Martial Combat and Defenses · Core Rules

Philosophy

Defense in Cerberus is not a passive statistic. An attack normally lands, but the defender can dodge or parry through a Reflex duel. If the defender takes the blow, armor DR subtracts from damage. This chapter covers that resolution and the physical maneuvers that replace ordinary attacks.

Weapons: Strength and Damage

Because there is no attack roll (see 1), a weapon entry needs only two numbers: damage dice and critical multiplier. Add the character's Strength according to how the weapon is wielded:

Weapon Use	Strength Added to Damage
Thrown or ranged weapon (bow, thrown dagger)	1× Strength
One-handed melee weapon	1× Strength
Two-handed melee weapon	1.5× Strength
Firearm	none

Feats can raise these values—for example, a barbarian applying 2× Strength with two hands. Some ranged weapons also cap usable Strength: a bow too flexible for its wielder cannot exploit all that power. Firearms are the complete exception: neither Strength nor Dexterity adds to damage, even when Dexterity is higher.

The Quick Strike with Speed. When a character's Dexterity exceeds Strength, use Dexterity for damage instead, with the same multipliers. Always use the better attribute without a declaration. This lets rogues and archers exist without being colossi. The GM disallows this substitution when the weapon clearly cannot use finesse—a maul is not wielded delicately.

Resolving Damage

An attack combines damage dice with a fixed bonus. An axe dealing 1d12 + 8 rolls 1d12, then adds 8.

Roll the accompanying d20 described in 1 at the same time. A natural 20 automatically triggers the weapon's multiplier; Cerberus uses no confirmation roll. Multiply both dice and fixed bonuses:

1d12 + 8, on a ×3 critical, becomes 3d12 + 24.

Apply percentage bonuses before the critical multiplier. An attack receiving +20% damage calculates that bonus first, then applies any critical. A feat, spell, or item can state a different order; its description takes precedence.

Apply DR last and separately to every attack. Three attacks striking a target with DR 16 each lose 16 damage, for 48 total reduction. Armor does not reduce critical chance; it affects only remaining damage.

Dodging

A dodge avoids a blow through movement. The defender spends one dedicated dodge from the round's reserve and makes a Reflex duel against the attacker. On a win, the attack misses: roll no damage, and DR is irrelevant. On a loss, the attack lands normally.

Fast Late-Game Dodge Resolution

When many attacks and dodges must be resolved at once, the GM can group them into a single Reflex duel. The defender declares how many dedicated dodges they spend. On a win, each spent dodge cancels one attack. On a loss, the dodges are spent and cancel nothing.

For example, a defender with 5 dodges facing 12 attacks makes one Reflex duel. On a win, the 5 dodges cancel 5 attacks. The remaining 7 attacks land normally; roll their damage separately, apply DR to each, then subtract the remaining damage from HP.

What Can Be Dodged. Anything realistically avoidable at the GM's discretion: an axe blow, a visible arrow, a rock thrown by a giant, or a trap triggered underfoot. Weapon level does not matter because the defender does not oppose the blade but leaves its path. A successful dodge avoids an epic sword as easily as a club, while parrying requires suitable equipment.

What Cannot Be Dodged.

A damage spell. It allows no Save (see 12). Total cover, interruption, or a shield parry that blocks half remain available.
An unperceived attack. A blinded character or one struck by an undetected invisible attacker can neither dodge nor parry (see 2 and 3).
An area effect. A dedicated dodge does not cancel it. Only a Reflex Save granted by the GM to an exceptionally quick character can leave the radius.

What Prevents It. Dodging requires room and working legs.

While Prone, a character cannot dodge melee attacks through movement, though parrying remains possible (see 3).
While Grappled, immobilized, pinned against a wall, or caught in tight melee, the GM refuses the dodge or allows it through a prescribed chance.
A dodge is movement (see 9). It is a reaction and occupies no Action Board slot.

Dodge or Parry. Both use the same Reflex duel and differ in three ways:

	Dodge	Parry
Resource Spent	one dedicated dodge	one attack and one tick slot
Equipment Requirement	none	shield up to two levels below, or weapon up to one level below
What Prevents It	being Prone, Grappled, or unable to move	no positional restriction

A shield fighter therefore has far more defensive reactions than a character relying only on dodges, but every parry replaces another action during that tick. An agile character remains hard to strike even with a legendary weapon but has only dedicated dodges. A visible arrow can be dodged; parrying it requires Deflect Projectiles.

A target chooses one personal defense against each attack or attack group: dodge or parry. Choose before the Reflex duel. A failed defense spends its resource and does not allow trying the other afterward. An ally's interposition can be an exception when a feat explicitly permits it.

Parrying with Shield or Weapon

Parrying is not dodging. A dodge avoids through movement; a parry intercepts the blow. Both use the same Reflex duel, but parrying adds an equipment requirement: not every object can stop every attack.

Declare a parry after the attack is announced but before the Reflex duel and damage. It spends one attack token and occupies one slot during the current tick. Both must be available; retaining attacks is insufficient when the board is full. A character can make several parries during the same tick with enough tokens and free slots.

