Talk:UFOpedia Game 2

These house rules have been wildly stolen from MML's game with a few minor additions and adjustments.

Tactical Chat With ManMythLegend

Just dual wield an RPG and a shotgun. That's like ice cream cake: the best of both worlds.

New Keywords

ACOG: This weapon has some sort of optics built in that are equivalent to having an ACOG sight installed.

Airburst: This weapon can be used to target empty hexes in an attempt to hit targets behind cover. If the shooter misses, roll for weapon deviation like a grenade.

Combat Reload: When this weapon is empty, it can be loaded with 1 round and fired in a single action for a -1 penalty to the shooting roll.

CQB: This weapon can be fired without affecting movement.

Heavy Burst: This weapon can be fired in short bursts against a single target when supported by a bipod. For one action, the user makes a shooting roll as normal against one target but adds +2 to any attack roll and +4 to any damage roll. This maneuver uses ammunition equal to twice the weapon's rate of fire.

Non-Lethal: This weapon does non-lethal damage. This functions as normal except targets dealt their final wound by non-lethal damage are unconscious instead of dead. Unconcious targets with lethal wounds can still die from bleeding out, and will require medical attention.

Laser: Laser weapons provide +1 bonus to shooting rolls due to lack of recoil. Also, they are completely silent and do not effect Stealth rolls by being used.

Slow-Auto: A character may make a number of shooting rolls equal to the weapon's rate of fire, with a cost of one round of ammunition per roll. These attacks suffer the normal auto-fire penalty of -2. Slow-Auto weapons can not perform a Double Tap or conduct Suppressive Fire.

MML's Shaken Status House Rules

1) You will be shaken for a maximum of three turns. If, on the third turn, you don't immediately recover by getting a raise on your Spirit roll you will recover at the end of the round.

2) Having a non-shaken team member adjacent to you adds a +1 to your recovery roll. If that person uses their action to help you recover you get a +2 to the recovery roll.

3) If a teammate uses the Heal skill on you to help you recover, and succeeds on the check, you immediately recover. If they fail its just a +2 to your recovery roll.

MML's Death and Dying House Rules

1) If a character receives more then their wound capacity they are dead.

2) If a character receives exactly enough wounds to drop them they are "fatally wounded". The wounded character will die in a number of turns equal to half their Vigor (ie d4->2 rounds, d6->3 rounds, etc). Anyone with a medkit can attempt a normal stabilization Healing roll to save the dying character. If successful the dying character survives but is out of the current mission. If the ATC-8's Heal power is used instead, the character is healed as normal and restored to fighting condition for the current mission.

3) If a fatally wounded character survives the mission, they can choose one of the two ways to finish the following sentence, each is a new edge. If a character is fatally wounded and survives twice, they can choose the survivor edge they don't already have. There is no reward for surviving three fatal wounds, find some cover already!

The bugs killed me once...

...It ain't gonna happen again.: +2 Toughness
-or-
...Now they ain't so scary.: +1 to all Spirit rolls to resist psionic powers or alien induced panics.

MML's Combat House Rules

Combat Movement

1) If a character shoots during normal movement, the amount they can move after the shot is given by:

    a) Anything listed as a Heavy Weapon or Snapfire (i.e. RPG, M82, M249) ends movement once fired. 
    b) Most other weapons halve a character's remaining movement once fired. 
    c) Anything listed as CQB (i.e. submachine guns, pistols) doesn't effect movement once fired. 

2) A character can move half their current pace (i.e. standing, crouching, prone) and still hold a "fire" action to cover themselves or a teammate.

3) The bonus damage on attack rolls that raise is not capped at +1d6. Every raise adds an additional +1d6.

Improvised Melee Weapons

Sometimes a character may find themselves unable to draw a melee weapon when engaged in melee combat. In that case they may use their current weapon as an impromptu melee weapon.

    1) Any weapon from the "primary weapons" category does Strength+d6-2 damage on a hit. (i.e. butt-stroke)
    2) Any weapon from the "secondary weapons" category does Strength+d4-2 damage on a hit. (i.e. pistol whip)

Called Shots

If you attempt a called shot, not to the head, and fail, but your Shooting roll would have succeed without the penalty from said called shot, it's a normal hit on the target. A missed head shot is still a miss.

Example: You want to try try and disarm someone. It's -2 to hit the arm. You roll a 4 on your Shooting die, but with the -2 penalty it misses. However, since you hit without the penalty you it's a regular hit center of mass.

