Some weapons deal damage to multiple targets in an area rather than a single creature. These Area of Effect (AoE) attacks use different resolution mechanics than standard single-target attacks.
There are three types of AoE attacks in the system, each with distinct behavior:
| Type | Shape | Example Weapons | Key Feature |
|---|---|---|---|
| Radius from a point | Grenades, rockets, mines | Targets a tile. Blast radius. Damage split across all limbs. | |
| 3×3 area around target | Buckshot, some energy weapons | Primary target takes full damage. Adjacent creatures take half. | |
| 1-tile corridor from attacker | Flamer, Dragon’s Breath | Every creature in the line is attacked. Ignores Creature Cover. May leave 🔥 Burning Ground. |
Burst Fire is NOT an AoE attack. It targets a single creature. Stray shots may hit other creatures through the Creature Cover system, but this is incidental rather than intentional area damage.
Explosive
Explosive attacks target a tile or location rather than a creature. All creatures within the blast radius take damage. Explosive damage is split evenly across all 6 limbs for 💔 Cripple Threshold purposes.
See 💣 Explosives Attack for the complete system, including Throw Difficulty, Scatter, blast attenuation through Cover, and the 🎯 Shaped Charges milestone.
Scatter
Scatter represents a weapon firing multiple projectiles (pellets, flechettes, shrapnel) that spread outward from the point of impact. The primary target takes full damage, and creatures adjacent to the primary target are hit by stray projectiles.
When Does Scatter Trigger?
Scatter triggers when all of the following are true:
- The weapon or ammunition has the Scatter property
- The attack hits the primary target (deals damage)
- The primary target is within Close range (1-15m)
Beyond Close range, projectiles are too dispersed to reliably hit adjacent creatures. Scatter does not trigger at Medium range or beyond.
Scatter Area
Scatter affects all creatures in the 8 tiles surrounding the primary target (the full 3×3 area, including diagonals). The primary target is at the center.
[ ][ ][ ]
[ ][X][ ] X = Primary target
[ ][ ][ ] All surrounding tiles are affected
Scatter Resolution
Step 1: Resolve the Primary Attack
Resolve the attack against the primary target using normal attack rules (roll to hit, determine hit location, calculate damage, apply DT/DR, apply effects). The primary target takes full damage.
If the primary attack misses, Scatter does not trigger. You must hit the primary target for projectiles to scatter from the impact point.
Step 2: Determine Scatter Damage
Take the total damage dealt to the primary target before DT and DR reduction and halve it (rounded down). This is the Scatter damage value used for all secondary targets.
Example: Your shotgun deals 14 damage before DT/DR to the primary target. Scatter damage = 14 ÷ 2 = 7 damage per secondary target.
Step 3: Roll to Hit Each Adjacent Creature
For each creature in the 3×3 area around the primary target, roll a separate to-hit roll against that creature’s Evasion:
d20 + SPECIAL Modifier + Weapon Skill (with all normal modifiers)
Each secondary to-hit roll is made individually. Some adjacent creatures may be hit while others are missed, depending on their Evasion and your rolls.
Step 4: Resolve Secondary Hits
For each adjacent creature that is hit:
- Apply the Scatter damage value (half primary damage)
- Hit location is random (d20 on 🎯 Hit Location table)
- Apply that creature’s DT and DR independently
- The hit is always a Glancing blow for 💔 Cripple Threshold purposes (half Cripple Threshold damage)
- Weapon tag effects (🩸 Bleed X, 🔥 Burn X, etc.) do apply on Scatter hits
- Milestone effects (⏬ Exposed from Breach and Clear, 🌊 Shockwave from Shotgunner Tier II, 👻 Fear from Clear The Room) do apply on Scatter hits
Scatter and CRIT / CRITFAIL
- Scatter secondary hits cannot 🎭 CRIT or 🎭 CRITFAIL.
Scatter and Creature Cover
Scatter bypasses Creature Cover. Stray projectiles radiate outward from the impact point in all directions, not along the attacker’s line of fire. A creature standing behind the primary target is just as likely to be hit by Scatter as one standing beside them.
The primary attack is still subject to Creature Cover if another creature is between the attacker and the primary target. Only the Scatter secondary hits bypass Creature Cover.
