Combat

Combat is played in rounds. Each round represents a few seconds of violent action.

On your turn, you normally have:

• Movement
• One Action
• One Bonus Action, if a feature or rule gives you one
• One Reaction, usable once per round
• Brief speech or interaction

A creature regains its Reaction at the start of its turn.

An attack uses:

d20 + Attack Bonus vs. target Defense

If the result equals or exceeds the target's Defense, the attack hits.

Most ranged attacks use Agility. Most melee attacks use Strength.

Some weapons, psychic powers, class features, wargear, or special rules may use another attribute.

Ranged weapons list two range values, such as 40/120.

Normal range. The first value. Attacks against targets within this distance are rolled normally.

Maximum range. The second value. Attacks against targets beyond normal range but within maximum range are rolled with Disadvantage.

A target beyond the weapon's maximum range cannot be attacked with that weapon.

Example

A bolt pistol with a range of 40/120 may attack:

• a target within 40 feet normally
• a target from 41 to 120 feet with Disadvantage
• no target beyond 120 feet

A Fire Lane is any open line of sight where a ranged weapon can threaten movement.

A hallway, street, gantry, breach, doorway, firing slit, trenchline, shrine aisle, hab-block corridor, or open manufactorum floor can all become Fire Lanes.

A creature may be crossing a Fire Lane when it moves through open ground while an enemy can see it and has a ready ranged weapon.

Fire Lanes do not cause automatic attacks by themselves. They create opportunities for reactions, especially Reactive Fire and Overwatch.

A creature can only make one Reaction per round. Fire Lanes should make movement dangerous, not turn every step into ten extra attacks.

Cover is one of the most important combat rules in Bolt & Blade.

Cover is directional. A barricade protects you from enemies in front of it, but not from enemies who flank you, climb above you, or come from behind.

A character is Exposed when they are caught in open ground without meaningful cover.

While Exposed:

• Ranged attacks against you gain +2 to hit.
• You cannot benefit from cover.
• Some weapons, enemies, or features may punish Exposed targets.

A character in cover has a chance. A character in the open has made a theological error.

Movement should matter in Bolt & Blade. On your turn, you normally move up to your Movement value, but the way you move can change how dangerous the battlefield becomes.

Tactical Move

Move up to your Movement.

If you move from cover to cover without crossing a clear Fire Lane, nothing special happens.

If you cross open ground in enemy line of sight, you become Exposed during that movement and may trigger Reactive Fire.

Dash

Use your Action to move up to your Movement again.

If you Dash through a Fire Lane, enemies making Reactive Fire against you do not suffer Disadvantage.

Dash is fast, but reckless.

Evade

Use your Action to move carefully through danger.

Move up to your Movement. Until the end of your turn, Reactive Fire against you has Disadvantage.

You cannot attack on the same turn unless a feature says otherwise.

Each creature gets one Reaction per round.

Basic reactions are:

• Reactive Fire
• Return Fire
• Opportunity Strike
• Dive for Cover

A creature cannot use more than one Reaction in the same round unless a feature specifically says otherwise.

When an enemy moves through a Fire Lane within your weapon's range, you may spend your Reaction to make a ranged attack against them.

Requirements:

• You can see the target.
• You have a loaded ranged weapon ready.
• You are not Pinned, Stunned, or otherwise unable to react.
• The target moved through open ground, crossed a Fire Lane, or left cover in your line of sight.

By default, Reactive Fire is made with Disadvantage.

Reactive Fire does not have Disadvantage if:

• You are on Overwatch.
• The target is Dashing.
• The target is Exposed.
• A feature removes the penalty.

On a hit, the attack deals damage as normal.

If the attack deals damage, the target must choose:

• Continue moving, or
• Stop immediately and become Pinned

Reactive Fire is meant to make movement matter. It should not punish every tiny reposition. Use it when a character crosses meaningful open ground or leaves safety under enemy sightlines.

Use your Action to enter Overwatch.

Choose a visible Fire Lane, doorway, corridor, street, gantry, breach, window, open zone, or piece of battlefield space.

Until the start of your next turn:

• You may use Reactive Fire against movement through that area.
• Your Reactive Fire does not have Disadvantage.
• If your Overwatch attack hits, the target's movement immediately stops unless they succeed on an Agility Save against your attack roll.

Overwatch is the “do not cross that hallway” rule.

It gives ranged characters a way to control space instead of simply attacking every turn.

When a visible enemy makes a ranged attack against you, you may spend your Reaction to Return Fire with a ready ranged weapon.

If you Return Fire, resolve an Opposed Exchange.

Both creatures roll their attack. Resolve the exchange:

One Hits, One Misses

The successful attack hits.

Both Miss

No one hits. Shots crack into cover, walls, smoke, ruined shrines, and unlucky architecture.

Both Hit

The higher attack total hits. The lower attack misses.

If the totals are tied, both attacks hit.

Return Fire gives firefights a duel-like feel. A shooter who exposes themselves to attack may get punished before the smoke clears.

Limitation. A creature can only Return Fire once per round because it only has one Reaction.

When a hostile creature leaves your melee reach, you may spend your Reaction to make one melee attack against it.

This is called an Opportunity Strike.

Opportunity Strike does not trigger when a creature uses the Disengage action.