UAV Operations

The Thunderhawk's max operating ceiling is 300 ft, or about 100 "hexes" up. There are three operational heights for it in this game:

  "Low" is from 1 to 25 hexes (~75 ft).  Vision Range ~20, No penalties.
  "Mid" is from 26 to 50 hexes (~150 ft). Vision Range ~30, -2 to Notice;  Attackers are -2 to hit.
  "High" is from 51 to 100 hexes (~300 ft). Vision Range ~50, -3 to Notice; Attackers are -3 to hit.

UGV Operations

A UGV does not follow standard overwatch rules. Instead, a UGV operator can place their UGV in overwatch as the action for their character so long as the UGV has not already fired its weapon that turn.

This has two implications:

1) Since it costs the operator their action to do it, the operator can not also be on overwatch at the same time since they're too busy watching the TUUVC screen.

and

2) Since it's not a UGV action, the UGV can make it's full movement and still be placed on overwatch.

The contested Agility roll that normally occurs when an enemy is spotted from overwatch to determine who acts first is replaced with a contest Agility/Remote Operations roll.

Civilians and Other Combatants

Civilians: Besides blocking LoS, civilians are in general a huge pain in the ass. If they see or hear you coming, and you’re not actively being shot at (sometimes), they will run toward you. They will also follow the group around as they go. Each civilian has a zone (5 hex radius) around them, and everyone caught in it takes a -1 penalty from the screaming, crying, and begging for safety the panicked person will be distracting you with. This penalty is cumulative for each civilian’s zone you’re in. There are multiple ways to get civilians to go away which I will leave to you folks to figure out.

Other Comabatants: It's possible to give orders to the non-X-Com combatants using some of your social skills. Success allows you issue a command to the squad leader (the one with the rank icon) though it may not be exactly the way you want it done. A raise will buy you verbatim compliance. These orders will take effect during the other combatant phase at the end of a round. The Command skill will do the same thing, only it will move that squad's action to immediately following the user instead of the end of the round.

Both of these actions have the following caveats:

    1) You need to be within 3 hexes to issue it verbally. If you have their radio frequency and callsigns you can do it up 
       to radio range.
    2) If a squad leader is alive all orders have to go through them, but that order will be issued to the entire squad. If
       the squad leader is killed then an order can be issued to any member of the squad, but only that person will follow
       the order.

Knowledge: Battle and Other "Tactics" Skills

Tactical Knowledges: For a full action a character can attempt to grant their teammates bonuses to combat. With a success they can grant 1 of the following bonuses to those within 5 hexes until the end of the round:

    1) +1 Armor for pointing out better cover posistions
    2) +1 Damage for focusing fire
    3) +1 Shooting for held actions/covering fire from better cooridination

With a raise, a character can choose one of these effects in lieu of the previous ones. These also have a 5 hex radius:

    1) +1 to the next round's initiative draws to reflect better coordination
    2) Swap two teammates who have yet to act in the initiative order
    3) Combine the damage rolls of two teammates in the same spot in the initiative order into one damage roll

Advancement and Rank

Here, have a chart:

So You Want To Re-Equip a Squad?

Step 1: The Dearly Departed

1a: Collect all of the gear of characters that died or left following the mission. This is the depot pile.
1b: Current characters can swap equivalent gear (primary weapon for primary weapon, armor for armor) they have with the depot pile. Ammo comes with the trade. (EXAMPLE: If you swap an M4 for a dead guy’s shotgun, you get all his shells and the dead guy gets all your 5.56 rounds.)
1c: Characters can each choose to take 1 piece miscellaneous gear (NVG’s, grenades, med-kit, etc) from the depot pile.
1d: Anything left in the depot pile at this point is reclaimed by the company and lost to the team.

Step 2: Get Paid

2a: Receive current budget allotment.
2b: Combine with any excess funds from character creation or previous budgets to form total cash available.
2c: Make it rain on ‘dem hos. (Optional)

Step 3: Cash for Gear

3a: Decide what guns, expendables, armor, and other miscellaneous gear the team no longer wants. No ammo, that’s included in the gun buy back.
3b: The team loses the gear and, unless the GM says otherwise, receives 50% (rounded up) of the gear’s cost from the wiki in exchange.
3c: Add this amount to the final amount from Step 2.

Step 4: Get Icy

4a: Buy gear using the costs from the wiki.
4b: Excess funds from this phase are retained by the team for the next budget.

Load Out

Each character is allowed a maximum of two Primary and Secondary weapons. So you can have two primary weapons, a primary and a secondary, or two secondary weapons; but not two primaries and a secondary weapon. The only exception to this is the taser. Because. This ruling is entirely about play mechanics and has nothing to do with real world.

