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Mastering Combat

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 124
Combat is more than just knowing how to swing a sword without cutting yourself. To some, it is a means to an end, a regrettable necessity when all other options have failed, and a tool that is to be set down the moment it’s not absolutely needed. To others, it is a panacea and a way of life—a means of solving any problem, and of proving one’s worth by standing tall against one’s fellows and the harsh denizens of an uncaring universe. In the hands of a skilled warrior, a sword is no longer simply a sharpened length of steel, and even a club is more than just a broken branch. These objects become instruments of a serious and sometimes brutal art, one whose practitioners are every bit as skilled in their artistry as the greatest bards. Many such acolytes of battle might say that theirs is the only art worth pursuing, as it’s the sole one by which the artist not only inspires respect, but commands it. Combat is civilization’s oldest trade and form of expression, and no matter how far we’ve come since the first days of stones and sticks, it continues to shape the events that define us. A civilized society may claim to abhor bloodshed, but it’s that same bloodshed—or its threat—that watches over us and gives us the freedom to maintain such ideals.

While the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook presents a robust system capable of simulating most combat, as well as a wide selection of weapons and armor types common to most European-influenced fantasy settings, this chapter provides new options for GMs and players alike to add depth to the standard combat rules, as well as introduces a wealth of new weapons with historical ties to those lands that would have seemed strange and exotic to residents of Medieval Europe.

Firearms

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 135
Guns are not strangers to fantasy. The earliest authors of fantasy and weird fiction often included guns in their stories. Heroes like Burroughs’s John Carter or Howard’s Solomon Kane carried pistols alongside their swords, and it’s hard to imagine a pirate ship without cannons blazing. These authors likely included guns because they are exciting, but also because the guns they chose were primitive ones— relatively unpredictable weapons, prone to misfire and malfunction. This made firearms excellent storytelling devices. Such weapons could cause hero or villain to falter or triumph, changing the action within the tale in a flash or a fizzle. Still, a firearm remains an ominous and terrible weapon in the hands of a skilled gunman.

This section presents an anachronistic collection of hand-held black powder weapons. Most of them are singleshot muzzle-loaders with highly inefficient triggering mechanisms—traditional sword and sorcery firearms. More advanced firearms are also presented for those brave enough to mix their fantasy with a technology much closer to that of the Old West than the slow and unstable weapons that gave musketeers their name. If you are interested in letting such weapons in your game, do so with the following warning: Advanced guns can substantially change the assumptions of your game world, in the same way that they changed the face of warfare in the real world. If you like your fantasy to be of the more traditional variety, stand clear. Or, better yet, run for cover.

Firearms in Your Campaign

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 135
Firearms and gunslingers are not for every campaign, and even if you are excited about introducing firearms into your campaign, you should still make a decision about how commonplace they are. The following are broad categories of firearm rarity and the rules that govern them. Pathfinder’s world of Golarion uses the rules for emerging guns, which is also the default category of gun rarity detailed in this Pathfinder RPG supplement.

No Guns: If you do not want guns in your campaign, simply don’t allow the rules that follow. The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game plays perfectly well without them. Very Rare Guns: Early firearms are rare; advanced firearms, the gunslinger class, the Amateur Gunslinger feat, and archetypes that use the firearm rules do not exist in this type of campaign. Firearms are treated more like magic items—things of wonder and mystery—rather than like things that are mass-produced. Few know the strange secrets of firearm creation. Only NPCs can take the Gunsmithing feat.

Emerging Guns: Firearms become more common. They are mass-produced by small guilds, lone gunsmiths, dwarven clans, or maybe even a nation or two—the secret is slipping out, and the occasional rare adventurer uses guns. The baseline gunslinger rules and the prices for ammunition given in this chapter are for this type of campaign. Early firearms are available, but are relatively rare. Adventurers who want to use guns must take the Gunsmithing feat just to make them feasible weapons. Advanced firearms may exist, but only as rare and wondrous items—the stuff of high-level treasure troves.

Commonplace Guns: While still expensive and tricky to wield, early firearms are readily available. Instead of requiring the Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat, all firearms are martial weapons. Early firearms and their ammunition cost 25% of the amounts listed in this book, but advanced firearms and their ammunition are still rare and cost the full price to purchase or craft.

Guns Everywhere: Guns are commonplace. Early firearms are seen as antiques, and advanced firearms are widespread. Firearms are simple weapons, and early firearms, advanced guns, and their ammunition are bought or crafted for 10% of the cost listed in this chapter. The gunslinger loses the gunsmith class feature and instead gains the gun training class feature at 1st level.

Firearm Rules

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 135
Firearms work differently from other ranged projectile weapons—they instead use the following rules.

Firearm Proficiency: The Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms) feat allows you to use all firearms without penalty. A nonproficient character takes the standard –4 penalty on attack rolls with firearms, and a nonproficient character who loads a firearm increases all misfire values by 4 for the shots he loads.

Even though the Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms) feat grants you proficiency with all firearms, anytime you take a feat that modifies a single type of weapon (such as Weapon Focus or Rapid Reload), you must still pick one specific type of firearm (such as musket, axe musket, blunderbuss, pistol, or double pistol) for that feat to affect.

All firearms are part of the same weapon group for the purposes of the fighter's weapon training class feature.

Capacity: A firearm's capacity is the number of shots it can hold at one time. When making a full-attack action, you may fire a firearm as many times in a round as you have attacks, up to this limit, unless you can reload the weapon as a swift or free action while making a full-attack action. In the case of early firearms, capacity often indicates the number of barrels a firearm has. In the case of advanced firearms, it typically indicates the number of chambers the weapon has.

Range and Penetration: Armor, whether manufactured or natural, provides little protection against the force of a bullet at short range.

Early Firearms: When firing an early firearm, the attack resolves against the target's touch AC when the target is within the first range increment of the weapon, but this type of attack is not considered a touch attack for the purposes of feats and abilities such as Deadly Aim. At higher range increments, the attack resolves normally, including taking the normal cumulative –2 penalty for each full range increment. Unlike other projectile weapons, early firearms have a maximum range of five range increments.

Advanced Firearms: Advanced firearms resolve their attacks against touch AC when the target is within the first five range increments, but this type of attack is not considered a touch attack for the purposes of feats such as Deadly Aim. At higher range increments, the attack resolves normally, including taking the normal cumulative –2 penalty for each full-range increment. Advanced firearms have a maximum range of 10 range increments.

Loading a Firearm: You need at least one hand free to load one-handed and two-handed firearms. In the case of two-handed firearms, you hold the weapon in one hand and load it with the other—you only need to hold it in two hands to aim and shoot the firearm. Loading siege firearms requires both hands, and one hand usually manipulates a large ramrod (which can be wielded as a club in combat).

The Rapid Reload feat reduces the time required to load one-handed and two-handed firearms, but this feat does not reduce the time it takes to load siege firearms.

Loading any firearm provokes attacks of opportunity. Other rules for loading a firearm depend on whether the firearm is an early firearm or an advanced firearm.

Early Firearms: Early firearms are muzzle-loaded, requiring bullets or pellets and black powder to be rammed down the muzzle. If an early firearm has multiple barrels, each barrel must be loaded separately. It is a standard action to load each barrel of a one-handed early firearm and a full-round action to load each barrel of a two-handed early firearm. It takes three full-round actions by one person to load a siege firearm. This can be reduced to two full-round actions if more than one person is loading the cannon.

