COMBAT CHALLENGES
Combat challenges work a lot like skill challenges. In return for a penalty to your attack or defense, you gain a bonus to your actions or inflict a penalty on your foe. Normally, this penalty is -2 to either your attacks or defense, but in some cases it is steeper. In return for this penalty, your attack gains an additional effect, such as a bonus to damage. A defensive challenge might give you the option to move faster or provide a bonus to a skill check. Attack challenges increase the risk that your strike may miss. Defensive challenges lower your defense, making you more vulnerable to your foe’s attacks.

ACCEPTING A CHALLENGE
You can take on one attack challenge and one defensive challenge per round. You must state that you wish to accept an attack challenge at the beginning of your turn, before you take either your move or standard action. You could not move, draw an attack of opportunity, and decide to accept a defensive challenge before striking. Even if you do not gain any of the benefits of the challenges, you still suffer the penalties. These penalties last until the start of your next action, though all of your attacks gain their benefits. An attack challenge’s penalties and benefits apply to any attacks of opportunity you make, in addition to your normal attacks. Note, however, that many of these effects cause named penalties. Be sure that their effects stack depending on their type.

Defensive challenges work a little differently than attack challenges. To gain a defensive challenge’s benefits, you first must expose yourself to the risk associated with it. You can use a defensive challenge only if at least one opponent threatens you. You gain its benefits only to melee attacks. When making a reckless strike, you allow an opponent to take an easy shot at you. In return, you throw your full weight behind a strike and batter aside his defenses. If you want to use a defensive challenge, you must declare your intention during your action. You then suffer the appropriate penalty to your defense until your next action. On that action, you gain the challenge’s benefits. This stricture ensures that a character suffers exposure to the challenge’s drawbacks. From a realism standpoint, it makes sense that you would have to drop you guard before gaining the benefits offered by a defensive challenge. Each challenge provides a different benefit. The minimum drawback you can suffer is a -2 penalty to defense or attacks, though some grant you greater benefits in return for a stiffer penalty.

ATTACK CHALLENGES
Attack challenges break down into three categories based on the penalty they levy. Lesser attack challenges cause a -2 attack penalty, moderate ones inflict a -4 penalty, and major ones carry a -6 modifier. Each category presents successively greater benefits, as befits the penalties they cause. Unless
otherwise noted, an attack must hit and inflict damage (in other words, your damage beats the target’s damage reduction)
in order to grant you the challenge’s benefit. You only gain an attack challenge’s benefits if you make an
attack during your action. If you do not attack, you gain neither
the benefits nor the drawbacks levied by the challenge.
Following are examples of attack challenges you can accept.

LESSER ATTACK CHALLENGES (-2)
Bonus Damage: You make a wild swing at your opponent, one that compensates for its inaccuracy with raw power. You gain a +1 bonus to melee damage.
Fight Defensively: You keep back from your opponent, making tentative strikes as you focus on defense. You gain a +1 active bonus to defense.
Hamper Movement: You tangle your opponent’s legs, slash at his thighs, or otherwise make it tough for him to move. He suffers a -1 square injury penalty to movement for 1 round.

MODERATE ATTACK CHALLENGES (-4)
Force Movement: You drive your foe back with a mighty blow, forcing him to cede ground in the face of your advance. Your target must move one square to allow you to move into at least one square that he occupied. Your opponent chooses where he wants to move. If all the available spaces present any sort of physical or environmental threat, such as a fire or a pit, he does not have to move. You can force an opponent to move only once per round, and you do not gain this benefit on attacks that are not made as part of your standard or full-round action. For example, you do not gain this benefit on attacks of opportunity.
Improved Bonus Damage: As described above for the bonus damage lesser attack challenge, except you gain a +3 bonus to damage.
Improved Fight Defensively: You make only a few careful swipes at your foe, preferring instead to concentrate on parrying. You gain a +2 active bonus to defense.
Wild Flurry: You gain an additional, highly inaccurate attack. You strike one extra time without the benefits of your base attack bonus and Strength or Dexterity bonus to attacks and damage. Your other bonuses apply as normal, as does the challenge penalty. You may use this option as part of a standard or full-round action.