Each character may also carry as many melee weapons and expendable weapons as they wish. Although why you would ever carry more than one (two if you're ambidexterous) melee weapon for each hand is beyond me.

Basic Rules

The base difficulty for a roll is 4

• Untrained: Attempts to use a skill untrained suffer a -2 penalty
• Aces: If the highest number on a die is rolled, that die is rolled again, with the result added to the original total. If the highest number is rolled again ("Aced"), the die is rolled and added again. This process can continue indefinitely.
• Raises: By every multiple of 4 that a roll exceeds the target difficulty, the player is considered to have achieved a "raise". Beating the difficulty by 4 is one raise. Beating it by 8 is 2 raises. And so on.
• Wild Die: X-COM employees with sufficient field experience receive an additional "Wild Die" on all rolls. If the result of this Wild Die is higher than that of the regular roll, the Wild Die total is taken instead. Rookies do not receive a Wild Die.
  • Squaddie: 1d4
  • Rookie: none
• Bennies: X-COM exployees with sufficient field experience also receive "Bennies" which may be spent to re-roll any trait-based test. If the result is higher than the original roll, the new result is taken. Bennies may also be used to attempt to soak damage from an attack that may otherwise injure or kill a character, or to immediately recover from being Shaken.
  • Squaddie: 2 bennies
  • Rookie: 1 benny

Weapon Keywords

• Heavy Weapon: Firing this weapon ends a character's movement.
• Snapfire: If the character has moved this round, they suffer a -2 to their Shooting roll. Also, firing this weapon ends a character's movement.
• Auto: This weapon may use the Auto Fire, Suppressive Fire, and Double-Tap tactics.
• Slow-Auto: This weapon may use the Slow-Auto tactic, but may not use the Double Tap or Suppressive Fire tactics.
• Semi-Auto: This weapon may use the Double-Tap tactic
• 3RB: This weapon may use the 3-Round Burst tactic
• Shotgun: This weapon adds +2 to all Shooting rolls, and damage decreases as range increases
• Combat Reload: This weapon may use the Combat Reload tactic
• Bipod: This weapon may use the Bipod tactic
• CQB: This weapon can be fired at any time during a movement action without penalty
• Laser: Laser weapons provide a +1 bonus to Shooting rolls due to the lack of recoil. Also, they are completely silent and do not affect Stealth rolls by being used.
• AP: The number of points of armor this weapon ignores.

Movement

• Movement: A character may walk up to his/her Pace (normally 6) in hexes each round
  • Running: Characters who choose to run receive additional hexes of movement equal to their Pace, but suffer a -2 penalty to any trait tests performed that round
  • Prone: There is no cost to go Prone. A Prone character is considered to have Light Cover (-2) from ranged attacks. Prone characters also suffer a -2 penalty to their Fighting and Parry rolls. It costs 2 hexes of movement for a character to stand from a Prone position.
  • Crawling: If a character is Prone, they may Crawl at a Pace of 2.
  • Crouched: Crouched movement is half Pace (normally 3). There is no cost to Crouch or rise from being Crouched.
  • Firing: Unless the weapon is labeled as "Heavy Weapon", "Snapfire", or "CQB", firing the weapon halves the character's remaining movement.
  • Stealth: The character rolls his/her Stealth die, making it harder to notice him/her. Moving stealthily has no effect on movement.
  • Overwatch: If a character moves less than half their Pace, they may hold their shooting action and establish Contingencies in their post. If one of those Contingencies presents itself, AND the character succeeds on a contested Agility test, the Contingency action will be taken. Characters in Overwatch still draw an initiative card on their next turn, and if their held action is not used before their new initiative phase, the held action is lost.

• Multiple Actions: Multiple actions may be taken at a -2 penalty to each action

Combat

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Example of weapon templates

• Shooting: Ranged combat is made with the character's Shooting (or Throw, if appropriate), with modifiers as below. Base damage is determined by the damage value of the weapon. Each Raise on the Fighting roll results in an additional +1d6 bonus damage. Wild dice are not added to damage rolls.
  • Short Range: Difficulty 4
  • Medium Range: Difficulty 6
  • Long Range: Difficulty 8
  • Light Cover / Crouched: -1 penalty
  • Medium Cover / Prone: -2 penalty
  • Heavy Cover: -4 penalty
  • Aim: +2 to your next shot
  • Small Blast template has a radius of 2 hexes, not counting the center hex.
  • Large Blast template has a radius of 4 hexes, not counting the center hex.

