Attacking

This is going to hurt you more than me.

The most common actions in combat are attacking and running away. After all, if someone isn't doing one of those things, it can hardly even be considered a combat.

An attack is usually resolved by spending a Simple Action to make the Attack. The character makes a test against the threshold. If the requisite number of hits are achieved, the attack succeeds and the target must soak the amount of damage that the attack inflicts. If the attacking character gets more hits than necessary, the net hits are added to the damage of the attack before the target gets to soak. In most cases, a character's dice pool will be their Strength + Combat when making a melee attack and Agility + Combat when making a ranged attack. In the cases when an attack is being made with some kind of sorcery, the dicepool may well be something else entirely and is described in the power's description.

When a character wants to attack something it is more difficult if the target is farther away. The range between the target and the attacking character determines the base threshold. However, just because a character has the accuracy to strike an opponent out to a specific range does not mean that their weapon is physically capable of reaching that far, or of reaching a target at that range with any accuracy. Most weapons have a maximum range beyond which they cannot be expected to work, and most weapons have a range beyond which they become inaccurate (given in parentheses). Melee attacks of course simply have an absolute limit of their reach. If you want them to go any farther than your arm will take them you have to throw them.

The Threshold to hit something that is Adjacent to you is zero. Seriously, it's right next to you. However, if the target is a resisting creature that is aware of the impending attack, the threshold is increased to half the target's Agility + Combat (if any, round up). Yes, against skilled opposition it is much easier to shoot an opponent from 3 meters away where they can't interfere with the shot than it is to shoot them from within arm's reach where they can.

The Threshold can be further modified by circumstances.

• If the target has cover or its location is suspect (as in the case of illusions or intervening shower curtains), the threshold is increased by 1 or 2.
• If you're operating beyond the accurate range of your weapon (but still within the maximum range), increase the threshold by 1.
• If the target is moving quickly (such as from Celerity), increase the threshold by 1.
• If the attacking character is moving faster than a Careful Walk, increase the threshold of a ranged attack (but not a melee attack) by 1.

Multiple Attackers

Multiple attackers is only specifically advantageous when the attacking characters are in Close Combat. A victim can only actively resist one more enemy than they have actual Combat Skill. If there are more attackers than that, the target is going to have to allow a certain number of enemies to get free attacks on them. On the other hand, working together with a number of additional attackers also requires training. An attacker who is attempting to Rodney King someone suffers a -1 penalty to their attack roll for each additional attack beyond their actual Combat Skill. It is thus entirely reasonable for a number of potential attackers to simply wait outside a beating rather than get in the way.

Supine and Prone Enemies

When a target maintains a low profile by getting on the ground, it is hard to hit them with ranged weaponry - increasing the threshold to hit them by 1 if they are at any range beyond Near. On the other hand, hitting actually adjacent enemies who are on the ground is easy, and characters get an extra 2 dice to do that.

Special Attack Actions

Aim

Aiming is the act of taking extra time with a shot in order to make it more accurate. Each Aiming action reduces the effective range between the character and the target by one range category for the next shot. The actual distance does not change, and the threshold is still modified upward if the character is firing from beyond the weapon's accurate range. If the weapon is sufficiently braced that recoil is completely negated and the target does not move substantially from its original position, the character's Aiming can continue to apply on future shots. The first Aim action takes a Simple Action, and each further Aim action takes a progressively longer time frame (1 Round, 1 Minute, 5 Minutes, and finally 20 minutes of preparation to reduce a Remote target to be effectively Adjacent). These subsequent Aim actions all apply to the same attack, but a character can't actually benefit from more subsequent Aim actions than they have actual skill rating in Combat or Rigging. Aiming at targets beyond Short range requires a scope.

