Melee Skills General Rule Concerning Melee Skills:
| Skill Name | Human | Cyborg | Zoner | Multiple Purchase | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disarm | 20 | 15 | 30 | Yes | May only disarm melee weapons not missile weapons |
| Dodge | 70 | 50 | 65 | Yes | Allows you to dodge the effects of one melee, firearm or missile attack. Not a psionic attack. |
| Ambidexterity I | 20 | 15 | 10 | No | Allows use of two weapons under 30 inches in length, (none may be a missile weapon) |
| Ambidexterity II | 25 | 20 | 25 | No | Allows use of two weapons ONE under 30 inches in length,(none may be a missile weapon) |
| Ambidexterity III | 30 | 30 | 30 | No | Allows use of two weapons any length, (none may be a missile weapon) |
| Melee/Missile Two Missile |
30 | 30 | 30 | Yes | Prerequisite is two levels of pistol, single-hand crossbow, dart thrower, or miscellaneous missile weapon. |
| Martial Arts Strike | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | Will cause damage to robots. |
| Martial Arts Kick | 25 | 30 | 30 | Yes | Must have at least one strike for each kick purchased. Cost increases each purchase, not every 3rd purchase. |
| Parry | 30 | 20 | 30 | Yes | |
| Pierce | 20 | 25 | 20 | Yes | |
| Riposte | 40 | Special | 40 | Yes | Only usable against melee attacks. |
| Sever | 30 | 40 | 25 | Yes | |
| Shatter | 60 | 40 | 50 | No | Attacker must use two handed weapon other than staff. |
| Slay | 50 | 40 | 50 | Yes | Must strike the torso area |
| Stun | 20 | 15 | 25 | Yes | |
| Trip | 25 | 20 | 25 | Yes |
Disarm: This skill allows a person to remove one of the opponent's weapon(s) from their hand. Once the skill is called you must strike your opponent's weapon with your own, at which time your opponent must carefully toss that weapon at least ten feet from the combat area (they may NOT simply drop the weapon). Only weapons (not shields or packets) can be "disarmed" using this skill. The use of weapon tethers is not allowed at ATF.
Notes: Parry will negate this skill. Two-handed weapons CAN be disarmed using this skill.
Dodge: This art allows a person to twist aside at the last second to avoid being hit by most physical attacks. You may dodge bullets, darts and other missiles as well as sword and knife hits and even a blast from a flame or acid thrower. Allows you to dodge the effects of one melee, firearm or missile attack but NOT a psionic attack or explosive attack. Dodge will NOT allow you to negate the effects of a grenade or other explosion.
Ambidexterity I: Allows use of two one-handed melee weapons. Both must be under 30 inches in length, (neither may be a gun or missile weapon)
Ambidexterity II: Allows use of two one-handed melee weapons. ONE weapon must be under 30 inches in length, (neither may be a gun or missile weapon)
Ambidexterity III: Allows use of two one-handed melee weapons of any length, (neither may be a gun or missile weapon)
Melee/Missile, Two Missile: This allows the character to use a melee weapon in one hand and a missile weapon in the other. A single purchase of this skill does not allow the use of two missile weapons, one in each hand. It also does not allow the use of two melee weapons, (the Ambidexterity skills cover those). The prerequisite to buying this skill is two levels of firearm, or needler, or misc. missile weapon. This allows you to use the any one handed melee weapon along with whatever weapon that you have the two levels of skill in. E.g.: Lucifer has two levels of the Firearm skill and One-Handed Edged. He could wield a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other. He could NOT use a sword and a dagger or two pistols, or a sword and a dart thrower.
The second purchase of this skill allows a character to use two pistols or two one-handed missile weapons at the same time.
(We know that this skill does not make much real-life sense but we are using this as a game mechanic as developing this high skill ability would take a LOT of practice.)
Martial Arts Strike: This skill represents a hand delivered martial arts attack. To perform this skill, you must be standing approximately one-and-one-half to two arms' lengths away from your target. A fist-sized beanbag is (gently) thrown to strike your target. A verbal call, "Strike, damage one!" must be made at the same time to inform the target of the attack. If the beanbag hits a legal part of the target, the target receives one point of damage. If the target blocks or swats the beanbag away with a weapon or a shield thus preventing the bean bag from striking a legal part of the body, the attack is negated and the skill is used. This skill will do damage to robots. Armor will absorb the damage. The target is allowed to block a marital arts strike with a sword or shield but not with an empty hand or a foot. If the target "ducks into" the beanbag the target should take this as a legal hit.
Notes: This attack may be Dodged but a Parry will not block this skill as it is NOT delivered by a melee weapon. Please do not wind-up and throw this beanbag with "force." A pushing motion looks cool and mimics the look of a martial art punch.
Martial Arts Kick: This skill represents an advanced martial arts attack. To perform this skill, you must be standing approximately one-and-one-half to two arms' lengths away from your target. A fist-sized beanbag is thrown to strike your target on the torso. A verbal call, "Kick, damage five" must be made at the same time to inform the target of the attack. If the beanbag hits the target's torso area, the target receives five points of damage. If the target blocks or swats the beanbag away with a weapon or a shield preventing the bean bag from striking the torso, OR, if the attack does not hit the torso area, no damage occurs and the skill is used. This skill will do damage to robots. Armor will absorb all or part of the damage. The target is allowed to block a marital arts strike with a sword or shield but not with an empty hand or a foot. If the target "ducks into" the beanbag the target should take this as a legal hit. Prerequisite is to have at least one Martial Arts Strike for each Martial Arts kick purchased.
Notes: This attack may be Dodged but a Parry will not block this skill as it is NOT delivered by a melee weapon. Please do not wind-up and throw this beanbag with "force." A pushing motion looks cool and mimics the look of a martial art punch.