Advanced Firearms: Advanced firearms are chamber-loaded. It is a move action to load a one-handed or two-handed advanced firearm to its full capacity. The Rapid Reload feat reduces this to a free action.

Misfires: If the natural result of your attack roll falls within a firearm's misfire value, that shot misses, even if you would have otherwise hit the target. When a firearm misfires, it gains the broken condition. While it has the broken condition, it suffers the normal disadvantages that broken weapons do, and its misfire value increases by 4 unless the wielder has gun training in the particular type of firearm (see the gunslinger class). In that case, the misfire value increases by 2 instead of 4.

Early Firearms: If an early firearm with the broken condition misfires again, it explodes. When a nonmagical firearm explodes, the weapon is destroyed. Magical firearms are wrecked, which means they can't fire until they are fully restored (which requires either the make whole spell or the Gunsmithing feat). When a gun explodes, pick one corner of your square—the explosion creates a burst from that point of origin. Each firearm has a burst size noted in parentheses after its misfire value. Any creature within this burst (including the firearm's wielder) takes damage as if it had been hit by the weapon—a DC 12 Reflex save halves this damage.

Advanced Firearms: Advanced firearms can misfire, but when they do, they only gain the broken condition. A further misfire does not cause advanced firearms to explode.

Ammunition: Firearm ammunition takes two forms: either black powder and shot (either bullets or pellets) or cartridges. Unlike other types of ammunition, firearm ammunition is destroyed when it is used, and has no chance of being retrieved on a miss. No part of a cartridge can be reused to create new cartridges. Firearm ammunition cannot be treated with poison, unless you are using a pitted bullet.

Concealing Firearms: Like light weapons and hand crossbows, one-handed firearms are easy to conceal on your person. Some smaller firearms (like the coat pistol) can grant bonuses to conceal a weapon on your person.

Inappropriately Sized Firearms: You cannot make optimum use of a firearm that is not properly sized for you. A cumulative –2 penalty applies on attack rolls for each size category of difference between your size and the size of the firearm. If you are not proficient with the firearm, a –4 nonproficiency penalty also applies. The size of a firearm never affects how many hands you need to use to shoot it, the exception being siege firearms and Large or larger creatures. In most cases, a Large or larger creature can use a siege firearm as a two-handed firearm, but the creature takes a –4 penalty for using it this way because of its awkwardness.

Bucklers: You can use a one-handed or two-handed firearm without penalty while carrying a buckler.

Fire while Prone: Firearms, like crossbows, can be fired while their wielders are prone.

Firearms, Black Powder, and Water: Black powder becomes useless when exposed to water, but powder horns and cartridges protect black powder from exposure. You cannot normally load an early firearm underwater or fire any firearm underwater without magical aid.

Deflecting and Snatching Bullets: The Deflect Arrows feat and the Snatch Arrows feat can be used to deflect bullets, but not pellets shot from a scatter weapon. Neither of these feats can be used to deflect siege firearm attacks.

Firearm Description

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 137
There are two general categories of firearms: early and advanced.

Firearms are further divided into one-handed, twohanded, and siege firearms. As the category’s name implies, one-handed firearms need only one hand to wield and shoot. Two-handed firearms work best when you use twohands while shooting them. Two-handed firearms can be shot with one hand at a –4 penalty on the attack roll. Siege weapons are typically mounted on some sort of platform, movable or otherwise, and have greater power but a much slower rate of fire.

Scatter Weapon Quality: A weapon with the scatter weapon quality can shoot two different types of ammunition. It can fire normal bullets that target one creature, or it can make a scattering shot, attacking all creatures within a cone. Cannons with the scatter weapon quality only fire grapeshot, unless their descriptions state otherwise. When a scatter weapon attacks all creatures within a cone, it makes a separate attack roll against each creature within the cone. Each attack roll takes a –2 penalty, and its attack damage cannot be modified by precision damage or damage-increasing feats such as Vital Strike. Effects that grant concealment, such as fog or smoke, or the blur, invisibility, or mirror image spells, do not foil a scatter attack. If any of the attack rolls threaten a critical, confirm the critical for that attack roll alone. A firearm that makes a scatter shot misfires only if all of the attack rolls made misfire. If a scatter weapon explodes on a misfire, it deals triple its damage to all creatures within the misfire radius.

Early Firearms

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 137
Early firearms are typically matchlock, wheellock, or flintlock weapons, and require more finesse and care to use than advanced firearms. Early firearms are muzzle-loaded, requiring a bullet and powder (or other special alchemical substances) to be shoved down the barrel before the weapon is fired. Early firearm ammunition can be loaded from a cartridge, but that cartridge is made of soft material (like paper or cloth) that is torn open so that the contents may be shoved down the barrel.

Advanced Firearms

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Advanced firearms are more reliable and accurate than early firearms. The ammunition of an advanced firearm takes the form of metal (usually brass) cartridges that are loaded into a chamber rather than shoved down the muzzle.

Firearm Ammunition and Adventuring Gear

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 140
Those who wield guns have a number of options when it comes to loading their weapons, and often need gunsmith’s kits to provide proper care and upkeep for their firearms.

Duels

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 150
There is no form of combat more civilized than the duel. Be it with steel or spells, duels are used to settle disputes in situations where a chaotic melee would be disruptive or even illegal. Although duels are often considered honorable, this does not necessarily make them any less deadly. Duels often permit combatants to engage in more even fights than the fracas of the battlefield, allowing the true skill, power, and wit of each to determine the victor.

Starting a Duel

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 150
A duel is a form of combat, but unlike ordinary combat, the participants must all agree to willingly enter the duel and abide by its rules. If either side breaks the rules, that side is considered the loser of the duel, regardless of any other outcome, and if its members continue aggressive action, the fight continues using the standard rules for combat.

The rules for a duel are usually quite simple, but might vary if all of the participants are of a particular class or if all of the participants agree on specific restrictions or guidelines. Such discussions typically happen before the duel, allowing both sides to properly prepare, but as with all elements of a duel, this is not always the case. Most duels utilize the following simple rules.

Each participant must fight alone and can receive no help from outside sources, with the exception of other creatures who are taking part in the duel, such as familiars, animal companions, or other bonded creatures. If the duel consists of more than one participant on a side, those fighting alongside one another are free to aid each other.
The types of weapons that can be used in the duel are agreed upon before the duel begins. Typical restrictions include only using melee weapons, ranged weapons, unarmed (or natural) weapons, magic, or any combination of these. The rules of a duel may require all duel participants to use the same weapon or types of attacks. This is especially the case in duels that require swords, spells, or firearms. Absent any such rules, any type of weapon is permissible.
The duel usually lasts until one of the combatants has been knocked unconscious or otherwise prevented from continuing. Spells such as hold person do not end duels, but flesh to stone certainly does, assuming the target fails her saving throw. Some duels go to the death and are only ended when one duelist or team is cut to pieces or reduced to a pile of smoking ashes. Other duels last until first blood, first strike, or a number of successful attacks. These latter types of duels are usually intended to settle disputes where a creature’s death is not the required end result.
In the case of duels that exclusively use magic, additional rules might prohibit the use of summoned or conjured creatures, unless the duel is performed by such creatures at the behest of the spellcasters involved (as is common among druids and summoners).
In the case of duels exclusively among warriors, additional rules typically prohibit the use of poison or even entire types of attacks (such as prohibiting ranged attacks, or requiring the use of firearms). In addition, most such duels prohibit the use of magic that affects other participants, although spells that enhance the caster are sometimes allowed.

