Defending

Players defend against attacks using their reaction pool rather than their standard dice pool. As with all uses of the reaction pool, a defense roll reduces the pool by 1 die. Characters with shields also add the die for their shield or defensive weapon to the pool (see "Armor, Shields, & Cover." Otherwise, defense rolls are just standard rolls: If the roll succeeds, the player avoids being hit and can trade their successes for special effects (see "Defensive Moves" for common defense effects.) If the defense roll fails, the Challenge Dice that were not cancelled out are treated as successful attack dice using the rules in the Attacking section.

Defensive Moves

In addition to the standard uses, Successes garnered from a defense roll can be used to generate combat-specific effects. Some common and broadly-applicable examples are provided below (organized by the Success cost of the effect). Games with more detailed or stylized combat scenes may include additional moves, and GMs should always be open to allowing improvised defensive moves that are appropriate to the genre and style of the game.

1 Success Defensive Moves

• Engage or Disengage from an opponent with an equal/smaller weapon.
• Gain dLuck Instant Karma

2 Success Defensive Moves

• Engage or Disengage from an opponent with a larger weapon.
• Make a secondary attack on your attacker as a reaction.
• Recover 1 HP or TP in your current Health or Nerve level (up to full HP/TP for that level).
• Add 1 die to your Reaction Pool

3 Success Defensive Moves

• Weapon Lock Opponent
• Steal the Initiative
• Displace Secondary Weapon
• Recover dCombat HP or TP in your current Health or Nerve level (up to full HP/TP for that level)

4 Success Defensive Moves

• Disarm Opponent (Secondary Weapon) or Displace Shield or Primary Weapon. 
• Gain 1 Luck
• Add dHeroics dice to your Reaction pool
• Take a Free Hack against your opponent as a reaction

5 Success Defensive Moves

• Disarm Opponent (Primary Weapon)
• Gain a free action this round (refresh initiative). You may take the action now or save it for later.
• Recover all lost HP or TP for your current Health or Nerve level
• Fully refresh Reaction pool