Combat in Enforcers

Art by Christine Mansfield

In Enforcers, combat transpires in a series of fifteen second rounds.  A round consists of 75 'counts' lasting one-fifth of a second each.  A 'Combat Initiative Chart' (shown below) is used to record the characters' initiative scores in a given round.  Note that the footer gives “permission to photocopy or cut out only this chart from the book.”  No such permission is granted regarding the blank character sheets printed on the inner front and back covers.

Interestingly, according to Lawrence Schick's Heroic Worlds, 21st Century Games sold a “Delux Initiative Set” for Enforcers (“Plasticized initiative chart, reusable, and three-hole punched for insertion in a binder” – also included a grease pencil); this product is not listed on RPGGeek.com.  Anyway...

A character’s initiative is calculated by rolling 1d10 and adding this number to the character’s ADX score.  If the character has the super power Heightened Reflexes [sic], this needs to be added as well.

Once a character’s initiative is determined, the number equal to the character’s initiative should be located and marked on the Initiative Chart with the character’s initials.

There is no power with the name Heightened Reflexes; presumably, the author meant Super Reflexes (each level of which adds 10 to initiative).

When combat begins, the GM will start in row 1, column 1 of the Initiative Chart and begin counting columns to the right.  When the end of one row is reached, the GM will start counting in row 2, column 1 and continue to the right…

Characters receive offensive actions in the column where their initiative score is plotted, in the row where their initiative score is plotted, and in all rows higher.  For example, a character with an initiative score of 35 receives an offensive action in column 11 of rows 1, 2, and 3.

This process is reminiscent of the combat system in Villains & Vigilantes (although V&V does not employ a chart):  turns last fifteen seconds, initiative is determined by adding 1d10 to Agility, and a character is entitled to an action for every fifteen 'phases' of his or her initiative.

Let’s see how Enforcers initiative plays out.  We have two characters:  Sloth-Man (with an ADX of 4) and Captain Hotfoot (with an ADX of 30 and three levels of Super Reflexes).  The result of the initiative roll for both characters is 5.  For this round of combat, Sloth-Man has an initiative score of 9; the score for Captain Hotfoot is 65.  Captain Hotfoot has five offensive actions this round but Sloth-Man has only one.

Combat begins.  We start at row 1, column 1 and begin counting to the right:  15 ...14 ...13 ...12 ...11 ...10 ...9 – Sloth-Man may now commit an offensive action 0.8 seconds before Captain Hotfoot is permitted to do the same this round.  [Insert sad trombone]

Well, the authors stated that Enforcers is “the easiest, fastest, most flexible super-power role-playing game.”  They made no claim regarding logic or common sense.

The amount of damage that a character inflicts in hand-to-hand combat is based on carrying capacity.  “Table 5 presents the meleé damage table,” we read, “look up your character's carrying capacity and this will give you the character's meleé DAM#.”  This seems reasonable.  Given below is the “formula [the authors] used to calculate the values on the meleé damage table.”

CC DAM#X = (DAM#X × 100) + (CC DAM#X – 1) + (DAM#X³ × LOG{DAM#X} × 0.7)

Apparently, the authors put a great deal of thought into this ...or did they?  Here is the first portion of Table 5:

Carrying capacity (in pounds) is determined thus:  (STR/10)³ x W* x 25.  A person weighing 180 lbs. and possessing a Strength of 11 (i.e., average) has a carrying capacity of 133 lbs.  According to the table, that means the person would have a DAM# of 2.

In Enforcers, there is no table describing meleé weapons.  Instead, “Striking weapons do damage based on their weight.”  Specifically, we are told, “Find the object's weight on [Table 5], and the DAM# given is amount of damage done by the object.”  A crow bar weighs about five pounds, so the DAM# would be 1.  This means a normal, unarmed person inflicts twice the amount of damage that a person wielding a crow bar would inflict.  [Insert sad trombone]  At least, “Objects with sharp edges used as slashing weapons will do triple this amount.”

A critical hit results when an attack roll is equal to or less than 10% of the attack's adjusted basic chance to hit (ABCTH).  Should the ABCTH exceed one hundred, “the maximum legal percentage” is ten percent.  To determine hit location, we are advised to “please roll 2d6 and consult the proper column in Table 11.”

Um, what column would that be?  When Table 11 is reprinted in the back of the book, we see that – from left to right – the columns are:  front, back, side, and below.  Each critical hit has a severity from one to six; determined by rolling 1d6.  This suggests six levels of severity; however, such is not the case.  There are actually three levels of severity, each having a separate table:  light (severity 1 - 3), medium (severity 4 - 5), and extreme (severity 6).  For the neck location, the effect of light severity is 2 × normal damage and “target loses next action.”  The effect of medium severity is 4 × normal damage and “15% paralyzed otherwise lose next action.”  Finally, the effect of extreme severity is 6 × normal damage, “20% dead, 50% paralyzed, [otherwise] target is stunned for rest of round.”

For an attack, rolling in excess of the 'fumble factor' means the character has fumbled.  Fumble factor equals 89 + (ABCTH/10), but a “roll of 00 is always a fumble regardless of the character's fumble factor.”  There are three fumble tables, each requiring a roll of 1d10:  Hand-To-Hand, Ranged Attack, and Missile Weapon.  A roll of '2' on the hand-to-hand table means, “Strained arm, –40% to hit for rest of round.”  A roll of '1' on the ranged attack table indicates, “Distracted, save vs. Intelligence on d% or lose next offensive action.”  A roll of '3' on the missile weapon table indicates, “Missile arc to [sic] high ...Hits ceiling for normal damage and may hit a random target on the ground.”