Duel Combat

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 150
A duel functions much like ordinary combat, with a few notable exceptions.

At the start of the duel, each participant makes an initiative check, just like in standard combat. Because duels are always planned and expected, there is never a surprise round. Alternatively, some duels start off with each side facing off, waiting for the other to flinch or break resolve. In such cases, substitute a Bluff, Intimidate, or Sense Motive check in place of the standard initiative check. The skill used is decided by the individual participants and is reflective of their approach to the duel.

At the beginning of each round, the participants check the status of the duel (the GM may want to mark the beginning of each round in some way during initiative tracking as a reminder to check this status). So long as all participants agree to continue dueling, the duel goes on. If any one of the participants withdraws from the duel, the duel immediately ends for all participants, even those who would see it continue. The participant or side that ended the duel is considered the loser of the duel. The duel’s remaining participants can, among themselves, agree to resume the duel, but this is considered a separate duel from the previous one and does not involve those who withdrew from the duel.

Each participant in a duel can act normally on his turn, but his actions must target or affect either himself or one of the other duel participants (either an ally or an opponent). For example, a warrior might make an attack with his bow against anyone participating in the duel, or he might administer a potion to a wounded ally also involved in the duel, but he could not attack anyone other than a participant. Similarly a dueling wizard could not cast haste on allies outside the duel while excluding himself, but he could cast it on his allies if he was among the targets. The same goes for offensive spells, such as fireball—the dueling caster must include one of his opponents in the duel among the targets of the spell, and could not affect some nearby creatures to the exclusion of his opponent.

In addition to his normal actions, each participant in a duel may use one of a number of special immediate actions, available only to characters participating in a duel. They may take dueling counters, dueling dodges, dueling parries, or dueling resolve actions, each of which is described below.

Dueling Counter

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 151
Each participant in a duel can take a special action called a dueling counter. A dueling counter is similar to a counterspell, but is easier to use.

When a dueling opponent tries to cast a spell, the targeted spellcaster can make a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + the spell’s level) as a free action. If the check succeeds, she can identify her opponent’s spell and can attempt a dueling counter. If it fails, she cannot attempt a dueling counter against that spell (although special actions are still available to her).

A dueling counter is an immediate action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. To attempt a dueling counter, the countering duelist must expend a spell or spell slot of a level equal to or higher than that of the spell being cast. Note that characters who cast spells spontaneously (such as bards, oracles, and sorcerers) must choose which exact spell they are using to counterspell in addition to the slot being used. The countering duelist must then make a caster level check against a DC of 15 + the spell’s caster level. Unlike when using a true counterspell action (which requires a readied action), even expending an exact copy of the spell being cast does not guarantee success. The caster attempting the counterspell receives a bonus or penalty on her check depending upon the level of the spell slot being expended and the exact spell used, as noted in Table 3–10. If the check is successful, the spell is countered—it is negated and the spell is lost. If not, the spell takes effect as normal and the duelist attempting to counter the spell takes a –2 penalty on any saving throws made against the spell’s effect.

Alternatively, a spellcaster can use dispel magic or greater dispel magic as a dueling counter. When a duelist spellcaster does so, he does not need to identify the spell being cast, can counter a spell of any level, and must succeed at a caster level check against a DC of 11 + the spell’s caster level. When dispel magic is used as a dueling counter, it is not modified by any of the circumstances in Table 3–10.

Because readying a counterspell is its own action, a dueling spellcaster can prepare to counterspell and make a dueling counter in the same round. This is only useful if the participant is facing multiple opponents, or someone with access to the Quicken Spell feat or other abilities that allow casting two spells in the same round.

Circumstance	Modifier
Spell is of a different school	-2
Spell is of the same school, but not the same spell	+2
Spell is of a higher level than the spell being countered	+1/level above
Spell is the same as the spell being countered	+10

Dueling Dodge

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 151
Each participant in a duel can take a special action called a dueling dodge. This special maneuver gives a duelist a temporary bonus to his AC and on Reflex saves, but leaves him vulnerable to other attacks until the start of his next turn.

Whenever a character participating in a duel is the target of a melee attack, a ranged attack, a supernatural ability, or a spell or spell-like ability from another participant of the duel, he can declare that he is making a dueling dodge as an immediate action. This grants him a +4 circumstance bonus to his AC and on any Reflex saving throws he must make as a result of the attack. This bonus only applies until the attack that triggered the immediate action is resolved. If the attacker can make more than one such attack, all subsequent attacks are resolved as normal. This immediate action must be declared before the attack is resolved. If the attack does not require an attack roll or a Reflex saving throw, the immediate action is still spent, but with no effect.

Once the attack is resolved, the creature that attempted a dueling dodge takes a –2 penalty to his AC and on all Reflex saving throws until the start of his next turn (even if the duel ends).

Dueling Parry

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 152
Each participant in a duel can take a special action called a dueling parry. This special action allows the duelist to deflect a blow from a melee or ranged attack directed at her. A dueling parry cannot deflect spell or firearm ranged attacks.

Whenever a character participating in a duel is the target of a melee or ranged attack from another participant of the duel, she can declare that she is attempting to parry the attack as an immediate action. She must then make an attack roll with whatever weapon she is currently wielding, using her full base attack bonus but with a –5 penalty. If this attack roll is equal to or greater than the attack roll being made against her, she parries the attack and it is considered a miss. If the duelist attempting the parry is unarmed, she takes a further –2 on the attempt. If the duelist possesses the parry class feature, she can attempt this dueling parry once per round without spending an immediate action if she is using her parry class feature.

This dueling parry only applies to one attack. Other attacks made by the same attacker are resolved normally. If the attack is a hit and a critical threat, but would be parried by the duelist, it is still a hit, but no confirmation roll is made and damage is rolled normally.

Dueling Resolve

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 152
Once per duel, a character can use a special action called dueling resolve. This special action allows a duelist to keep on fighting despite a crippling spell or terrible injury.

Whenever a character participating in a duel fails a Fortitude or Will saving throw, or is reduced to fewer than 0 hit points, he can use dueling resolve as an immediate action. If he failed a Fortitude or Will saving throw, he can attempt another saving throw, using the same bonus. If this second saving throw is a success, the spell or effect prompting the saving throw does not take effect until the end of his next turn (even though its duration begins immediately). If he is reduced to fewer than 0 hit points (but not slain), he does not fall unconscious or gain the staggered condition, and can act normally until the end of his next turn, at which point he becomes staggered or unconscious based on his current hit points.

If, by the end of the character’s next turn, the spell or effect ends or he is brought to above 0 hit points, he is fatigued, but otherwise suffers no ill effect. A character can only use this ability once per duel.

Duels and Performance Combat

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If you are using the duel rules within a performance combat, successfully performing a dueling counter, dueling dodge, or dueling resolve all allow the combatant to make a performance combat check as a free action. Since the dueling counter, dueling dodge, and dueling resolve action are all immediate actions, and are usually not done on the character’s turn, this means that the combatant using one of these dueling actions must spend a victory point to make the performance combat check (not an action).

Duel Results

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 152
While duels can be treated as another form of combat, they are usually undertaken to resolve a dispute between colleagues or rivals and are not usually intended to end in death. As a result, duels are usually fought with a specific prize in mind.

