d20 FUTURE

STARSHIPS - ACTIONS IN COMBAT

The fundamental actions of moving and attacking cover most of what a starship wants to do in a battle. They’re described here. Other, more specialized options are touched on in Table: Starship Actions, and covered later in Special Initiative Actions.

A starship gets two move actions and one attack action each round. It can take two move actions followed by an attack action, an attack action followed by two move actions, or an attack action sandwiched between two move actions. A ship may choose to not take an attack action on its turn, but it gets only two move actions regardless. It can also forgo all of the above combinations and take a single full-round action. All of these options are discussed below, under Action Types.

A starship’s choices of actions can be summarized as follows.

Attack action -> move action -> move action, or

Move action -> attack action -> move action, or

Move action -> move action -> attack action, or

Full-round action

THE COMBAT ROUND

As with character-scale combat, each round of starship combat represents about 6 seconds in the game world.

Each round’s activity begins with the starship with the highest initiative result and then proceeds, in order, from there.

Each round of a combat uses the same initiative order. When a starship’s turn comes up in the initiative sequence, that ship performs its entire round’s worth of actions. (For exceptions, see Attacks of Opportunity and Special Initiative Actions.)

ACTION TYPES

As in character combat, starships may make attack actions, full-round actions, move actions, and free actions. In a normal round, a starship can perform an attack action and two move actions (in any order), two move actions, or a single full-round action. It can also perform as many free actions as the GM allows.

In some situations (such as in the surprise round), a starship may be limited to taking only a single attack or move action.

ATTACK ACTION

An attack action allows a starship to make an attack or perform other similar actions.

MOVE ACTION

A move action allows a starship to move its tactical speed or perform some other action that takes a similar amount of time.

If a starship moves no actual distance in a round, it can take one 500-foot shift before, during, or after the action. The ship cannot take a 500-foot shift if it used one or both of its move actions to move.

FULL-ROUND ACTION

A full-round action consumes all of a starship’s time during a round. The only movement it can take during a full-round action is a 500-foot shift before, during, or after the action. Some full-round actions do not allow you to take a 500-foot shift. A starship can also perform free actions (see below).

FREE ACTION

Free actions consume a very small amount of time and effort, and over the span of the round, their impact is so minor that they are considered free. However, the GM puts reasonable limits on what a ship can really do for free.

Table: Starship Actions

ATTACK ACTIONS

Most common attack actions are described below.

ATTACK (RANGED)

As a single attack action, a starship can fire one or more of its ranged weapons at any target or targets within range and within line of sight. A target is in line of sight if there are no solid obstructions between the attacking starship and the target. The maximum range for a beam weapon is 10 range increments. Weapons that fire projectiles have an unlimited range in space.

If firing several weapons, a starship does not need to specify the targets of all of its attacks ahead of time. It can see how the earlier attacks turn out before assigning the later ones.

If a starship fires a ranged weapon at a target that occupies a square adjacent to an ally, it takes a –4 penalty on its attack roll because the gunner must aim carefully to avoid hitting the ally.

Attacks of Opportunity: A starship can fire its ranged weapons without provoking attacks of opportunity from enemy ships.

ATTACK AN OBJECT

Attacking objects follows the same rules for starships as for characters. Table: Space Objects lists the Defense, hardness, and hit points of objects commonly encountered in space and on the cosmic battlefield. Colossal objects occupy four 500-foot squares (a 1,000-footby- 1,000-foot fighting space). All other objects occupy a single 500-foot square.

Table: Space Objects

GRAPPLE ANOTHER SHIP

For rules on using grapplers and tractor beams to hold and immobilize starships, see Grappling Systems.

ESCAPE A GRAPPLING SHIP

Grappler arms and tractor beams allow starships to hold and immobilize one other. See Grappling Systems for rules on escaping grapplers and tractor beams.

AID ANOTHER

A starship can help an ally attack or defend by distracting or interfering with an enemy in weapon range. The aiding starship makes an attack roll against Defense 10. If the attack roll succeeds, the starship doesn’t actually damage the enemy ship—but its ally gains either a +2 circumstance bonus on attack rolls against that opponent or a +2 circumstance bonus to Defense against that opponent (your choice) on its next turn.

FEINT

See the expanded Bluff skill description for details.

TOTAL DEFENSE

Instead of attacking, a ship can use its attack action to defend itself by performing complex evasive maneuvers. This is called a total defense action. A ship that uses the total defense action doesn’t get to attack, but it gains a +4 dodge bonus to its Defense for 1 round. The ship’s Defense improves at the start of this action, so it helps against any attacks of opportunity the ship is subject to during its move action.