MAJOR ATTACK CHALLENGES (-6)
Improved Force Movement: As described for the force movement moderate attack challenge above, except you choose where your opponent moves. If you attempt to force him into a square that would inflict damage to him, such as a burning fire or a pit, your target may attempt a Reflex save (DC 10 + half your base attack bonus) to cancel the movement. In the event of a successful saving throw, your target does not move and you cannot move him. Additional attacks against him lose the benefits of this challenge until your next action.
Improved Wild Flurry: As above for wild flurry, except you gain the benefit of your Strength or Dexterity bonus to your attack and damage, if applicable.
Superior Bonus Damage: As the bonus damage lesser attack challenge, except you gain a +6 bonus to damage.

DEFENSE CHALLENGES
Defense challenges, like attack challenges, break down into three categories based on the penalty they levy. Lesser defense challenges cause a -2 defense penalty, moderate ones inflict a -4 penalty, and major ones carry a -6 modifier. Each category presents successively greater benefits, as befits the penalties they cause. Remember, you only gain the benefits of a defensive challenge after you have accepted its penalties for 1 round.

LESSER DEFENSE CHALLENGES (-2)
Defensive Roll: You roll with each hit you suffer, making yourself easier to strike but harder to injure. You gain a +1 bonus on all damage reduction checks for armor. This option works best against highly skilled opponents who have an excellent chance to hit you.
Reckless Strike: You drop your guard to focus solely on hitting and injuring your opponent. You gain either a +2 bonus to damage or a +1 bonus to attacks for 1 round after accepting this challenge.
Steely Focus: You set aside the chaos and din around you to focus on an action. You gain a +2 bonus to a single skill
or ability check of your choice as you lower your defenses to complete the task before you. You must complete this check on your next action after taking on this challenge.

MODERATE DEFENSE CHALLENGES (-4)
Heedless Strike: You pay little mind to your defenses as you leap forward to attack. You gain either a +4 bonus to damage or a +2 bonus to attacks for 1 round after accepting this challenge.
Hustle: You press ahead, reducing your defenses in favor of covering ground. You gain a +1 square (5-foot) bonus to speed. This bonus applies to your base walking speed. Determine other movement modes, such as climbing, based on your improved speed.
Improved Defensive Roll: As for the defensive roll lesser defense challenge, except you gain a +2 bonus to damage reduction checks.
Improved Steely Focus: As for the steely focus lesser defense challenge, except you gain a +4 bonus to your skill or ability check.
Lashing Strike: You gain the ability to make an additional attack of opportunity on the round after you accept this challenge.
This extra attack works just like any other attack of opportunity—you gain no special ability to make multiple
attacks of opportunity against a single target, for instance.

MAJOR DEFENSE CHALLENGES (-6)
Focused Determination: You reduce your defenses to buy yourself time for a skill or ability check. After you suffer this challenge’s defense penalty for 1 round, you may attempt a
skill or ability check without provoking attacks of opportunity. 
Improved Hustle: As for the hustle moderate defense challenge, except you gain a +2 square (10-foot) bonus to speed.
Suicidal Strike: Your opponent’s blows slam into you with vicious accuracy, but you shrug them off in your relentless drive to conquer your foe. You gain either a +6 bonus to damage or a +3 bonus to attacks for 1 round after accepting this challenge.
Superior Defensive Roll: As for the defensive roll lesser defense challenge, except you gain a +3 bonus to damage reduction checks.

STUNTS
A stunt is an action in combat that falls outside the normal bounds of the rules. Iron Heroes defines a wide variety of different combat actions you can take. The stunts cover everything else. These rules are a tool to help you come up with imaginative, clever, and exciting actions in combat. If you can imagine it, the stunt rules allow you to attempt it. You might throw a fistful of sand in an opponent’s face to blind him, run along the narrow top of a wall to maneuver around a foe, or crack open a keg of beer to send a stream of liquid into an opponent’s face. Stunts reward you for coming up with interesting and visually engaging actions in combat.

STUNT MECHANICS
The mechanics behind a stunt are relatively simple. When you attempt a stunt, first you pick out the effect you want to create. The following sections list several different possible results for a stunt, broken down into three categories: offensive stunts, defensive stunts, and maneuver stunts.