Arcane academies are known for having duels to determine important faculty positions and as competitions between students for social standing and prizes. In some places, duels are so common that special areas are constructed specifically for duels. Such dueling yards are sometimes made with special enchantments that can be turned on for dueling competitions. Such fields typically convert all damage to nonlethal damage and prevent magic that instantly slays a foe or does permanent harm. That is not to say that accidents don’t happen, and more than one student has lost a limb or even her life while within such “safe” fields.

Fighters, paladins, cavaliers, and other characters that primarily rely on weapon attacks usually engage in duels to settle points of honor, but can also be rather particular in choosing their dueling space.

Regardless of the conditions, most duels are serious affairs, with each side putting pride, honor, treasure, and even their lives on the line to win the day. While villains might try to cheat the rules and exploit every advantage, nobler duelists see the competition as a chance to prove their superiority on the field of battle using only their skills and wits, rather than chance or superior numbers.

Performance Combat

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Not every fight is for survival. Combatants sometimes find themselves in contests where the crowd’s reaction is at least as important as the outcome of the fight itself. Whether a bar brawl with the goal of rousing the local populace to rise up against a band of bullies or a sun-drenched and bloody gladiatorial contest where life and death actually hinge on the favor of the crowd, performance combats are fights in which showmanship and flair can be more important than ruthless fighting efficiency.

The following rules for performance combat allow you as the GM to run an encounter, or even a series of combat encounters, in which the combatants must not only win the battle, but also win over the crowd.

Types of Performance Combat

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When creating a performance combat, it is important to determine the goals and rules of that combat. The following are the major examples of performance combat, but you should feel free to mix and match some of these general categories to create a performance combat that fits the story of your campaign.

Knockout Bout: Frequently as brutal but not as bloody as battles to the death, a knockout bout does not end in the death of one side, but still requires a clear and crushing victory. As long as both sides in the performance combat remain standing, the fight continues. Many knockout bout combats require that their participants deal nonlethal damage.

Staged Combats: Staged combats are less dangerous than knockout bouts. In these contests, combatants typically arrange to have blows that just barely land, so the hits are not registered as either nonlethal or lethal damage, but crowd reaction is determined in the same way as for normal battles. Staged combats often require advanced training (see the Stage Combatant feat). Those without advanced training can attempt to participate, but take a –6 penalty on attack rolls in order to make it seem like their attacks hit without doing real damage.

To a Number of Wounds: Not all blood sports end in death. It is often costly to train warriors for arenas big and small, and those who finance such enterprises are protective of their investments. In societies that value life but still love the spectacle of a good fracas, fighting to a number of wounds is an excellent compromise. A fight to first blood or to a certain number of wounds is often enough to appease a crowd.

To the Death: Only the death of one side ends these bouts. Sometimes the crowd’s reaction is secondary to the desperate battle on display, but other times the crowd’s reaction can have an effect on the actual outcome of the fight. Some blood sports demand that combatants hold off on the killing blow until the crowd gets a chance to voice its pleasure or displeasure, usually with a roar of applause or with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down gesture. A thumbs-up gesture allows the vanquished combatant to live and fight another day; a thumbs-down gesture ends the melee with a grotesque spray of blood.

Toward a Goal: Often these are elaborate affairs that may reproduce a historical battle, or just pit combatants against terrain and challenges that feature a variety of hazards and traps. These types of battles can be races (maybe mixing them with the rules for vehicular combat presented in Chapter 4), or may present capture-the-flag-like objectives, but all test the ability of the combatants to achieve a predetermined goal.

Crowd Attitudes

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While combatants do the actual fighting in performance combat, the crowd remains an active participant in these bouts. The audience can bolster or demoralize the competitors with their enthusiasm or scorn for what they see on the battlefield, with serious results.

A crowd’s attitude is similar to a nonplayer character’s attitude when a character uses the Diplomacy skill. The DC of performance combat checks to improve crowd reaction is tied to the crowd’s starting or current attitude. Each time the combatants do something spectacular on the battlefield, they have the opportunity to parlay that success into a better crowd reaction, but missteps can also create contempt among the crowd.

During performance combat, it is important for the GM to keep track of the crowd’s attitude toward each side of the combat. Given that a crowd is filled with many people shouting, clapping, booing, hissing, or otherwise showing their pleasure or displeasure, the exact crowd reaction changes from moment to moment based on events on the battlefield, but groups of combatants always have a reasonable idea of what the crowd thinks of their performance at any given time.

The following are the general categories of crowd reaction and attitude. They are listed from lowest regard to highest.

Hostile: The crowd does not like what it is seeing. Hostile crowds demoralize combatants in a performance combat. In these battles, while the crowd is hostile toward a given side, those combatants take a –2 penalty on all attack rolls, combat maneuver checks, ability checks, skill checks, and saving throws. This is a mind-affecting effect.

If the crowd is hostile toward a side of the combat and a member of that side fails a performance combat check by 5 or more, that side automatically loses the performance part of the combat. This can be important for the story of the game, or if the PCs are participating in serialized performance combats.

Unfriendly: While still biased against a side, the crowd reserves its most vocal disdain for failed performance combat checks. Unfriendly crowds demoralize combatants in a performance combat. In these battles, while the crowd is unfriendly toward a given side, those combatants take a –1 penalty on all attack rolls, combat maneuver checks, ability checks, skill checks, and saving throws. This is a mind-affecting effect.

Indifferent: The crowd is waiting for something exciting to happen. Audience members show little emotion other than anticipation and a desire for daring feats of combat to occur.

Friendly: The crowd is beginning to be swayed toward one side in the fray. Audience members cheer when that side achieves some impressive feat in the combat, and their reaction grants a +1 morale bonus on all attack rolls, combat maneuver checks, ability checks, skill checks, and saving throws for their chosen side. This is a mind-affecting effect.

Helpful: The crowd loves what it is seeing from a given side. Audience members stand up, chant, cheer, and scream for the combatants to push on toward ultimate success. A helpful crowd grants its chosen champions a +2 morale bonus on all attack rolls, combat maneuver checks, ability checks, skill checks, and saving throws. This is a mind-affecting effect.

If the crowd is helpful toward one side of the combat and a member of that side succeeds at a performance combat check, that side gains a victory point.

Crowd's Starting Attitude

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The first thing a GM must do in a performance combat is determine the crowd’s starting attitude. Typically a crowd starts out with an indifferent attitude toward each side, but it could start with an attitude that’s a step higher or lower based on other circumstances. Favored champions of a fighting pit or a city may start at a higher attitude step, while outsiders, prisoners of war, or criminals may start at a lower attitude step. If you are running a series of combats, a crowd may start with a higher or lower starting attitude based on a combatant’s or a group of combatants’ performance in the last bout, which is determined by the number of victory points the individual or group has (see the Serialized Performance Combats section).

Performance Combat Check

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 154
Whenever a combatant has a chance to affect the crowd’s attitude, she makes a performance combat check. The check is a Charisma ability check modified by the base attack bonus of the character plus any ranks the character has in Perform (act), Perform (comedy), or Perform (dance), whichever is highest. Making a performance combat check is usually a swift action, triggered when a combatant performs a trigger action (see the Affecting the Crowd’s Attitude section).

Base Attack Bonus	Bonus on Performance Combat Check
0	+0
1-5	+1
6-10	+2
11-15	+3
16+	+4

Highest Perform Rank	Bonus on Performance Combat Check
0	+0
1-5	+1
6-10	+2
11-15	+3
16+	+4

Using a performance weapon grants a combatant a +2 bonus on performance combat checks. Some feats, spells, or other circumstances may grant a combatant a bonus on performance combat checks.

