Formal coherence and rule symmetry by me, but credits must be given to zedturtle, tomfish and Woodclaw.
ALTERNATIVE KNOCKBACK, version 0.9 - Knockback rules
ALTERNATIVE KNOCKBACK, version 1.0 - Knockback and Armor Absorption rulesIn the Adventurer’s Book, page 160, replace the "Knockback" paragraph with the following:
KNOCKBACK:
Fighters soon discover that sometimes it is better to literally ‘roll with the punches,’ and reduce the force of an attack by stepping back or to the side, kneeling under the force of a blow or using their armor to better absorb the impact – in gaming terms, they learn to let themselves be ‘knocked back’ by their opponent.
Characters may reduce the Endurance loss caused by a successful attack making a roll of Athletics OR a Protection Test against a Target Number equal to the Injury rating of the weapon used by the attacker.
On a successful roll, the companion halves the Endurance points lost from the attack (rounding fractions up) by letting himself to be thrown off-balance. If the knock back attempt fails, the acting hero suffers the normal Endurance loss AND is thrown off-balance.
A character who is knocked back (whether on a failed or successful knockback attempt) cannot change his stance and will spend his following round recovering his fighting position, unable to take any further action that turn. If an adversary attacks while a hero is recovering from knockback, the attack is resolved normally.
A Great or Extraordinary success is needed for the acting hero to keep his balance: if the roll matches or beats the TN and the player obtains at least one T icon on his rolled Success dice, he halves the Endurance loss caused by the attack without needing to recover on his next turn.
In the Adventurer’s Book, page 160, replace the "Knockback" paragraph with the following:
Characters have two ways to reduce Endurance loss: letting themselves to be knocked back by the blow, or try to absorb the force of an attack with their armor.
KNOCKBACK:
Fighters soon discover that sometimes it is better to literally ‘roll with the punches,’ and reduce the force of an attack by stepping back or to the side or by kneeling under the force of a blow – in gaming terms, they learn to let themselves be ‘knocked back’ by their opponent.
Characters may reduce the Endurance loss caused by a successful attack making a roll of Athletics. The TN for the roll is equal to 10 plus the Attribute level of the opponent who hit the character.
On a successful roll, the companion halves the Endurance points lost from the attack (rounding fractions up) by letting himself to be thrown off-balance. If the knock back attempt fails, the acting hero suffers the normal Endurance loss AND is thrown off-balance.
A character who is knocked back (whether on a failed or successful knockback attempt) cannot change his stance and will spend his following round recovering his fighting position, unable to take any further action that turn.
If an adversary attacks while a hero is recovering from knockback, the attack is resolved normally. If the companion is hit again, he may attempt another Athletics roll to halve the Endurance loss, but a great or extraordinary success is needed this time.
ABSORB IMPACT:
Protection given by armor helps to prevent wounding blows, but it can also soften the impact of less dangerous attacks. Instead of letting themselves to be knocked back by their opponent, fighters may use their armors to absorb the shock of an attack, exposing none but the most protected parts of their body.
A character attempting to do so makes a Protection Test against a Target Number equal to the Injury rating of the weapon used by the attacker.
If the result doesn’t produce any T icons, the absorb impact attempt fails, even if the total result matches or beats the TN.
If the roll doesn’t match or beat the Target Number and the player gets an Eye icon on his feat die, a piece of the armor breaks and it becomes damaged. Damaged armor can’t be used to absorb impacts and all Protection Tests are now made as if the character is Weary.
If the roll matches or beats the Injury rating AND the player obtains at least one T icon on his rolled Success dice, he halves the Endurance loss caused by the attack.
