It's Combat Time! Combat Modifiers
There are lots of things that can happen in a fight, more so when you're dealing with heroes able to lift buildings and throw explosive fireballs. While combat in Mutants & Masterminds is simple and fast-paced, it also offers systems for different conditions affecting combat. In this preview, we take a look at two of them: area attacks and autofire attacks.
Area Attack
Super-attacks sometimes consist of powerful explosions, bursts of energy, or simply throwing really big things at opponents. These area attacks cover a much larger area than a normal attack, so they're much harder to avoid.
An area attack automatically hits an area the attacker can accurately target, filling the area with its effect. Targets in the area get a Reflex saving throw against a DC of (1o + attack's rank). If the save is successful, halve the area attack's rank or bonus (rounding any fractions down) before applying it to the target, who then makes the normal saving throw against the attack. Targets with the Evasion feat suffer no effect if they make their Reflex save. Targets with Evasion 2 suffer only half effect even if they fail their save, and no effect if they succeed.
Example: White Knight hurls a fireball (an Explosive Blast 10) at Johnny Rocket and a couple AEGIS agents. Johnny has a high Reflex save (+14) and the Evasion feat. He makes a Reflex saving throw against DC 20 (10 + the fireball's rank) and succeeds easily, avoiding any damage (because of his Evasion). The AEGIS agents are not so lucky—their Reflex saves are only +3. One manages to make the save, and makes a Toughness save against DC 20 (15 + half the fireball's normal damage, or 5). The other fails the Reflex save and takes the full brunt of the blast, making a Toughness save against DC 25 (the fireball's full effect).
If you delay or ready a move action you can try to avoid an area effect entirely. If you move before the attack and have sufficient movement to get out of the area, you're safe. You must choose how far you move before the GM tells you the result of the area attack, so be sure you move far enough!
You can also spend a hero point to gain the Evasion feat for one round, allowing you to suffer no effect from an area attack if you succeed on your Reflex saving throw.
Area effects which don't normally require an attack roll do not allow for a Reflex save, they simply affect all targets in the specified area.
Under the Hood: Area Attacks
Area attacks have their advantages and their drawbacks, and may require some Gamemaster management in play.
The primary advantage of area attacks is they essentially always hit, although cover and a successful Reflex save can blunt their effects. Covering a large area with an attack is an almost certain way of hitting a target you can't hit directly due to the target's high Defense.
The downside of area attacks is they're difficult to use with any precision. The attacker can only limit the affected area so much, and the attack hits everyone and everything in that area. This may include allies, bystanders, or just nearby buildings and property. Heroes fighting in any sort of urban environment should be cautious about using area attacks, and you should feel free to remind them of the potential repercussions of doing so.
Area attacks, particularly ones in crowded or urban areas, offer plenty of opportunities for complications in the adventure: an area attack may damage a building's foundation or a bridge's supports, for example; tear up pavement, burst water or gas mains, overturn cars, or shatter windows.
Autofire Attack
An autofire attack is a volley of multiple shots with a single standard action. To use an autofire attack against a single target, make your attack roll normally. The amount by which your attack roll succeeds applies a bonus to the attack's saving throw DC.
If an Impervious defense (Force Field or Protection, for example) would normally ignore the attack before any increase in the save DC, then the attack has no effect as usual; a volley of multiple shots is no more likely to penetrate an Impervious defense than just one.
Multiple Targets: You can use autofire to attack multiple targets at once as a full action by "walking" the autofire attack from target to target. Choose a line of 5-foot squares no greater in number than your attack bonus. You may make attack rolls to hit targets, one target at a time, starting at one end of the line and continuing to the other end. You suffer a penalty to each of your attack rolls equal to the total number of squares. If you miss one target, you may still attempt to hit the others.
Covering Fire: An autofire attack can provide cover for an ally. Take a full action and choose an ally in your line of sight, who receives a +4 dodge bonus against enemies in your line of sight and in range of your autofire attack. (You have to be able to shoot at them to get them to keep their heads down or this maneuver won't work.) You cannot lay down covering fire for an ally in melee. Each character after the first who lays down covering fire for the same individual grants an additional +1 dodge bonus. All covering fire attackers receive a free attack if an opponent chooses to ignore the dodge bonus granted to the protected target.
Suppression Fire: An autofire attack can lay down a volley to force opponents to seek cover. Take a full-round action and choose an opponent, who receives a –4 penalty to attack rolls and checks for one round while in your line of sight and in range of your attack. An opponent who chooses not to seek cover ignores the attack modifier from suppression fire but is automatically attacked (a free action for you). You cannot lay down suppression fire on an opponent in melee. Each character after the first who lays down suppression fire for the same target imposes an additional –1 penalty. All suppression fire attackers receive a free attack if the target fails to take cover or otherwise get out of their sight.
Next: From the modern world of heroes, we go to the dawn of the superhero age, with a look at one of the several genres covered in the world-building chapter of Mutants & Masterminds, the Golden Age!
