Melee Attacks     Melee attacks are always major actions. If you wish to make a melee attack, choose a target in your engagement, then proceed through the rules for any Ability or device you wish to use in conjunction with the attack. Next, you must succeed on an offense roll (if applicable). Your target must then attempt a defense roll. Defense rolls are always on DEX. If your opponent fails their defense roll, the attack hits; proceed into the Damage & Drive rules. Dual-wielding weapons does not create additional offense or defense rolls; both weapons hit or miss together based on the normal rolls.

    If you are not competent in the weapon(s) you are currently wielding via the Study of Close Combat, you must make an incompetent melee attack. The target's defense roll is d12 on DEX, and any Close Combat Abilities you have are not usable. However, there is no offense roll (except for blind attacks; see below).

    If you are competent, you may make a competent melee attack, which requires an offense roll of d6 on DEX. The defense roll in this case is d20 on DEX.

    Characters otherwise capable of competent attacks may choose to deliberately make incompetent ones; this can allow characters with very low DEX or with arm injuries to avoid offense rolls.

    Unless the target is a character you are already grappling with, or if you are making a blind attack, melee attacks require you to be able to see your target.

    In order to make a proper melee attack, you must see your target. However, if you are normally competent with your weapon(s), you may make an incompetent melee attack against a character you can't see, but you know may be engaged with you. For example, when an enemy is sufficiently cloaked, or the environment is totally dark, or you have the blinded status, or another character warns you of an enemy using ambush movement. Unlike normal incompetent melee attacks, you must first succeed on a d20 offense roll on DEX.

    Since even a totally blind character retains some memory of and coordination with their party, you will not hit any allied characters with a blind attack. But if there are multiple enemies in your engagement that you cannot see, a blind attack's actual target is randomly selected from among all of them, excluding those who have received their maximum melee attacks already this round. If you succeed on the offense roll, but no invisible enemies are actually engaged with you, you realize they are gone.

    Melee disadvantage refers to the same rules, just from the other character's perspective. A degree of advantage cancels out a degree of disadvantage (but not any Hindrance/Easing from sources other than melee disadvantage).   

Natural Weapons     Some creatures have natural weapons, which are part of their physiology and instincts. When using a natural weapon, a character is always considered to be competent with that weapon, and also receives a +TN of 3 in melee offense rolls. Characters who have both natural weapons and normally-wielded weapons must choose which to use; they cannot attack with both in one turn.

    Certain creatures have multiple natural weapons, but all may only use one in a single attack. Some describe multiple appendages (for example, a bear's Claw attack), but are treated as a single weapon in the rules. Natural weapons never use dual-wielding rules.

Grab Item     In lieu of normal damage, you may make a melee attack to take an item away from an enemy. This may be an item they are holding (such as disarming them of their weapon), or it may be one they are carrying on their person that they would be able to draw and drop as a free action (e.g. not one in a backpack or rucksack, and not firmly attached to them). You cannot attempt this attack if you have already performed an inventory action on the same turn.

    First, you must grant your target 1 degree of melee advantage over you, plus 1 degree if their STR is greater than your own, plus 1 degree if they are holding the item with both hands or if it is a shield. Next, proceed through the normal rules for a melee attack, using the Grappling competency; Abilities restricted to weapons or invalid for a grappling attempt are not usable. If your attack "hits," you grab the item away from them. Whether you succeed or fail, your melee disadvantage against your target continues until the beginning of your next turn.

    You may attempt this special attack even if you do not have any free hands, providing you are competently wielding a non-natural melee weapon. However, you still use the Grappling competency for this attack, cannot use weapon-related Abilities, and can only attempt to "grab" an item in your enemy's hands. If successful, the item always ends up on the ground near you instead of in your hand, just as if you dropped it yourself on this turn.

Trip/Dismount/Throw     In lieu of normal damage, you may make a melee attack to knock down an enemy. This may represent tripping them or pulling them off their mount. It cannot be used against a flying character. You must either attempt this attack unarmed with two free hands, or you may use a melee weapon with the Hooked tag. You cannot use this attack against an enemy whose WGT is at least triple your own.

    First, you must grant your target 1 degree of melee advantage over you. If their STR is at least double your own, you must grant 2 degrees instead. Next, proceed through the normal rules for a melee attack, using the Grappling competency if unarmed or your weapon competency if using a Hooked melee weapon; in either case, Abilities restricted to weapons or invalid for a grappling attempt are not usable. If your attack "hits," the enemy is knocked down, and your melee disadvantage against them is removed. If it "misses," your attack has no effect, and your melee disadvantage continues until the beginning of your next turn.

Begin a Grapple     Grappling is used to immobilize enemies and allow them to be attacked more easily. Advantageously grappling an enemy is sometimes the only practical way to land critical hits on well-armored opponents, and it can also be used to pin an enemy without harming them. In order to begin a grapple, your target must not be defended via group defense, and must not be on a mount. You must either have a free hand, or be competent in all weapons you are wielding.

    Attempting to begin a grapple is risky and difficult, but the rewards can be profoundly useful. To begin grappling a character, you must first grant your target 2 degrees of melee advantage over you. Next, proceed through the normal rules for a melee attack, using the separate Grappling competency instead of your normal weapon competencies and Abilities (regardless of any weapons you are wielding).

