Active Defense Rolls

The defender rolls 3d against his
active defense score. If his roll is less
than or equal to his effective defense,
he dodged, parried, or blocked the
attack. Otherwise, his active defense
was ineffective and the attack struck
home. If this occurs, roll for damage.
An active defense roll of 3 or 4 is
always successful – even if your effec-
tive defense score was only 1 or 2! A
roll of 17 or 18 always fails.
Your foe does not get to attempt a
defense roll if you rolled a critical hit
against him.
Several modifiers apply to active
defense rolls; see below for explana-
tions of a few of these. For a complete
list of modifiers, see Active Defense
Modifiers (p. 548).