Astartes in combat

This post doesn't replace the Combat chapter from the rules, but is instead intended to show how combat specifically works for Astartes. To highlight some of these differences, comparisons with mortals and xenos warriors will sometimes be used.

Awareness

The 2d10 system encourages the use of actions to make Perception checks (typically using the Vigilance skill). The idea is that the more attention you pay, the easier the check becomes. Thus, a Major action spent is +0 TN (you're fully focused on your surroundings), a Minor action is +5 TN (you're paying attention), and a Free action is +10 TN (on your way to Terracbucks for a spicy soy latte recaff).

Because of the auto-senses packaged with all power armor, Astartes typically never have to use Major actions for their Active Perception checks. Using auto-senses, Free = Minor, and Minor = Major. So an Astartes can move, be fully aware of his surroundings, AND be ready to fire at a moment's notice for the price of a single Minor action. He can even be fully aware and move at full speed (convert Major to Move action, for 2 Move actions).

In addition, both the Alertness (Advantage on Perception to avoid surprise) and Battlefield Awareness (Advantage on Perception checks in combat) talents are very common among Astartes, so not only can they take Minor/Free actions without huge TN spikes, but they also have Advantage on most of their Perception checks. Additionally, the auto-senses allow the Astartes to ignore many types of Disadvantage that would normally be incurred by factors such as darkness and obstruction. 

Finally, the armor's vox suite automatically shares tactical data with friendly forces, so if one Astartes is aware, they are usually all aware. Jamming, interference, and technical issues are possible, but these systems are very robust, so this shouldn't be an issue most of the time.

Surprise

Astartes can still be ambushed or taken unawares, but it's damn rare. 

Initiative

Astartes have quick reflexes, but their reflexes are not the "wired-reflexes" kind of fast. Typically, Astartes have Agility 6-7 and Cunning 5-6, as well as the Combat Reflexes talent, so they roll 2d6 and pick the best, then add 11-13. That's high in the "Normal" range, but not enough to get more actions.

• Slow 0-9: No Minor action (Major + Move)
• Normal 10-19: No change (Major + Move + Minor)
• Fast 20-29: Bonus Minor action each turn (Major + Move + 2xMinor)
• Lightning 30-39: Bonus Major action each turn (2xMajor + Move + 2xMinor)
• Superhuman 40-49: Bonus Minor action each turn (2xMajor + Move + 3xMinor)
• Supernatural 50+: Second bonus Major action each turn (3xMajor + Move + 3xMinor)

Normal humans, including Auxilia soldiers, have 1d6+6 initiative, so will 50% of the time end up as "slow," which isn't good, but they can still use their Major action to attack, and if they don't need to move, can convert their Move into a Minor action and do Aimed fire or whatever.

Human combat veterans are typically 1d6+8 with a reroll from Combat Reflexes, so they should (almost) always end up in the Normal range and get the standard Major + Move + Minor actions. However, they'll typically act after the Astartes, which is a significant advantage since the Astartes are pretty effective in their attacks...

Tier 2 Astartes will almost always get into the Fast range and get a bonus Minor action each turn. From there to Lightning is quite a stretch. A Tier 3 Astartes could have Agility 10 + Cunning 9 + roll 4d6 and pick the 3 best dice. That's a late-stage Tier 3 Astartes that's fully committed to Initiative, so some might not reach it until Tier 4. Tier 5 Astartes can reach Superhuman levels of initiative, and might have access to talents that radically change what they can do in a turn.

Actions

Astartes are famed for their ability to put out a lot of fire on target, and they do this through a combination of high initiative, good equipment, high skill levels, and clever use of their Major (Attack), Move, and Minor actions. Plus any bonus actions from high initiative, and clever uses of their Minor actions to fuel many combat talents.

What's a major action, anyway? In this system, anything that interrupts your shooting is considered a Major action; for example, switching magazines is a Major action. Some talents, such as Fast Hands, can help reduce the cost of some Major actions to 1 Minor action.

Downgrading actions: You can downgrade ONE action each turn. So you can turn a Major into a second Move, for example, to move at least twice as far. Or turn your Move into a second Minor action.

All of this combines, so a Fast (20+ Initiative) Astartes with a bonus Minor action can downgrade their Move to get THREE minor actions (this can unlock some interesting combos).

