Cover

Cover provides two forms of protection in combat:

1. Concealment, which makes you harder to hit by increasing Evasion.
2. Material protection, which absorbs or blocks damage before it can reach you.

Using cover effectively is one of the most important survival skills in the Wasteland.

You can take cover by positioning your character adjacent to a Cover Object.

Quick Reference

Cover Objects

All Cover Objects are defined by the following properties:

• 🧱 Durability — the structural integrity of the cover (its HP).
• 💎 Hardness — damage resistance against Physical damage.
• ♨️ Energy Resistance — damage resistance against Energy damage.
• 🧩 Cover Object Qualities — special traits that modify how the cover behaves.

These properties determine whether attacks are blocked, chip away at cover, or penetrate through it.

Covered vs. Uncovered Limbs

Cover can physically protect specific parts of your body.

• If an ⚔ Attack strikes a Covered Limb, the Cover Object intercepts the attack first.
• Whether the attack is blocked, damages the cover, or penetrates depends on the cover’s 💎 Hardness (Physical) or ♨️ Energy Resistance (Energy).

If an attack penetrates, both the cover and the target may take damage.

Concealment Bonus

Cover provides a Concealment Bonus to your Evasion, representing the difficulty of accurately targeting someone who is partially or fully obscured.

You gain a Concealment Bonus when:

• An enemy performs a Standard ⚔ Attack against you while you are in cover.
• An enemy performs a Called Shot against a Covered Limb.

Bypassing Concealment

The Concealment Bonus can be bypassed by:

• Performing a Called Shot against an Uncovered Limb.
• Flanking the target so that no limbs are protected by cover.
• Forcing the target to Peek (see Attacking from Cover below).

Half Cover and Full Cover

The amount of protection you gain depends on how much of your body is obscured by the Cover Object.

Half Cover

You are in Half Cover if approximately half of your body is protected (usually the legs).

• Applies when your Size is 1 tier larger than the size of the Cover Object.
  • Examples: A human standing behind a crate or barrel. A Super Mutant standing behind a car.
• Grants +2 Evasion as a Concealment Bonus.
• Your Legs are considered Covered Limbs.
• Can be bypassed by performing a Called Shot against Uncovered Limbs or by Flanking the target.
• You can attack freely from Half Cover without exposing yourself further. No Peeking is required.

Example: A human behind sandbags is in Half Cover. If a random hit strikes the legs, the sandbags absorb the attack first.

Full Cover

You are in Full Cover if your entire body is obscured by the Cover Object.

• Applies when your Size is equal to or smaller than the size of the cover.
  • Examples: A human crouching behind a car. A gecko hiding under a desk.
• Grants +4 Evasion as a Concealment Bonus.
• All limbs are considered Covered Limbs.
• Can only be bypassed by Flanking or by the target exposing themselves (Peeking).

Important: To make ranged attacks from Full Cover against targets that are not already in your line of sight, you must Peek. Peeking temporarily downgrades your Full Cover to Half Cover for the duration of your turn. See the Peek Rule for full details.

Attacking from Cover

From Half Cover

You can attack freely from Half Cover. You already have an angle to fire from, and your Concealment Bonus (+2) and Covered Limbs remain unchanged while attacking.

From Full Cover — The Peek Rule

When you need to make a ranged attack from Full Cover against a target that is blocked by your Cover Object, you must Peek. Peeking is free — it costs no AP or MAP — but it temporarily exposes you.

While Peeking:

• Your Full Cover is downgraded to Half Cover for the duration of your turn
• Your Concealment Bonus drops from +4 to +2
• Only half of your limbs remain Covered (GM determines which based on how you expose yourself)
• You are visible and targetable — enemies may make Overwatch Attacks and 🤺 Opportunity Attacks against you
• Overwatch Attacks resolve before your attack. Each attack you make from cover can trigger an Overwatch Attack if the Overwatching enemy has attacks remaining.

At the end of your turn, you automatically return to Full Cover. Your full Concealment Bonus (+4) is restored and all limbs return to Covered status at no cost.

You do not need to Peek if the target is already in your line of sight (behind you, on your flank, etc.).

See the Peek Rule page for full details, including stance interactions and edge cases.

Cover Damage and Penetration

When an ⚔ Attack strikes a Covered Limb, compare the attack’s damage to the cover’s resistance.

Let:

• D = attack damage
• R = 💎 Hardness (Physical) or ♨️ Energy Resistance (Energy)

Resolution Rules

Damage Interaction Summary

Burst Fire and Cover

When a Burst Fire attack hits a Covered Limb, each individual hit is resolved against the Cover’s resistance separately. Each hit that penetrates deals damage to both the Cover’s 🧱 Durability and the target. See Burst Fire for full resolution rules.

Crossfire and Cover

Cover along the Crossfire Line can intercept stray bullets from Burst Fire attacks. When a stray shot traveling along the Crossfire Line encounters a Cover Object, the standard Cover penetration rules apply. Cover that blocks a stray shot protects creatures further down the Crossfire Line.

Tags and Special Cases

Weapon and cover Tags modify how the penetration rules behave without changing the core math.

Weapon Tags

• Armor-Piercing — penetration threshold is reduced (uses 1.5R instead of 2R).
• Breach — penetrating attacks deal D − R damage to the target instead of D − 2R.
• Shred — damage to cover is doubled.

Cover Tags

• Reinforced — penetration requires 3R instead of 2R.
• Brittle — cover takes double damage once chipped.
• Indestructible — cover can never be penetrated or destroyed.

