NOTE in certain area's there will be sub sections such as firearms where I see fit
Rolling rules[]
The rules on dice I commonly use are you're trying to get your dice below a certain number when fighting NPC's, as negative modifiers tend to be confusing if they actually make the roll easier, However when rolling against players you've already got your modifiers, and you must roll above their stats, there rules are just simplified, do what you wish if they cramp your style. Negative Modifiers can count from a serious injury, to an offensive image if your character is seeing something. Positive Modifiers can count from an enemy being an amputee, to a simple gun modification. Your standard dice sets include 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, 1d12 and 1d20. If you ever played D&D you already understand the basic set and use of dice. An example of this would be, John has 5 STR and would like to punch a wooden post. Standard punch damage is 1d4+ Str modifier. A 5 is average, means it has a 0 modifier. so John would hit the post for 1d4 damage. for each point over 5 the player recives a +1 to their modifier and each point below 5 the player get a -1 to their modifier. 1= -4, 2= -3, 3= -2, 4= - 1, 5= 0, 6= +1, 7= +2 8= +3 9= +4 10= +5.
Combat Basics[]
Combat is a simple process of attacking and defending against enemies. Combat can begin at anytime during the game based on player and Overseer choices. For instance, a player could just walk in to town and start shooting a gun or throwing rocks at a local guard. Instances where the Overseer would start combat is explained in the Gamemaster's Guide. Combat in the Fallout world is not always the last solution; just because once your assailant is dead why would they no longer be of use to you? Combat is a tool that can get you out of trouble or in trouble based on the player's choices.
An example: John is being chased into a local bar by some guards who think he stole. John being aware of his surroundings thinks to start up a little trouble in the bar to get away from the guards without affecting his Karma or drawing any unwanted attention. So when John enters the bar he walks up to a rather drunken patron and quickly pushes them into another patron who in turn starts a small brawl. In all the excitement John ducks out of the bar, as the guards now have to turn their attention to the fight, and goes off into the night safe from his current danger.
How Combat Works[]
When a player or Overseer engages the fight, the players and Overseer need to roll a 1d20 + PER mod for combat position. The combat position determines starting positions and rank of engagement for the duration of the combat phase. During the combat phase each player has turns, which are broken down using action points. The amount of action points (AP) a player can use during their turn is based on their agility. Each action during a players turn will use an amount of these points. When the player attacks they roll a 1d20 again to see if they hit the enemy based on armor modifiers. When the player runs out of points or chooses not to use left over points then their turn has ended and the next to will begin. When all the players and enemies have completed their turns then the round will end and the next round will begin. Combat ends when the either the player dies, retreats or has killed the enemy. Now lets look at an example of a combat round.
Combat round 1 Players roll for position. 1d20 John - 18
Overseer rolls for position. 1d20
Raider 1- 19
Raider (8 AP) attacks John with punch (4 AP) 1d20 to hit 1d4 damage. Raider ends turn
John (6 AP) attacks raider with punch (4 AP) 1d20 to hit 1d4 damage. John moves 6 feet (2 AP) John ends turn.
Round over.
Critical Damage[]
Critical damage is calculated by luck. The more luck you have the higher your chance to do extra damage on your to hit roll. A player's critical chance is not based on the weapon they use but on perks, traits, and luck. The same modifiers of –5 to +5 determine if your attack is a critical hit. John has 10 luck, which means he has a + 5 mod to getting a critical on the players to hit roll. So if John rolls a 15-20 on his 1d20 then he will critically hit his enemy for the extra amount determined by his weapon choose. If John had any traits or perks that gave him more to his modifier then his chances to critically hit would increase.
Armor and Armor Modifiers[]
Armor in the world of Fallout is nice to have but good guns are always better. Armor works for a player by providing him a chance defend himself against enemies who want nothing more then to kill them. Armor works best if the player knows what they are up against. Armor offers two things for the player to help them survive in the wastes. First it gives the player a modifiers against enemy rolls to miss, evade or dodge. Second it absorbs some of the damage that the player will take from rounds that do it. For most players that start off, armor is not always available. In those cases when the player engages in combat they will take full damage from a hit and if the enemy rolls their 1d20 to hit only a 1 will miss. Where at leather jacket has a +3 armor mod, meaning the enemy has to roll above a 4 to hit and the armor will absorb 1d4/2 damage from each hit. As the player begins to get armor they have to take into account one the weight and two the resistances. If the armor is too heavy for them or the STR mod is too high then the player will not be able to use it. Also when in combat the player needs to understand what his armor can take for damage. Too many times players will realize all to late that a leather jacket is no match for energy weapons or explosive devisees. An example of how armor works is listed below.