Succeeding at a performance combat check improves the attitude of the crowd by one step. Unlike skill checks, a roll of a natural 20 on a performance combat check always succeeds. Failing the check either leaves the attitude unchanged or, if the check fails by 5 or more, causes the attitude of the crowd to decrease by one step. The DC of the check is determined by the crowd’s current attitude, with a number of adjustments to the DC granted by the circumstances of the performance combat. If the crowd’s current attitude is helpful, a successful check grants the favored side 1 victory point.

Performance Combat Check DC

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 154
The performance combat check's DC is based on a number of factors, including the starting or current attitude of the crowd, the size of the crowd, and the number of creatures participating in the performance combat. The base DC of the performance combat check is determined by the current attitude of the crowd toward the side of combat.

Starting or Current Attitude	Base DC to Improve Attitude
Hostile	20
Unfriendly	15
Indifferent	10
Friendly	15
Helpful	20¹

1: This is the DC to gain a victory poitn The base DC is modified by the size of the crowd, the number of participants on each side, and a number of other circumstances.

Size of the Crowd: Larger crowds are harder to sway to one side or the other. It takes great shows of daring or a progression of numerous displays of crowd-pleasing actions to get them to change their attitude. Presented here are the general crowd sizes and their effects on the DC to improve crowd attitudes and gain victory points.

Small Crowd: A small crowd contains no fewer than two and no more than 25 creatures. It does not increase the base DC of all performance combat checks.

Medium Crowd: A medium crowd contains no fewer than 26 and no more than 100 creatures. A medium crowd increases the DC of all performance combat checks by +2.

Large Crowd: A large crowd contains no fewer than 101 and no more than 300 creatures. A large crowd increases the DC of all performance combat checks by +3.

Massive Mob: A massive mob is made up of no fewer than 301 creatures, and its numbers can expand into the thousands. A massive mob increases the DC of all performance combat checks by +4.

Total Number of Combatants: The participation of a large number of combatants increases the difficulty of swaying the crowd. Large groups of combatants make it difficult for a crowd to follow the entire battle and to catch actions from individuals that could possibly sway the audience's attitude. Adjust these modifications as combatants enter or leave the battle.

Small Battle: If the battle is between a total of 2–8 combatants, there is no change to the base DC to improve the attitude of the crowd or gain victory points.

Medium Battle: If the battle is between 9–16 combatants, the DC to improve the attitude of the crowd or gain victory points increases by +4.

Large Battle: A battle with 17 or more total combatants increases the DC to improve the attitude of the crowd by +8.

Other Circumstances That Affect DC: Other circumstances that always affect the DC to improve the attitude of the crowd or gain victory points include the following.

Cheating: If one side visibly cheats or breaks the rules, the DC for that side of the performance combat to improve the attitude of the crowd increases by 2 for the remainder of the performance combat. This increase can occur multiple times in a battle. For the purpose of spotting cheating, determine the base Perception and Sense Motive for the average member of a crowd (usually +0 if you assume an average human) and apply the following modifiers based on crowd size. The DC is based on whatever action the combatant is using to hide any cheating (usually Bluff or Stealth).

Crowd Size	Bonus on Perception and Sense Motive Checks to Spot Cheating
Small crowd	+8
Medium crowd	+12
Large crowd	+16
Massive mob	+20

Outnumbered: If one side of the battle outnumbers the others by less than a 2:1 ratio, the DC for that side to improve the attitude of the crowd or to gain victory points increases by 2. If one side outnumbers all others by a ratio of 2:1 or more, the DC for that side to improve the attitude of the crowd increases by 6. These increases to the DC end or are reduced to the appropriate level if the numbers become even or if the 2:1 ratio of combatants is ever brought down to outnumbering the other sides by less than a 2:1 ratio.

Unfair Advantage: If one side of the battle has an obvious unfair advantage (for example, one side starts the battle in a fortified position or has better weapons and armor, or its opponents are not armed at all), the DC to improve the attitude of the crowd is increased by 2. A GM can increase the DC by as much as 6 if the unfair advantage is severe enough.

Bribery or Coercion: Crowds can be bribed or coerced. Typically a successful bribe or attempt at coercion involves paying some amount of gold based on the crowd size, and succeeding at a Diplomacy check with a DC based on the size of the crowd. If the gold is paid and the Diplomacy check fails, the side gains a penalty for cheating instead, though the gold is still spent. If the check succeeds, the DC to improve crowd reaction and gain victory points decreases by 2. For every 5 points over the DC by which the combatants make the check, the DC to improve the crowd's attitude or to gain a victory point decreases by 1.

Crowd Size	Diplomacy DC	Gold Paid
Small crowd	DC 15	25 gp
Medium crowd	DC 20	250 gp
Large crowd	DC 25	750 gp
Massive mob	DC 30	2,000 gp

Affecting the Crowd's Attitude

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 156
For a combatant to affect the crowd’s reaction in some way, he must usually accomplish some visible combat display that has a chance of motivating the crowd toward a new attitude. If the crowd cannot see the combatant (because of total concealment, invisibility, improved cover, or total cover), he cannot affect the crowd’s attitude in any way, but concealment and lesser forms of cover do not affect a combatant’s ability to affect the crowd.

When a combatant performs or causes one of the triggers described in the sections that follow, he can typically make a performance combat check as a swift action (or a free action if the creature has the Master Combat Performer feat; see page 109) to improve the attitude of the crowd. The swift action usually involves some form of flourish, display, or show in the attempt to grab the attention of the crowd. If the combatant has a performance feat, the action that triggers the check may involve some form of movement or effect. Sometimes a performance combat check can be made as a free or an immediate action. Making a performance check as a free action does not allow a character to take any special action granted to him by a performance feat (unless he has the Master Combat Performer feat), and making a performance combat check as an immediate action or as no action never allows a character to perform a special action granted by a performance feat (even if he does have the Master Combat Performer feat).

Other times, a performance combat check must be performed. These mandatory performance combat checks are not actions, and usually have detrimental effects if the check is not successful.

The following are the standard triggers for making a performance combat check. The triggers are organized by the action type required to attempt or to make the performance combat check.

Swift Action Checks

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 156
The following triggers allow a character participating in a performance combat to make a performance combat check as a swift action. A character can always opt not to make a performance combat check that requires a swift action. Some feats, called performance feats, allow a character to perform other actions as part of the performance combat check.

Charge: Whenever a combatant hits with a charge attack, she can make a performance combat check as a swift action.

Combat Maneuvers: Whenever a combatant successfully performs any combat maneuver, she can make a performance combat check as a swift action.

Dealing Maximum Damage: Whenever a combatant deals maximum damage with a damage roll (weapon or spell, but not including sneak attack or other variable precision damage), she can make a performance combat check as a swift action. She gains a penalty or bonus on this check based on the type of weapon or spell she uses. Light weapons take a –4 penalty on the check, one-handed weapons grant neither a bonus or a penalty, and two-handed or exotic weapons grant a +2 circumstance bonus on the check. Spells grant a bonus on the performance combat check equal to half their spell level.

Energy Spells and Effects: Crowds tend to respond to flashy spells and effects. If a combatant casts a spell or produces an effect that deals acid, cold, fire, electricity, force, or sonic damage in a visible way (including weapons with special abilities like flaming burst or shocking burst that deal bursts of energy damage on critical hits), she can make a performance combat check as a swift action.

Feint: If a combatant successfully feints against an enemy, she can make a performance combat check as a swift action.

