Vehicle Combat

Epic Path \ Vehicle Combat

Vehicle combat rules are optional, since some campaign settings will have no use for them. Furthermore, some GM's may disagree with the approach outlined below, as it is quite different from the traditional ship vs. ship combat of other game systems.

Specifically, in order to ensure that every player is engaged in all aspects of the combat, these rules assume that each player will be piloting their own vehicle, and that they will typically be fighting multiple enemy vehicles. This mimics the way traditional melee combat works in as many ways as is practical, and follows the encounter design assumption of one enemy vehicle per PC vehicle. In fact, rules are included to mix vehicle combat directly with traditional melee combat encounters (e.g. PC ships versus monsters, or PC's versus NPC's in ships).

In a highly magical world, even in a pirates/high seas setting, or ancient Roman-style chariot combat, it's hard to imagine that any hero would put himself in the position of being a helpless passenger, hoping that the one PC who took ranks in a driving skill doesn't get the whole party killed. Even worse, such combats can sometimes stretch on for an hour or longer of real time, while the majority of the players can only sit around waiting for it to finish, with little input over the outcome, except that their characters might die if things go pear-shaped.

Instead, heroes being the resourceful folk that they are, we assume they'd want their own vehicle to join in with, supplying death and mayhem with their own flavor of subtlety (or lack thereof) and flair.

While it breaks the traditional motif of one pirate ship facing off against that imperial ship-of-the-line, the first rule of gaming is it should be fun. Giving each player a way to participate directly in the combat is more important, in our opinion, that keeping with traditions that have, historically, always failed to be fun.

Mother Ship

We encourage the need for a central mother ship, piloted by one of the PC's, and larger than the other ships in the party, which acts as a central base and refueling/repair area for the smaller fighters that the rest of the party uses during combat encounters. It's not too huge a stretch to think that pirates in a magic-laden world might employ smaller, faster craft to gain advantages against their prey, or that the blue-sailed Ship-of-the-Line of Her Majesty's Navy might do the same. The mother ship is meant to be the only vehicle that is capable of longer, independent voyages between settlements.

The mother ship is a participant in the combat, but is less offensive and more defensive. For more details on why this is still fun, see Ship Classes, below.

However, this mother ship notion is entirely optional, purely for color, and to add a point of interest in combat (you have to defend your party's mother ship, and it's fruitful to single out the NPC mother ship over the less-important fighters). If it doesn't fit your campaign's theme, you could just as easily make all ships relatively equal to each other. There are no game mechanics that work better or worse without a mother ship in these rules. Nonetheless, we recommend them.

Size and Space

Measuring distance along diagonal squares is always treated as being 1:1, just as with traditional melee combat, even though, proportionally, this is inaccurate. It makes counting and visualizing MUCH easier, and since everyone follows the same rules, the weird mathematical exploits can be used by everyone equally. (Thanks, Pythagoras. Jerk.)

All vehicle combat uses 2-D space, rather than 3-D space, even in cases where all the vehicles are capable of flight. This is to keep things simpler, especially in terms of miniatures on a map. Frankly, until your X-axis exceeds your Y-axis by a fair margin, there is no difference between 2-D and 3-D anyway, since diagonals are measured 1:1.

Each square in vehicular combat is equal to 50 feet, instead of 5 feet.

Most PC's will start off in smaller fighter craft, which will typically be sized-small or sized-medium, each of which occupies a single 50-foot square. The ship itself is assumed to occupy the whole space, even if its actual dimensions are less than that. There is no stacking or squeezing. Such events are resolved as collisions (see below).

All turns are always in increments of 45-degrees, either in the cardinal or ordinal directions of the square, meaning that there are only 8 facings available.

Overview

The combat round is similar to traditional melee combat, beginning with an initiative roll to determine turn order.

On each combatant's turn, they receive the normal move, standard and swift actions, all of which are resolved on their initiative tick. However, unlike traditional melee combat, all combatants in vehicles must make their move actions as the first part of their turns, after which they may perform their standard and swift actions in whichever order they desire.