Movement

Astartes in power armor move faster than normal humans (16m vs 12m, so a pretty big difference, especially when running or sprinting) and can ignore many instances of Difficult terrain. They just plow straight through it, being unconcerned with mud, jagged rocks, or spiky bushes. Very Difficult terrain can be treated as Difficult, and some (but not all) terrain types that are Impassable might be passable for Astartes.

Keep moving: Although movement is abstracted, you do want to keep moving. If you did not spend your Move action to move at least 2m on your turn, you cannot use your Dodge defense and must instead rely on base TNs from range and cover (see below). If you're at long range, in cover, and/or facing light infantry only, this might not be an issue. But if facing tough opposition at short range, it's probably not a good idea.

Attacks

You attack using your combat skills.

• Base TN is determined by the type of attack, range, and a host of other factors, ranging from 10 to 40+
• The target's Dodge (vs. both ranged or melee) or Parry (vs. melee only) Defense is used instead if it is higher.

This means that, vs. a melee attack, you probably always want to Parry unless you have a very high Dodge. Against ranged attacks, you might end up dodging a lot at closer ranges, but when you're at longer range or in cover, you might use base TN unless your Dodge is sky high.

Ranged attacks

Base TN for ranged attacks is 20. This is an attack within the weapon's effective combat range against a battlefield target under battlefield conditions. That's approximately 15m for a pistol-type weapon and 100m for a long-range weapon, such as a bolter or lasgun. At twice that, the TN is 25, and at 60m/400m, the TN is 30, which is typically the maximum practical range for a weapon, as the TN increases to 40 at longer ranges.

Shooting at a static target is usually TN 10, although this will vary depending on the target size.

A typical Auxila soldier has a Dodge of 20; a veteran might have a Dodge of 22-23. These guys will want to stay in cover most of the time! Astartes are in the 25+ range, so they are at a level where their Dodge is actually quite relevant.

The same Auxilia soldier probably has a Ranged (Precision) skill of about 10 (3+3+4), with veterans and snipers having as much as 14-16 (and probably some useful talents to go with their skill). Astartes, however, typically start at around 16-18 and increase from there, with veterans easily reaching 20 (and likely possessing better gear and more talents).

This means Astartes are hitting a lot, even at long range, and they hit well enough for bonus damage with their already devastating weapons. The mortals hit a lot less, and they don't hit well when they do, and they have trouble damaging the Astartes. And that's just the shooting; to say nothing of battlefield awareness, tactics, morale, and so on.

Fire modes

Bolters can fire in semi-automatic (SA) mode. This uses a Major action, consumes only 2 ammo, but doesn't provide any particular benefits beyond being the most effective way to utilize your ammo.

• SA can be combined with the Aimed Shot attack option (using 1 Minor action), giving you +1d6 damage but also Disadvantage. Remember that the suit's targeter removes 1 Disadvantage, so with Aimed Shot, you basically trade 1 Minor action for +1d6 extra damage.
• Many Astartes use Double Tap to boost their damage with SA, trading a Minor action for +1d6 extra damage. This stacks with Aimed Shot (as long as you have 2 Minor actions to spend).
• SA mode can also be combined with the Fire Discipline talent to make sure you "never" run out of ammo.

The default Astartes attack, however, is a burst fire (BF) attack with a bolter. This uses a Major action, eats 5 units of ammo, and either gives Advantage on the attack or +1d6 damage on a hit.

• Either +1d6 damage or Advantage.
• This can be combined with the Aimed Shot attack option (using 1 Minor action), the same as for SA attacks, giving either +1d6 damage & Advantage or +2d6 damage (but no Advantage).

Advantage is very powerful and might, in turn, deal more damage, but don't forget that Astartes are such skilled shots to begin with; they almost always hit and very often achieve Solid and/or Perfect hits. If shooting at low Defense targets, more damage is better; otherwise, Advantage is probably better. The target's PT is also important; perhaps you need both perfect hits and maximum extra damage to penetrate? 