Leather Jacket
Armor Mod +3
Armor Absorb 1d4/2
Weight 5 lbs
Resistances:
Fire 0
Cold 1d4/2
Acid 0
Kinetic 1d4/2
Energy 0
The players must keep in mind that enemies will also wear armor or have natural armor, which they will have to deal with in combat.
Damage Types[]
There are five kinds of damage that can be done to a player or enemies Resistances: Fire, Cold, Acid, Kinetic and Energy. Each type of damage has different properties that players need to be aware of.
Fire[]
Fire damage is caused by a few of the weapons in the Fallout game. Fire damage is always close ranged and is either shot in a cone or radices explosion. Fire damage always burns over time. Every combat round that passes after an enemy or player is effected by fire the target will take 1d# of damage based on the damage over time the fire weapon does. There is few armor that have resistances against fire damage and some armors such as power armor take no damage to fire based weapons. Instead they need to roll against over heating which stuns the target for the remainder of the round.
Cold[]
Cold damage is caused by a few of the weapons in the Fallout game. Cold damage is always close ranged and is either shot in a cone or radius explosion. Unlike fire cold does not burn over time. Instead the player or enemy needs to roll a recovery verse stun of the duration of the round. Most armor has resistances against cold damage.
Acid[]
Acid damage is caused by a few of the weapons in the Fallout game. Acid damage is always close ranged and is either shot in a cone or radices explosion. Acid damage always burns over time. Every combat round that passes after an enemy or player is effected by acid the target will take 1d# of damage based on the damage over time the Acid weapon does. Metal armor has resistances against Acid damage but suffer a penalty every round against armor durability. The player or enemy has to roll against the Acid damage or their armor will melt off and became useless.
Kinetic[]
Kinetic damage is use by almost every weapon in Fallout. Any weapon that uses bullets, sharp edges or blunt ends is considered to do kinetic damage. Kinetic damage is absorbed the most from all the armors. Also due to the common fact that bullet shells litter most cities and the wastes, it tends to be the preferred damage of most players and enemies.
Energy[]
Energy damage is uncommon to most of the waste. Its not rare by any means, many cities require pre-war energy cells to run the daily needs of the people. Because energy cells have almost an infinite life span and can be found in any pre-war storage, people always find ways to stockpile them in large amounts. Energy weapons easily melt cheap armor of any kind. Also some of the most hardened of power armors can be cut through with relative ease from any laser of plasma discharge.
Unarmed/Gloved Combat[]
Your bare hands and legs do damage according to your strength and unarmed skill, Usually determined by a 1d4 for hands or legs + your STR modifier. Gloves and fist weapons get their own D# which is not added on to the unarmed damage. Example: John wants to use spiked gloves in combat. Spiked gloves are 1d6 + STR mod. So John will do only 1d6 + STR to this target, not 1d4 plus 1d6 + STR mod.
Melee Combat[]
This is particularly a more challenging form of combat rather than unarmed if you're on the receiving end of a hit, unless you're in a pillow fight. Melee damage is of course related to your Melee Damage stat, your melee skill, and the dice of the weapon. Your strength already has been added into your Melee Damage stat, so strength won't be added to your melee damage. Heavier Melee weapons have a rougher swing to them but they are slower to strike with, unless you have atleast 7 strength. The butt of a weapon can also be considered melee.
Primitive Ranged combat[]
While Primative Ranged weapons (IE: a bow, crossbow, slingshot, etc.) are common and easy to find/craft, they aren't as accurate as a real gun, but have the huge advantage of being near buildings, ruins, or any other areas that hold suitable materials with a successful Outdoorsman and Repair check (in that order). Primitive Ranged weapons need a repair Check per day, otherwise there is a chance that the weapon breaks while reloading, if deemed appropriate by the Overseer, and may do 1d4 to the person wielding it.
A Primitive Ranged weapon, needs a successful science Roll if you wish to exceed it's basic range, if it is failed you miss the target.
A Primitive Ranged weapon uses the same Small, or Big Guns skill, as a comparably sized Firearm.