Grouped Attacks and Volleys

The GM can group several attacks into one defensive threat when they:

target the same creature;
begin at the same time;
arrive from sufficiently similar directions;
can plausibly be intercepted by one movement.

A line of archers firing together normally produces a volley. Archers surrounding a target form several groups according to direction. Melee attacks normally remain separate unless position and movement make a shared defense obvious. The GM declares groups before rolls.

A coordinated group makes one Reflex duel against the parry. This shared roll resolves only the defense and triggers no critical. On a successful defense, one movement blocks every attack in the group. On failure, every attack lands and resolves separately with its own accompanying d20. Damage, criticals, and DR are never merged. Grouping simplifies defense; it does not turn several weapons into one.

A shield is the natural tool against a volley. A weapon can intercept several projectiles only when a feat or its own text permits it, as with Deflect Projectiles.

Parrying with a Shield is the best option. The parry succeeds when:

the defender wins the Reflex duel;
the shield can face a weapon up to two levels above its own.

A Level 8 enchanted shield therefore blocks an epic weapon; a Level 7 shield cannot.

Parrying with a Weapon. The parry succeeds when:

the defender wins the Reflex duel;
the parrying weapon is no more than one level below the attacking weapon.

A mundane weapon can parry a Level 1 magical weapon, but nothing higher. Ordinary steel cannot deflect a Level 2 or higher enchanted blade.

Parrying a Spell. A sufficiently powerful shield or weapon also intercepts magic. Use the same equipment requirements, reading spell level like weapon level: a shield parries a spell up to two levels above its own, and a weapon up to one level above its own. The Reflex duel occurs when the spell is released (see 12).

A successful spell parry blocks half the damage. The remainder passes through, then DR applies. The defender diverts an explosion rather than stopping it; a weapon parry instead stops the blow entirely.

Only spells that deal damage can be parried. A spell affecting mind or body without projecting damage—Dominate, Hold, or a curse—passes the shield and resolves with its Save.

Each enchanted object can define its own percentage and conditions. A shield renowned against fire may block 100% of fire spells; a blade may intercept one level beyond the general rule. The object's text takes precedence over these defaults.

Grappling

Grappling covers holds, throws, locks, and forced movement at close range. Resolve an uncertain maneuver with one prescribed chance check, always announced from the attempting character's perspective. The GM must compare four factors:

Strength, to impose or resist movement.
Dexterity, to place footing, seize the right moment, and escape.
Size, which determines weight, reach, and possible holds.
Experience, represented first by level and refined by class, feats, training, and character history.

These factors produce no fixed formula. They give the GM reasons for the prescription. A stronger but much less agile combatant may have even chances; an immense creature may dominate a Hold yet remain vulnerable to a technique exploiting its footing. A class or feat that “adds more experience” asks the GM to give that character's level greater weight when comparing the grapplers.

As with any prescribed chance check, roll nothing when the outcome is certain. Reject an impossible maneuver—grabbing a cloud or moving a mass the character physically cannot shift—and grant an uncontested hold automatically. There is no preliminary Reflex check.

Unless stated otherwise, attempting a grapple technique requires one attack and resolves during one tick. A target trying to break a hold also spends one attack, with one attempt per tick. Voluntarily releasing a hold is free.

Grapple Techniques

Hold. After a successful check, the target becomes Grappled. The attacker must keep at least one hand or suitable limb occupied maintaining the hold. The condition lasts until released or until the target succeeds on a prescribed chance check to escape.

Trip. After a successful check, the target becomes Prone. This technique does not grapple the target by itself. If the attacker already maintained a Hold, they can retain it during the fall by falling with the target or having plausible leverage.

Forced Movement. This technique requires an already Grappled target. After a successful prescribed chance check, the attacker moves the target up to half their own Speed and must follow. This movement provokes no opportunity attack. A passage too narrow or a solid obstacle stops it.

Immobilize. This technique requires an already Grappled target. After a successful prescribed chance check, the attacker pins the target's entire body: the target cannot move, takes −5 on Reflex duels, and retains all Grappled restrictions. The attacker must use at least two limbs to maintain the immobilization and cannot move without converting it to Forced Movement.

Disarm. The attacker grabs a weapon or the limb holding it. After a successful prescribed chance check, the target drops one chosen held object into its space. The technique does not make the target Grappled unless another effect says so.

Chapter Summary

An attack requires no attack roll. It deals its dice plus the character's Strength or, for a suitable weapon, Dexterity. Firearms add neither.
A natural 20 on the accompanying d20 triggers a critical. Apply DR last and separately to each attack.
Dodge and parry use a Reflex duel; parrying also requires equipment of sufficient level (shield: +2; weapon: −1 at most).
Dodging ignores weapon level but requires room and does nothing against damage spells.
A sufficiently powerful shield or weapon parries a damage spell for half; each enchanted object can state its own percentage and conditions.
A dodge spends its dedicated reserve and remains outside the board. A parry spends one attack and one tick slot; a target attempts only one personal defense per attack or group.
Simultaneous attacks against the same target from the same direction can form a volley: one parry blocks them together, but failure resolves damage, criticals, and DR separately.
Grappling uses a prescribed chance check. The GM always compares both characters' Strength, Dexterity, size, and experience before announcing the chances.