Scatter and Cover Objects
Standard Cover rules apply to Scatter secondary hits. If a creature adjacent to the primary target is behind a Cover Object relative to the primary target, the Cover attenuates the Scatter damage using normal Cover penetration rules (💎 Hardness / ♨️ Energy Resistance).
Scatter Source Point
Scatter always radiates from the creature that was actually hit, not the originally intended target. If Creature Cover causes your shot to hit a different creature than you aimed at, Scatter radiates from that creature’s position.
Example: You aim at a target behind a bodyguard. Your roll falls in the Creature Cover window and hits the bodyguard instead. Scatter radiates from the bodyguard’s position, hitting creatures adjacent to the bodyguard — not adjacent to the originally intended target.
Scatter Example
A Shotgunner fires buckshot at a raider (Evasion 12) at Close range. Two other raiders stand adjacent to the target.
Primary attack: Roll 17 + 8 modifier = 25. Exceeds Evasion 12. Hit. Weapon deals 12 damage before DT/DR.
Scatter damage: 12 ÷ 2 = 6 damage per adjacent creature.
Secondary target 1 (Evasion 10): Roll 14 + 8 = 22. Exceeds 10. Hit. 6 damage applied (minus their DT/DR). Random limb. Glancing for Cripple Threshold. Weapon effects (if any) apply.
Secondary target 2 (Evasion 14): Roll 8 + 8 = 16. Exceeds 14. Hit. 6 damage applied (minus their DT/DR).
Result: All three raiders take damage from a single shotgun blast. The Shotgunner hit 3 enemies with one 3 AP attack.
Weapons and Ammo with Scatter
Scatter is a property of ammunition, not the weapon itself. The same shotgun fires very differently depending on what is loaded, and a weapon holds one load at a time — declared when you Reload.
The trade runs one way: shells that scatter spread their damage across a group and give up reach, while solid shells drop 🕸 Scatter and Spread X entirely to buy damage, range or armor penetration against a single target. One shell — Dragon’s Breath — replaces Scatter with a Line Attack instead.
Which shell does what is listed on 12ga
That page carries every load, what it does, and what it costs. It is the single source — this page owns the Scatter, Spread and Line rules, not the shell list.
Scatter and Shotgunner Milestones
The Shotgunner specialization (🔫 Small Guns) synergizes powerfully with Scatter:
| Milestone | Scatter Interaction |
|---|---|
| Breach and Clear (Tier I) | Primary target AND all Scatter targets hit gain ⏬ Exposed |
| Shockwave (Tier II) | Primary target AND all Scatter targets hit must roll 😌 Composure or suffer Knockback/Knockdown/Shockwave |
| Clear The Room (Tier III) | All creatures hit (primary + Scatter) must roll Composure against 👻 Fear |
This makes the Shotgunner the premier close-range crowd control specialization. A single shotgun blast can apply debuffs to multiple enemies simultaneously — a capability no other weapon type can match.
Line Attack
Line Attacks project a corridor of damage from the attacker in a straight line. Every creature the line passes through is targeted individually. Line Attacks represent sustained streams of fire, energy, or other directed area effects.
The Line
A Line Attack fills a corridor 1 tile wide, running from the attacker’s tile in a straight line — orthogonally or diagonally — out to the length listed on the weapon.
[A][=][=][=][=][=][=][=][=][=][=][=][=][=][=][=]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
A = Attacker
[=] = Line (1 tile wide, out to the weapon's listed length)
The length of the line is listed on the weapon as ➡️ AoE Line X:
| Weapon | Line Length |
|---|---|
| Flamer | 15 tiles (15m) |
| Arc Cannon | 15 tiles (15m) |
| Cryo Cannon | 15 tiles (15m) |
| Dragon’s Breath (12ga shell) | 5 tiles (5m) |
Declare the direction when you fire. The line runs until it reaches its length or is blocked, whichever comes first.
Line Attack Resolution
Step 1: Declare the Line
The attacker declares the direction. Place the line template from the attacker’s tile outward.
Step 2: Roll to Hit Each Creature
Roll a separate to-hit roll against each creature in the line:
d20 + SPECIAL Modifier + Weapon Skill vs each creature’s Evasion
Each creature is attacked independently. Some may be hit while others dodge. The line does not stop at a creature — it passes through everyone standing in it.
Step 3: Resolve Damage
For each creature hit:
- Roll the weapon’s damage dice once. All creatures hit take the same damage value (you don’t reroll per creature).