Next you describe the stunt. How do you attempt it? Do you use the terrain and combat situation to your advantage?  What do you expect to happen if the stunt succeeds? Think of the game as if it were a movie, and describe the scene as you put the stunt into action. As part of this step, you must choose the mechanical effect you want to gain from the stunt. For example, the inflict penalty offensive stunt allows you to force an opponent to take a penalty to his defense or attacks. When you attempt the stunt, you announce the total penalty you wish to inflict. A small penalty calls for a much lower Difficulty Class than a higher one. In the case of an opposed check, seeking more powerful effects forces you to accept a penalty to your check. The DM then picks one or more skills for you to use for the stunt. You make this “stunt check” against a Difficulty Class chosen by the DM or one determined by the effect you are seeking. Some stunts allow one of your opponents, such as the target of an offensive stunt, to make a skill, ability, or base attack check to foil your stunt. If the stunt check succeeds, you gain its benefits or your foe suffers its effects.
STUNTS AND ACTIONS
Listed next to the name of each stunt is the action required to complete it. Most stunts require a standard action to complete, but a few qualify as attack actions. The attack action stunts require either a standard attack or a full attack action.

STUNTS AND SKILLS
The DM chooses the skill you must use to complete a stunt and the skill your target uses to oppose your efforts, if applicable.
He can also decide to replace a skill check with a base attack/defense check or an ability check. Each of the stunt
types includes a short list of skills that are a good match for its effects. While the DM can choose any skill he wants, he
should pick one that makes logical sense based on your description of the stunt. Remember, though, that the DM
has final say on how a stunt works.
When you announce a stunt, you can choose to cancel it
and use a different action if you do not agree with the skill the
DM decides to use. Never argue with the DM on this point.
Wait until the game session is done if you have any concerns.
For DMs, remember that the players trust you to make fair,
impartial decisions. Don’t pick skills simply to penalize the
players or make stunts more difficult than normal. By the
same token, be consistent when the NPCs attempt stunts. If
you consistently force the PCs to make illogical skill checks
to defend against stunts, particularly if you choose skills that
they have few ranks in, the players will quickly become frustrated
with your game.

OFFENSIVE STUNTS
There are three types of offensive stunt. All of them count as
attack actions.

ATTACK STUNT (FULL ATTACK)
You use a full attack action to combine a stunt with an attack.
Usually this stunt check requires you to make an acrobatic
maneuver as you deliver an attack or somehow use the environment
to improve your attack’s potency. The target of this stunt
makes a skill or base attack check opposed by your own check.
You gain either a +1 bonus to your attack or a +2 bonus
to damage. You can increase either of these bonuses, with
no maximum limit, in return for a -2 penalty to your stunt
check for each point of increase. You cannot gain both a
bonus to an attack and a bonus to damage. You must choose
one or the other.
You enjoy this bonus until the end of your action against
the foe who opposed your stunt check.
Failure: If this stunt fails, you attack without the bonus to
your attack or damage.
Special: If you use Climb, Jump, or Tumble with an attack
stunt, you may move up to half your speed as part of this
stunt action. For example, if you use Climb to scramble up a
wall and then, in the next round, jump down, sword first, to
impale a monster, you could move half your speed following
the attack to represent you rolling away from the beast or
bouncing off it after the strike. This movement does not draw
an attack of opportunity from the stunt’s target if the stunt
succeeds. It draws attacks of opportunity from other creatures
as normal, regardless of success or failure.
Fast Stunt: At higher levels, you might want to use a stunt to improve your attacks while still gaining a full attack action. In this case, you can attempt a stunt as a free action.
You cannot move as part of the stunt (as described under
“Special,” above), and you suffer a -5 penalty to your stunt
check. If you fail the stunt check, you suffer a -2 penalty to
your attacks as your stratagem fails to trick your foe.
Otherwise, use the standard rules given above.
Examples: Use the Jump skill to leap over a foe and attack
him from above. Use Balance to run along a giant’s club and
slash at its arms. Use Tumble to dodge between an ogre’s legs
while slashing at it from behind.

DISRUPTING ATTACK (FULL ATTACK)
You fire an arrow into a dragon’s maw, leaving it unable to
breathe fire for a short time. You splash ink onto a basilisk’s
face, nullifying the effect of its gaze to turn your friends into
stone. These are example of disrupting attack stunts. The disrupting attack stunt works a bit differently from the other offensive stunts. You must bid on the Fortitude save DC your target must beat to continue using a supernatural ability or an extraordinary ability. Once you pick the DC, you then must make a skill check with a DC equal to the chosen save DC + 10. If you succeed, your foe loses the use of the attack mode of your choice for 1 round. If the creature randomly determines how often it can use an ability, increase
the time it must wait by 1 round. For example, a dragon might be able to breathe once every 1d4 rounds. If you successfully
used this stunt against it, it would have to wait 1 extra round before breathing again.
Failure: If this stunt fails, the creature continues to use its special ability as normal.
Special: If you use a base attack check to complete this stunt, you inflict your attack’s damage without any bonuses. In this case, you trade brute force for accuracy and precision. If you use an improvised weapon, you do not gain this benefit.
Examples: Use a base attack check to injure a creature’s eyes, preventing it from using a deadly gaze. Use a Spot check to target a gorgon’s throat before firing so that your arrow disrupts its breath weapon.

