5.9 Universal Combat Abilities
This section lists combat abilities that all characters can use.
| Ability | Usage Time | Brief Description | Tags |
| Charge | Standard | Move and make a strike |
— |
| Desperate Exertion | Non-action | Reroll an attack or check with a +2 bonus | — |
| Escape Grapple | Standard | Stop being grappled | Brawling |
| Grapple | Standard | Start grappling with a foe | Brawling, Size-Based |
| Maintain Grapple | Free action | Continue grappling with a foe | Brawling, Swift |
| Ready Reaction | Standard | Ready an action | — |
| Recover | Standard | Regain HP, remove conditions | Swift |
| Shove | Move or standard | Move a foe | Brawling |
| Sprint | Move or standard | Move at double speed | — |
| Total Defense | Standard | Gain +2 to all defenses | Swift |
| Throw | Standard | Throw a held object | — |
| Trip | Standard | Trip a foe | Brawling, Size-Based |
| Charge | Standard action |
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After using this ability, you briefly take a -2 penalty to all defenses. Since this ability does not have the Swift tag, it does not affect attacks against you during the current phase.
Move up to your speed in a single straight line. At the end of your movement, you can make a melee strike.
| Desperate Exertion | Triggered (see text) |
Cost: Two fatigue levels.
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You reroll any attack roll or check you just rolled, keeping the better result. You gain a +2 bonus with the reroll.
You can use this ability after you learn whether the original roll succeeded or failed. However, you must use it before using any other abilities or ending your turn.
You cannot use this to affect other types of rolls, such as vital rolls. You cannot use this ability multiple times to affect the same roll. Finally, you cannot use this ability to affect actions that take one minute or longer to complete, such as rituals.
| Escape Grapple | Standard action |
Tags: Brawling
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Make a brawling attack against any number of creatures that you are grappled by. You can use the Flexibility skill in place of your brawling accuracy (see Flexibility).
The defense of each creature is equal to the attack result of its maintain grapple ability this round, or 0 if it did not use that ability. For each target, if you hit that target with this attack, it stops being grappled by you and you stop being grappled by it.
| Grapple | Standard action |
Tags: Brawling, Size-Based
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Make a brawling attack with a free hand against the Brawn and Reflex defenses of one creature you touch.
Hit: You and the target are grappled by each other. For details, see Grappling.
Critical hit: You also control the grapple (see Controlling a Grapple).
| Maintain Grapple | Free action |
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You can use this ability once per round while you are grappling another creature.
Make a brawling attack against each creature that you are grappling (see Grappling). This attack has no immediate effect. The result of this roll determines how difficult it is for a creature to escape the grapple during the current round using the escape grapple ability. If you do not use this ability while you are in a grapple, then creatures can easily escape the grapple with the escape grapple ability.
| Ready Reaction | Standard action |
Tags: Swift
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When you use this ability, you declare another standard action that you intend to take during this phase as soon as it becomes possible. For example, you could declare your intent to make a melee strike against a creature that is not close to you, or cast a targeted spell on an enemy that you can’t see behind a wall.
While your enemies are resolving their actions, if your intended action ever becomes possible, it happens. Otherwise, you do nothing. Any attacks you make in this way are reactive attacks, so you can’t use the desperate exertion ability or similar effects. Your reaction resolves after the enemy has fully completed their action, even if the completion of that action would make your ability impossible again. This means that you can’t use this ability to kill an enemy before their attack hits you, and an enemy can’t invalidate your reaction by briefly moving in range and then moving back out again.
| Recover |
Standard action |
Tags: Swift
Cost: Two fatigue levels, and you cannot use this ability again until you finish a short rest.
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You regain half of your maximum hit points. Then, you remove all conditions affecting you. Because this ability has the Swift tag, the removed conditions do not affect you during the current phase.
| Shove |
Standard action |
Tags: Brawling
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If you are grappling or being grappled by a creature, you can use this ability as a move action, and it affects all creatures grappling with you (see Grappling). Otherwise, the target is something you touch. You must be strong enough to push each target (see Weight Categories).