Tags allow specific weapons or materials to behave exceptionally without increasing system complexity.

Cover and Bracing (Big Guns)

🔥 Big Guns require bracing before firing. Cover provides a natural brace point:

• Firing a Big Gun from behind Cover (any type) or while Prone allows you to brace for free (0 AP).
• Firing a Big Gun from a standing position without Cover requires a Standing Brace (1 AP, immobile for the rest of the turn) or firing unbraced (-5 Accuracy).
• The Walking Arsenal trait (Super Mutant) bypasses all bracing requirements.

See the Bracing rules for full details.

Cover and Overwatch

Overwatch interacts with Cover in two ways:

Entering Overwatch from Cover

When you enter Overwatch Mode from Full Cover, you automatically Peek for the duration of the Overwatch. Your Full Cover is treated as Half Cover while you are in Overwatch Mode. You return to Full Cover when Overwatch ends.

Big Guns entering Overwatch from Cover brace for free. The Mobile Fortress milestone (Big Guns +7) grants temporary HP when entering Overwatch with a Big Gun.

Overwatch Against Targets in Cover

Enemies in Full Cover who Peek to attack trigger your Overwatch Attacks. The Overwatch Attack resolves before the Peeking enemy’s attack. This makes Overwatch a direct counter to cover camping — Overwatching a position forces enemies to either take fire every time they try to shoot, or reposition out of your Overwatch zone.

Cover and Called Shots

Called Shots interact with Cover in important ways:

• A Called Shot against a Covered Limb receives the full Concealment Bonus (+2 Half Cover, +4 Full Cover) added to the target’s Evasion.
• A Called Shot against an Uncovered Limb bypasses the Concealment Bonus entirely.

This makes Called Shots a key tool against targets in Cover. Instead of shooting at a target with +4 Evasion from Full Cover, you can target an exposed limb and ignore the Concealment Bonus — accepting the Called Shot Accuracy Penalty in exchange for bypassing Cover’s evasion benefit.

The Perfectly Timed Shot milestone (Sniper Tier III) allows a Called Shot that ignores all Cover effects entirely, once per combat.

Explosives and Cover

Explosives interact with cover differently than bullets or other direct-fire attacks. Rather than attempting to penetrate cover, explosives deal radial blast damage that is attenuated by intervening materials.

Important: Explosives do not use the standard penetration rules (D ≥ 2R) for cover. Instead, cover reduces explosive damage based on how much of the blast is blocked.

Line of Effect

When an explosive detonates, determine whether the target is in the line of effect:

• If there is no solid cover between the explosion and the target, the target takes full damage.
• If the target is behind Half Cover, the blast is partially attenuated.
• If the target is behind Full Cover, the blast is significantly attenuated, but rarely stopped entirely.

Explosions can affect targets behind cover even if the cover is not destroyed.

Blast Attenuation

Let:

• D = explosive damage
• R = 💎 Hardness (for Physical explosives) or ♨️ Energy Resistance (for Energy-based explosives)

• Explosive damage is never all-or-nothing when cover is present.
• Cover always takes damage if it lies between the explosion and the target.
• Damage cannot be reduced below 0.
• There is no damage falloff within the blast radius. All creatures inside the radius take the explosive’s full listed damage before Cover attenuation and armor.

Shaped Charges (Explosives +10 Milestone)

The Shaped Charges milestone halves the Cover’s resistance when calculating blast attenuation:

Cover 🧱 Durability damage is unaffected — the milestone increases blast energy reaching the target, not damage to the Cover itself.

Cover Destruction

• If the cover’s 🧱 Durability is reduced to 0, it is destroyed.
• Destroyed cover no longer provides Concealment or material protection.
• At the GM’s discretion, collapsing cover may create debris, remove adjacent cover, or deal secondary damage (based on Tags).

Explosives vs Penetration

Explosives do not penetrate cover in the same way as bullets. The standard penetration rule (D ≥ 2R) applies only to direct-fire attacks. Explosives represent pressure waves, shrapnel, and concussive force. Exceptions are handled through Tags.

Explosive Tags

• Concussive — Ignores attenuation from Half Cover.
• Incendiary — Uses ♨️ Energy Resistance instead of 💎 Hardness.

Cover Tags (Explosives)

• Blast-Shielded — Full Cover reduces explosive damage by 3R instead of 2R.
• Fragile — Cover takes double damage from explosives.
• Unstable — When destroyed, the cover collapses and deals secondary damage.

Cover and Stances

Your Stance affects what type of Cover you receive from a Cover Object, because Stances change your effective Size.

Standing

Your Size is normal. A Cover Object that is smaller than you provides Half Cover. A Cover Object equal to or larger than you provides Full Cover.

Crouched

Your Size is reduced by 1 tier. This may upgrade your Cover — a Cover Object that provided Half Cover while Standing may provide Full Cover while Crouched.

Example: A human standing behind a crate is in Half Cover (Size is 1 tier larger than the crate). The same human crouching behind the same crate is in Full Cover (Size is now equal to the crate).

Prone

Your Size is reduced by 2 tiers. Most Cover Objects provide Full Cover while Prone. However, Prone characters have limited ability to attack from cover — they can only Peek sideways (around the edge of Cover), not over Cover. To fire over Cover while Prone, you must first Change Stance to at least Crouched.

See Peek Rule for full details on attacking from cover in different stances.