Dodging

A “dodge” is an active attempt to
move out of the perceived path of an
attack. This is often the best defense
when you’re not skilled with your
weapon and you have no shield, when
you’re attacked multiple times, or
when your foe has such a powerful
weapon that you fear parrying or
blocking it may destroy your weapon
or shield.
Dodge is normally the only active
defense you can take against firearms.
This does not mean you can actually
dodge bullets! A dodge against this
kind of attack represents an attempt
not to be where you think your oppo-
nent will shoot, by weaving or ducking
at the right moment.
Your Dodge active defense is Basic
Speed + 3, dropping all fractions, less
a penalty equal to your encumbrance
level (see Encumbrance and Move,
p. 17). List Dodge on your character
sheet for quick reference.
You may dodge any attack except
one that you did not know about! You
only get one Dodge roll against a given
attack.
If a single rapid-fire attack scores
multiple hits, a successful Dodge roll
lets you avoid one hit, plus additional
hits equal to your margin of success. A
critical success lets you dodge all hits
you took from that attack.
Example: A machine gun gets four
hits against you. Your Dodge is 10.
You roll an 8, succeeding by 2. You
dodge three of the hits; only one bullet
strikes you.
You only get one active defense
against each attack, unless you use All-
Out Defense (Double Defense), but
there is no limit to the number of
times you may dodge different attacks
during your turn.