Editing Peril:RPG/Fights

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= Fights! =
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'''Hit things. Break things. Get blasted through things.'''
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Sooner or later, somebody is going to hit somebody. Peril Patrol combat is meant to be quick, flexible and easy to improvise, with as little bookkeeping as possible between the player saying what the hero does and something expensive getting destroyed.

The same basic rules from [[Peril:RPG/Doing Stuff|Doing Stuff!]] apply here. Describe the action, pick the Attribute, add a relevant Talent if one applies, roll 2d6, and keep moving.

== Attacking ==

For close combat, use '''Brawn'''. For ranged attacks, use '''Zip'''. Relevant Talents add '''+2''' as usual.

A Power may determine what kind of attack the character can make, but Powers do not have separate attack ratings. A punch uses Brawn, a raygun usually uses Zip, and a telekinetic slam might use Brains or Brawn depending on what the character is actually trying to do.

Typical examples include:

* '''Punch''' — Brawn
* '''Sword''' — Brawn
* '''Shield Bash''' — Brawn
* '''Raygun''' — Zip
* '''Thrown Brick''' — Zip
* '''Blast — Electricity''' — usually Zip
* '''Telekinetic Slam''' — usually Brains or Brawn

If nobody is actively defending, target '''10''' is the usual difficulty.

== Defending ==

When a character actively defends, use whichever Attribute makes sense for the action. '''Zip''' covers dodging, ducking and getting out of the way, while '''Brawn''' covers blocking, bracing, wrestling or simply refusing to move.

Powers may also justify unusual defenses. Super-Speed may support a Zip defense, Armor may let a character shrug off a blow, a Force Field may block an attack outright, and Telekinesis might catch an incoming object in midair.

When attack and defense are directly opposed, both sides roll:

'''2d6 + appropriate Attribute + relevant Talent'''

The higher total wins.

If the attacker wins, the attack lands. If the defender wins, it misses or is blocked. On a tie, neither side gets a clean result; the punch is caught, the Blast tears up the scenery, both characters tumble through a window, or something else happens that keeps the fight moving.

== Damage ==

Most successful attacks inflict:

'''1d6 damage'''

A particularly large or nasty hit inflicts:

'''2d6 damage'''

That distinction is intentionally broad. A punch, sword, raygun, ordinary Blast or thrown piece of furniture will usually do 1d6. A giant robot fist, heavy cannon, major explosion or especially brutal Stunt may do 2d6.

If something is so enormous that rolling 2d6 feels silly, do not invent another damage table. Describe what happens instead.

== Weapons ==

Weapons do not need detailed statistics. A pistol, laser pistol, freeze ray and sonic blaster might all do the same basic damage, but their SFX make them behave differently in the fiction.

A freeze ray may create ice, a sonic weapon may shatter glass, and an electrical weapon may short out machinery. Those effects do not require separate purchases or weapon entries. If the SFX reasonably supports the result, use it.

There is no weapon catalog, armor penetration table or barrel-length appendix.

== Knockback ==

When somebody takes a particularly dramatic hit, the Editor may send them flying through a wall, window, billboard, pile of Goons or anything else nearby.

Do not calculate distance. They take no additional damage from the knockback but fly backwards as far as is funny. It usually doesn't remove them from the fight.

If somebody asks how far the character flew, the answer is:

'''Far enough.'''

== Natural 12 in Combat ==

A natural '''12''' is a spectacular success. The attack should do something extra beyond simply causing damage.

That might mean knocking the target through scenery, disarming them, opening an opportunity for another hero, hitting several Goons at once, or putting the villain in a dramatically worse position.

Do not stop to calculate a critical-hit multiplier. Improve the result and keep going.

== Natural 2 in Combat ==

A natural '''2''' is a spectacular disaster. The attack misses badly enough to create a new problem.

The weapon may jam, the Power may hit the wrong target, the attacker may fall over, scenery may collapse, a machine may activate, or the villain may suddenly gain an opening.

A natural 2 should always change the fight.

== Multiple Targets ==

Against ordinary Goons, one good Stunt may hit several targets at once. Roll once and resolve the group together.

Against important named characters, each extra target increases the target number by '''1''', to a maximum increase of '''+2'''. A normal attack against one important target is usually 10, against two is 11, and against three or more is 12.

Do not count bullets, punches or individual attack rolls. Describe the action once and roll once.

== Goons! ==

Goons are simplified opponents who exist to guard doors, operate machinery, carry crates, shout warnings and get knocked into furniture.

A standard Goon has:

{| class="wikitable peril-table"
! Attribute
! Score
|-
| Brawn
| 3
|-
| Zip
| 3
|-
| Brains
| 2
|-
| Moxie
| 2
|}

A Goon also gets '''one Talent''' relevant to the job and has '''3 HP'''.