Finally, bolters can do automatic fire (AF) attacks. This uses 15 ammo (so a third of the clip of a regular bolter) and, unlike SA/BF, 1 Minor action (in addition to the Major action oc). You have three distinct options:

• Attack a single target, gaining either +2d6 damage or +1d6 damage & Advantage.
• Attack up to three separate targets (one per 5 shots fired, basically) that are at Close range (a few meters apart) relative to one another. Each attack has Disadvantage.

Melee attacks

The TN for a melee attack is 10 if the target isn't defending. 

If the target is defending, use Parry defense instead.

Hulking: Astartes in PA are so big and mean that they have an advantage on all melee attacks against smaller opponents (ork nobs are not smaller, for example, but mortals are) and those opponents have Disadvantage in return. Which in turn means that, even if you are swarmed by smaller opponents, the Advantage they get is nullified by your sheer size.

Defenses

Dodge

Equal to 14 + Agility + Cunning

So an ordinary soldier is Dodge 20-22, but most Astates are 25-28. It might not seem like a huge difference, but it actually is. The difference is significant enough that some attacks will outright miss, but even those that hit will usually only be normal hits and get no damage bonuses. Which, when coupled with armor, will stop many more attacks.

• Remember that Astartes Power armor does not encumber the wearer in any way and does not reduce your Dodge defense when worn (regular PA would be -5 to Dodge, even light PA is -2).
• Dodge defense absolutely requires you to be moving. If you do not move (you didn't spend a Move action to actually move, either because you're in cover or used your Move for something other than movement) on your turn, you use base difficulty instead.
• Example: You have Dodge 28, but you're in cover, so you don't want to move. Some xenos or the other is shooting at your Astartes at Medium range (TN 20) with Full cover (+10). The TN for the attacker is thus 30.
• Example: Later, you stop in the open to convert your Move into a Minor action (for some Talent tricks). The range is pretty long, so the base TN to hit you is 25, not that much lower than your Dodge, so it's a worthwhile tradeoff.
• Example: You are held in place by the psychic power of a xenos beast. You count as Helpless. The beast's human thralls rush forward. The TN to hit you is only 10. Fortunately, they are armed with little more than sticks and stones. Except that one big guy with the horns... is that your power sword in his hand?.

Parry

Equal to 11+ your Brawl or Melee skill, depending on what you're defending with (hint: defending with Brawl is not always the right choice).

Composure

Your "social" defense. 

No special rules.

Disipline

Your "mental/willpower" defense.

And They Shall Know No Fear: Astartes are immune to mundane sources of fear. They are not anxious or jittery in the face of the unknown, nor do they flinch under fire. In a sense, their "flight" instinct has been purged, leaving only "fight." That does NOT, however, mean they are suicidal. They will gladly go to their deaths if that serves a purpose or there is no other way out, but they WILL retreat or change their tactics if that will improve their chances of victory.

Furthermore, even when at maximum adrenaline (and whatever combat drugs they are taking), Astartes will have clarity of mind and purpose. They do not devolve into simple, frenzied slaughter. If they do, it is deliberate and calculated to be the optimum way to pursue the encounter.

Astartes are not immune to supernatural horror, but given their high Discipline defense, they can usually resist all but the most potent of cosmic horrors (and those are just superstitious nonsense anyway).

Resilience

Your "physical hardiness" defense. 

Your PA grants you a +2 bonus to Resilience.

Damage and injury

Sooner or later, you'll not only get hit, but you'll get hurt. Astartes are very hardy, but the number of deadly weapons is not insignificant. That said, the chance of an Astartes just dying outright to a single random lasgun shot is minuscule. A power klaw or lascannon, however...

Armor

Armor is easy to understand: there are two values, Penetration Threshold (PT) and Damage Reduction (DR). 

If a weapon does LESS damage than PT, it doesn't penetrate, and does NO DAMAGE. Essentially, it bounces off the armor, gets absorbed by a refractor field, or whatever.

If a weapon does damage equal to or greater than the PT, it penetrates. The damage suffered by the target is REDUCED by a percentage equal to DR.

• For example, if you have PT 30/DR 50 and are hit for 40 damage, the attack does penetrate, but you only take 50% damage, or 20 points.

Astartes in power armor have an effective PT 40/DR 70 (DR 60 from the armor +10 from the Black Carapace), so even when they get penetrated, they usually won't die or be taken out of the fight. 