Another major break from traditional melee combat is that vehicle combat requires the use of facing, and firing arcs. Lining up an enemy in your front firing arc, while not mandatory, is advantageous, since it requires no focus. Coupled with the fact that vehicles cannot stop or move in reverse, this means that maneuvering and lining up optimal positions for attacks are paramount.

Vehicles do not make attacks of opportunity, nor can they make immediate actions. Vehicles also do not threaten squares, and cannot flank. Most vehicles cannot critically hit targets.

Vehicles attack with siege weapons, which utilize the Sunder combat maneuver rules rather than traditional to-hit and damage. Siege weapons deal siege damage, which is subtracted from the durability score of enemy vehicles or structures. While it is easy to draw parallels between a ship's CMB roll being equivalent to a to-hit roll, a ship's CMD score being equivalent to its armor class, and a ship's durability score being equivalent to hit points, it is important to remember that they are not the same things.

Action points are available in vehicle combat, just as with normal combat, and provide the same benefits. Some ships may have upgrades which allow an action point to be spent in additional ways.

Important Terms

Siege Damage

The damage that a siege weapon inflicts on ships, fortifications and unattended objects.

• Against vehicles, fortifications and unattended objects, each point of siege damage is subtracted from the target object's durability score. Once an object reaches a durability of 0, it gains the Broken condition. Vehicles which are reduced to durability 0 will crash, and are inoperable until repaired to at least durability 1.
• Against non-fortified creatures, siege damage inflicts 10 hit points worth of damage for each point of siege damage dealt.

The Combat Round

Set Up The Encounter

The GM should describe or set up the encounter. This must include stating where, on the map, the PC's can set up their ships' starting position and facing, as well as setting up the NPC ships' starting location and facing.

It is very important that each participant in the encounter set their facing before the combat begins, as this determines the direction of their first move action.

The GM should also place any blocked, impeded or difficult terrain that is present in the encounter. Some encounters may not have any terrain, but adding at least a little terrain is nearly always a good idea. In most cases, difficult, blocked and impeded terrain will follow the same rules as those of traditional melee combat, but the GM should also decide if there are any unusual rules in play for the encounter. For example, a particularly large area of blocked terrain in an Aethereal combat might have a gravitational pull, pulling all ships 2 spaces closer to it at the top of each round's initiative order. Alternatively, a chariot-based fight on a frozen lake might have special rules for skidding further than intended any time a chariot tries to turn.

Most terrain should also be destroyable in a vehicle combat encounter. GM's should decide what CMD and how much durability each square of terrain has, and what happens to the square after it is reduced to 0 durability (e.g. it might change from blocked to impeded, impeded to difficult, and difficult to normal).

Finally, the GM should designate any squares on the edges of the map which count as 'escape squares' for the NPC's, and any squares which count as 'escape squares' for the PC's. These can be the same squares, or different for each faction in the encounter. Any ship wishing to flee the encounter must move through one of these squares before leaving the map. Escape squares should generally be far enough away from starting positions that an actual combat encounter can occur before any ships reach their escape point.

GM's are reminded that if NPC ships want to run, and they're already so close to the exit that no one can stop them, then you're not really in a combat encounter yet, and there's no reason to play things out in initiative order. Wait to run this encounter until the PC's have boxed the fleeing NPC's into a cove, or chased them near a reef, where they can't easily slip past. Another way to avoid doing this is to always treat ships which flee an encounter as defeated for experience purposes (though obviously not for treasure). Don't give your PC's free XP; make them work for it.

Roll Initiative

Prior to the first turn of combat, each combatant makes an initiative roll. Once sorted into order, each combatant takes their turn on their initiative tick.

d20 + Ship's Ability Score + Ship Class Modifier

Recovery Phase

At the start of each combatant's turn, they recover a single point of focus and a single shield to their vehicle. If a vehicle's shields are undamaged, they cannot recover a point of shields (since you can't exceed your maximum shields value).

Note that some feats and upgrades may alter the quantity of focus or shields a particular pilot receives during the recover portion of their turn, but 1 focus and 1 shield is the default.

