Attacks and Defenses

Battles in Startroid are won through cleverly chosen attacks, able defenses, and grit. On a typical turn, you'll use your standard action to make an attack, whether you're a stalwart soldier, a wily recon, or a dutiful medic. And your defenses will be frequently tested by your foes' attacks.

When you attack, you ensure line of sight on your target, calculate your damage using the Combat Multiplier, and announce the damage and type.

Each character has a number of attacks to choose from, including a basic attack [pp]. The exact attacks you have available depend on which powers you select for your character (see Chapter 4).

Making An Attack All attacks follow the same basic process:

1. Choose the attack you'll use. Each attack has an attack type. The most common attack type is ranged.
2. Choose targets for the attack [pp]. Each target must be within range [pp]. Check whether you can target your enemies [pp].
3. Determine your Combat Multiplier [pp] from maneuvers, power bonuses, and other factors.
4. Deal damage and apply other effects [pp].

Attack Types

Attacks in Startroid take many forms. A spoiler slices with his psi blades, a sniper fires a slug at a distant target, a space pirate raider suffuses the battlefield with his flamethrower, a demo sets off an explosive blast. These examples illustrate the four attack types: melee, ranged, close, and area.

Melee Attack

A melee attack usually uses a weapon and targets one enemy within your reach (usually an adjacent enemy). Attacking with psi blades or an impact hammer is a melee attack. Some powers allow you to make multiple melee attacks, against either multiple enemies or a single enemy.

Melee Attack

• Targeted: Melee attacks target creatures. A melee attack against multiple creatures consists of separate attacks, each with its own damage roll. Melee attacks usually don't create areas of effect [pp].
• Range: A melee attack's range usually equals your melee reach.
• Reach: Most characters have a reach of 1 square. Certain powers, feats and weapons can increase your reach.

Simply wielding a weapon in each hand doesn't allow you to make two attacks in a round. If you hold two melee weapons, you can use either one to make a melee attack.

Ranged Attack

A ranged attack is a strike against a distant target. A ranged attack usually targets one creature within its range. Shooting a gun or launching a slug is a ranged attack.

Ranged Attack

• Targeted: Ranged attacks target creatures. A ranged attack against multiple creatures consists of separate attacks, each with its own damage roll. Ranged attacks usually don't create areas of effect [pp].
• Range: Some powers set a specific range or allow you to attack any target you can see. If you're using a weapon, the attack's range is the range of your weapon, as shown in the weapons table in Chapter 7.

Close Attack

A close attack is an area of effect that comes directly from you; its origin square is within your space. Spewing fire, swinging your warp blade in an arc, or causing radiant energy to burst from your armor—these are all examples of close attacks.

Close Attack

• Area of Effect: A close attack creates an area of effect, usually a blast or burst. A close attack affects certain targets within its area of effect, which has a certain size. A close attack's area of effect and targets are specified in its weapon entry or power description (see Chapters 4 and 7).
• Origin Square: Close attacks use your square as the origin square.
• Multiple Damage Rolls: You make a different damage roll for each target affected by your attack, as you may have a different CM for each.

Area Attack

An area attack is like a close attack, except the origin square can be some distance away from you. A grenade you launch over a wall is one example of an area attack.

Area Attack

• Area of Effect: An area attack creates an area of effect, usually a burst, within range. An area attack affects certain targets within its area of effect, which has a certain size. An area attack's area of effect, range, and targets are specified in its weapon entry or power description (see Chapters 4 and 7).
• Origin Square: You choose a square within an area attack's range as the attack's origin square, which is where you center the effect. You need line of effect from your square to the origin square (see "Seeing and Targeting" [pp]). For a target to be affected by an area attack, there needs to be line of effect from the origin square to the target.
• Multiple Damage Rolls: You make a different damage roll for each target affected by your attack, as you may have a different CM for each.

Areas of Effect

An area of effect can be a blast, burst or line.

Blast: A blast fills an area adjacent to you that is a specified number of squares on a side. For example, a blast 3 power would mean the power affects a 3-square-by-3-square area adjacent to you. The blast must be adjacent to its origin square.

Burst: A burst starts in an origin square and extends in all directions to a specified number of squares from the origin square. Unless a power says otherwise, a close burst you create doesn't affect you. An area burst does unless the power says otherwise.

Line: A line affects all creatures between the origin square and another square in range, out to a number of specified squares wide. Line attacks are almost always close, meaning the origin square is your square. For example, a Perdition flamethrower with range 5 and line 1 would create a 5-square-by-1-square area starting from you and extending outward in any direction from you.

Choosing Targets

If you want to use a power against an enemy, the enemy must be within the range of your power, and you have to be able to target the enemy. Many powers allow you to target multiple enemies. Each of these enemies must be an eligible target. You may sometimes also attack squares rather than enemies if you have to guess where one might be.

Range

The first step in choosing targets for an attack is to check the attack's range. Range is the distance from you to a target (or to the attack's origin square). The range of each power is noted in its description. Most of the time, the range for a power will be that of the weapon you are using.

Use the measurement tool to determine the number of squares between you and at least one square the target occupies. If an effect asks for the nearest creature or square that satisfies a condition and multiple such creatures or squares are the same nearest distance, choose one.

Powers with a range of Personal only affect you.

Seeing and Targeting

Cluttered storage bays, dense flora, or brooding ruins offer plenty of places for your enemies to hide. Figuring out whether you can see and target a particular enemy from where you're standing is often important.

