Defensive actions can now boost cover beyond the

COMBAT ADDENDUM original +5 limit. Any reference in the rulebook to things that
The following changes should be implemented in increase your cover but not above the +5 limit no longer have
every HSD game. Contributions from the community and that limitation.
overall use since the release of the first book have shown them
to be beneficial adjustments. This will be available for free When locked in close combat, ranged attacks from
to all players (even those who don’t own Core:Extended) to an enemy you are locked with can be parried as per the
download and attach to their games. It will also be included as usual rules for parrying attacks. Any sized weapon (except
an insert to the official HSD core rulebook .pdf. Rules written in LAN) can be used for this, and will not suffer harm for it as
this book and in future books will be written using the changes they would for parrying a melee weapon, as it’s essentially
written here, and the character sheet in the back of this book just pushing the gun aside as it fires. Anyone who disengages
reflects these changes. from a locked combat and attempts to fire on the person
they just ran from treats them as though they have +4
to their cover bonus that turn and is in Full Defense as
Armor changes described below.
Passive armor hitpoint totals in the HSD core
rulebook have been doubled. Hardcase plating now maxes Full Defense
at 80 and goes in incriments of 10 instead of 5. The negative to
movement occures at 70 hitpoints. Active and living armor If you have spent every available defensive action
hitpoints in the HSD core ruleook have been trippled. This to boost your cover bonus, and an enemy’s incoming
includes Hardskin. Cut weapons can now damage armor up to ranged attack only hits you with a single die of their total
60 hitpoints. dicepool, that attack does half damage rounded up. This
is generally referred to as full defense and does not apply to
single shots, weapons described as only firing once per use,
Attack and weapon changes grenades, or flood weapons. Any situation described in the
HSD core rulebook as granting someone an automatic +4
The Battle Pool has been reduced by 2. It is now cover bonus (such as Threat Response) also grants them the
4+Readiness. full defense status.

The attack action cap is now ½ Mind: Dexterity

rounded up. A character with 1-2 dots in Mind:Dexterity can
Movement changes
make a single attack action per turn, 3-4 dots can make 2 attack
If a character uses an ability that takes them
actions, and 5 dots can make 3.
beyond their base calculated movement score in a single