Recover 1 Focus; Recover 1 Shield (if damaged)

Move Action

Each ship must make a move action as the first thing they do on their turn each round. Once the ship has moved, it can perform its standard and swift actions in whichever order it prefers. Ships must always take a move action; it cannot be skipped.

Facing

All ships have facing. Facing is always either towards one of the edges of your current space, or one of the corners, and is measured in 45-degree increments. This means there are eight (8) possible directions that a vehicle can face. A vehicle can never face in any direction that is not either a cardinal or ordinal direction (i.e. a non-45-degree increment) of the space they are in.

At the start of the combat, each combatant chooses their space and facing within the starting area dictated by the GM's description of the encounter. In most cases, the PC's will be clustered together on one side of the map, while the enemy vehicles are clustered together on the other side of the map. However, every encounter is different, and this setup is entirely decided by the GM's vision of how the encounter starts.

Each combatant can choose what facing they want their ship to start the encounter with. Once set, facing can only be changed via turning (see below).

A ship's facing dictates the direction of its maneuverability arc, and also its forward firing arc.

Poor Maneuverability

A ship with a Maneuverability Profile of "Poor Maneuverability" has a maneuverability arc which is exactly the same as its forward firing arc. A ship with this maneuverability profile is very limited in how far left or right it can move in a single move action.

Average Maneuverability

A ship with a Maneuverability Profile of "Average Maneuverability" has a maneuverability arc which is 180-degrees in front of it, but one square forward. A vehicle with this maneuverability profile has considerably less trouble moving left or right. Note however that all ships follow the same rules for changing facing, which means that turning around to face in the opposite direction is just as hard for a ship with average maneuverability as it is for a ship with poor maneuverability.

Good Maneuverability

A ship with a Maneuverability Profile of "Good Maneuverability" has a 270-degree movement arc, missing the 90-degree arc directly behind it. Note that it is extremely rare for land, aquatic or delving vehicles to ever have this maneuverability profile, and even among aerial vehicles, it is uncommon.

A Note On Perfect Maneuverability

Perfect maneuverability is the ability to move wherever you want within the range of your speed and ignore facing altogether. This is the type of movement that creatures possess, and is never available to vehicles.

Ship Speed

Ships move using a combination of maneuverability and speed. A ship can move anywhere inside its maneuverability arc, that is also within the range of its speed score.

Most ships have a speed between 2 and 4 squares. A ship can its speed or less in squares, with a minimum of speed 1.

A ship cannot skip its move action. Ships cannot move speed 0 without using a special maneuver ("Sudden Halt") which costs focus (see Focus, below).

A ship must displace, rather than move, some value of its speed. That is, it cannot ever double-back on a square it has moved out of in the same move action.

You must be able to trace the path of your movement through unblocked spaces, but you can pass through allied vehicles (as long as you do not stop in their space). You cannot pass through enemy spaces.

Turning

Even though your ship has moved, its facing remains the same as when it began, unless you elect to turn.

At the end of any move action, you may make a single 45-degree facing change for free. This can only be performed once per move action.

If a ship's pilot wishes to change the facing to a greater degree, he can spend 1 focus to turn an additional 45-degrees, or 2 focus to make as many 45-degree facing changes as he wishes.

Because facing changes are only made at the end of a move action, and never at the beginning or middle of a move action, your maneuverability arc for your next move action is decided by the facing you set at the end of your current move.

Collisions

As mentioned previously, there is no stacking or squeezing in vehicle combat. As a result, if you attempt to end your movement in an occupied or blocked square, it is resolved as a collision. If a vehicle moves along a path during its movement that includes a blocked space, or a space occupied by an enemy creature, its movement immediately ends, and it is resolved as a collision. (This is especially relevant if any of the vehicles are invisible or stealthed).

Collisions are easy to resolve, but have two parts: determining how much damage the colliding objects do to each other, and deciding which of the two objects that collided gets to remain in the contested space.

The damage from a collision is a number of siege damage points equal to the number of squares the colliding vehicle has displaced to get to the square in which it is colliding. You do not count your starting square, but you do count the square in which the collision occurred. If the ship moved 3 squares, it deals 3 points of siege damage to both itself and to the object it is colliding with. The further a ship has moved to cause the collision, the more damage it deals. Note that, if a move is interrupted by a surprise collision (like running into an invisible vehicle), the collision damage is equal to the number of squares moved up to the point of the collision.