Line of Sight: The first question is what you can see in an encounter area—that is, what is in your line of sight.

To determine whether you can see a target, pick a corner of your space and trace a line from that corner to any part of the target's space. You can see the target if at least one line doesn't pass through or touch an object that blocks your vision. If at least one line passes through an obstruction, the target has cover or concealment from you [pp]. Cover and concealment reduce the amount of damage you can do to a target.

Line of Effect: Same as line of sight, except does not count vision obscuring effects, but only physical barriers.

You do not have line of sight through smoke, but you do have line of effect through smoke. You do have line of sight through a forcefield, but you do not have line of effect through a forcefield.

You need line of effect to create an effect (an explosion, say) in an origin square, and that effect needs to have line of effect from its origin to the target in order to affect that target.

Defenses

These rules use the terms "defense" and "resistance" interchangeably. Your defense values mitigate the damage you take by flatly reducing it. Attacks at a CM higher than 0 have a minimum damage of 1.

Resistance Scores

You determine your defenses as follows.

• Attribute Scores: Each of your attributes adds directly to a defense:
  

str > pie
dex > exp
con > voi
wis > psi
int > ani

• Level: Add 1/2 your level, rounded down, to each of these values.
• Armor: Your armor has a profile that adds to some or all of your defenses.

Also add any of the following that apply:

• Racial or feat bonuses
• An item bonus
• A power bonus
• Untyped bonuses

Keep in mind that if multiple bonuses share a type, only the highest applies (do not stack). Untyped bonuses always apply (stack).

Your resistances can change temporarily in certain circumstances. If you're affected by a power, for instance, or a condition that increases or lowers your resistances or your ability scores. Even some actions you take in combat may have a side effect of changing your resistance values.

Bonuses and Penalties

There's one important rule for bonuses: don't add together bonuses of the same type to the same roll or score. If two such bonuses would apply, use only the higher one instead. These are some of the bonus types you may come across:

• Armor: Granted by your armor. The bonus applies as long as you wear the armor.
• Enhancement: Some special gear will give you an enhancement bonus. You usually need to activate the gear to receive the bonus.
• Feat: Granted by a feat.
• Power: Granted by a power. Usually is active only while using the power, but some powers create lasting effects as well.
• Species: A bonus you have for being your chosen species. You are never without this bonus.
• Untyped: Not technically a type. If a bonus does not list a type, it is untyped and always applies. Multiple untyped bonuses do add together.

Penalties: Unlike bonuses, penalties do not have types and usually add together. Penalties caused by a condition do not add together, rather, you take the worst of them. For example, if two Zerg Infestors use their Fungal Growth power on you, you take the worse of the two penalties to your defense values rather than both penalties together.

Bonuses and penalties that affect the same thing apply independently and therefore subtract from one another.

Damage

The damage you deal depends on your weapon, the power you use, and the situation you're in. Most powers list a damage amount that includes your weapon. Any place a [W] appears in a power description, substitute in your weapon damage. If you are wielding two weapons, you choose one of them (unless an effect says otherwise). This roll is a combination of fixed damage (a number) and random damage (a die roll). If you're using a light weapon, add your Dexterity to the damage; if you're using a heavy weapon, instead add your Strength. If the power specifies an ability score to use, you use that instead regardless of the weight class of your weapon.

Add in also any bonuses you might have to damage in a similar manner to what you do with your resistances. Those bonuses apply at this step (before the multiplier) unless they say otherwise.

Once you have this number, multiply it by your Combat Multiplier (CM) [pp]. This number starts at 1 and various things can increase or decrease it.

Finally, report this damage to the DM. The DM will subtract the target's resistance value from your damage and record the damage to the target. Your DM will tell you if an attack seems very effective (not resisted much), effective (resisted), or ineffective (you dealt 1 damage).

Damage Types: There are five damage types and you'll always deal damage opposed by one of the five resistances, pierce, explosive, void, psionic, and anima.

Critical Hits: Rarely, some powers or weapons will support an additional random roll for a critical hit. Critical hits deal damage to life points directly, bypassing hit points. The target still gets its full defense value against a critical hit, and critical hits do not modify the damage roll in any way. But even 1 damage to life points is a permanent injury: one that will make your enemies think twice about continuing the battle.

Every attack does a minimum of 1 damage.

Vulnerability

In some cases, a creature's (or your) resistance may fall below 0. In this case, the creature has vulnerability to a damage type, and actually takes additional damage from that type. This applies after the multiplier, at the same time resistance would ordinarily subtract an amount from incoming damage.

Vulnerabilities can also be more specialized. For example, a Zerg Whelp has -5 anima to resist fire attacks, and resists other anima damage normally. A Byunei Strider has -5 void to resist warp weapons, and resists other void damage normally.

Ongoing Damage

Some powers deal extra damage on consecutive turns after the initial attack. You might catch fire, which deals ongoing anima damage. A Hydralisk's acidic spines deal ongoing acid damage as they eat away at your armor. A metroid's unfathomable claw deals ongoing void damage.

Ongoing Damage

• Start of Your Turn: You take the specified damage at the start of your turn. If the damage involves a die roll, it happens now.
• Saving Throw: Each round at the end of your turn, make a saving throw [pp] against ongoing damage. If you succeed, you stop taking the ongoing damage.
• Different Types of Ongoing Damage: If effects deal ongoing damage of different types, you take damage from each effect every round. You make a separate saving throw against each.
• The Same Type of Ongoing Damage: If effects deal ongoing damage of the same type, only the higher number applies.