Knocking Opponent Prone: When a combatant knocks another combatant prone, she can make a performance combat check as a swift action.

Multiple Hits: If a combatant has more than one attack on her turn and hits an opponent with at least two of those attacks, she can make a performance combat check as a swift action. She gains a +2 bonus on this performance combat check for every attack she hits with beyond the second.

Free Action or Immediate Action Checks

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 156
The following triggers allow a combatant to make a performance combat check as a free action or an immediate action. A combatant may also opt to make any of these performance combat checks as a swift action instead, and gains the benefit of performance feats when he does so. A combatant can always opt to not make a performance combat check that requires a free action or immediate action. A combatant can also spend a victory point to make any one of these performance combat checks as a free action taken when it is not the combatant’s turn, which allows the combatant to make one of these performance combat checks without spending an immediate action.

Critical Hit: When a combatant confirms a critical hit, he can make a performance combat check as a free or immediate action. When he does so, failing by 5 or more does not lower the crowd’s attitude. If the combatant gains a special effect on this critical hit from a critical feat, he gains a +2 bonus on the performance combat check.

First Blood: If the combatant is the first person to damage an enemy during a performance combat (or to hit an opponent in the case of staged combats), he can make a performance combat check as a free or immediate action.

Raging: The first time a combatant enters a rage in a performance combat, he can make a performance combat check as a free or immediate action.

Vanquish Opponent: Whenever a combatant reduces a creature to 0 or fewer hit points, he can make a performance combat check as a free or immediate action.

Mandatory Checks

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 157
The following performance combat checks must be attempted whenever possible. These checks don’t improve a crowd’s attitude, and the combatant gains no benefit from performance feats with these checks. Failing them typically has a detrimental effect on a crowd’s attitude. If the crowd cannot see the action that triggered these checks, the combatant who performed it does not need to make the check. Making a performance check for one of these triggers is not an action.

Magical Healing: Crowds tend to dislike the use of magical healing; some crowds even see it as cheating. On a turn when a combatant casts a healing spell or other healing effect, or uses a healing spell trigger, spell completion, or use-activated item (including forcing a potion of cure light wounds or similar potion down the throat of an opponent) she must make a performance combat check. Success yields no change to the attitude of the crowd, but any failure reduces the crowd’s attitude by one step.

Rolling a Natural 1: When a combatant rolls a natural 1 on an attack roll or a saving throw, she must make a performance combat check. A success does not affect the crowd in any way, but any failure reduces the crowd’s attitude by one step.

Withdraw: Whenever a combatant uses the withdraw action, she must make a performance combat check as a free action. She takes a –5 penalty on the check, and success does not shift the crowd’s attitude, but failure shifts it one step lower.

Victory Points

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 157
When a side is benefiting from a helpful crowd reaction and succeeds at a performance combat check, that side gains a victory point. Victory points are kept in a pool, and can be spent by anyone on a given side of a performance combat at any time during the performance combat, as long as no one on the side objects to the use of the victory point. Victory points can be spent during a performance combat in the following ways. Spending a victory point is not an action.

A combatant can spend a victory point to gain an automatic success at a performance combat check, but cannot spend the victory point to succeed at a performance combat check while the crowd has a helpful attitude toward that combatant’s side of the performance combat.
A combatant can spend a victory point to make a free or immediate action performance combat check as no action, allowing the combatant to make the check when it is not the combatant’s turn without spending an immediate action.

A combatant can spend a victory point to force an opponent in a performance combat to reroll a performance combat check. The opponent must take the effect of the reroll. While running a group of serialized performance combats, any unspent victory points are saved and can be used during the next performance combat, and can affect the starting attitude of the crowd.

In the case of serialized combats, decisively winning a performance by having a higher crowd attitude than the opposing team or teams at the end of the performance combat wins 1 victory point for each combatant on the winning side.

Splitting Up Victory Points: Sometimes, in the case of team performance combat, the lineup of a performance combat team may change. If this occurs, it may be important to split up any victory points the team has gained. Victory points should be split as evenly as possible among the combatants within a team, with the remainder going to combatants in any way the team chooses (but with no individual player receiving more than 1 point from the remainder). For instance, if a team is made up of four combatants, but at the end of a bout there are 6 victory points, all four combatants gain at least 1 victory point, and two members of the team each receive 1 additional point, as chosen by the members of the team in any way the members deem fair.

Determining a Winner

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 157
When the performance combat is concluded, the side with the highest attitude wins over the crowd. In the case of a tie, use victory points to determine the winner. If the bout is still a tie, that performance combat is a tie.

Serialized Performance Combat

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 157
If you are running a series of performance combats as part of your campaign, successes and failures for each performance combat can affect the starting attitude of the crowd in future performance combats in the series, both negatively and positively.

If one side of a performance combat loses the performance part of the combat by failing a performance combat check by 5 while the crowd has a hostile attitude, on the very next bout, the crowd starts with an unfriendly attitude instead of the indifferent attitude.

If a side of the performance combat starts with at least 1 victory point per member of the side, the crowd’s attitude starts as friendly toward that side instead of indifferent. If the side has at least 3 victory points per member, the crowd starts as helpful instead of indifferent.

Siege Engines

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 158
A classic trope of fantasy warfare is the storming of a castle or other large fortification. Whether the PCs are leading a brave and desperate defense of a lonely bastion against an overwhelming army of darkness, or overseeing the fight to overthrow an evil ruler and cast down his mighty fortress, a fight along the battlements can fire the imagination of a jaded player who has grown bored with one-on-one hacking. While historical sieges often depended more on disease and starvation for victory than anything else, the thrill for players is likely to come more from bombardment and assault with an array of siege engines, and countering the massive engines of their enemies with their own.

The basic rules for siege engines from the Core Rulebook are found here. The following new options for siege engines both supplement and expand upon those rules. If the rules ever appear to be in conflict, use the rules below.

Siege Engine Rules

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 158
All siege engines are at least size Large devices and often much larger. Unless stated otherwise in an individual siege engine description, all siege engines use the following rules.

Proficiency: Siege engines are exotic weapons. A creature with the Siege Engineer feat is proficient with all siege engines, including siege firearms. A creature that is proficient in firearms is also proficient in siege firearms, but not other siege engines.

Crew: The sheer size of a siege engine often necessitates a crew for its use. One person of that crew is the crew leader. Usually the crew leader targets or controls the movement of a siege engine; sometimes the crew leader does both. Often the crew leader is required to take actions and make specific checks in order for a siege engine to function. The rest of the crew members are required to spend actions and make checks in order for a siege engine to function.

The number of members in a crew assumes Medium creatures. A ram can be crewed by Small creatures, but it takes double the crew to do the same job. If Large or larger creatures serve as crew members, each Large creature counts as four crew members, a Huge creature counts as eight Medium creatures, a Gargantuan creature counts as 16 Medium creatures, and a Colossal creature counts as 20 Medium creatures.

Magical and Masterwork Siege Engines: Siege engines can be masterwork, increasing their Craft DC by 5 and costing an additional 300 gp. A masterwork siege engine can be enchanted at twice the cost for a normal magical weapon. The enhancement bonus of a siege engine applies on attack rolls and targeting checks (in the case of indirect ranged siege engines), and in the case of magical siege engines, the enhancement bonus also applies on damage rolls.

