Combat in Legionnaire

Art by Ed Emshwiller

The 'combat' section of Legionnaire assures us that combat is “fairly simple.”  Note the use of “fairly” as a qualifier.  While simple compared to other Renegade Legion games – which Legionnaire asserts, “could prove to be more cumbersome than you wish” – Legionnaire combat may be less than streamlined.  Yet, who am I to judge?  Decide for yourself.

Combat occurs in a series of rounds lasting ten seconds each.  During a round, each character can move as well as perform an action (such as using a weapon, using a device, “study an opponent or area,” picking up an object, etc.).  A character can conduct “...movement and action in any manner that he wishes.”  There are four options for movement:  sprint, run, walk, and crawl.  While sprinting, a character moves a number of meters per round equal to that character's Speed.  The running rate is half of Speed, walking is one-quarter of Speed, and crawling is one-tenth.

Many games combine the concepts of Dexterity, Agility, and Speed into a single attribute.  In Legionnaire, they are separate attributes and each has a distinct function in combat.  Attacking uses Dexterity, defending uses Agility, and initiative is determined using Speed.  Specifically, at the beginning of combat, the initiative of each participant is determined by adding the result of 1d10 to the participant's Speed.  Initiative does not change for the duration of the combat.

All actions are simultaneous – sort of.  “Starting with the character with the lowest initiative,” we learn, “each player declares his actions for that round.”  As soon as a character's action is declared, any character who has not yet declared for that round can attempt to 'pre-empt' the declared action.  To be successful, the pre-empter must roll 1d10 and the result must be less than the difference between the two initiative scores.  A result of 1 always succeeds; 10 always fails.  If successful, the pre-empter resolves his (or her) action immediately, superseding the simultaneity of other actions.  Each character can attempt no more than one pre-emption per round.  Of course, a successful pre-emption doesn't mean the action that the pre-empter attempts will be successful.  More than one character can attempt to pre-empt the same action.  It is even possible to pre-empt a character attempting to pre-empt an action – a pre-pre-empt, so to speak.  Although the rules don't mention it, one presumes the possibility of a ponderous chain of attempts to pre-empt other pre-empt attempts.  If a pre-empt attempt fails, the Agility of the would-be pre-empter is halved for the remainder of the round and the character declares his (or her) action in normal initiative order.

To resolve a ranged attack, the attacker adds any situational modifiers and appropriate skill levels to his (or her) Agility, from this the defender's (possibly modified) Dexterity is subtracted.  The result is the number or less which the attacker must roll on 1d10.  As with pre-emption attempts, a roll of 10 fails and a roll of 1 succeeds.  However, with a result of 10, “a 1D10 saving roll against Luck must be made to see if the weapon jammed (or the bow string broke, etc.).”  The weapon is 'cleared' in one round with “a 2D10 skill check against IQ and the weapon skill.”  Failure to 'clear' the weapon means “the weapon is broken and will require Repair Tech, Small Equipment skill (along with suitable equipment) to fix it.”

Resolving a melee attack is handled similarly, but with additional details.  First, “Melee combat can occur between characters who start a round within 10 meters of each other.”  One supposes that characters possess sufficient Speed to close the distance.  A melee weapon may have inherent offensive and defensive modifiers.  A character can allocate melee weapon skill levels between attack and defense.  However, “Levels in a Martial Arts skills can be used both offensively and defensively at the same time.”

When an attack is successful, injury location is determined by rolling 2d10 and consulting the appropriate Hit Location Table – either Aimed or Random.  The Random Table is used when an attack is unaimed, such as “explosions and other area effect weapon fire.”  The difference between the two tables is that the “Aimed table is weighted toward the less vital areas of the body, so that skill is usually required to hit a vulnerable area when using it.”  An Aimed table result can be modified in either direction by an amount equal to the attacker's skill level.  Upper torso hits suffer double damage while strikes to the head suffer triple damage.  One of two 'simpler options' states, “Hit locations can be ignored.”

Damage is inflicted as a fixed amount.  For instance, a Protector Laser Pistol inflicts 6 damage; a dagger inflicts 1+SD.  (SD refers to Strength Damage, which equals Strength/6, rounded down.)  Armor Factor reduces damage inflicted, but not via simple subtraction.  Instead, “the hit's damage is divided by the [armor factor] of that armor (round down).”  Fortunately, “The Armor Factor Table provides the results for most attacks.”  Heavier armor can affect attributes depending upon the location of the armor.  Upper limb armor can reduce Strength and Dexterity; lower limb armor can reduce Agility and Speed.  Armor factor 6 reduces attributes by 2 while armor factor 12 reduces attributes by 4.

The rules provide the following insight:  “Anytime a character takes damage, he's hurt.”  Damage is subtracted from a character's Constitution.  Once Constitution is negative, “a character is in danger of dying.”  Death ensues if damage reaches a negative amount equal to twice Constitution.  There are four wound intensities, numbered zero through three, based on the amount of Constitution lost from a given attack.  A loss of one or two Constitution points is a “light wound.”  Otherwise, a loss of up to half a character's normal Constitution is a “moderate wound.”  More than half and up to a character's normal Constitution is a “serious wound.”  A wound greater than a character's normal Constitution is classified as “near death.”  Wounds must be stabilized in order to be treated; stabilization is rendered more difficult as wound intensity increases.

Whenever damage reduces a character's Constitution, the character must make a consciousness check.  In other words, if the result of 1d10 exceeds the character's reduced Constitution, the character “collapses, unconscious or in shock.”  As usual, 1 always succeeds, 10 always fails.  With the second of two 'simpler options' in effect, consciousness checks are not made; a character is unconscious only when Constitution falls below zero.  Absent medical assistance, a character “remains unconscious for a length of time determined by the Unconsciousness Table.”

As an optional rule, on the round after injury, Dexterity and Agility are reduced.  The amount of Constitution lost is divided as evenly as possible between Dexterity and Agility.  In the event of an odd amount of  Constitution loss, the damaged character decides which attribute is afflicted with the extra point.  “Keeping track of the numbers as they shift can be tricky,” the rules inform us, “but it adds a dimension to combat that could make a one-on-one slugfest more interesting.”

During character generation, it is possible for a character to suffer a previous injury which can reduce attributes depending on the specific hit location.  For example, intense damage to the head can reduce Intelligence and Charisma; intense damage to the upper torso can reduce Constitution and Strength.  The 'effect of injury' is determined by rolling 2d10 on a chart and indexing the result by wound intensity.  There are six possibilities, the least of which is, “The wound heals normally without permanent effect.”  The worst possibility requires a “4D10 Saving roll against Luck.”  If failed, applicable attributes are reduced by three times the wound intensity.  As an additional optional rule, these 'previous injury' rules can also be applied to wounds inflicted during play.