Damage, Drive, & Armor Ranges     Whenever your attack hits (whether melee or ranged), find the damage and drive of your weapon(s). To keep combat running smoothly and quickly, simply call them out: "17, 20 drive." The GM will do the same for any NPCs' attacks that hit you.

    Drive is a measure of how effectively the damage is transmitted through armor. All armor ranges (see Armor) are given in a two-number format such as 16-26 ("16 to 26"). This is the range of drive at which the armor will reduce damage to 50%. If you have an armor range of 16-28, that means you will take only 50% of damage with a drive from 16 to 28, ignore all damage with a drive below 16, and take full damage with a drive greater than 28. In the above example of a weapon with 17 (20 drive) damage, the drive is within your armor range of 16-28, so you would take only 8 damage.

    The GM will have already rolled on the melee or ranged injury type table. If your damage crosses any multiples of your injury factor, all degrees of injury will be of that type.

Damage Resistances and Weaknesses     Some characters are resistant or weak against certain types of damage. For example, vampires take 150% damage from non-blunt quartz weapons, and constructs take 150% damage from electric energy damage. Whenever such a weakness or vulnerability comes into play, apply it after defenses and drive; for example, a construct's weakness to electric damage does not enhance that damage's drive nor make it harder to block with energy shielding.

    When characters are resistant or weak to types of physical weapons - for example, quartz or adamant weapons - this applies to both a melee weapon's base damage, and any additional damage from the wielder's STR (or Abilities that function as extra STR for the purposes of weapon damage). Do not apply it to extra damage of other types added to the weapon. Likewise, a resistance or weakness to energy damage does not apply to the base and STR damage from a weapon with added energy damage; they are separated for this consideration.

    If the same character gains resistance or weakness from multiple sources, apply each one sequentially. For example, elves take 75% damage from frost, so an elf that additionally gains 50% frost resistance from Energy Affinity (Arcana) would take a total of 37% damage from frost.

Voluntarily Reducing Damage     Some adventurers will encounter situations in which they want to take a sentient adversary alive, or perhaps avoid destroying a tech the party can bind. The rules for reducing damage are slightly different between melee and ranged weapons:

    When making a competent melee attack, you can voluntarily use a lesser amount of STR in the attack. Simply consider your STR to be any lower amount (to a minimum of 0) for the purposes of all attack rules other than whether you can wield your current weapon, including how much is added to damage and drive. This does not make your attack more difficult. If even less damage is desired, you can voluntarily reduce your melee weapon's damage (aside from STR additions) to either 50% or 25%, at the cost of 1 Hindrance to your melee offense roll.

    Ranged weapons are considerably more difficult to use in a less-lethal fashion. During a competent ranged attack, at the cost of 3 Hindrance to your melee offense roll, you can reduce your ranged weapon's damage and drive to 50%.

    These are special rules for when you really don't want to use your full damage capabilities. Keep in mind that there are also ways to use normal rules found elsewhere to deliberately do less harm - for example, using less charge than normal in an energy weapon, or choosing to inflict a less-lethal type of Injury during a critical hit. Knockout Specialist (Stealth) is also designed for these purposes.

Critical Hits     A critical hit is one that exploits a major defensive mistake by the enemy, or a lack of defense entirely. A critical hit occurs whenever a character fails their defense roll by 20 or more. For example, if a character’s TN during a defense roll is 14, they must roll a 34 or higher in order to suffer a critical hit. Ranged weapons can only perform critical hits within certain range restrictions (see Marksmanship).

    A critical hit has one of two effects, chosen by the attacker. The first option is to choose what type of injury will be inflicted rather than rolling. Perception Injury is the usual choice as it is much more lethal to most characters. The other option is to increase the drive of all weapons in the attack by 10. If a melee weapon has the Precise tag, its drive can be increased by 20 instead.

    Critical hits also spare a melee attacker from being struck back by a damage aura. They may still choose one of the two normal effects of a critical hit.Energy Damage     Energy damage - that is, particle, electric, heat, frost, or blast damage - always has drive equal to its damage value. For this reason, separate drive is not listed for energy weapons, and anything which decreases energy damage prior to hitting its target also reduces its drive.

    When a character suffers energy damage, they may also suffer an extra effect based on the damage type. Consider the amount of energy damage taken during the entire attack (even if multiple weapons or shots were involved):

    Heat and electric damage also risk setting large fires when used in AoEs or ZAoEs; see Environmental Hazards.