Cost increases each purchase, not every 3 purchases.
Parry: The Parry skill represents the ability to block a Melee Skill attack preventing the damage and the effect. To use this skill you must have a melee weapon in your hand. You may Parry an attack from any direction including from behind. You must call "Parry" immediately after the attack that you intend to parry hits you. Failure to call Parry immediately means you have failed to block the attack. You may NEVER parry with a missile weapon only a melee weapon.
Notes: Parry CANNOT block the Skills Pierce, Sucker Punch, or Martial Arts Strike or Kick, nor can it prevent the Stealth Arts such as Sap, Backstab or Assassinate.
Pierce: This skill represents the ability for any edged missile weapon, to be aimed so precisely that it will puncture or bypass armor and directly damage the vitality of the target. It does not damage armor but does one point of damage directly to the target's Vitality.
Notes: Pierce can only be used in conjunction with a needler, crossbow, hand crossbow, throwing knife/ax/Shuriken or blowgun dart. It cannot be used with any blunt throwing object or with a bullet. The skill Parry does not work versus this skill but the target may use the Dodge skill. A shield can negate this skill by blocking the projectile from hitting the person. You may not combine Pierce with other Fighting Skills only missile weapons. If the projectile is poisoned, the poison is NOT wiped off by armor when this art is used. When combined with a weapon that only causes damage, this skill causes the damage to be taken from the vitality of the target.
Riposte: This skill allows you to Parry a melee attack and then immediately attack and cause damage equal to the level of your riposte skill. A riposte may not be parried nor can you use a riposte skill to block a riposte attack. You may use the Dodge skill to avoid the Riposte. Armor can absorb the damage. The Riposte damage is taken as if it struck the torso.
(E.g.: Lucifer is in melee combat with Alphonse. Alphonse hits Lucifer's leg with a Sever skill. Lucifer calls out, "Riposte damage 2!" Lucifer has blocked the Sever skill and does not take that effect, plus he causes two points of damage to Alphonse. Adding insult to injury, Alphonse has used his Sever skill and now takes two points of damage as if struck in the torso.) If Alphose had the ability to Dodge, then he would not have taken any damage from Lucifer's riposte attack, but the Sever skill would still have been used.
Sever: This skill allows you to sever the tendons or plastic nerve fibers in one of your opponent's limbs thus rendering it useless until surgically repaired. To perform this skill you must hit your opponent's limb while stating "Sever". The attack must hit a legal part of the arm or leg. If it hits a hand, foot, neck, torso or any other part of the opponent that is not a limb, the target will inform his opponent by stating "foot" or "torso" or what ever part of their body that was hit and not a legal target for the Sever Skill. The skill is not lost if it does not hit a limb. It is blocked but still used if a Parry, Dodge or Riposteis used in response to being hit by a Sever. Warbot limbs, and some cyborg and android limbs are heavily armored. The response of "Resist" to being hit by a Sever means that you have used the skill, and that to Sever that limb you must use a vibro-blade weapon.
Notes: When a limb is severed, it cannot be used until healed empathically, repaired surgically, or restored by a specific medicine that will repair a sever. You may not stand or walk or hop if a leg is severed unless you are being assited by another person or by use of a crutch. You may crawl. A severed arm cannot hold any objects and this includes a shield.
Shatter: This skill allows an attacker to shatter either a melee weapon or a shield. You may never shatter a missile weapon. To perform this skill you must hit your opponent's weapon or shield while stating "Shatter." The attacker must be using a two handed weapon but a staff is not strong enough to perform a shatter. A shatter may not be performed with a one-handed weapon. You may buy this skill only once.
Notes: Some cast characters may be granted the ability to perform a shatter with a one handed weapon but this ability is specific to that particular character.
Slay: This skill allows a character to do ten (10) points of damage in one blow. Slay destroys Armor first, followed by Vitality.
Notes: The strike must hit the torso area of the opponent. If it does not hit the torso area, the skill is not used. This skill can be blocked with the Parry, Dodge. This skill may NOT be done with a missile weapon unless specifically granted by ATF.
Stun: This skill allows an attacker to strike nerves (or transmitting fibers in a robot), in one of your opponent's limbs, rendering it useless for five minutes. Stun will also do one point of damage to the target's armor or vitality. Stun may be done with either a blunt or sharp weapon. To perform this skill you must hit your opponent's limb while stating "Stun". The attack must hit a legal part of the arm or leg. If it hits a hand, foot, neck, torso or any other part of the opponent that is not a limb, the target informs his opponent by stating "foot" or "torso" or whatever part of their body that was hit that was not a legal target for the Stunskill. The skill is not lost if it does not hit a limb. Warbots and certain Cyborgs and androids may call "Resist" in response to being hit by this skill. You have used your skill and will now know that you would need to use a weapon with a Vibro-blade to affect this opponent using the Stun skill.
Notes: Nothing repairs the Stun effect except the required 5 minutes. Dodge and Parry or the Riposte skill will negate this skill. When a limb is stunned, it cannot be used for the time limit. You may not stand or walk or hop if a leg is stunned unless you are being assisted. You may crawl. A stunned arm cannot hold any objects and this includes a shield.
Trip: This skill represents the ability to trip an opponent and knock him or her off their feet using a staff, spear or pole-arm (only). When struck in the leg, the target must safely fall to the ground touching either their chest or their back on the ground before they can stand again. Trip will also do one point of damage. If a Trip attack hits anywhere other than on the legal part of the leg, the target will still receive one point of damage, but the target is not knocked off their feet and the skill is not used.
Notes: Parry, Dodge or Riposte will negate this skill. Trip can only be performed with a staff, spear or pole-arm.