Forums of the Megaverse®

the combat action: Body Block/Tackle states that it takes two actions but does not describe how it takes two actions. does the player have to spend his first action in preparation of the action almost like he's aiming or does he just do the action and instead of it only using one action it uses up two actions instantly?

Shadow Of Solace wrote:I would assume his second action would be getting up from the ground / extricating himself from his opponent.

That would be my estimation as well (in addition to potentially regathering their wits). This is different from the way I run power strikes (first action - wind up, second action - strike), but it makes sense to me that way.

the preparation on the first action then the attack on the seconds action seems to be the right idea to me. Extracting oneself from the opponent doesn't seem right since you can push the opponent back if they didn't get knocked back the first time.

There's no official ruling on this.
Here are the methods that I'm aware of:
1. The first attack is spent winding up, or charging the opponent.
On the second attack, that's when you actually hit.
2. The first attack deals the actual hit, the second is spend recovering.
3. The attack takes place all at once, it just costs two attacks.

jade von delioch wrote:he just do the action and instead of it only using one action it uses up two actions instantly?

That's the only way I have seen it played. The two attacks spent reflect the time required, not the actual number of attacks required.

Shadow Of Solace wrote:Pushing them back would be part of that second action... Do you know what extricating is?

A "Push" Action is separate of the Body Block action. A Body Block/Tackle is about Hitting the opponent and knocking him/her down.. Pushing is an action that forces an opponent back so many feet. (its in rifter issue 30)

And i do...Why do you need a dictionary for a word you used if so you should go here: http://www.Dictionary.com

Shadow Of Solace wrote:wow, your dense.

What about his dense?


Or did you mean, "You're dense"?

I hope you meant the first one, because the other one would be a flame, which could get you in trouble with the mods.

i don't think i've ever seen dodge done that way... usually the action that you lose is not the next one but just one from the character's total actions per round.. but i can see why it could be done that way..

Yes, I believe it is suppose to be your next action with dodge from the Main Book Example combat, but personally I never played that way. I just take it from the total.

i guess it would depend on which book your looking at. the fantasy revised core book just say that you lose a action not your next action.

Mouser13 wrote:Yes, I believe it is suppose to be your next action with dodge from the Main Book Example combat, but personally I never played that way. I just take it from the total.

i use to play that way, but i realized that you have a hard time keeping somebody on the defensive and you take away a very important tactic in combat.
as for body flip throw, (the way i handle it) it would happen all at once but it would take the next action. throwing somebody down takes a lot of focus, unless you're good enought to use the auto flip throw. I don't know how many times one of my students got pwned right after throwing down an opponent.

Because of this thread, I might just reconsider how I apply the "it takes two attacks/actions" rule. Hmm....

A body block and a tackle are two different full body attacks. The use of the second action in game terms comes from which action you are doing.

A body block is a short maneuver for the wind up, and is often done at farily close range. It uses a lot of strength, with little build up of momentum before striking the target, and a boatload of it afterward (or if the target was tougher than you, rebound time, because you don't pass through where he was, you bounce back).

A tackle is a longer maneuver, using your speed and mass to build up greater momentum before the attack, and some after contact with the target.

For instance, I, Kuma the Bearman body block the Ricky the Orc, who is just slightly smaller than me. He is inside of my punching distance, so I do a slight crouch and throw my shoulder into his clavicle by taking a step and pushing off with the strength of my legs. Ricky takes the full force of this pressure, spins around and drops like a stone. Now, I have all of that force (mass x acceleration) and nothing to stop it's progress, so I have to take three or four more steps to release the energy without falling down myself. The "second action" took place afterward.

Now say I am more than kicking distance from Dizzy, an armored Deadboy. Now I know I can probably not damage Dizzy, but he is about to fire on a buddy of mine, and I just cannot let that happen. I take two or three running steps and slam my Bearman weight into him, and he goes down with me on top of him, losing his rifle from the significant weight that just landed on him (but taking little or no damage from my attack otherwise personally, as he is protected by the armor).

Now I can take more actions, but note that following a tackle (in this case) I am still PRONE (unless by some chance I managed to roll to my feet following the attack - I usually make players do a physical prowess roll to determine if they end up on their opponent or on their feet) and as such have to make my next action from being prone atop poor Dizzy (remember that scene in The Great Outdoors, where the bear bounced up and down on John Candy's back?). In game terms the second action exists on both sides of the attack itself, split across the two periods in time.

If the question of where you can interrupt this attack comes up, you can't. I agree with Killer Cyborg's thrid interpretation of the attack for game purposes - all of this takes place at once, it just costs two attacks. Though one note is that also, if you should happen to parry this attack and have body flip / throw as one of your attack methods, then whoever used the body block or tackle lands unceremoniously on his head or arse and has lost a third action to the successful parry in the form of the throw (see arts like Aikido and traditional forms of Samurai Jujitsu and Judo for good examples of this kind of defense).

The Bouncer