Animals in Combat

To play animals realistically,
remember that:
• Most animals fear man and flee
rather than attack. Exceptions include
a mother defending her young; an
insect swarm defending its nest; an
old or wounded “man-eater” predator;
a creature so stupid it doesn’t realize
men are dangerous; a creature so
powerful men aren’t dangerous; or a
large
herbivore
(bison,
rhino,
Triceratops), which might charge any-
thing out of sheer orneriness.
• In a balanced ecology, predators
are comparatively rare, prey species
common.
Use the combat rules in Chapters
11-13 for animals, just as you would
for humans, with special attention to
Multi-Hex Figures (p.
392) and
Trampling (p. 404). A few other notes:
Reach: A beast’s reach is “C” (“close
combat only”) unless its description
notes otherwise. Most animals initiate
combat with a grapple or a slam, fol-
lowed by an attempt to crush the foe
or tear him to pieces in close combat.
Defense: Animals usually defend by
dodging. Dodge is Basic Speed + 3,
dropping all fractions. Most animals
have No Fine Manipulators (included
in
Ichthyoid,
Quadruped,
and
Vermiform) and, therefore, cannot
parry. Those with manipulators (e.g.,
apes) can parry. Unarmed Parry is
(DX/2) + 3 or (Brawling/2) + 3. No nat-
ural animal can block. Many animals
have Combat Reflexes, which adds +1
to defenses.
Traits:
Acute Vision 3; Combat
Reflexes; DR 2; Enhanced Move 1
(Air Speed 24); Flight (Winged; Air
Move 12); Quadruped; Sharp Beak;
Sharp Claws; Wild Animal.
Skills: Brawling-14.
Strix
A strix (plural striges) is a blood-
sucking, birdlike creature about the
size of a crow, with a long beak and
large eyes. Striges are nocturnal. A
strix attacks with its long, barbed
beak. If the attack penetrates armor,
the strix sucks its victim’s blood.
Swarm Attack Examples
Bats. A “swarm” is about a dozen carnivorous bats. Flies at Move 8.
Does 1d cutting damage per turn. Armor protects with its normal DR.
Dispersed after losing 8 HP.
Bees. A “swarm” is about 1,000 common bees. Flies at Move 6.
Stings for 1 HP of injury per turn unless the victim is completely pro-
tected. Dispersed after losing 12 HP. Will give up the attack if foe is
chased 50 yards from hive. Note that bothering a hive may get several
such swarms after you!
Rats. A “swarm” is about a dozen rats. It has Move 4. Does 1d cut-
ting damage per turn. Armor protects with its normal DR. Dispersed
after losing 6 HP.
Armor: A creature’s hide, shell, fur,
etc. may give DR, as indicated in its
Traits entry.
Swarm Attacks
Treat a group of small creatures as
a unit when it attacks. This “swarm”
fills one hex on a combat map. A
swarm attacks the victim(s) in its own
hex (if you are not using a combat
map, it attacks one person per sec-
ond), and will not change victims
without a good reason.
A swarm attack hits automatically –
there is no attack or defense roll.
Every turn until it is dispersed, it does
the listed damage to its victim(s).
Special clothing (a wetsuit or bee-
keeper’s suit, or high-tech airtight
armor) may protect against some
types of swarm. Against tiny creatures
like insects, ordinary clothing gives
complete immunity for two seconds,
while low-tech armor protects for five
seconds; then the bugs get in and the
Striges have excellent aim, and can
even attack through the eyeslits of a
helm. Only two striges can strike thus
in a second, but a successful hit can
also blind the eye!
ST 5; DX 15; IQ 4; HT 11.
Will 10; Per 10; Speed 6.5; Dodge 9;
Move 2 (Ground).
SM -1; 18 lbs.
Traits: Bloodlust (9); Flight (Winged;
Air Move 12); Night Vision 5; No
Fine Manipulators; Vampiric Bite;
Wild Animal.
Skills: Brawling-17.
protection
becomes
worthless!
Against larger creatures like rats,
armor protects indefinitely with its
normal DR.
Special tactics may work on some
types of swarms. For instance, one can
destroy bees with insecticide or baffle
them by leaping into a pond. This is
up to the players’ cleverness and the
GM’s common sense.
Attacking a Swarm: Any attack
against a swarm hits automatically.
The swarm gets no defense roll. (A
swarm of hard-to-hit creatures just
requires more damage to disperse.) A
swarm takes damage as if it were
Diffuse – see Injury to Unliving,
Homogenous, and Diffuse Targets
(p. 380). Shields can crush flying crea-
tures; a shield does 2 HP per turn, and
can attack at the same time as a
weapon. Stomping does 1 HP per turn
to nonflying vermin, and can be done
while attacking with a weapon.
getry of some kind, ranging from primitive
to futuristic . . . and often including things
which are magical or just weird. These
rules describe how to create and use all
kinds of devices, what happens when they
are damaged, and how to fix them.
means of getting somewhere. But it could
be a source of extra firepower . . . or even
part of a character concept! A fighter
plane or mecha might be the high-tech
equivalent of a knight’s trusty steed, and a
party on the move might call a pirate ship
or star cruiser “home” for adventure after
adventure.