    If your attack "hits," you do not inflict damage. Your melee disadvantage is removed, and replaced with 1 degree of advantage over your opponent. You are in a grapple with them; they cannot leave the grapple as long as you have melee advantage over them. As long as you have advantage, you can end the grapple as a free action, or you may remain and enjoy your advantage in future attacks. Both characters automatically fail all SPD rolls. You each receive 3 degrees of melee disadvantage against all characters outside the grapple. If one of the grapplers is incapacitated, the other character's disadvantage versus others still continues until their next turn. Neither is counted for defending others in group defense, nor for outnumbering dice. Anything which knocks down one character knocks down the other, but characters are not considered knocked down solely because they are grappling. Characters cannot begin to be defended via group defense if they are in a grapple.

    All melee attacks between grapplers use the Grappling proficiency, regardless of whether weapons are being used or whether the attack is for normal damage.Weapons and shields therefore do not provide any +TNs from their Offense or Defense ratings. Melee weapons with the Reach tag cannot be used in a grapple.

    If your opponent succeeds on their defense roll, your attack to begin a grapple fails; your melee disadvantage against your target continues until the beginning of your next turn.

Grapple for Advantage, Pin, or Escape     If you are already in a grapple, you may make a melee attack to either increase an existing melee advantage over your grappling opponent, or to gain advantage yourself if you have none. Proceed through the normal rules for a melee attack with the Grappling competency, but damage is not inflicted. If your attack "hits" and you already have melee advantage from grappling, you increase your degree of advantage by 1. If it hits and you have any degree of disadvantage, it is replaced by 1 degree of advantage. You may forgo this advantage to escape and end the grapple instead.

    Whenever you obtain 3 degrees of advantage over your opponent and have the Grappling competency, you immediately pin your opponent. Pinned characters are helpless, just as if they were incapacitated; they are unable to take actions or make defense rolls until released. The only exceptions are purely mental actions. You have the option to prevent the pinned character from speaking or calling out, preventing verbal actions.

    This and the above section apply to grapples of similarly-sized characters. In order to engage in such a grapple, neither opponent can be more than 3 times the WGT of the other. Grappling can still be attempted between other characters, but this is referred to as a mismatched grapple. Depending on the situation, the grapple looks a bit different:

    If you are more than triple the WGT of your target, any grappling attempt is an attempt to grab and pick them up. To begin such a grapple, you must grant your target 3 degrees of melee advantage instead of 2, but you obtain 2 degrees of advantage if you succeed. This can only be attempted if you have at least one free hand, and you must have the weight capacity to lift the weight of the defender without reaching 5 degrees of encumbrance. Typically, you will know instinctively whether this is possible before attempting the grapple. Like a normal grapple, you may attempt to grapple for more advantage and pin the enemy on subsequent turns, and the enemy may attempt to remove your advantage. The enemy cannot grapple or be grappled by anyone else. Whenever the smaller character succeeds in removing advantage, they escape and the grapple is immediately over.

    Unlike a normal grapple, you do not suffer melee disadvantage against any other characters. You may move normally (but remember any effects of the grabbed character's weight). Your victim has no movement phase, and has 3 degrees of melee disadvantage against all characters except you. The enemy is not counted for defending others in group defense, nor for outnumbering dice.

    In addition to the normal benefits of advantage, you get more options for inflicting damage. As a free action, you may inflict damage on the grabbed character equal to your STR; the drive is equal to the damage, and there is no defense roll of any kind. Any injury inflicted is a Core Injury; critical hits do not occur. You may attack the character normally on the same turn.

    This type of grapple can also be attempted by a creature without hands, but with a large mouth. Such a creature must be at least 20 times greater in WGT than the defender. If the creature has a natural weapon listed as "Bite," it may automatically hit the grappled victim with this attack as a free action in lieu of the normal once-per-turn free action damage, without the normal Bite disadvantage; if it does not have such an attack, the free-action damage and drive are simply doubled from STR. The creature may not use its bite against other characters as long as the grapple continues, and cannot target the grappled character with any other attacks. Creatures with a Bite attack are automatically competent in this form of grappling attack, even if they are incompetent in grappling otherwise.

    Like a normal grapple, you may attempt to grapple for more advantage, and the enemy may attempt to remove your advantage. You can gain 3 degrees of melee advantage, but cannot pin them. You inflict your weight against the weight factor of the enemy (you do not occupy carry slots). The larger character may attempt to attack you or remove your advantage as normal; if they remove your advantage, they may choose either to end the grapple, or immediately gain 2 degrees of advantage and follow the rules above for grabbing a small character (if they have a free hand).

    Any large character in a mismatched grapple gets additional options for freeing themselves from climbers. They can attempt to throw off all climbing characters as a free action; this forces the climbing characters to roll d12 on DEX, and they are removed from the grapple if they fail. In lieu of this free action, the large character may devote an entire major action to throwing off attackers, which forces them to roll d20 instead. As this is not an actual melee attack, melee advantage is not considered for either roll, and these actions can be done even if the larger character is overencumbered or lacks free hands.

    Whenever a climbing character is removed from the grapple, this is treated as a knockdown, unless they choose to leave voluntarily as a free action.

    This type of "climbing" is not covered by normal climbing rules, and is not affected by normal climbing's restrictions (such as the requirement for free hands).