Make a brawling attack vs. Brawn against each target. If a target is not able to use any of its movement speeds, such as if it is being carried by a flying creature, its defense is treated as 0.
Hit: You can move up to half your movement speed. During this movement, you can push each target 5 feet for each 5 feet that you move. If you push a target so it stops being adjacent to you, you stop being able to push it further. When pushing a target off of a ledge, if you move with the target over the edge to fall with them, it cannot make the normal reactive Climb check to grab the ledge (see Push Effects).
Critical hit: If you are strong enough to carry the target, you can move up to your full movement speed.
| Sprint | Standard action |
Cost: You can increase your fatigue level by one to use this ability as a move action.
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You can immediately take a move action other than this ability. For the duration of that movement, you double your speed.
You can use this ability in the middle of a phase after noticing that your movement is insufficient to keep up with an enemy’s reactive movement (see Movement Abilities). Normally, you cannot carry or move another creature in any way while using this ability. If you use this ability, you must leave those creatures behind without moving them unless they spend a standard action to cling to you.
| Throw |
Standard action |
Tags: Brawling
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You throw an object or creature you hold in at least one hand. The object’s weight category must be below the maximum weight category you can lift normally (see Weight Categories). In order to throw an unwilling creature, it must already be grappled by you, and you must hit it with a brawling attack against its Brawn defense.
Weapons with the Thrown weapon tag can be thrown up to their range limits. Your normal throwing distance for an arbitrary object is equal to 10 feet plus 5 feet per 2 Strength. Some objects are much easier or harder to throw than others, at the GM’s discretion. If an object is particularly easy to throw, such as a small dense sphere, you can throw it up to ten times your normal throwing distance. Likewise, a feather or extremely fragile object may be difficult to throw more than a few feet.
If you throw the target at a creature or object, you can make an attack roll to hit with it, as the basic strike – thrown ability (see Strikes). That attack roll is rolled separately from the attack roll to throw an unwilling creature, if any.
| Total Defense | Standard action |
Tags: Swift
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You are braced (+2 defenses) this round. Because this ability has the Swift tag, this protects you from attacks during the current phase.
| Trip | Standard action |
Tags: Brawling, Size-Based
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Make a brawling attack vs. Brawn using a free hand against a creature you touch.
Hit: The target becomes prone (half speed, -2 Armor and Ref).
5.9.1 Grappling
A grappling creature is physically struggling with at least one other creature. While grappling, you suffer certain penalties and restrictions, as described below. Other than these restrictions, you can act normally.
- One of your hands cannot be used for any purposes other than using Brawling abilities, including maintaining the grapple. This prevents humanoid creatures from taking any actions which would require having two free hands, such as attacking with Heavy weapons. Monsters without hands must generally use an appropriate appendage, if possible.
- You take a -2 penalty to Armor and Reflex defenses. This penalty is removed if you control the grapple (see below).
- You cannot move unless you push all creatures grappling you, such as with the shove ability (see Shove). In addition, you cannot push a creature grappling with you so it stops being adjacent to you. However, you can use the shove ability to affect creatures you are grappling with as a move action instead of as a standard action.
- You can use the escape grapple and maintain grapple abilities to stop or continue grappling (see Universal Combat Abilities).
Controlling a Grapple
Normally, when you use the grapple ability, neither creature controls the grapple. If you get a critical hit against every grapple participant, you control the grapple.
If you control a grapple, you gain two benefits. First, you do not take the normal -2 penalty to Armor and Reflex defenses for being in a grapple. Second, you can escape the grapple as a free action, without having to use the normal escape grapple ability.
To take control of an existing grapple, you can use the grapple ability. If you hit against the controlling creature, no creature has control of the grapple. On a critical hit against each participant, you gain control of the grapple.