Combined Energy/Normal Damage     Energy drive is equal to the damage, but some devices and Abilities result in a weapon that has both normal damage and extra energy damage. If the normal drive is higher than that of the energy portion, use the normal drive for both portions. If the energy drive is higher than the normal drive, resolve each portion separately with its own drive. For example, if a melee weapon with a damage of 32 (15 drive) gains extra heat damage of 8, it inflicts 32 normal damage and 8 heat damage, each of which has a drive of 15. If its extra heat damage was 24 instead, it would inflict 32 normal damage with a drive of 15, and 24 heat damage with a drive of 24. Remember that the energy portion of damage may have special effects as described above (divide the energy damage by injury factor to determine how many degrees of injury were due to the energy portion). Critical hits and Abilities which increase drive apply to both the normal and energy drive. Electric damage is not halved by metallic armor even if the normal damage is halved.

    If the non-energy portion is a projectile stopped by a kinetic shield, consider the normal portion's damage and drive to be 0, and resolve the energy portion normally.

    These rules do not apply to the frag and blast elements of explosive damage, which have separate drive values in every case.

    Attacks consisting entirely of energy damage are always able to dismember limbs. If energy damage is added to a melee weapon or ranged projectile that cannot dismember limbs or has restrictions for doing so, the energy damage must follow the same rules.

Energy Shielding    Various Abilities and devices provide energy shielding, which is an effect that directly counters incoming energy damage. The exact rules - such as the amount of damage that can be shielded, and the costs to do so - vary depending on the source.

    Energy shielding rules are divided into three levels of precision, which will vary between sources:

    Low precision: The "shield" is quite distant from the source, and can only block energy attacks that originate from greater than engagement range (that is, the attack cannot come from a character you are engaged or grouped-up with). Typically this kind of shielding is used to protect entire groups or areas, and it is extremely efficient against AoEs and ZAoEs. The shielding may have even greater range - for example, a medium-range shield that can protect an entire building, but cannot be used against attacks from short-range within the shield. Low precision shielding is effective against ranged attacks consisting entirely of energy damage. Weapons that combine normal and energy damage cannot be shielded, as the energy does not emerge until the projectile hits. Low precision shielding must occur before any defense roll is attempted.

    Medium precision: The shield is specific to a single character, though it does not actually touch them. Medium precision shielding is effective against ranged attacks at any range, except from characters you are currently grappling with. Shielded attacks must be non-impact explosive blast damage, or ranged attacks that consist entirely of energy damage; melee attacks and projectiles with added energy damage still bypass the shield. Medium precision shielding must occur before any defense roll is attempted.
    Medium precision shielding cannot protect a vehicle against attacks from characters who have climbed onto it.

    High precision: The shielding forces are skin-tight or even within the character's body. High precision shielding is effective against all energy damage, regardless of the weapon or range it originates from. It occurs only after the defense roll, once the character is hit, and after considering drive. This means that armor may halve the amount of damage that needs to be shielded, but also that the shielding cannot reduce the drive of any incoming damage. A character with access to this form of shielding cannot be deafened by blast damage or ignited; providing this shielding to an already ignited character will immediately extinguish them.

    Shielding of all three levels consumes shielding points to negate damage. For example, if a character with 50 shielding points shields an energy attack of 40 damage, they subtract 40 shielding points to reduce the damage to 0, and have 10 shielding points remaining. A character cannot choose to partially shield, though their shielding points may only be sufficient to shield partially; in this case, they subtract their total shielding points from the incoming damage. Remember that (except for high-precision shielding) this will likewise reduce the attack's drive. Each source of shielding may have its own separate pool of shielding points, but some may share points with other sources. Shielding sources generally require some kind of resource (such as charge or insight) to be spent to create shielding points, which can only be done on the shielding character's own turn. The cost of points, as well as how long unused points continue to exist, will be detailed in the source Ability or device. Just as a character cannot choose to partially shield, they cannot decline to shield an eligible attack if their shielding is active. Because shielding is thusly automatic once set up, it is effective even against stealth attacks.

    During an attack, shielding occurs chronologically in order of precision; that is, low precision must occur first, then medium precision, then high precision. This may be relevant for powerful attacks that can break through one source of shielding. If there are multiple sources of the same level of shielding eligible to oppose the same attack (such as multiple arcanists with Energy Shielding - Basic, or both an arcane Ability and a tech device), the order of shielding can be freely decided. However, one source must go first; a single attack can only be split between multiple shielding sources of the same level if there is leftover damage that broke through the first source. Damage that breaks through low- or medium-precision shielding can be dodged with defense rolls as normal.

