Editing ShatteredPrism:Rules Book (section)

==Combat==
;The Time Chain:When combat starts, every second is equal to one combat turn. This is called the Time Chain, and starts on Turn Zero at the point where combat begins. Every second in game is a separate Turn, where something can occur in the battle.
;Initiative:Now that we know how time is handled during combat, we need to be able to determine who goes first, and what Turn they start on. To do this we look at the Initiative attribute of all participants. The initiative score equates to the Turn on the Time Chain they start at. Everyone gets their first Turn within the first 5 Ticks. (The lower this number, the sooner that person starts their Sequence of Turns. For every 5 points of Init rating, the character's first Turn comes 1 Tick sooner. Use the follwing chart as a reference:  Inits 1 5 = Tick 7, Inits 6 10 = Tick 6, Inits 11 15 = Tick 5, Inits 16 20 = Tick 4, Inits 21 25 = Tick 3, Inits 25 30 = Tick 2, Inits 30 ** = Tick 1)
;Cycle Ties: If more than one character Sequences on the same Turn (Bob and Andy both act on Turn 42), and they’re on opposing ‘parties’, neither player can be allowed to declare their intent before the other. Instead, both must use ‘Intent Cards’ to declare general intentions to the GM at the same time. Red = Offense, White = Defense, Blue = Neutral. An attack is Offensive, while anything that is neither a direct attack or a position for defense counts as Neutral. If the two characters who Sequence together are allies, they can either opt to use the cards or decide among themselves who declares first.
;Movement:When a character’s Turn comes up, they have the option of moving, then performing an action. Moving costs Energy, unless a slower than ‘normal’ combat speed is specified. A character may move a number of meters per action equal to their Speed Attribute. As stated before, every character has the option of moving, then performing an action. Instead of this, there are several other options for movement and action. A player may elect to move then act as normal; to act then move up to half their speed; to simply act without moving (thus expending no Energy); or finally by expending 2 ½ times the normal Energy, a character can ‘double time’ and move twice their Speed in a single round, however this prevents them from using their Action that round.
 
===Actions===
;Actions / Attack:After movement, the character has the option of making an action. This action need not be to attack however. Examples of possible actions include putting oneself into a Defensive position (Defense); Manipulation of their environment (Use or Manipulate, reloading a weapon, opening a door); Attacking an opponent (Attack); and finally no action at all.
;Burning Energy:Energy for Actions: By exerting extreme will and digging into reserves of energy, a character may make a second Action (along with any normally recieved) by burning Z Energy points (high amount) at the beginning of their Turn.
 
===Reactions===
;Reactions / Defense:Whenever an action or attack is directed at another character, the character so targeted gets to react to that action on the same Turn, with some exceptions. Examples of Reactions to attacks include Dodge, Deflect, or Absorb (Which is to say the character does nothing and simply takes the hit). Other Reactions (such as defensive powers, skills, or abilities) may also be used.
;Dodge:By burning extra Energy to attempt to dodge an attack, a defender may inflict a penalty to the roll of the attacker. For every X points of Energy burned in a dodge, the attacker suffers a  1 to their TN, thus making it harder to hit. The exact amount of Energy burned *must* be declared before the Attacker makes his roll however. While almost all Melee attacks can be dodged by anyone, only those with special abilities, accelerated reflexes or speed can dodge firearms attacks. Those with higher than average speeds (17 20) can also have the option of dodging low velocity projectiles like thrown objects, and manual powered missiles (bows, slings, etc).
;Desperation Dodge:As can be seen in the above dodge rules, it may be possible for the Result of an attacker’s roll to be higher than the Reactor’s default Target Number, thus making them incapable of both rolling under their Target *and* over the Result. In cases such as this, the Reactor can either Deflect, Absorb, or else attempt a Desperation Dodge. To do this, the character must spend Stamina points in order to raise their *own* Target Number sufficiently to enable them to both roll under their Target and over the Result.
;Parry / Deflect:Deflect is the attempt by the defender to interpose some object between the attack and themselves. This object can be almost anything, a shield, a weapon, a table, or any other object which has been picked up and placed between the character and the attack. Deflect is an *optional* reaction to an incoming attack, and can only be performed if certain conditions are met; the main condition being that the character must already be holding an appropriate object (Or use some sort of ‘quick draw’ skill if the object is on their person but not yet readied). Deflect is carried out similar to a dodge, but if an attacker manages to succeed, a portion of the damage can be negated. By burning Energy a defender may inflict a penalty to the roll of the attacker. For every Y Energy (half Dodge cost) burned in a Deflect move the attacker suffers  1 to their TN. In simple rules, a successful deflect negates only 25% of the incoming damage. If using the optional rules for degrees of success, better success on the part of the Attacker can decrease this deflection value to a min of 10% of damage deflected, conversely poorer successes can increase the value deflected to as high as 75%. In advanced rules, the amount of damage negated is applied to the object used to deflect the attack, and can cause some objects to break thereafter in a manner similar to Armor.
;Absorb:This is simply the passive reaction used when the player wishes not to, or is incapable of, deal with the attack actively. No opposing roll is made, and damage is dealt with normally.
 