Suppressive Fire

Suppressive Fire is the act of firing a bunch of bullets near a piece of cover that a target (or targets) are hiding behind. Since Suppressive Fire is actually fired at a place where the targets are not, it has no chance of hitting them. What it can do is seriously threaten anyone who breaks cover. If during the following round any potential target comes out of cover (even for purposes of popping out to take a better shot), they are subject to an attack as if they had no cover at all. Suppressive Fire is very effective game mechanically with automatic weaponry because autofire has improvements in accuracy but suffers penalties against cover. This is not an accident, as suppressive fire is frequently and effectively used in the real world with weapons that have a high rate of fire. Suppressive Fire is a Complex Action and covers the entire round. Characters with multiple Initiative Passes can do other things while suppressing an area.

Spray-n-Pray

Automatic weaponry can be walked across areas, firing off bullets seemingly at random. This is neither advisable nor safe, but it can totally hit people with bullets and kill them and stuff. Which for people with little skill with firearms is not necessarily a bad deal. Spray-n-Pray differs substantially from most actions in After Sundown because the character's skills and attributes don't really get used. Instead, the character nominates an arc and rolls just 4 dice total (you can think of this as having a virtual minimal Agility of 1 and the 3 dice for autofire) against each potential target in the area. Spray-n-Pray ignores threshold modifiers from target speed or poor visibility, but is otherwise a normal ranged attack. Spray-n-Pray is not compatible with Aiming, and thus it will likely not hit anyone behind heavy cover. Spray-n-Pray is a complex action, and the threshold to strike a target is 1 if range is Short or less and 3 if it is Way Out. While it is nominally possible for a bullet to impact a target more than 100m away, the chances of this happening are so remote as to be discounted. Without Edge, it just won't happen. Targets farther than Way Out are Threshold 5 to hit with Spray-n-Pray.

Abduct

Characters can grab people and carry them off. This is done fairly frequently in horror movies and is an essential part of the genre. To Abduct someone, the character takes a Complex Action to make an unarmed melee attack (Strength + Combat) against the victim. If the character gets as many net hits as the target's Strength, the victim is scooped up and possibly thrown over the character's shoulder or tucked under their arm. The victim can scream if they want, but if the character's net hits exceed the target's Strength, they can't even scream because their mouth is effectively covered. Once abducted, a victim may attempt to escape on their next round, and may further attempt to escape one other time.

Disarm

Characters can grab items that other characters are carrying. In melee, this can be one by making an attack with a threshold equal to the target's Agility. If the target is stronger than the character trying to snatch the item, apply a negative dicepool modifier equal to the difference in Strength scores. If the character attempts to do this with bare hands, they will end up with the object in question in their possession if they get any net hits, but this is also quite dangerous and the character will be denied their defense in melee until their next turn. If the disarm is attempted with a weapon, or an unarmed Disarm attempt succeeds and gets no net hits, the item goes flying or falls to the ground or something as befits the situation. Attacking a held object at range is very difficult, such items are usually small and the threshold is increased by the target's own close combat defense.

Locking On

Characters can prepare a weapon to be deployed. Maybe they hold a knife to the target's throat, maybe they point a gun at the target's back. This takes the time of a normal attack, but no actual attack is made. At any point in the future, the character can make their attack Reactively. If the character becomes distracted, moves faster than a Slow Search or makes another attack (including another Lock On attempt), the old Lock On is lost. This is how the game handles "stick ups," fencing, hostage threatening, and patient sniping.

Feint

A character can attempt to distract or confuse an opponent, making an opening in a battle. Feinting is a Simple Action, and if it succeeds the target loses any "Lock On" they have and does not have the benefit of their Agility or Combat skill for purposes of setting thresholds on the character's attack against them if they follow it up with an attack of some kind (meaning the base threshold to strike them is likely zero). The character makes a Charisma + Expression or Agility + Tactics test and the target makes an Intuition + Empathy test. If the character gets more hits, the feint succeeds. While normally a character who has Locked On can use their attack reactively if the target (or anyone else) attempts any "funny stuff" - in the case of a Feint they have to wait to see if the Feint is successful in making them lose the Lock before taking their free shot. If the Feint fails, they can immediately use their attack in revenge however.