• Firing Tactics:
  • Auto Fire: Make a number of Shooting rolls equal to the weapon's ROF per action. Each roll is made at -2, and the Auto Fire action uses a number of rounds equal to the number of shots x its ROF. -4 to stealth rolls if weapon has a suppressor or is otherwise silent (e.g. laser weapons).
  • Suppressive Fire: Costs (5 x ROF) bullets and a shooting roll with range and auto modifiers is made. If successful, a medium burst template is laid down on the map. Anything inside must make a Spirit roll with appropriate cover modifiers or be Shaken.
  • Slow-Auto: Make a number of shooting rolls equal to the weapon's rate of fire, with a cost of one round of ammunition per roll. These attacks suffer the normal auto-fire penalty of -2
  • Double-Tap: Adds +1 to Shooting and +1 to damage at a cost of 2 rounds of ammunition. No penalty to stealth rolls if weapon has a suppressor or is otherwise silent (e.g. laser weapons).
  • 3-Round Burst: Adds +2 to Shooting and +2 to damage for a cost of 3 rounds of ammunition. -2 to stealth rolls if weapon has a suppressor or is otherwise silent (e.g. laser weapons).
  • Combat Reload: When this weapon is empty, it can be loaded with 1 round and fired in a single action for a -1 penalty to the shooting roll.
  • Bipod: If a character is Prone or has somewhere solid to rest it, they may spend a turn setting up the bipod. When the bipod is deployed, the Auto Fire penalty is reduced to -1.
  • Called Shot: Called shots may be made as follows, and may affect aliens differently.
    • Limbs may be targeted at -2, and can disarm (if the target fails a Strength check) or reduce Pace (if the target fails a Vigor roll)
    • Head or Vitals may be targeted at -4, normally ignores armor, and adds +4 to damage
  • Firing into Melee: If the shooter misses with a roll of 1 (1 or 2 if using full-auto or a shotgun), a random person adjacent to the target is hit.

• Melee: Melee attacks are made with the character's Fighting trait, against the target's Parry trait. Base damage is determined by rolling the character's Strength die and adding the weapon's damage die. Each Raise on the Fighting roll results in an additional +1d6 bonus damage. Wild dice are not added to damage rolls.
  • Ranged weapons in melee: The only ranged weapons that may be used in melee are pistols, and if a pistol is used, the difficulty is the oppenent's Parry.
  • Withdrawing from Melee: Attempts to withdraw from melee draw a free attack of opportunity from any adjacent opponents.
  • Prone: Prone characters suffer a -2 penalty to their Fighting and Parry rolls
  • Ganging Up: The character receives a +1 bonus for each additional friendly attacking the same target.
  • Full Defense: A character may not attack, but they receive a +2 bonus to their defense rolls.
  • Wild Attack: A character receives +2 to their Fighting and damage, but suffers -2 to their Parry until next round
  • Tricks: With a success on an Agility or Smarts roll, the target receives a -2 to the target's Parry until their next action. With a Raise, the target is also Shaken.
  • Taunts and Intimidation: With successful use of the Taunt and/or Intimidation skills, the character receives a +2 to their next action against that target. With a Raise, the target is also Shaken.

• Damage: Once totaled, damage is handled according to the following:
  • Dealing Damage: The damage total of an attack is compared to the opponent's Toughness. If the target's Toughness is higher than the damage, the target is unhurt. If the Damage total is equal or higher, the target is Shaken. For each Raise on the damage roll, the target receives a Wound.
  • Soaking Damage: When damage is suffered, characters may spend a Benny to Soak it. The character makes a Vigor roll, and if they succeed, one Wound is negated. Each Raise on the roll soaks an additional Wound.

• Damage Results:
  • Shaken: A Shaken character may only move half his/her pace, and may not take any other actions. If a character is damaged while they are Shaken, they sustain a Wound. Characters who are Shaken will automatically attempt to recover at the beginning of each round by making a Spirit roll. If successful, the character is no longer Shaken, but may not do anything else this round. If the character succeeds with a Raise, they recover instantly and may act normally. Additionally, characters may spend a Benny to immediately recover from being Shaken.
  • Wounds: Each Wound a character sustains gives them a -1 penalty on all further trait tests, as well as rendering them Shaken (if the target wasn't already). Experienced X-COM employees often have the toughness to suffer more Wounds before they are at risk of death. When a character has suffers more than their max Wounds, they must make an immediate Vigor roll (modified by their Wounds). If they Raise, they are simply stunned. If they succeed, they are knocked unconscious. If they fail, they are Bleeding Out and must make a Vigor roll each round. If they roll a 1 or less, the character is dead.
    • Squaddie: 2 Wounds
    • Rookie: 1 Wound