Note that collision damage does not require a CMB roll to determine whether or not it hits. It hits both ships automatically.

Damage from a collision is applied like any other damage. That is, it is subtracted from a ship's shields first, then dealt to the hull.

Once damage is dealt to both participants of a collision, the next step is to decide which of the two objects gets to remain in the contested space of the collision, and which object gets shoved aside. This is resolved as a series of tie-breakers, in the following order:

1. If a ship is reduced to 0 or fewer durability due to the collision damage, it crashes, and the surviving ship gets control of the contested space.

• If both ships are reduced to 0 or fewer durability due to the collision damage, they both crash, and both ships are pushed out of the contested space, per the rules below, as if both lost this contest.

1. If both ships survive the crash, the largest ship gets control of the surviving space.
2. If both ships are the same size, the ship with the lowest Ship Speed score gets control of the contested space.
3. If both ships have the same maximum speeds, the ship with the highest initiative rolled for this encounter gets control of the contested space.
4. If both initiatives are the same, roll randomly until a winner is decided.

If the winner of the contested space is the vehicle which caused the collision, the losing vehicle or object is pushed one square directly away from where the colliding vehicle started its move from. If that space is also occupied, even by an allied vehicle, another collision occurs, and is resolved as though the speed is 1. Repeat this process as needed until all objects and vehicles are in their own unoccupied, unblocked spaces.

If the winner of the contested space is the vehicle or object which originally occupied the space (the one that was collided with), it remains in its space, and the ship which caused the collision is rebounded into the space just prior to the collision (in relation to where it started its movement from). If that space is also occupied, even by an allied vehicle, another collision occurs, and is resolved as though the speed is 1. Repeat this process as needed until all objects and vehicles are in their own unoccupied, unblocked spaces.

Vehicle facings are never changed as a result of a collision.

Moving Off The Map

When played with miniatures, it is possible for a vehicle, especially one with poor maneuverability, to careen off the edge of the map. While technically there should probably be more map there, we are often limited by table size. Furthermore, shifting the whole fight over to readjust the combat location is usually very disruptive (and prone to mistakes). Therefore, we recommend the following rule any time someone's vehicle would move off the edge of the map:

Assuming the vehicle is not deliberately fleeing the encounter, they stop their vehicle in the last space at the edge of the map, spend 2 focus, and change their facing to any direction they wish. This immediately ends any move action they were performing.

Action Phase

After a ship has resolved its move action, it enters its action phase, which consists of its swift and standard actions. Unlike the move action, which is always the first action of each turn, the combatant can resolve its standard action and swift action in whatever order it wishes.

Swift Actions

By default, the only swift action that all vehicles begin with is a "Simple Attack".

A simple attack is resolved like any other attack in vehicle combat, using the following steps:

1. Select a target that is within the range of your weapons.
2. Determine whether the target is inside your forward firing arc.

• If the target is outside your forward firing arc, you must spend 1 focus to make your attack.

1. Determine whether the target is in Close, Medium or Long range.

• Determine CMB penalty if in medium or long range.
• Determine Siege Damage penalty if in medium or long range.

1. Roll your CMB versus the target's CMD. If the result is greater than or equal to the target's CMD, your attack hits.

• Remember to include any CMB penalty if you are at medium or long range.

1. If you hit, roll your siege damage

• Remember to reduce the siege damage you deal if you are in medium or long range.

1. Your target subtracts this damage first from its ship's shields, then from the ship's hull.
2. If your target's hull is reduced to 0 or fewer durability, the ship crashes, and cannot re-enter the combat until it is repaired to at least 1 durability.

Forward Firing Arc

A ship's forward firing arc is the 90-degree cone directly in front of it, in a square the size of the firing range. Firing out to range 2 is considered close range, with no penalties. Firing out to range 4 is considered medium range, with a -2 penalty to the ship's CMB, while firing out to 6 squares is considered long range, with a penalty of -4 to the ship's CMB. Furthermore, a ship's base siege damage (the damage its siege weapons inflict when they hit) is reduced by 1 at medium range, and reduced by 2 at long range.

