Attack From Above

Ambush from above is a good sur-
prise tactic. Roll a Quick Contest to
see if it works: your Stealth vs. the vic-
tim’s Vision. A victim walking along a
trail, alley, etc. is at -2 to notice some-
one lurking above, unless he specifi-
cally states he is looking in the trees,
high windows, etc.; then he gets +2
(but -2 to notice things on his own
level!). Peripheral Vision is of no spe-
cial value in this situation.
If you win the Quick Contest, your
victim fails to spot you. He gets no
active defense against your attack! At
the GM’s option, a particularly unwary
individual might “freeze up”; see
Surprise Attacks and Initiative (p. 393).
Even if you lose – or your target is
warned – your victim’s active defenses
are at -2 against your attack. However,
an alerted foe can take a Wait maneu-
ver and make a “stop thrust” when you
drop (see Wait, p. 366).
You can drop from any height
before attacking (a special kind of
“step”). You have an extra -2 to hit.
Regardless of the results of your
attack, you take falling damage if you
dropped from more than two yards –
see Falling (p. 431). You may attempt
an Acrobatics roll to reduce this.
Natural ambushers-from-above (e.g.,
jaguars) have Catfall (p. 41).
You can opt to drop onto your vic-
tim instead – animals often attack this
way! Resolve damage to yourself and
your target sep-
arately from
your attack.
Note that a
victim is a
soft thing to
land on, unless
he has DR 3+.