Defense and Hit Points: All siege engines are objects. A siege engine has a Dexterity of 0 (–5 penalty) and a further penalty based on its size. Each type of siege engine has its own hardness and hit points. Siege engines can be armored—treat the siege engine as a creature of its size to determine the cost of the armor. Masterwork siege engine armor can be enchanted for twice the normal cost to enchant armor. Armored siege engines have an armor bonus equal to that normally granted by the specific armor (shields have no effect on a siege engine), a hardness and hit points equal to that of the armor, and bonus hit points equal to the armor bonus × 5.

Moving Siege Engines: Siege engines have a speed. The speed of a siege engine is the distance it can be moved if its full crew makes a move action to move it. Some siege engines have a speed of 0. If this is the case, the engine must be dissembled before movement is possible, or else mounted on a vehicle. Siege engines that are atop or mounted on vehicles move with those vehicles.

Ranged Attacks: Unlike normal ranged weapons, siege engines do not deal half damage when attacking objects.

Critical Hits: When a direct-fire siege engine or a close assault siege engine scores a critical hit, it confirms the critical and deals critical hit damage just like any other weapon. If an indirect-fire ranged siege engine rolls a natural 20 on its targeting check, it can also score a critical hit. The crew leader must reroll the targeting check to confirm the critical. If the confirmation targeting check is successful, the attack is a critical hit, and the siege engine multiplies its damage by its critical multiplier. Unlike normal attacks, siege engines attacks can deal critical hit damage to objects. Siege engines do not gain the benefit of critical feats the crew or the crew leader may have.

Mishaps and Misfires: Rolling a natural 1 on an attack roll or a targeting check made by an indirect-fire ranged siege engine produces a mishap. Usually a mishap applies the broken condition. A non-firearm siege engine with the broken condition takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls, targeting checks, and damage rolls. It also moves at half its normal speed.

If the creature that serves as crew leader has the Siege Engineer feat, that creature does not generate a mishap on a natural 1 when firing the siege engine.

Firearm siege weapons do not gain a mishap on a natural 1, but instead have a misfire value, like other firearms do. An attack roll or targeting check that falls within the misfire range causes the firearm siege engine to misfire. A misfire always misses, and applies the broken condition to the siege engine firearm. A firearm siege weapon with the broken condition takes all of the penalties and limitations that non-firearm siege engines do, and the misfire range of the firearm siege engine is increased by 4. If the firearm siege engine already has the broken condition when it misfires, it explodes. When a firearm siege engine explodes, it deals its damage to all creatures within a blast range (those within the blast can attempt a DC 20 Reflex save for half damage). The normal misfire range of a firearm siege engine and its blast range are given in the individual firearm siege engine description. Crew leaders with the Siege Engineer feat do not lower the misfire value of firearm siege engines.

Constructing and Repairing Siege Engines: A siege engine is a complex device requiring a DC 20 Craft (siege engine) skill check to build or repair.

Disabling Siege Engines: A siege engine is considered a difficult device to disable, requiring 2d4 rounds of effort and a DC 20 Disable Device check to do so. When a siege engine is disabled, it either doesn’t work or is sabotaged and stops working 1d4 minutes after use. Fixing a disabled siege engine requires a DC 20 Craft (siege engine), Disable Device, or Knowledge (engineering) check. It takes 10 minutes to fix the device, and the check can be retried if the fix fails.

Assembling Siege Engines: Siege engines are broken down for transport and can be reassembled on the battlefield, requiring the time and number of workers noted below. Each assembly worker must make a DC 10 Craft (siege engine) check; if untrained, they may not take 10. Assembly can be performed with at least half the required number of workers by doubling the time required. If fewer than half are available, the weapon cannot be assembled.

Table 3-11: Siege Engine Assembly

Engine Size	Time Required	Workers Required
Small	1 minute	1
Medium	10 minutes	2
Large	1 hour	4
Huge	2 hours	6
Gargantuan	4 hours	8
Colossal	8 hours	12

Siege Engine Qualities

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 159
The following are the various entries on the equipment tables for siege engines (given in the column headings on Tables 3–13 and 3–15). While ranged siege engines use most of these entries, close-assault siege engines only use some of them. Cost: This value is the siege engine’s cost in gold pieces (gp). The cost includes gear needed to work the engine as well as gear for upkeep. Typical ammunition costs and weights are given in siege weapon description.

Damage: This column gives the damage typically dealt by the engine. If the engine has a special mode of attack or damage, this space is marked by the words “see description.” If the siege engine does not deal any damage, but rather is a tool for getting close to or over fortifications, this entry features a dash (—). Some ranged siege engines can be loaded with special ammunition that affects or overrides the weapon’s typical damage or range.

As large and imprecise weapons, siege engines do not deal sneak attack damage or any other kind of precision damage.

Critical: The entry for this column notes how the engine is used with the rules for critical hits. Unlike normal ranged weapons, siege engines can deal critical damage to objects as well as creatures.

Range: Any attack at more than the distance listed in this entry is penalized for range. Beyond this range, the attack or targeting check takes a cumulative –2 penalty for each full range increment (or fraction thereof ) of distance to the target. Some siege engines have a minimum range for effectiveness. If that is the case, the range of this weapon is followed by a parenthetical with the minimum range, followed by the abbreviation “min.”

Type: Like weapons, siege engines that deal damage are classified according to the type of damage they deal: B for bludgeoning, P for piercing, or S for slashing. Some engines deal damage of multiple types. Some special siege engines (like the firedrake and the firewyrm) deal energy damage, typically fire damage. In those cases, the type of energy damage is listed instead.

Crew: This column gives the number of creatures needed to properly use the siege engine, assuming Medium creatures. Some siege engines can be used with a smaller crew, but there are usually consequences such as slower aiming, firing, or movement.

Aim: This column gives the number of full-round actions (or move actions if the crew leader has the Master Siege Engineer feat) required to aim a siege engine. If the siege engine is being controlled by less than its normal crew complement, the number of actions it takes for the crew to aim the siege engine is doubled.

Load: This column gives the number of full-round actions (or move actions if the crew leader has the Master Siege Engineer feat) required to load a siege engine. Speed: This is how fast the siege engine can be moved with move actions made by its entire crew.

Ranged Siege Engines

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 159
Ranged siege engines assault structures and people from a distance, by propelling ammunition in some fashion. Siege engines hurl massive projectiles in one of two ways: direct fire or indirect fire. Both take a number of actions to load or aim, and the basic rules are described below.

Load Ammunition: In order for a ranged siege engine to fire, it needs to be loaded with ammunition. Loading ammunition takes a number of full-round actions depending on the siege engine (this time can be reduced to move actions if the crew leader has the Master Siege Engineer feat).

Aiming a Siege Engine: Ranged siege engines must be aimed in order to attack a desired target (in the case of direct-fire siege engines) or square (in the case of indirect-fire siege engines). Aiming takes a number of full-round actions (or move actions if the crew leader has the Master Siege Engineer feat), with the number depending on the specific siege engine. Aiming a siege engine with a diminished crew doubles the amount of time it takes to aim the siege engine. Each time a new target or square is chosen as the target of a siege engine’s attack, that engine must be aimed anew.

Direct-Fire Ranged Siege Engines: Direct-fire weapons launch their projectiles on a relatively flat trajectory, allowing them to more easily target creatures or pummel barriers directly in front of them.

A direct-fire weapon uses a normal attack roll, with the normal penalty for nonproficient use. In addition, a direct-fire weapon takes a –2 attack roll penalty per size category that the weapon is larger than the creature aiming it. Creatures that have ranks in Knowledge (engineering) are not adversely affected by their size when firing direct-fire ranged siege engines.