action (Cheetah speed, Combat flying, Cog boosting,
Reloading a weapon is now an attack action, not a
Wheeled frames, etc. Anything that takes you further than
standard action. The “Battle pacing” Focus ability allows
Body:Resilience+Body:Dexterity), any enemy they use a
you to reload without spending an attack action, but you
ranged attack against that turn counts as having +2 cover.
must still pay the 3 points from your battle pool.
Additionally, Large and LAN weapons can not be
used in the same turn in which you exceed your calculated
Ammo no longer has a separate damage stat.
movement score, and weapons with the Flood type you
Combine the listed ammo damage and base damage of the
fire this turn include your own character in their effec-
core rulebook weaponry; that is now their total damage.
tive area. Abilities which grant you additional movement
In weapons which have random damage (such as some melee
actions do not count for this (provided you don’t exceed your
attacks) roll the damage as the attack is made and add it as
movement score per action of course).
before (or add it only when triggered, as is described in the
Drifting characters (such as Maglev Cogs in glide
Hard-edge). Headshots are now triple the total weapon
mode) trigger this effect if their total distance traveled (normal
damage.
movement+drift) is further than what could be achieved by
spending all their movement actions normally. For example,
Only the first successful hit from a ranged weapon
a Maglev Cog with three movement actions and a movement
deals its total damage. All dice that score hits beyond the
score of 4 can spend all three to move 12 hexes. They can then
first hit deal x damage each, rather than the weapon’s
glide 12 hexes in the same direction next turn without spend-
full damage. X is based on the weapon’s size. Small and
ing movement actions and without suffering a performance
medium=1 damage, large=2, LAN=3. This does not affect
penalty. If they were to spend a movement action to push
melee weapons.
themselves up to 16 hexes that turn, they would suffer the
penalties above, and for every turn thereafter, until they
Defensive changes slowed down again.
192
 If a character has moved to a new hex from their Armored Cover: Charge, Melt, Annihilate, LAN melee
previous turn (by means of a move action or anything else weapons.
that physically relocates them), headshots through the
Fire a single shot attack action require 4 successes instead As a point of storytelling, I want to encourage Guides
of 3. The “Critical Thinking” Focus now lowers this number to pay attention to the amount of times bullets miss their
by 1 rather than its original effect. marks and hit the cover, and factor that into their narration
Cover addendum (possibly even destroying it after they feel enough damage has
been taken). Applying a requirement of this within the rules
resulted in less realism and more book keeping, so it has been
The hitpoint values given to cover in the HSD core removed, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still be a dramatic
rulebook work well in small firefights using light weapons, but factor in your combat narration.
quickly decay in larger ones. While this is reasonably accurate,
it also renders a large chunk of the combat rules ineffective at
a certain point unless you have a great deal of armored cover Ammo and upgrade addendum
to hide behind. In this addendum, cover repels all attacks that
are not specifically designed to destroy cover. High Explosive ammo now has the following
Cover is now immune to most damage unless it is properties, instead of the ones listed in the rulebook:
specifically listed as vulnerable to it. If the incoming damage “Weapons armed with this ammo can damage cover
is not among the listed vulnerabilities, the cover will not be even if the weapon type or ammo type is not listed as a vulner-
harmed by it. Additionally, cover is only harmed by attacks ability. The normal 2 damage limitation does not apply.”
that specifically target the cover itself. Misses from firing High Explosive ammo is now 20 credits for all
at targets beyond the cover are no longer factored into the magazine sizes.
cover’s remaining hitpoints. Weapons which specifically cite
cover in their descriptions (such as the Perforator) will affect it Hollow tipped ammo now does 1 damage per
as described on the weapon even if they don’t meet the vulner- hit beyond the first when hitting armored targets or soft
ability requirement. If something succeeds in dealing damage cover, and 3 damage per hit beyond the first when hitting
to cover, it does no more than 2 damage per hit (unless listed unarmored flesh. This replaces the damage usually done by
as doing otherwise in the weapon description, such as the that weapon’s size for subsiquent hits.
Perforator. Melt effects fall in this category, so a Melt weapon
will always do 7 damage to cover it shoots at directly). Incendiary ammo now does 2 bonus damage per
These new rules apply to shields as well. Small round. The remaining details of the ammo are unchanged.
shields follow the rules for Soft cover, Medium and Large In special cases where a weapon’s incendiary properties are
shields follow the rules for Hard cover, and LAN shields specifically labeled (such as in a flamethrower) the specific
follow the rules for Armored cover. As implied, this does damage is used (d12, in that case).
mean enemies can target your shield directly if you’re actively
using it, and if they choose to do so, it will not gain a cover Armor piercing ammo now does 1 automatic
bonus of it’s own. If your character is not using a shield for damage per hit beyond the first to an armored target’s
cover (they just have it on them) it cannot be targeted. If a hitpoints. The 60 hitpoint limitation on armor vulnerability
character is using a shield to parry, it takes only 2 damage per still applies, but the section regarding how it affects targets in
hit, as described above. LAN melee weapons, however, will do cover has been removed.
their full damage to shields (even LAN shields).
If cover is struck by a single shot which does In the Charge weapon type entry, replace the entry
equal to or greater than its hitpoint value, it is destroyed under “if the shot hits,” with “add the weapon’s RoF bonus
regardless of what type of attack it was. This overrules the damage to the hit, as though it had hit with every die of the
2 damage limit to incoming fire. RoF.” The weapon still has a one round cool-down period and
must still be reloaded.
Cover vulnerabilities
The Vibrox now grants the following ability,
instead of its original one: “A Vibrox weapon will destroy
Soft Cover (redefined as plants, basic walls, light any object used to parry it (except a shield or another Vibrox
metals and flimsy structures): Can be hurt by any attack which weapon) on contact. The parry will still be successful (once) but
targets it directly. the defending weapon will be unusable afterward. If someone
attempts to parry a Vibrox weapon with their body, do damage
Hard Cover (redefined as heavy furniture, heavy directly to their hitpoints or armor as though a hit has been
doors, good walls or built-in structures, thick trees, etc.): scored.” It is still limited to Cut weapons, and the stipulation
Cut, Melt, Charge, Annihilate, LAN melee and LAN ranged listed on Cut weapons that says a Vibrox allows them to
weapons. Vulnerable to standard guns if equipped with Ap damage (but not bypass) all armor is still true.
ammunition and targeted directly. 193