Cyberpunk RED Running Combat

Combat Tracker

The Combat Tracker is where the GM can run and track all PCs and NPCs involved in a Combat. (Including Demons, Black ICE, Vehicles, and Defenses, which are all types of NPCS. See the “NPCs” section for more details.)

To get started, the GM can click and drag an NPC or a Character to the Combat Tracker. All participants should be tracked here.

All NPCs will be automatically given an Initiative value by rolling 1d10 and adding their REF (in the background, without a visible die roll.) 

Initiative for Backup, Vehicles, Demons, and Black ICE always use the highest initiative (determined when they are added) plus 1, per the rules which state that they start at the top of the initiative order. The GM can edit any Initiative values by clicking their “Init” field and modifying it.

Open

The GM can right click any entry in the list to re-roll their individual initiative by clicking the icon on the right.

Open

Menu Options

Clicking “MENU” at the bottom offers several convenience functions:

Rest 

This option allows the GM to give a “Rest” to all members of the party. They must be in the Combat Tracker for this to apply. By default, a PC must have the “Stabilized” effect on their character in the Combat Tracker in order for the Rest to function. This can be turned off in the Options using the “Party: Resting PCs requires Stabilized effect” option.

Resting heals each Party Member up to their Body. Those with certain Cyberware may heal an additional amount. Cyberware Armor that is damaged will automatically heal per their heal amount (usually 1, up to their max Stopping Power.)

Initiative

From the Menu, GMs can either Re-roll All Initiatives, re-roll PC Initiatives, or re-roll just the NPC’s Initiatives, by clicking “Initiative” and then the desired function. They can also clear all initiatives.

Delete

From the Menu, the GM can also delete all Foes in the Combat Tracker, or delete all Non-friendly tokens.

NPCs in the Combat Tracker

By default, NPCs are added as Invisible to the Players. The players will only see Friendly targets in the Tracker.

Player View - No Visible Targets

As enemies become visible, players will be able to view them in the Combat Tracker. The following screenshots break down both views.

GM View

Player View

As the GM moves through the Combat Order, the current PCs / NPCs' turn will be Displayed. For NPCs, the Attacks and Defense section are automatically expanded for convenience. (For PCs, only the Defense section is expanded.)

The Combat Tracker shows various details depending on the NPC:

Mook NPC (GM View)

Mook NPC with a Cyberdeck (GM View)

Player’s do not see an enemy Cyberdeck’s programs unless they are Active. They can then click the Target button next to them if they intend to target that Program with one of their own, as shown in this screenshot.

They see all their own Programs on their entry, but must use their Character Sheet to perform actions with those Programs.

Mook NPC with a Cyberdeck (Player View)

Demons and Black ICE (GM View)

Vehicles (GM View)

Vehicles shortcuts under the Attacks sections for performing Ramming maneuvers, for convenience. Their defense section only shows Body SP, since there is no concept of different locations for SP for armored vehicles.

A vehicle with the Bulletproof Glass upgrade is considered to be providing cover to those inside. In Fantasy Grounds, we apply the cover as Shield HP to the vehicle. The GM is free to mark the “Shield Down” and instead use the “COVER” effect to mark those inside as in cover due to the bulletproof glass. (See the “Cover” section under “Combat Automation”)  Note that if using the Shield mechanic to track bulletproof glass cover, the GM should reapply the 15 HP if another window is being targeted.

Combat Automation

Rolling Attacks

Ranged

For both PCs and NPCs, there are two ways in which Ranged attacks can be rolled. For more details on PCs, see the “Character Sheet: Actions Tab” section.

The simplest way to attack with a Ranged attack is to place both the Target and the Attacker on the same map, then roll using the desired attack mode. In the below example, we roll a Single Shot attack vs Redeye. The result here is a 13, and the DV is calculated using the weapon used (Assault Rifle) and the range to the target (6 m/yds). The DV is 17, so the result is a Miss.

Alternatively, if the NPCS attacks an object, some other object not on the map, or using Theater of the Mind to attack a target, they can select the drop down menu for the particular ranged weapon, and then click to roll an attack for a specific range. PCs have the same feature on their own weapon list.

In this example the GM clicked “0 to 6 m/yds” for Autofire (AF) and Critically Failed the roll, missing the target with a DV of 22.

Just like in other rulesets, attacks can be made by dropping the die on another entity in the Combat Tracker, or on their token.

In this example, Redeye can opt to dodge (she has 8 REF), so she does so on her sheet (or the GM can click the checkbox for Dodge “R”). 

The Mook rolls a Critical Success! She rolls to Dodge automatically, for a total of 18 on her Evasion check. The attack is a hit! 

The Mook can then roll for damage. He rolls 17 total, and no critical injury. You can see Redeye’s Body Armor is ablated by 1, bringing her down to 10, and the rest of the 6 damage is done to her HP, bringing her down to 24 HP. 

If the Mook rolled two or more 6’s in the damage, the ruleset would automatically roll and apply a Critical Injury to Redeye, adding it to the Combat Tracker and her Character Sheet.

Melee

Melee attacks work much the same as ranged, except that they always call for a Dodge roll. Unless the PC or NPC has turned off “Auto-roll Dodge for Melee” then the roll will be automated.

In this example, the NPC targets Redeye’s head, rolls the maximum possible Critical Success with his Medium Melee Weapon, and Redeye rolls low on her Evasion. This is going to hurt!

The NPC rolls their attack. All Melee Weapons in Cyberpunk RED default to a damage type that ignores Half SP of the defender. In Fantasy Grounds we replace Half SP by default with a special dice effect:

The Mook gets lucky again, and rolls two 6’s. This indicates a Critical Injury which does an additional 5 damage. Because Redeye has 11 SP Head Armor this would reduce the damage to the Head down to 6, which is multiplied by 2, for a total for 12 damage, reducing Redeye to 12 HP. Her Head Armor would then be ablated by 1, bringing her down to 10 SP. 

The Critical Injury table for the Head is automatically rolled on. The ruleset uses the Body Critical Injury Table if targeting any location other than the Head. Here the Mook rolled “Brain Injury” and the Critical Injury is applied as an Effect to Redeye on the Combat Tracker, and also added to her Character Sheet.

Injuries on the Character Sheet are automatically applied as Effects on the Combat Tracker in case the Character is removed and re-added to the Combat Tracker. Some Critical Injuries apply automatic penalties. See the “Effects” section for more details.

Note that the exact amount of damage is not printed by default, to mask the armor values to the players when attacking Mooks. The GM can enable the “Chat: Show damage received and armor ablation amounts” option in the Options window which then outputs the results:

Autofire

When a NPC (or a PC from their Actions tab) rolls an Autofire attack, the ammo is deducted by the Autofire amount for the weapon (usually 10, unless it has the EXTRAAMMO effect.). The Damage value then switches to the weapon’s Autofire Damage value.

You can right click the damage to switch it back to normal damage (if it was a miss) or simply roll damage with Autofire (if it was a hit) to deal the designated damage with Autofire.

Autofire is damage type that the ruleset recognizes and replaces with special dice by default.

Suppressive Fire

Suppressive Fire is a special attack that automatically triggers a Concentration roll from all targets. It uses the weapon’s Autofire ammo amount (usually 10, unless it has the EXTRAAMMO effect.)

In the above example, the Mook fires Suppressive Fire at Redeye, and beats her Concentration roll of 11. This means Redeye must start her next turn with a Move Action to try to get to cover!

Moves

Both Characters and NPCs can have Moves.

By default, all NPCs start with “Brawling,” and Characters will start with a list of Moves they all have access to. Characters who start with a Martial Arts skill from the Character Wizard will additionally start with Moves pertaining to their style.

Additionally, the Brawling move’s damage will be automatically adjusted if the Character equips a Cyberarm or as their BODY stat changes, to match the rules. This automation is also applied to relevant Martial Arts moves as well.

In the below screenshot we show an NPC where we have added “Grab” and “Pressure Point Strike” to their Moves. Grab is a special move that rolls with “Brawling” and triggers a “Brawling” roll as the Defender’s skill check.

The moves section below shows buttons that allows the NPC to perform moves, attacks (if they are marked as an attack), damage for moves, application of effects, and critical injury damage (if set).

A Move record has the following fields.

1. Skill: The Skill that is used when rolling to perform the Move

2. Is Attack: If checked, the Move is treated as an attack, and triggers a roll on the Target

3. Defender Skill: If the Move is an Attack, this is the Skill the Defender rolls. Default: Evasion

4. DV: If this is not an Attack, this is the default DV that must be beat for the Move to be successful

5. Effect Pattern: If this Move applies an Effect to the target or the actor themself, this is the Comat Tracker Effect that it applies

6. Duration Amount / Duration Type: Enter the Duration of the of the Effect, if the Effect Pattern was applied

   1. INF: Infinite

   2. RND: Duration is measured in Rounds

   3. ROLL: The Effect goes away once they perform a Roll that uses the effect

   4. MIN: Duration is measured in Minutes

   5. HR: Duration is measured in Hours

   6. DAY: Duration is measured in Days

7. Targeting: Determines if the effect is applied to the Targets or to Self (the one who performs the move)

8. Passive Effect: Determines any additional Effects (see Effects section) to apply to the Move when dealing Damage.

9. BODY Damage: Determines if this Move deals damage equal to the BODY stat of the user.

10. Ignore Armor: Determines if this Move’s damage ignores all armor by default and does not ablate.

11. Half Armor: Determines if this Move’s damage ignores Half SP of the Defender’s armor (used by Martial Arts attacks.)

12. Bonus Ablation: Determine the amount, if set, the damage should ablate the armor additionally by.

13. Crit Injury Damage: If set, a button to apply the 5 damage due to a Critical Injury is displayed.

Any Moves an NPC has will also be displayed on the Combat Tracker for in the Moves section.

Thrown Weapons (and Grenades)

Thrown Weapons such as Grenades are handled from the NPC’s Record Sheet. First, if the NPC does not already have a grenade or other thrown Ammo type, make sure you add one to their Inventory and equip it as shown in the screenshot below.

After equipping the Grenade, select it in the box with the label “Grenade Ammo Type” beneath the NPC’s list of weapons. This will cycle between different Ammo types.

If the Grenade has an Effect that can be applied, as in Incendiary Grenades, an Apply Effect button appears.

Not all Grenades have their own damage type, so in that case they use the default Grenade damage. Reset the Grenade’s Damage field by right-clicking it and then clicking “Reset to Grenade Damage.”

Then the Damage field should be populated to the default 6d6 damage using the “EXPLOSIVES” effect (which causes damage to carry over entirely if it destroys any cover the Character is behind via the COVER effect.)

Now the NPC is ready to throw the Grenade. This is handled with the “Throw Object” button at the top of the Weapons List. If targeting an entity on the same map, it will automatically apply the correct DV, otherwise, the NPC can select the Range value in the field to the right, or enter a Custom DV.

If the NPC hits, they can then roll damage from the Damage field and apply the “Effect” from the Grenade to their target. In this case, it applies the “ONFIRE: mild” Effect, which deducts 2 from their HP at the end of their turn (when using the Next Actor button.)

Some types of Grenades, such as Poison Grandes, request “Saves” from the Target. In this example, a DV 13 Resist Torture/Drugs check is requested of the target. It will output whether they pass or Fail. Should they Fail, the thrower of the Grenade should use the damage field to the right of the DV value, which is for damage specifically dealt by failing the save. These types of weapons typically do not do the default damage.

Finally, the “Grenade” icon button to the right of the chosen Grenade Ammo can be clicked to deduct the thrown grenade by 1, in order to track their usage of the thrown weapons.

Cover

As explained in the “Effect” section, cover is handled by Combat Tracker effects much the same way that Shields are handled. Unlike Shield, which are deducted from if the Shield is marked as “Up”, the COVER effect protects Characters from damage if the Effect is active on the Combat Tracker.

The Core Module comes with a list of Presets that you can apply to any character on the Combat Tracker for various types of thick or thin cover (see the screenshot below.)  The Conditions are also automated Effects per the Combat Tracker that can be applied from this window. If there is a number in an Effect (such as “-2 to All Actions” or “DMG:1”) it can be changed to any value.

Netrunner Combat

Netrunning is a bit more nuanced, so this section documents the differences.

Netrunner Attacking Demons or Ice

When attacking a Demon or Ice, it works largely the same as normal combat. The Netrunner can simply target the Demon or Ice if on the map, or by using the Combat Tracker.

They can then roll attacks against them by using the “Action” button for their “Attacker” program. In the screenshot below, this is the “Sword” program. Rolling the attack is done by clicking the Roll button (with the D10 Icon if using the Default Theme.)

Damage is then applied by rolling the “DMG” button. 

Here you can see we changed the Damage type to Black ICE and are about to roll REZ damage agains the Hellhound. Fantasy Grounds changes the dice to show the default REZ damage dice.

Netrunner to Netrunner Combat

When a Netrunner attacks another Netrunner they have a few options. 

By default, a Netrunner does not target the other Netrunner’s Programs. To do this, they must first target only the Netrunner. Then, click the “target” icon to the left of an Active program in the Netrunner’s Cyberdeck (from the Combat Tracker). This will target the program.

Redeye can then use her “Zap” ability or an Attacker Program to roll against that Program’s DEF on the enemy Netrunner’s Cyberdeck.

In this example, you can see the Zap was a success. The Netrunner Critically Succeeds and the Worm only rolls a 9. (It has no DEF bonus.)

Now, Redeye can roll the Zap Damage using the Damage field to the right of “Zap.” 

This same flow would apply if using an Attacker Program such as “Sword” but the Netrunner would first need to make sure the “Sword” is set to the “Program” damage type.

Redeye rolls a 6! She does 6 damage to the Worm, nearly de-rezzing the program. She still has 2 more Net Actions this turn and can continue with a use of a Program, such as Activating Armor (by clicking the “Active” checkbox) to Activate its Effect on the Combat Tracker, or a Booster (if she had one on her Cyberdeck. Boosters are special programs which apply bonuses to other Interface Abilities when Active

In this example Redeye uses a Net Action to Activate Armor and her Wisp Black ICE.

Activating Armor added the “IFT: NETDMG: -4” effect to Redeye. This reduces incoming REZ damage to her brain by 4. Activating the Wisp brought the Black ICE to the top of the Initiative and opened the window on the Netrunner’s screen so they can roll attacks with it on its turn.

Redeye (or the GM) could then roll Attacks with the Wisp against the enemy Netrunner, the same as normal combat is performed. The enemy Netrunner will automatically roll Interface as her Defense roll to determine if the attacks hit.

If Redeye later decides to use her Zap ability to directly target the enemy Netrunner, she would simply target the “Worm” by clicking the red “Target” icon. Then, she would click Zap to roll her Zap ability, and the enemy Netrunner would roll Interface as the defense roll to see if Zap hits. On a hit, Redeye could then roll her Zap damage to directly hurt the Netrunner HP, ignoring armor. Similarly, she could roll such attacks using Anti-personnel Programs from her Cyberdeck.

NPCs Attacking PC Netrunners

Apply the same workflow as described above for a PC attacking an NPC Netrunner. The GM can roll Program attacks and damage from either their Combat Tracker entry OR the full loadout of their Cyberdeck from the NPC window.

Dice Effects

The following dice are customizable by Damage Types:

• Autofire

  • Damage done using the Autofire mode of a weapon

• Explosives

  • Damage done with the “EXPLOSIVES” effect set on the weapon, ammo, or one of the attachments

• Halfarmor

  • Damage that ignores Half SP of the defender

• Ignorearmor

  • Damage that ignores all armor

• Nonlethal

  • Damage from weapons with the “NONLETHAL” effect set on the weapon, ammo, or one of the attachments

• Rez

  • Damage from Programs

• Zap

  • Damage from Demons or Netrunners using the ZAP ability

For more on these effects, look at the “Effects” section.