===Damage===
;Resolving Damage:When an attack roll is made, the tens digit of the result is applied to a weapon’s damage modifier, and this is then the damage of the attack. For example, if a person using a weapon with a damage mod of x4 succeeds with a roll of 43, the damage becomes 4x4=16 damage, because the tens digit of the Result was 4, and the damage mod was x4. Any attack that is not aimed at a specific body part is assumed to hit the torso if successful. Optional rules for uncalled shots may be used, which will cause uncalled attacks to strike a random body part based on a table or calculation, which is itself based on the result rolled.
;Damage Threshold:When you take damage, and it isn't dodged or absorbed by armor, you have an attrib called Damage Threshold. An amount of damage from the attack equal to your Threshold attrib is applied not to health, but to Stamina (fatigue) as a sort of 'soak' effect.Any damage not diverted by Threshold is then applied towards Vitality (stun), or Trauma (Health), where appropriate. If Stamina is depleted to zero by damage shunted by Threshold, the shunted damage is applied to Vitality. If Vitality is depleted, it's applied to Trauma.
;Armor:Any piece of armor has three values; Location, Armor Threshold and Armor Capacity. Location is the location or locations that piece of armor is designed to protect, such as a bracer only protecting the forearm, if no location is given, assume the full body is covered. The second value is Armor Threshold, or the amount of damage the armor will absorb from every attack that hits it. The final value is Armor Capacity, expressed as maximum and current sub values. Incoming damage is first compared to the Threshold of any armor worn, this value is absorbed by the armor, with any damage exceeding this amount proceeding to inner layers of protection (such as additional layers of armor, forcefields, etc), and finally to the character themselves. When armor absorbs damage, this amount is deducted from Armor Capacity. When AC reaches zero, that piece of armor fails to actually absorb any more damage, but still continues to take further damage. Additionally, when AC is reduced to a value below Threshold, then Threshold is reduced to match the current AC. When AC is reduced to a negative value equal to half the original Threshold, the armor is destroyed.  Armor which has lost all it's AC but has not yet been destroyed can be repaired, but destroyed armor is gone for good. Armor which can be worn over each other do not add their values together, instead each serves as a successive ‘layer’ of defense. When damage gets past the outermost layer, that damage is checked against the next layer, and so on until any remaining damage is applied to the character.
 
Example: Dave has a combat vest with a Threshold of 15, and an AC of 30. When hit by a gunshot doing 20 pts of damage, 15 points are applied to the armor, while the remaining 5 pass through. The vest’s AC is now reduced to 15. On another attack, Dave is hit for 10 pts. The vest absorbs this full amount, as the Threshold is still 15, but the vest’s AC drops to 5, thus lowering the Threshold to 5 as well. On a third attack, Dave is hit for only 5 pts, reducing his vest’s Threshold and AC to zero. At this point the vest is so mangled that it offers no real protection, but can continue to take damage. When Dave is hit again for a whopping 15 pts, the armor’s AC is reduced to  15, which is the negative of the origonal Threshold of 15. The vest is now totally destroeyed, not to mention the likelyhood of poor Dave himself being mangled by the attacks. Hopefully Dave was wearing additional armor, or other forms of protection, underneath that combat vest...
 
===Health and Recovery===