In the case of Astartes power armor, conceptually, a large part of the DR is damage stopped by the armor, the rest is tied to the suit's auto-doc systems that can help keep the man inside fighting despite injuries.

Cover

Cover is kind of like armor in that it provides PT/DR against shots that hit the cover. However, the attacker can try to hit the exposed parts of the target by taking +5 (for half cover) or +10 (for Full cover) to their TN.

Is cover useful for Astartes? Well, the answer is: sometimes. If you have very high Dodge, you have less use for cover, of course, provided you keep moving. But if you can't or won't move, or you really need an extra Minor action, then cover can be very useful indeed. That said, if the range is very long (low hit chance) or the weapons used against you are light (no to little chance of penetration), you might as well just stand in the open (famous last words).

Injury thresholds

All characters have 5 injury thresholds: Light, Moderate, Serious, Critical, and Lethal.

These are all derived from your total Health. Astartes have very high Health thanks to their massive Strength and Vitality scores. Anything less than 36 HLT would be rare for Astartes, and 40+ is common enough. Ordinary humans have 20 HLT; a real tough guy could have 25. Your typical ork boy is around 30 HLT (ST 7, VT 6), but the really big unz can have 40 no problem.

Generally speaking, injuries inflict a secondary Stamina hit, reduce your Initiative by 10 or more for X turns (probably costing you actions), and also give you Disadvantage for X turns.

Astartes suffer the same effects as everyone else. Yes, they are big and mean and have special blood and all that, but that's all baked into their Health to begin with. An Astartes taking a Serious injury has taken enough damage to instantly kill a normal person (blow him apart, actually). And when you factor in armor, he was probably hit by something that could cripple a light tank. So no, you don't simply shrug and walk it off.

Light injury (less than 25% of HLT, or less than 10 if you have 39 HLT)

• Suffer 3 Fatigue
• Make a Resilience defense check TN 20 or fall prone.
• Reduce your Initiative by 10 and suffer Disadvantage on all checks. Duration: 1 round.

PT 40/DR70 means this will never happen. This is deliberate; weapons this weak simply do not penetrate power armor!

Moderate injury (25% or more of HLT, or 10 or more if you have 39 HLT)

• Suffer 5 Fatigue
• Make a Resilience defense check TN 25 or fall prone and be Stunned for 1 round.
• Reduce your Initiative by 10 and suffer Disadvantage on all checks. Duration: 1d6+1 rounds.

PT 40/DR70 means that this is the most common type of wound. 

• If a shot does 40 damage = 12 final damage, 50 damage = 15 final damage
• A bolter round doing 50 damage would overpenetrate and do 25 damage (20 if it were a Kraken) instead, pushing it to the next higher category!

Serious injury (50% or more of HLT, or 20 or more if you have 39 HLT)

This is where the fun begins!

• Suffer 10 Fatigue
• Make a Resilience defense check TN 30 or fall prone and be Stunned for 1d6+1 rounds.
• If you succeed, you remain standing but are still Stunned for 1 round.
• Reduce your Initiative by 10 and suffer Disadvantage on all checks. Duration: Indefinitely.

PT 40/DR70 means that at least 60 damage must be done.

• So for Tyndarios, that's 20 or more damage from a single hit. That might sound like a lot when you're wearing DR 70 armor, but imagine getting hit by an overpenetrating heavy bolter round that reduces DR to "only" 50. Then anything doing 40+ damage (which is incidentally enough to pen PA) will cause this level of injury.

Critical injury (75% or more of HLT, or 30 or more if you have 39 HLT)

• Suffer 20 Fatigue
• Drop prone and be stunned for 1d6+3 rounds.
• Reduce your Initiative by 20, lose 1 Move action each turn, and you cannot attempt Reactions or skill checks (including attacks). Duration: Indefinitely.
• Every round, you suffer 1d6 additional damage applied directly to your total. This continues until you either die or receive first aid.

Lethal injury (100% or more of HLT, or 39 or more if you have 39 HLT)

• Suffer 40 Fatigue
• Drop prone and become Unconscious regardless of your Fatigue thresholds. 
• Your Initiative is set to 0 and cannot be increased.
• You expire in 1d6+1 rounds unless stabilized.
• Even if stabilized, you require immediate, extensive medical care, including trauma surgery, or you will die within 1d6+1 hours.