Throwing Weapons[]
From throwing rocks, to throwing a spear, to throwing a grenade, to throwing your keyboard/mouse/VCR/etc at a wall, a brief history of how throwing weapons had evolved. Throwing weapon damage/efficiency is your throwing skill, agility (A good part of the skill in a proper, painful throw you can hear the wind cutting from is timing, and how you swing your wrist, while not required, it helps if you're not throwing a grenade), and light strength. (for range and power) ((ST X 1d6 + AG )).
Small Guns*[]
Semi-Automatic Pistols[]
This is your skill with a Semi-automatic pistol, that commonly use magazines to hold their amunition, these guns are easy to use and often fire faster than the average pistol. However, a powerful Semi-Auto is rare as magnum rounds usually come in revolver form, (The Desert Eagle .44 or Baby Eagle .44 are about the only well known Magnum Semi-Autos) these guns also cost more than a Revolver, as they usually carry more bullets. that a colt Dragoon. The damage is already fixed with a pistol, so your accuracy depends on your Pistol skill: Since pistols have a short range you use you Agility bonus + the number by which your Small Guns skill exceeds the skill requirement of the weapon.
Your Range increments with a Pistol is your Small Guns Skill Feet + 100 Feet
The skill requirement of a Pistol is the Damage Dice value x 6 - The condition Modifier².
The damage dice of a weapon can be influenced by many things the first one to keep in mind is if your gun is a small, a medium, or a large calibre (Large Calibre Pistols fire extremely rare ammo and are only found in the hands of important people, and the most feared gunslingers) then look weather or not your gun is cheaply or well made, and then consider weather it was build for damage, or easy maintainance. Both factors will influence the state of the gun and how much damage it does. Move the gun one damage dice up or down if you feel that it would be more accurately represented.
For example a Magnum Research Desert Eagle that is chambered for .50 Action Express bullets has a damage dice of d12 ( since the bullet is larger than a 44. magnum), is in perfect condition (golden Finish kept in a safe, protected by a shot gun trap) -5² and holds 7 bullets , which means it has a skill requirement of 47%.
On the other hand a trashy small calibre pistol that has been lying in the dirt for 40 years, for example one chambered .22 LR which has a d6 for a damage dice and it's in an abysmal condition+5 but has a ten round magazine. Comes Around to a 36 + 25 = 61% Requirment, had it been in perfect condition it would only have needed 11%.
Revolver Pistols[]
Revolvers are handguns that can have more power than their faster cousins due to the magnum (magnum rounds are rounds that have higher gunpowder grain count, making them stronger and causing them to be louder) rounds available for them. However, they have less ammo capacity because of their revolving cylinders that give them their name (usually 4, 5, and most commonly 6 round capactiy). Reloading these weapons can also take longer depending on the load style. some are gate load (one round at a time [ammo round not game round]), some are break-barrel (a hinge in the middle by the handle allows the barrel and cylinder to open foward exposing the expired shells [if any, which of course have to be removed prior to reload, this can be done by dumping them]), and side load [the cylinder swings out to the side]. reload time on the latter two can be decreased by ustilizing "speed loaders", which hold rounds in the correct position so that they may be loaded simultaneously.
Sub Machine Guns[]
Guns such as the GLOCK 18, 9MM Uzi, and MP5 have rapid fire, this part shows how accurate your bursts with small rapid fire weapons are. These guns are better for those with lousy aim often, as the guns fire for long periods of time. Your accuracy with these guns is determined by your Luck stat + by how much your small arms Stat exceeds the guns skill requirement. Sub machine guns come in many different calibres, and some are indeed more accurate that others, if you are wielding a Sub machine gun with a skill requirement of 30+ and a stock, you can choose to use your Agility, instead of your Luck stat.
Muskets[]
Primative arms fired from the shoulder, with long barrels and (mostly)no rifeling are considered muskets. Any muskets found in the wasteland will almost certainly be homemade post-war arms. This is a blanket term, refering to arquebus, flintlock, wheellock, and matchlock weaponry. All Muskets are loaded from the muzzle, and musket balls must be pushed down (After emptying powder)with a ramrod. Basic muskets take long periods of time to load (About 20 seconds), and are only accurate around about 50 meters. A more advanced musket incorperating a rifled barrel, and cartridged shot, is accurate to about 450 meters, and loads far quicker.
Rifles[]
The muskets succsesor, and for good reason. It loads faster, fires more accurately, and fires faster. Assualt rifles and hunting rifles are two common rifle variations. (Add on)
Shotguns[]
the shotgun is a gun that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug. this firearm is most damaging at low range and ineffective at high range.(Add on)