INFLICT PENALTY (STANDARD ATTACK)
You attempt to inflict a penalty to an opponent’s attacks,
defense, or skill and ability checks (your choice). You throw
sand in his eyes to disrupt him, tangle him up with a length
of rope, or otherwise confuse his efforts. Your foe opposes
your check using the same skill or ability, or with a base
attack check. (The target chooses one of the two.)
You inflict a base -2 penalty for 1 round. You can increase
the duration by 1 round and/or the penalty by -1 by accepting
a -2 penalty to your check. There is no limit to the total
penalty or duration.
Failure: If your stunt fails, the target suffers none of the
penalties you attempted to inflict.
Examples: Use a base attack check to throw sand in an
ogre’s eye. Use Bluff to trick an opponent into letting his
guard down for a moment. Use a base attack check to slam
your shield into a foe, knocking him off balance. Use the Use
Rope skill to lasso a foe and hinder him for a few moments.

DEFENSIVE STUNTS
The defensive stunts all count as move actions. Most of
them provide a benefit to you if you complete them on
your turn.

DEFENSE BONUS (MOVE ACTION)
You use a combination of the terrain and your abilities to
improve your defense against a single opponent. Your stunt
check is a skill or base attack check opposed by your foe’s
check. If you succeed, you gain an active bonus to defense.
You gain a +2 active bonus to defense if you succeed at
this stunt. You can increase this bonus by +1 in exchange for
a -2 penalty to your check, with no limit on the bonus you
bid on. This bonus lasts until the start of your next action.
Failure: If this stunt fails, your opponent gains a +1 bonus
on attacks against you until the start of your next action.
Examples: Use Bluff to trick an opponent into thinking
you dodge left when you break to the right. Use Jump to leap
into the air and over an opponent’s attack. Use Sense Motive
to see where an opponent aims his attack. Use Tumble to
dodge around the statue that stands behind you.

SAVE BONUS (MOVE ACTION)
You take action to foil an opponent’s special attacks. Maybe
you cut your thumb on your knife, using the pain to throw
off a witch’s charm. Or perhaps you hold your breath rather
than breathe in poisonous fumes.
You must make a skill or ability check as your stunt check.
You gain a +2 bonus to one type of save against a single
effect or opponent of your choice with a DC 20 check. You
increase this bonus by +1 for every 5 points you increase the
Difficulty Class, with no limit on the bonus you can gain.
This bonus lasts until the start of your next action.
Failure: You suffer no special drawbacks if this stunt fails.
Special: Unlike other stunts, the save bonus places limits
on the skills and abilities you can use to gain its benefits.
To gain a bonus to Reflex saves, you must use a Dexterity
or Dexterity-based skill check as your stunt check. For Will
saves, use a Wisdom or Wisdom-based skill check. For
Fortitude saves, use a Constitution or Constitution-based
skill (in other words, Concentration) check.
Examples: Use Concentration to ignore a poison’s crippling
effects. Use Tumble to dodge a lightning bolt. Use
Sense Motive to resist a medusa’s attempt to ensorcel you.

MANEUVER STUNTS
The single maneuver stunt makes it easier for you to move
across the battlefield.
IMPROVED SPEED (SPECIAL ACTION)
You spring off a wall, swing along a length of rope, or use a
steep slope to increase your speed. You may make a skill
check (DC 20) to gain a +1 square bonus to your speed for
the round. You can increase your speed bonus by +1 in
return for a +5 modifier to the DC. You cannot increase your
speed by more than double in this manner.
You make this check as part of your movement, and the
bonus applies only to your current move or standard action
used to move. You can use this stunt once per round.
Failure: On a failed check, reduce your speed by the
amount you attempted to increase it.
Special: You can only use skills based on Strength or
Dexterity, or those two abilities, to attempt this stunt.
Examples: Use Balance to sprint down a slope. Use Tumble
to roll across a slippery bridge. Use the Use Rope skill to
swing across a ship’s rigging.