2.16 Combat skill

Governing characteristics: ST, CO

Represents: General combat experience, the ability to predict blows, and brawling ability (i.e. kicks, punches, use of improvised weapons and clubs).

Broad specialisms:

Brawling (covers both attacks and damage with brawling maneuvers, including the use of knuckle-dusters/ cestus)
Clubs (covers both attacks and damage with clubs and other improvised weapons)
Dodging (covers all dodge maneuvers)
Soaking (i.e. absorbing damage from a blow without suffering injury)
Toughness (i.e. resisting initial pain of wounds and after-wound shock)
Combat speed (determines the number of action points a character has per combat turn)

Narrow specialisms:

A specific brawling, club or improvised attack maneuver (e.g. Punch, Kick, Club, etc.) (adds to both attack and damage with that maneuver)
Resisting initial pain of wounds
Keeping going when hurt
Resisting after-wound shock
Judging another's Combat skill
Arm-wrestling
A specific dodge maneuver (e.g. Rolling dodge, Jump back dodge, Side-step dodge, Drop dodge)

Use with the following characteristics in dice rolls covering:

Characteristic	Use skill with this characteristic in dice rolls covering
ST	Damage done when character hits target with a brawling, club or improvised weapon maneuver Arm-wrestling Soaking (i.e. absorbing damage) Breaking a weapon's shaft with bare hands Resisting after-wound shock
CO	Whether character hits target with a brawling, club or improvised weapon maneuver Dodging attacks Combat speed (i.e. number of action points)
PE	Judging another's Combat skill
WP	Resisting initial pain of wounds