Examples include:

'''Masked Science Goon''' — Talent: Science!

'''Security Goon''' — Talent: Security

'''Abduction Goon''' — Talent: Abduction

'''Heavy Equipment Goon''' — Talent: Forklifts

If a Goon needs more rules than this, promote them.

== Goon Mobs ==

Large groups of Goons should be handled as a single problem instead of a dozen separate combatants.

A Goon Mob gets '''+2''' to Brawn or Zip when acting together. A good superhero Stunt can remove several members of the Mob at once, and once the group has been reduced enough, the bonus disappears.

Goons do not normally fight to the bitter end. They may surrender, flee, hide, complain about working conditions, check whether overtime was approved or insist they were only hired as temporary security.

This is often more useful than another round of combat.

== Bonked! ==

When a character reaches '''0 Hit Points''', they are not dead. They are:

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<div class="peril-panel-title">BONKED!</div>

The character has been flattened, frozen, blasted through a wall, electrocuted, buried, launched, folded, compressed or otherwise removed from immediate usefulness. They look terrible. They will be fine. Next scene they are returned to the game with full Hit Points. The GM can elect to delay or speed up the character's return if it's funnier.

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== Cartoon Physics ==

Peril Patrol operates under '''cartoon physics'''. Nobody dies. Nobody bleeds to death, loses a limb, suffers internal injuries, gets disemboweled, has their skull crushed or requires months of rehabilitation. Combat can be spectacular, destructive and completely absurd, but it is never gory.

A character can be hit by a truck, buried under a collapsing building, blasted through six walls, flattened by an anvil, crushed by a piano falling from a window, caught in a catastrophic explosion or standing much too close to an atom bomb.

The worst thing that happens is:

'''They get Bonked.'''

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<div class="peril-panel-title">BONKED IS AS BAD AS IT GETS</div>

There is no death state beyond Bonked. There is no dying condition. There are no death saves. There is no massive-damage rule. There is no special exception for explosions, falls, giant robots, atom bombs or extremely large falling objects. If something would obviously kill a real person, it '''Bonks''' a Peril Patrol character instead. Everybody survives.

On rare occasions, a character may “die” for pure comic effect. If so, the death is obviously theatrical and completely temporary. The character may float upward with little angel wings and a harp, vanish into a heavenly spotlight, or otherwise depart in the most ridiculous way available.

This has no lasting consequences. The character is perfectly fine next adventure, and no explanation is required.

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== Continuity ==

Continuity in Peril Patrol is loose, selective and easily ignored whenever it becomes inconvenient. If a character was blown to pieces last issue, but appears this issue with no explanation, that is acceptable.

If a villain fell into a volcano, exploded in midair and was then flattened by a statue, but shows up next month with a bandage around his head and a new scheme, that is acceptable.

If anyone asks how this makes sense, the proper answer is:

:''“Comic books.”''


== Hazards ==

Ordinary dangerous hazards usually cause '''1d6 damage'''. Really dangerous hazards usually cause '''2d6 damage'''.

If the hazard is obviously beyond that scale, skip the arithmetic and go directly to '''BONKED!'''

A moon landing on somebody does not require a damage roll.

Describe the crater.

== Running Away ==

Running away is legal, and sometimes it is the smartest possible move.

If the villain is far too powerful to fight, the heroes may flee, hide, surrender, crawl under furniture, disguise themselves, point at somebody else or suddenly remember an urgent appointment.

If that reaction fits the character and creates a genuine complication, it may earn a [[Peril:RPG/Kabooms|Kaboom]].

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<div class="peril-panel-title">COWARDICE IS VALID PLAY!</div>

An overwhelmingly powerful villain is not a balance problem. It is a situation.

Let the heroes panic, flee, hide and make bad decisions. Then see what ridiculous plan they come up with.

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== Surrendering ==

Surrender is also allowed. Being captured is often the fastest possible way to reach a villain's secret base, laboratory or orbital death fortress.

The Editor should remember this.

== Use the Scenery ==

Superhero fights should not happen in empty rooms.

Use walls, lamp posts, cars, catwalks, machinery, cables, cranes, hydrants, awnings, control panels, forklifts, statues, furniture and anything else nearby as part of the action.

A fight should feel like the environment is being steadily converted into ammunition.

If a player finds a clever way to use the scenery, treat it as a Stunt and resolve it normally.

== Keep It Moving ==

Combat ends when the interesting part is over.

Do not keep rolling because one Goon technically has 1 HP left. Do not stretch a fight because the villain was “supposed” to last another three rounds. If the heroes come up with a brilliant ridiculous solution and it works, let it work.

The point of a fight is not to prove who has the better numbers.

The point is to find out what gets smashed.

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