Fighting Defensively: Instead of diverting all of its attention to defending itself, a starship can choose to fight defensively while taking a regular attack action. If it does so, it takes a –4 penalty on its attacks in a round to gain a +2 dodge bonus to Defense during the same round.

MOVE ACTIONS

Unless otherwise noted, move actions don’t require a Pilot check to perform.

MOVE AT TACTICAL SPEED

A starship can move its tactical speed as a move action. If it takes this kind of move action during its turn, it cannot also take a 500- foot shift.

Attacks of Opportunity: Moving through a threatened square provokes an attack of opportunity if the enemy ship has a point defense system (see Starship Defense Systems).

DAMAGE CONTROL

A starship equipped with a damage control system can perform damage control as a move action (see Starship Defense Systems).

Damage control cannot be performed if the ship has been reduced to negative hit points.

OPERATE SENSORS

See the expanded Computer Use skill description and Starship Sensors for details.

RAM

Ramming is considered part of a move action. A pilot can use her starship to ram an object, including another starship. First, the pilot must enter the target’s square or fighting space and declare her attempt to ram the target. If the target has point-defense systems, it can make an attack of opportunity against the ramming starship. Second, the pilot must make a Pilot check (DC = 5 + the target’s Defense). If the Pilot check fails, the ship misses the target and may finish its move. If the check succeeds, the starship collides with the intended target, dealing damage both to itself and the target (reduced by hardness, if applicable).

A pilot cannot ram the same ship or object more than once during a given round. However, a pilot that fails to ram a target may attempt to ram a different target if her starship has sufficient movement left to reach the new target.

Table: Collision Damage shows the amount of damage dealt to both colliding forces, based on the size of the smaller of the two colliding objects.

Table: Collision Damage

SENDING/JAMMING A TRANSMISSION

See the expanded Computer Use skill description for details.

START/COMPLETE FULL-ROUND ACTION

The “start/complete full-round action” move action lets a starship begin undertaking a full-round action (such as those listed on Table: Starship Actions) at the end of its turn, or complete a full-round action by using a move action at the beginning of its turn in the round following the round when it started the full-round action. If a starship starts a full-round action at the end of its turn, the next action it takes must be to complete the full-round action—it can’t take another type of action before finishing what it started.

FULL-ROUND ACTIONS

A full-round action requires an entire round to complete. If it doesn’t involve moving any distance, a starship can combine it with a 500-foot shift.

JUMP TO CRUISING SPEED

As a full-round action, a starship can leave the battlefield by jumping to cruising speed. Doing so effectively takes the ship out of the fight, although enemy ships can pursue the fleeing ship if they wish.

A starship cannot jump to cruising speed if it has 0 or fewer hit points.

Attacks of Opportunity: A starship that jumps to cruising speed provokes attacks of opportunity from threatening enemy ships armed with point-defense systems (see Starship Defense Systems).

SURGE FORWARD

A starship can use its afterburners to surge forward as a full-round action. When a starship surges forward, it can move up to four times its tactical speed in a straight line. (It does not get a 500-foot shift.) It loses its pilot’s Dexterity bonus to Defense and any dodge bonuses to Defense since it can’t avoid attacks.

A starship can surge forward for as many rounds as the pilot likes.

Attacks of Opportunity: : A starship that surges forward provokes attacks of opportunity from threatening enemy ships armed with point-defense systems (see Starship Defense Systems).

WITHDRAW

Withdrawing from combat is a full-round action. When a starship withdraws, it can move up to twice its tactical speed. (It doesn’t also get a 500-foot shift.) The square it starts from is not considered threatened for purposes of withdrawing, and therefore enemies with point-defense systems do not get attacks of opportunity against it when it moves from that square.

If, during the process of withdrawing, the starship moves through another threatened square (other than the one it started in) without stopping, enemies get attacks of opportunity as normal.

FREE ACTIONS

A starship can perform multiple free actions during its turn, subject to the GM’s approval. In general, if one or more free actions take longer than 6 seconds to complete, they are not free actions. Free actions include communicating via a comm system and turning.

COMMUNICATE VIA COMM SYSTEM

Starships (and their crews) can communicate and coordinate with each other as a free action. A GM may rule that a particularly long or complex message cannot be communicated as a free action.

TURN

Starships—even immensely large ones—are highly maneuverable in space. As a free action, a ship can adjust its orientation on the battle grid by pivoting or turning. The direction a starship is facing has no bearing on combat, since its weapons can be trained to fire in any direction.

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