Cumulative damage

Taking lots of minor hits can also take you out of the fight:

Equal to or greater than your HLT (39 HLT for Tyndarios)

You're incapacitated. Whether or not you're unconscious is up to the GM, but regardless, you're unable to act beyond muttering a few words or screaming in pain.

Equal to or greater than your HLTx2 (78 HLT for Tyndarios)

You are dead, or will be very soon, unless an Apothecary miraculously saves you.

First aid

First aid can stabilize serious injuries to prevent further damage or death and restore a small amount of Health. Once you’ve received first aid, you cannot benefit from first aid until you’re injured anew.

• Light injuries (TN 15): Restores 1d6+1 Health (+1 for every 5 MoS, to a maximum of 1d6+3).

• Moderate injuries (TN 20): Restores 1 Health (+1 for every 5 MoS, to a maximum of 3). 

• Serious injuries (TN 25): You count as being Moderately injured, with no other effects.

• Critical injuries (TN 30): You count as being Seriously injured. 

• You do not suffer additional damage.

• Lethal Injuries (TN 30): You count as being Critically injured. 

• You do not suffer additional damage.
• You still require intensive medical care, or you will die.

Special Astartes rules:

• Astartes in PA always count as having a Medkit when trying to target themselves with the Medicae skill, which effectively cancels out the Disadvantage for self-healing. 

• They can also help their battle brothers without needing to remove their armor; the suit and the medical and armorsmith tools provided are specifically designed for this type of work.

Stamina and fatigue

Stamina reflects a character’s endurance and ability to perform strenuous actions. The system does NOT track Stamina on a round-to-round basis. Instead, fatigue is incurred through secondary injury effects, the use of certain talents, and above all, by the use of psychics.

That's not to say that Fatigue can't be incurred by strenuous activity. It can. But this would be more like a role-playing tool. The GM might inform the players that they are down to half Stamina because they've been tracking through the jungle or for a day. Or that breathing in those noxious fumes is causing 1 Fatigue each turn.

• Fatigued  ≥ 50% of Stamina: You are getting tired, but you can still fight. It’s time to take a break, though.

• You lose 1 Move action each turn.

• Exhausted ≥ 100% of Stamina: You’re completely exhausted. You need to lie down and just breathe.

• Reduce your Initiative to 0.
• You immediately collapse (drop prone). You’re still conscious.
• You can only do 1 Minor action each turn, regardless of your remaining Initiative.
• If you do nothing (except maybe some Free actions) for 1 minute (10 turns), you regain 1 Stamina until you are no longer exhausted.

• Unconscious ≥ 200% of Stamina: You’re beyond exhausted.

• You immediately collapse (drop prone). You’re unconscious, so you can’t take action, and initiative is no longer relevant.
• You regain 1 point for stamina for every 10 minutes that pass until you’re no longer Unconscious.

Resting

If you’re Exhausted or Unconscious, you automatically recover (at the specified rates) until you have 1 point of Stamina. Beyond that, you need to rest to recover. Or use stim patches or certain combat drugs, but that’s hardly a long-term viable strategy.

There are two kinds of resting:

Short Rests: 

• Max per Day: 2
• Duration: Approximately 1 hour (something a little more than a quick breather).
• Stamina Recovery: Recover 50% stamina.

If characters don’t have time for a 1-hour break, the GM can allow a shorter rest (10 minutes, for example), but this will only recover 25% of stamina and still use up a short rest for the day.

Long Rests:

• Max per Day: 1
• Duration: Approximately 8 hours (basically a whole night’s sleep).
• Stamina Recovery: Recovers all stamina.

If conditions are less than ideal, or the rest is interrupted, the GM can still allow partial recovery, for instance, 50% for 4-5 hours or 8 hours in the wilderness without shelter.

Stimms

Stimms can be taken by anyone. The PA's auto-doc can also administer them.

A stim patch removes 1d6+3 points of Fatigue.

• After 1d6x10 minutes, make a Resilience check DC 20. 

• If successful, you suffer no ill effects. 
• If you fail, you suffer 2d6+6 Fatigue.

• For each additional stim patch used between long rests, increase DC by 5 and add together the Fatigue hit for each patch.