    Unless otherwise specified, all energy shielding is "one-way" - it does not interfere with the energy attacks of its beneficiaries, nor can it be used against an enemy to "trap" their energy attacks.

Shielding AoEs & ZAoEs    When shielding a character directly targeted by AoEs (including overeffect), consider the energy damage of the attack to be its original value (that is, before reduction to 50% for impact and 25% for area, for deliberate AoEs).

    If the attack is stopped by low-precision shielding, the attack is now over; it bursts too far from its target group to cause injury. It may still have other implications, such as risking collapses or starting fires, or blocking vision if affected by Frost Fog (Arcana). If the attack is only partially shielded by low-precision shielding, consider the new, smaller damage amount and check if it is now too weak to cause overeffect or a deliberate AoE (that is, below 120 or below 40). For a deliberate AoE, if the post-shielding damage is now too low to cause an AoE, it is still reduced to 50% direct damage.

    If the attack is stopped by medium- or high-precision shielding, the targeted character is protected from both impact and area damage, but the attack explodes within the group and area damage affects other characters and the environment as normal. Because shielding blocks and redirects energy rather than negating it, the AoE damage is unchanged for surrounding characters, even if fully or partially shielded for the target; base the AoE on its pre-shielding damage values. If the target character partially shields the damage with medium-precision shielding but evades direct damage with a defense roll, they take area damage based on the lower post-shielding damage value (if still strong enough to cause area damage). When facing area damage (whether or not the main target was shielded), each affected character is shielded separately; first roll to see if they are affected according to normal AoE hit chance rules, then consider each affected character to be hit by a separate attack or weapon (different shielding sources may be used for each character).

    An explosive or grenade device may cause energy damage, but cannot be shielded by low-precision shielding. Impact damage cannot be shielded by medium-precision shielding either, as the energy damage does not exist until the physical device explodes. Area damage for other characters (or the target character, if they succeed on their defense roll) can be shielded via medium-precision shielding in the same way as other energy AoEs.

    Since ZAoEs do not have impact damage, ignore any rule regarding impact damage (for example, there is no situation in which a ZAoE is only shieldable by high-precision shielding). When blocked by a low-precision energy shield, consider the energy damage of the attack to be 2 times the high damage value of a cluster ZAoE, or 3 times the relevant damage value for a point ZAoE; if it's unclear whether high or low damage applies in the shielded location during a point ZAoE, use the high value. A ZAoE still affects the rest of the zone(s); only the area inside the low-precision shield is spared. If the ZAoE is partially shielded by low-precision shielding, proportionally reduce the high and low damage values against characters within the shield. Low-precision shielding is not effective against a ZAoE that originates from inside the shield; this includes cluster bombs and rocket pods, which do not create blast damage until they hit the ground.

    AoEs and ZAoEs that hit shielding still count their normal damage values for the purposes of fire hazard and collapse rules.

Pseudogravity    Various Abilities and devices create pseudogravity - an adamant-based phemomenon capable of moving objects and characters from a distance. The exact applications will be detailed in the rules for the Ability or device, but all pseudogravity follows these general rules.

    Pseudogravity is rather imprecise, especially at high power levels, which may impact the applications. For example, it is precise enough to lift a single character from a group or grapple, or grab an unattended object, but not enough to press a specific button on an Alacrian computer. Likewise, attempting to lift an item from a character's hands or inventory will amount to an attempt to lift the character.

    Pseudogravity of any kind consumes pseudogravity points to create its effects. Each Ability or device may have its own pool of points, or it may share points with other sources. Pseudogravity sources generally require some kind of resource (such as charge or insight) to be spent to create points, which can only be done on the user's own turn. The cost of points, as well as how long unused points continue to exist, will be detailed in the source Ability or device. When points are expended, the amount expended is compared to some fraction of the target's pound weight to determine if it can be affected by that use of pseudogravity. If the target is a character, remember to consider their inventory as well when determining weight.

    An unwilling character with a flying SPD is more difficult to affect with pseudogravity; such characters may consider their pound weight to be higher for the purposes of how pseudogravity points affect them. This effective increase is a percentage equal to 10 times their flying SPD (i.e. 30% more weight if they have 3 flying SPD, 40% more for 4 flying SPD, and so forth). This defense is usable even if the target is not currently using their flying SPD, so long as they have paid whatever resource (if any) is necessary to have access to that SPD this round. If the character chose not to resist using flying SPD, they cannot reverse this decision until their next movement phase.