If you make a ranged attack while an enemy is within melee reach of you, you have Disadvantage.

Pistols ignore this penalty.

Heavy weapons cannot be fired while engaged in melee unless a feature says otherwise.

When you are hit by a ranged attack and there is cover within 5 feet, you may spend your Reaction to Dive for Cover.

Make an Agility Save. The DC equals the attacker's attack roll.

On a success:

• Move up to 5 feet into cover.
• Gain the cover bonus against that attack.
• Recalculate whether the attack still hits.

On a failure:

• The attack hits as normal.
• You still move into cover if the GM says the movement is physically possible.

Dive for Cover gives characters a defensive reaction when they do not want to Return Fire.

Sometimes survival is not courage. Sometimes it is throwing yourself behind a shrine column while plasma turns the air white.

Suppression makes guns feel like guns.

Use your Action to Suppress an area with a weapon that has the Ammo, Burst, or Heavy Weapon trait.

Choose a 10-foot area, doorway, corridor, or piece of cover within normal range.

Creatures in that area must make a Willpower Save. The DC equals:

8 + your Proficiency Bonus + your Agility modifier

On a failure, the creature is Pinned until the start of your next turn.

A Pinned creature:

• Has Disadvantage on attacks.
• Cannot use Reactive Fire.
• Must spend extra movement to leave cover or cross open ground.
• May use its Action to Rally, ending Pinned.

Suppressing fire consumes 3 rounds from the weapon's magazine.

Las weapons can suppress, but doing so causes their power pack to run hot:

• They still consume 3 charges from the pack.
• They cannot be used for Reactive Fire until the start of your next turn.

Suppression should control space, create fear, and let players move. It is not just another damage option.

Use a Bonus Action to Aim if you have not moved this turn.

Your next ranged attack before the end of your turn gains +2 to hit.

If you are in cover or using a braced weapon, the GM may allow Aim after minor movement.

Aim rewards holding position and choosing the shot.

On your turn you have one Action, one Bonus Action, and your Movement, plus one Reaction per round. You may take only ONE Bonus Action per turn unless a specific ability says otherwise.

Bonus Actions never convert into full Actions unless a rule explicitly allows it, and spending your Reaction never consumes your Bonus Action.

Universal Bonus Actions

Class Bonus Actions

Some classes begin with two class Bonus Actions, granted automatically by class selection — see each class page for the full rules text.

Temporary Effects

• Effects that last “until your next attack” or “your next test” are consumed by the first qualifying roll.
• Effects that last “until the end of your turn” or “until the start of your next turn” expire on their own at that boundary.
• Single-target marks (Mark the Guilty, Litany of Hate, Psychic Ward) allow one bearer at a time — a new application removes the old one.

Bonus Actions are meant to express class identity without slowing the turn: pick one, resolve it fast, keep moving.

Area effects — grenades, flamers, psychic blasts, hazards — are placed as templates. The Forge VTT system draws the shape, previews who is caught, warns about allies, and resolves saves and damage at the final point.

Friendly Fire. Explosions do not care whose side you are on. The preview flags allies and neutrals inside the blast, but nothing stops you throwing anyway — unless the item's rules forbid it.

Scatter. A thrown explosive under pressure may miss its mark. On a poor throw the template drifts a rolled distance in a random direction and detonates there — a missed grenade still lands somewhere. Placed charges and point-targeted powers never scatter.

Persistent Zones. Smoke, fire, and gas linger for a set number of rounds, affecting whoever enters or starts their turn inside, then clear on their own.

Line of Effect. You may be able to place a template at a visible point yet have its blast blocked by a solid wall between — placement sight and effect sight are separate, using the map's existing walls.

Frag Grenades use a Burst; Krak Grenades are a focused single-target shaped charge, not a blast; Smoke creates a persistent Burst zone; Flamers use a Cone; psychic area powers use whatever template their own data defines.

If you are adjacent to suitable cover, you may use 5 feet of movement to enter cover.

You may also use your Action to Take Cover.

When you Take Cover:

• Improve your cover by one step if the terrain allows it.
• No Cover becomes Light Cover.
• Light Cover becomes Heavy Cover.
• Heavy Cover may become Total Cover if the cover fully blocks line of sight.

Take Cover lets characters actively survive when the battlefield becomes a killzone.

Bolt & Blade borrows familiar structure from adventure RPGs: actions, movement, bonus actions, reactions, Defense, and d20 attack rolls.

Its firefight identity comes from tactical pressure:

• Cover matters.
• Exposed targets are easier to hit.
• Movement through Fire Lanes can trigger Reactive Fire.
• Return Fire creates opposed shooting exchanges.
• Overwatch controls space.
• Suppression pins enemies.
• Aim and Take Cover reward smart positioning.
• Reactions make combat feel alive.

Infinity-style ideas like reactive fire and opposed exchanges inspired parts of this chapter, but Bolt & Blade should remain an RPG, not a full skirmish wargame.

Warhammer-style tabletop ideas also inform the feel: cover, suppression, massed fire, elite armor, dangerous charges, and weapon traits. But Bolt & Blade remains a d20 system.

The GM should not need a laser pointer, protractor, and a full legal team to resolve one hallway fight.

The systems combat leans on: