Vehicle Combat
The types of actions you can take during a single turn don't change when you're aboard a vehicle.
Some of the actions described below can only be performed by particular crew members. In this case, the eligible crewmembers are listed in parentheses following the action's name.
Actions in Combat
Standard Action
| Standard Actions | Position Required | Brief | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aid Another |
- |
You can aid an ally's next skill check, ability check, or attack roll. | Core |
| Attack with Melee Weapon |
- |
With a melee weapon, you can strike any enemy in a square you can threaten. | Core |
| Attack with Ranged Weapon |
- |
With a ranged weapon, you can throw or shoot at any target within your line of sight, as long as your vehicle does not grant you total cover. | Core |
| Attack with Vehicle Weapon | Gunner |
With a ranged vehicle weapon, you can throw or shoot at any target within your line of sight | Core |
| Attack Run | Pilot |
You can move your vehicle's speed in a straight line and attack. | Core |
| Dogfight | Pilot |
You can initiate a dogfight. | Core |
| Fight Defensively | Pilot |
You can fly protectively. | Core |
Move Actions
Swift Actions
| Swift Actions | Position Required | Brief | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aim | Gunner |
You can aim before making an attack. | Core |
| Full Stop | Pilot |
You can bring your vehicle to a sharp stop. | Core |
| Increase Vehicle Speed | Pilot |
You can push your vehicle beyond normal maximums. | Core |
| Raise or Lower Shields | System Operator |
You can activate or deactivate shields. | Core |
| Recharge Shields | System Operator |
You can attempt to recharge your vehicle's shields. | Core |
| Reroute Power | Engineer |
You can attempt to repair your vehicle. | Core |
Full-Round Actions
| Full-Round Actions | Position Required | Brief | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| All-Out Movement | Pilot |
You can redline your vehicle's speed. | Core |
| Full Attack | Gunner |
You can intensify your fire. | Core |
| Ram | Pilot |
You can attempt to ram your enemy. | Core |
Reaction Actions
| Reaction Actions | Position Required | Brief | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avoid Collision | Pilot |
You can attempt to avoid a collision. | Core |
All vehicle statistics that are relevant to combat are described below.
Vehicle Size
Vehicles use similar size categories as creatures, (see Vehicle Scale). The Colossal size category is further subdivided to differentiate particularly massive starships and space stations.
A vehicle's size modifier applies to the vehicle's Reflex Defense, as well as to Initiative and Pilot checks made by the vehicle's occupants.
Attacks
Any vehicle equipped with weapons can make attacks against enemies within range. An attack roll with a vehicle weapon is calculated as follows:
- ld20 + base attack bonus + vehicle's Intelligence modifier + range modifier
- Base Attack Bonus: Use the base attack bonus of the gunner (which, in some cases, may be the pilot).
- Intelligence Modifier: A vehicle's computer improves the accuracy of the vehicle's weapon systems, and the vehicle's Intelligence score measures the quality of the computer.
- Range Modifier: A vehicle weapon can attack a target at point blank, short, medium, or long range. If you make a ranged attack against a target within the weapon's point blank range, you take no penalty on the attack roll. Your penalty on attack rolls increases to -2 at short range, -5 at medium range, and -10 at long range (see Weapon Ranges).
Critical Hits
As in character combat, when you roll a natural 20 on your attack, you automatically hit and deal double damage.
When using a vehicle weapon, you cannot apply any effect that causes an automatic natural 20 or automatic critical hit (such as spending a Destiny Point or using the Jedi Master’s serenity class feature), unless a rule specifies that it can be used with vehicle weapons.
Automatic Misses
If you roll a natural 1 on your attack, you automatically miss.
Damage
When you hit with a vehicle weapon, you deal damage according to the type of weapon (listed in each vehicle's statistics). Damage dealt by a vehicle weapon is calculated as follows:
- (Weapon Damage + ½ heroic level + miscellaneous modifiers) x multiplier
- Damage Multiplier: After rolling the weapon damage dice, multiply the result by the listed damage multiplier. For example, when you fire a vehicle weapon that deals 6dl0x2 damage, roll 6d10 and multiply the result by 2.
Defenses
A vehicle's defenses represent how difficult it is to hit or overload its systems. Unlike characters, vehicles do not have a Will Defense. However, vehicles have a Reflex Defense and a Fortitude Defense which are calculated as follows:
- Reflex Defense = 10 + vehicle's Dexterity modifier + size modifier + armor bonus or pilot's heroic level
- Fortitude Defense = 10 + vehicle's Strength modifier
Hit Points
Vehicles have hit points, just like characters. Hit points are abstract, meant to represent not only the vehicle's physical mass but also the robustness or fragility of its systems.
Crew Cover
Most vehicles provide at least some cover to their passengers. Passengers gain a cover bonus to their Reflex Defense against any attacks that target them instead of the vehicle. A vehicle can provide no cover, normal cover (+5 cover bonus), improved cover (+ 10 cover bonus), or full cover. You cannot attack a target that has full cover.
The cover a vehicle provides to its passengers is included in its statistics.
Speed
Every vehicle has a speed, given in squares. The pilot may move a vehicle up to its listed speed as a move action, and up to four times its speed with the all-out movement action.
Starships and airspeeders have a separate listing for their speed in starship scale.
- Maximum Velocity
- This is the maximum speed a vehicle may move in character scale. It is seldom relevant in combat because such speeds quickly move the vehicle off the battle map and out of range.