Sheer manpower can also reduce the penalties for size. Increasing the crew of these weapons by 1 or more can reduce the attack roll penalty for creature size: as long as an extra crew member is no smaller than three size categories smaller than the direct-fire weapon, it can reduce the penalty due to the aiming creature’s size by 2. For example, a Huge ballista fired by a Medium creature that is part of a crew of two (the creature aiming the ballista and someone to help position it) takes only a –2 penalty on attack rolls.

Indirect-Fire Ranged Siege Engines: Indirect-fire weapons launch projectiles in high arcs toward their targets. They typically lob heavier missiles and payloads than direct-fire weapons, but they are harder to aim accurately. Indirect weapons can bypass many forms of fortification, delivering their payloads of solid shot, scatter shot, or even disease-ridden offal to targets beyond the walls of castles. They can also be used to batter fortifications where they are most vulnerable, arcing down on towers and walls, crushing them with the weight of stone or raining down smaller projectiles on a wall’s defenders.

Indirect-fire weapons use a targeting mechanic similar to that described for catapults in the Core Rulebook, hereafter referred to as an indirect attack. The following is an update to those rules.

Indirect Attack: To fire an indirect-fire ranged siege engine, the crew leader makes a targeting check against the DC of the siege engine. This check uses his base attack bonus, his Intelligence modifier (if not trained in Knowledge [engineering]) or Knowledge (engineering) skill modifier (if trained in that skill), any penalty for not being proficient in the siege engine, and the appropriate modifiers from Table 3–12. If the check succeeds, the ammunition of the indirect attack hits the square the siege engine was aimed at, dealing the indicated damage or effect to any object or creature within the area of its attack. Creatures may get a saving throw to limit the effect of the attack; this is typically based on the type of ammunition used.

If the attack misses the intended square, roll 1d8 to determine in what direction the shot veers. A roll of 1 indicates the ammunition falls short (toward the siege engine), with rolls of 2 through 8 counting squares clockwise around the target square. Roll 1d4 for every range increment at which the attack was made (1d4 if the target square is within the engine’s first range increment, 2d4 if the target square is within the second range increment, and so on). The total is the number of squares by which the attack misses, with the direction in which the squares are counted determined by the d8 roll. The ammunition deals its damage and any other effects in the square it lands on.

Condition	Modifier
No line of sight to target square	-6
Successive shots (crew can see where most recent miss landed)	Cumulative +2 per previous miss (maximum +10)
Successive shots (crew can't see where most recent miss landed, but observer is providing feedback)	Cumulative +1 per previous miss (maximum +5)
Successive shots after hit	+10

Siege Weapon Description

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 160
The following are siege weapon descriptions.

Special Siege Engine Ammunition

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 163
The following kinds of ammunition can be used either in select types of indirect-fire siege engines, or with cannons. The ammunition description specifies which types of siege engines use the special ammunition. The costs and weights on Table 3–14 are for individual uses of special ammunition.

Close Assault Siege Engines

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 165
While most siege engines attack at range, some are used up close to directly undermine defenses, batter through them, or otherwise bypass them. Some close assault weapons are not even weapons at all, but instead provide means for assault forces to protect themselves or circumvent fortifications without destroying them.

Structure Hardness and Hit Points

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 166
While armies can use siege weapons against troops, usually the goal of a siege engine is to demoralize foes and pound their structures to rubble. The following rules give the statistics for various buildings and barriers that are often the targets of siege engine attacks. They are split up into three different categories: buildings, gates, and walls.

When any of these structures gain the broken condition, their hardness is halved, along with any other effects of the broken condition.

Buildings

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 167
Buildings are sizable structures with many hit points and very poor ACs (a Large building is AC 4, a Huge building is AC 3, and a Gargantuan or larger building is AC 0). When a building is reduced to half its hit points, it is broken—it still stands, but only partially. It can be easily entered, and for all intents and purposes it has been breached. Reducing a building to 0 hit points completely destroys that building. Creatures inside the building suffer the effects of a cave-in.

All these building statistics assume that the structure’s inside is somewhat hollow but sturdily built, with enough space for its occupants to walk around inside. Flimsy buildings have half the hit points of the buildings detailed in Table 3–18. Buildings can be magically treated, like dungeon walls and doors can. Doing so doubles their hardness and hit points. Magically treating a building costs 5,000 gp for a Large building, 10,000 gp for a Huge building, 20,000 gp for a Gargantuan building, and 40,000 gp for a Colossal building. A spellcaster with the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat can magically treat buildings.

For larger buildings, put together multiple buildings of these sizes and add the hit points together.

Table 3-18: Buildings

		Hit Points
Material	Hardness	Large	Huge	Gargantuan	Colossal
Wood	5	120	270	960	3,240
Stone	8	200	450	1,600	5,400
Iron or steel	10	400	900	3,200	10,800
Adamantine	20	560	1,260	4,480	15,120

Gates

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 167
Gates serve as the entrances and exits to fortified structures, and are typically the weakest spots in any fortification’s defenses. Gates are at least Large, but can be as large as Colossal. It typically takes three full-round actions to open or close a Large gate (up to three creatures can work together to close a Large gate as a full-round action), and larger gates typically take at least a minute to close or open. Gates have ACs based on their size (a Large gate is AC 4, a Huge gate is AC 3, and a Gargantuan or larger gate is AC 0).

Gates can be magically treated. Doing so doubles the hardness and hit points. Magically treating a gate costs 2,000 gp for a Large gate, 4,000 gp for a Huge gate, 8,000 gp for a Gargantuan gate, and 16,000 gp for a Colossal gate. A spellcaster with the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat can magically treat gates.

Gates can be attacked and damaged, or they can become broken (as the condition) with a successful Strength check, usually as a result of ramming. When a gate gains the broken condition, it is effectively breached, and can be moved through as if it were an opening one size smaller.

Table 3-20: Gates

			Hit Points
Material	Break DC¹	Hardness	Large	Huge	Gargantuan	Colossal
Wood	35	5	60	135	240	540
Stone	38	8	100	225	400	900
Iron or steel	24	10	200	500	800	1,800
Adamantine	40	20	280	630	1,120	2,520

1: The DC assumes the gate is size Large and is barred and locked. Huge doors increase the break DC by 5, Gargantuan doors increase the DC by 10, and Colossal doors increase the DC by 15. Arcane lock increases the DC by 10.

Walls

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 167
The walls that guard castles and cities are sturdy fortifications, usually constructed in a series of 5-foot squares. A square of wall has an AC of 5, and hardness and hit points equal to its type.

Squares of walls can be magically treated. Doing so doubles the hardness and hit points. Magically treating wall squares costs 500 gp per wall square. A spellcaster with the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat can magically treat walls.

When a wall gains the broken condition, its hardness is halved, but the wall is not breached. Only destroying a section of wall allows it to become breached. When a square of wall is breached, any sections directly above it fall onto the missing section of walls. Doing this reduces the falling wall section to half its current hit point total –1, which applies the broken condition to that square of wall.

Table 3-19: Walls

Material	Hardness	Hit Points per 5-Foot Square
Wood	5	30
Stone	8	45
Iron or steel	10	90
Adamantine	20	120

Archives of Nethys

Rules Index | GM Screen

Table 3-11: Siege Engine Assembly

Table 3-18: Buildings

Table 3-20: Gates

Table 3-19: Walls