Note that ships can fire upon targets outside of their firing arc, but must spend 1 focus to do so. In such a case, the attack is still subject to the ship's listed weapon ranges, except that the penalty for medium range is -4 (and siege damage is reduced by 1), and the penalty for long range is -8 (and the siege damage is reduced by 2).

The forward firing arc is very easy to visualize on a square grid:

This diagram shows the standard forward firing arcs for a sized-medium or sized-small vehicle, with normal weapon ranges of Close 1-2, Medium 3-4, and Long 5-6. Some ship upgrades can alter these weapon ranges, though the penalties at each range are the same.

Size large and larger ships have very similar forward firing arcs, but the angles are drawn from the corners of their space. This means their forward firing arcs are wider than those of sized-medium ships, but they are otherwise drawn the same way.

Standard Actions

All ships can perform the following standard actions:

• Double Move
• Full Attack
• Take Aim
• Evasive Maneuvers
• Build Focus
• Damage Control

Many vehicle upgrades grant access to additional standard actions and swift actions. See the specific ship class or ship upgrade for details.

Double Move

As a standard action, a vehicle can make a second move action. The maneuverability arc of this move action is determined by the facing you selected at the end of your previous move action. As with all move actions, once you have finished moving, you may make a single 45-degree facing change for free. You can pay 1 focus to make a second 45-degree facing change, or 2 focus to set your facing to any direction you want.

Full Attack

As a standard action, you can make an attack against an enemy vehicle, structure or creature. This attack can be in addition to the Simple Attack you make with a swift action. It is not uncommon for a ship class or ship upgrade to modify your Full Attack in some way, often making it significantly better than the Simple Attack.

Unless your vehicle's class or upgrades dictate otherwise, a Full Attack is resolved the same as a simple attack, except that it costs a standard action.

Note that any focus you may have spent to augment your Simple Attack does not apply to your Full Attack. Firing on a target outside of your forward firing arc requires another point of Focus, even if you spent a point of focus to fire outside your arc during your Simple Attack.

Take Aim

As a standard action, you can make an attack against an enemy vehicle, structure or creature, but instead of dealing damage if you hit, you instead gain a +2 bonus to all future CMB rolls you make against that target until either the end of the encounter, or until that target is destroyed (whichever comes first).

Evasive Maneuvers

As a standard action, you can declare that you are taking Evasive Maneuvers. Until the start of your next turn, you gain a +2 bonus to your vehicle's CMD score to resist enemy attacks.

Build Focus

As a standard action, make a skill check appropriate to your vehicle type (Profession (Aviator) for aerial/aethereal vehicles, Profession (Delver) for tunneling/submerged vehicles, Profession (Drover) for land-based vehicles, or Profession (Sailor) for aquatic vehicles (surface only)), versus the CR of the encounter.

• If you achieve an Easy success, you generate 1 point of focus.
• If you achieve a Challenging success, you generate 2 points of focus.
• If you achieve an Impossible success, you generate 3 points of focus.

If you have any Stress when you generate Focus, you must immediately expend the Focus to get rid of the Stress, on a one-for-one basis.

Damage Control

As a standard action, make a skill check appropriate to your vehicle type (Profession (Aviator) for aerial/aethereal vehicles, Profession (Delver) for tunneling/submerged vehicles, Profession (Drover) for land-based vehicles, or Profession (Sailor) for aquatic vehicles (surface only)), versus the CR of the encounter.

• If you achieve an Easy success, you can either repair 1 hull damage, or generate 2 shield points.
• If you achieve a Challenging success, you can either repair 2 hull damage, or generate 3 shield points.
• If you achieve an Impossible success, you can either repair 3 hull damage, or generate 4 shield points.

In no cases can Damage Control be used to repair hull damage above your maximum durability, or generate shield points above your maximum shields.

Action Points

You can spend your action point at any time during your turn. Action points behave identically to traditional melee combat. See Action Points for details.

NPC Ships

Enemy Vehicle Special Abilities

Average Vehicle Stats