confusion for him to slip out the side door. Unfortunately, the guard had posted a sniper on a nearby building, watching all the exits, who looses an arrow from a short bow (Sh 150', RS 50') from 280 feet away as Madoc rounds the corner, running for dear life. The archer is fairly well trained (SR 7) with his bow, but Madoc is beyond Short range. For every 50' (or part thereof) beyond the first 150' that the target is distant, the short bow's wielder suffers an additional -1 penalty; since Madoc is 130' further (50'+50'+30') when the arrow is let fly, the archer's SR to hit him is reduced by 3:
  • [Short Range SR 7] + [Total Range penalty -3] = 4
• The shot rolls well, a +2, but at this range that's not good enough:
  • [Archer's adjusted SR of 4] + [Strike Roll +2] < [Madoc's DR of 7]
• The arrow spangs off of Madoc's magical shield, and he dives down into the cover of an alley before the sniper can ready a second shaft.

Point-Blank Range (Optional):

Point-Blank is extremely simple: if it's being used, then any ranged attack at a target less than the weapon's Range Strength distance away would be performed with a bonus of +2 to the attacker's SR. A generous GM may even want to allow point-blank shots a (small) damage bonus if they hit.

Special Success & Failure (Optional)

Guaranteed Successes and Fumbles:

There will sometimes be cases where under normal circumstances it is impossible to damage a foe or to miss, due to massive discrepancies in the SR and DR involved. This optional rule creates a thin sliver of probability that the "impossible" happens nonetheless by declaring that a result of +4 on the Strike roll hits the target even if the target's DR is more than 3 points over the attacker's SR, and that -4 misses horribly even in the reverse case.

Amazing Strikes and Defenses

Amazing strikes and defenses happen when a large margin is rolled on the Strike roll: if the SR+Strike exceeds the DR by 4 (i.e. meets the value it has to hit and exceeds it by 3), then an amazing strike is said to have taken place; if the DR exceeds SR+Strike by 3, then there has been an amazing defense. What exactly the result of the amazing event is will depend on the damage system being used, and the GM's preferences; some common examples would be double damage from an amazing strike, or the attacker gets accidentally disarmed or knocked down by an amazing defense.

Furthermore, in any case where the attacker could hit their opponent normally, but would need a Strike roll of more than +3 (i.e. different cases where the Strike would have to be +4, +6, etc.) to perform an amazing strike, a +4 on the Strike roll is an amazing strike; conversely, -4 is an amazing defense in any case where it would be possible for the attacker to miss on a normal roll of 4dF.

Addendum

Suggested Armor Values

While GMs are naturally free to select any set of armor values for their campaign, the following set of values worked well in playtesting:

Armor	DR
Cloth or less	+0
Leather, etc.	+1
Chain/ring mail, etc.	+2
Banded mail, kevlar, etc.	+3
Plate mail, riot gear	+4
Full plate, blast suit	+5
Shield	+1*
Gauntlets, greaves, & helm	+1*
* - depending on skill/situation

Striking With Magic

Magic is a very variable concept in Fudge; many campaigns don't even use it, and those that do will often vary widely in their particular magical styles. Mention is made of magic here mostly as a reminder: Many attacks based on magic will not be guaranteed to hit, and will need to have some kind of SR score. This may be an aspect of the spell or skill, based on an attribute of the character, or whatever the GM decides meshes best with the game in question. In fact, some GMs may decide that magical attacks must be determined against a magical defense value of some sort rather than the target's usual DR, and that value may or may not be a magic-based version of this system's Defense Rating.

Multiple Opponents

It often comes up that one character will be fighting more than one opponent at once. While it's perfectly valid to make no changes at all, the GM should at least consider what penalties or bonuses may apply in situations like these: Does SR decrease with more opponents attacked at once or in a single round? Can two adjacent allies improve one another's Defense Rating by helping ward off blows aimed at one another? Could a character flail madly at a crowd of opponents, making many more attacks per unit of time while suffering horrible SR penalties? Questions like these should be addressed at least by the time the first PC finds itself facing a horde alone.