    Pseudogravity movement (except for that which grants a flying SPD) cannot put a character into group defense. It cannot put an item into group defense, unless a character already in defense uses it to grab an item into their hand. Likewise, it cannot assist a character in bypassing group defense. However, if it is capable of at least short range movement, it can remove a character from group defense, or from a group entirely. Any notable pseudogravity movement removes a character from cover.

    Dedicated pseudogravity defenses usually create an effect called ætherial silencing. This does not refer to literal silence, but a dampening of the artificial distortions of the æther created by pseudogravity, usually across a large area. This effect will be described as a number - for example, a device may create "4 silencing." Whenever pseudogravity points are expended within an area of silencing, the total number of expended points is divided by the amount of silencing to obtain the actual number of points that are effective. For example, 4 silencing would mean that 4 times the normal number of pseudogravity points would be required to lift a certain object. Silencing affects only new expenditures of points, not lasting effects of previous expenditures. Whenever a pseudogravity action would move an object, silencing is considered at the location the object begins in, not its destination. Similarly, pseudogravity users are unaffected by silencing in their own location, unless that is also the location of the effect they're trying to create. Silencing has no effect on gravnet airships due to the size and stability of their pseudogravity arrays.

    Multiple silencings stack, but only in a diminishing way. If a single use of pseudogravity points would be affected by multiple areas of silencing, begin with the greatest silencing, then increase the amount by 1/4 the sum of all other silencing amounts. For example, two overlapping areas of 4 silencing would create a total effect of 5 silencing.

    The amount of pseudogravity points being expended must be decided by the user before taking the required action to use them. If they are thwarted by an unforeseen use of silencing or flight, they cannot increase the points to compensate. Fortunately, some Abilities and devices will inform the user of how much silencing is active in the target's area prior to deciding point amounts.

    Expending pseudogravity points in any way causes the user to become a dim light source, reverting them to Low Stealth. The target does not glow, but both user and target emit a distinctive sound. Silencing is not visible or audible, and can only be detected with certain Abilities and devices. Powerful uses of pseudogravity also tend to create sudden wind in the local zone, but this is not sufficient to notably affect characters. Contrary to some commoners' belief, pseudogravity does not move objects with the wind; rather, the wind is the result of momentum being channeled into the surrounding atmosphere to produce the opposite force on the affected object.

Damage Auras      Some Abilities and devices can create damage auras - stored damage that reacts to melee attackers. Whenever any character touches you, hits you with a melee weapon, natural weapon, unarmed attack, Grab Item, or Trip/Dismount/Throw, or ends their turn grappling with you, you may expend an amount of stored damage from a damage aura to automatically hit them; the amount must be the full stored damage, or a multiple of 10. This damage cannot be dodged and (if energy damage) can only be shielded by high-precision energy shielding. Any injuries inflicted are Core Injuries. Melee attacks that score critical hits do not provoke a hit from damage auras (in addition to the normal effects of a critical hit). Dual-wielded melee weapons provoke only a single hit.

    It's possible to have multiple damage auras simultaneously, but if this is the case, only a single aura can react to a single attack/touch/grapple. Unless otherwise specified, each source Ability or device creates only one damage aura each, and all the damage stored in a single aura must be of the same type. Different sources of damage auras have different maximum stored damage values, as well as different rates at which unused damage "expires." Non-energy damage auras will specify drive.

    When a character with a damage aura is hit, resolve both incidents of damage before considering the actual effects of any Injuries. In other words, the damage aura still hits back even if the provoking attack kills the defender, and the attack is not hampered even if the damage aura kills the attacker.

    Generally, a damage aura is visible, particularly energy damage auras. The exact amount of stored damage may not be known. Whenever you have any amount of energy damage stored in a damage aura, you revert to Low Stealth and are a moderate light source.

    If a damage aura's damage has an effect that normally lasts "until the end of the attacker's next turn" (for example, electric damage's stun), take "attacker" as the character who attacked and took damage from the aura, not the character who inflicted damage with the aura.

    Regardless of stated duration, it is a free action on your turn to maintain your damage auras. This means that damage auras expire at the end of your turn if you are unable to take actions (for example, if you are incapacitated, paralyzed, or pinned). If you are only able to take purely mental actions, you may only maintain auras that were created by purely mental actions. The free action to maintain auras does not prevent any other actions related to aura Abilities or devices, and it is never slowing or verbal. Auras that originate from devices expire immediately if their device is disabled or dropped.