- Apply each creature’s DT and DR independently
- Hit location is random for each creature (d20 on 🎯 Hit Location table)
- The Glancing Rule applies normally based on each creature’s individual attack roll
- Weapon effects (🔥 Burn X, 🌩 Shock X, ❄ Cryo X) apply to each creature hit
Step 4: Ignition
If the weapon has the 🔥 Ignite X tag, every tile in the line becomes 🔥 Burning Ground for X rounds — whether or not anyone was hit.
Flammable or combustible objects in the line catch fire regardless of the Ignite tag, applying the weapon’s 🔥 Burn X value. This includes wooden Cover objects, vehicles with exposed fuel systems, vegetation, and anything with a flammable tag.
Line Attack Special Rules
Creature Cover does NOT apply. Flames, arcs and superheated gas fill the corridor regardless of who is standing in front of whom. Hiding behind another creature does not protect you from a Line Attack.
Object Cover DOES apply, and stops the line. A solid, non-flammable barrier (concrete wall, metal barricade) blocks the corridor — the line ends at that tile and nothing beyond it is affected. Creatures behind Cover within the line take attenuated damage using ♨️ Energy Resistance. Flammable Cover Objects attenuate for one attack before catching fire.
Cannot be used with Called Shots. Hit locations are always random.
Cannot be used with Burst Fire. A Line Attack IS the sustained spray. There is no single-fire mode.
Suppression covers the line plus one tile to either side. Effects that apply to “twice the size” of an Area of Effect — 🔥 Big Guns Suppressing Fire and Heavy Ordnance — cover a 3-tile-wide corridor of the same length.
AP Cost: Same as a normal attack with the weapon.
Ammunition: Line Attack weapons consume one unit of their listed ammunition per attack, as any other weapon.
Line Attack Example
A character fires a Flamer (1d10+4, 🔥 Burn 3, 🔥 Ignite 3) down a corridor. Three raiders stand in the line.
Roll damage once: the Flamer deals 8 Energy damage.
Raider 1 (Evasion 11, Energy DT 0): Roll 15 + 7 = 22. Hit. Takes 8 damage. Burn 3 applied. Random limb: Torso.
Raider 2 (Evasion 13, Energy DT 2): Roll 9 + 7 = 16. Hit. Takes 8 − 2 = 6 damage. Burn 3 applied. Random limb: Left Leg.
Raider 3 (Evasion 12, Energy DT 0): Roll 5 + 7 = 12. Miss (12 does not exceed 12). No damage, no Burn.
All 15 tiles of the line become 🔥 Burning Ground for 3 rounds.
Spread X (Single-Target Pellet Scatter)
Spread X is a weapon tag that represents projectiles hitting multiple body parts on the same target. Unlike Scatter (which hits adjacent creatures), Spread only affects the primary target.
Spread X: When this weapon hits a target, X% of the total damage (before DT/DR reduction) is also applied to a separate random limb on the same target.
The secondary limb hit from Spread:
- Is determined by a d20 roll on the 🎯 Hit Location table (reroll if it hits the same limb as the primary attack)
- Is affected by the secondary limb’s DT and DR independently
- Is always a Glancing blow for Cripple Threshold purposes
- Does not reapply weapon effects
Spread vs Scatter
| Mechanic | Target | Trigger | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spread X | Same target, different limb | Any hit | X% of primary damage |
| Scatter | Adjacent creatures | Hit at Close range | 50% of primary damage |
Both can trigger on the same attack. A buckshot blast (Scatter + Spread 50%) that hits a target at Close range applies full damage to the primary limb, 50% to a second limb on the same target (Spread), AND 50% to each adjacent creature hit (Scatter).
AoE Quick Reference
Explosive: Target a tile. Blast radius hits everyone. Damage split across all 6 limbs. Cover attenuates. See 💣 Explosives Attack.
Scatter: Hit a target at Close range. 3×3 area (8 adjacent tiles). Half damage per adjacent creature. Roll to hit each. Glancing on Cripple. Weapon effects and milestone effects apply.
Line Attack: 1-wide corridor from attacker, out to the weapon’s listed length. Roll to hit each creature. Same damage to all. Ignores Creature Cover; stopped by solid Cover. With 🔥 Ignite X, the tiles become 🔥 Burning Ground.
Spread X: Same target, second random limb takes X% damage. Glancing. No weapon effects reapplied.