New Combat Critical Failure Chart

The Alternity Gamemaster Guide already includes a very short table for determining the result of critical failures in combat. However, one major problem is that critical failures occur much more frequently in Alternity (1 in 20) than in reality (even poorly made modern firearms can fire hundreds or thousands of times before failing). The chart below is a compromise: critical failures still occur whenever 20 is rolled on the control die, but the result varies widely based on the type of attack and includes the chance that the critical failure yields no serious effect.
 
 

d8 Roll	Single-action Guns (revolvers, bolt-action rifles)	Semi-automatic & Automatic Guns	Energy Guns (laser, mass, stutter, maser, quantum)
1	Hesitation	Hesitation	Hesitation
2	Hesitation	Hesitation	Hesitation
3	Hesitation	Drop/Off-balance	Power drain
4	Hesitation	Drop/Off-balance	Power drain
5	Drop/Off-balance	Jam	Power jam
6	Jam	Jam	Power jam
7	Out of ammo	Out of ammo	Break (meltdown)
8	Break	Break	Break (meltdown)

 

d8 Roll	Unarmed Attack	Unpowered Melee Weapons	Powered Melee Weapons
1	Off-balance	Off-balance	Off-balance
2	Off-balance	Off-balance	Off-balance
3	Off-balance	Fall	Fall
4	Off-balance	Fall	Fall
5	Fall	Drop	Drop
6	Fall	Drop	Drop
7	Fall	Break	Power drain
8	Fall	Break	Break

 

d8 Roll	Thrown (grenades)	Bows	Muskets
1	Off-balance	Off-balance	Flash
2	Off-balance	Off-balance	Flash
3	Drop	Drop	Flash
4	Drop	Drop	Fouled
5	Drop	Snap	Fouled
6	Drop	Snap	Fouled
7	Break (explode)	Break	Break (explode)
8	Break (explode)	Break	Break (explode)

Break: The weapon somehow breaks without inflicting any damage.  A sword might shatter, a bow might splinter under the stress of too much pull, or the internal mechanisms of a gun might crack.

Break (explode): The weapon somehow breaks and damages its user. If a grenade breaks, the character is at the center of the explosion; he suffers Amazing damage, although he may "hit the deck" (Gamemaster Guide, p. 47) to reduce the damage.  If a musket breaks, the character must immediately make a DEX feat check:  he takes only 1 Stun damage on any success, but 1 Wound on a failure and 1 Mortal on a critical failure).

Break (meltdown): The light-amplification assembly, plasma coil, or some other high-tech component melts under extreme heat; the weapon requires serious repair work to fix (a difficult Amazing complex skill check using the Repair skill).

Drop: Not only does the attack fail, but the character drops his weapon due to a surprising amount of recoil or perhaps enemy interference (a sudden swipe or a bullet whizzing by too closely, for example). If a grenade is dropped, it does not detonate unless the pin was pulled already or it was otherwise pre-activated. At the GM's discretion, this result can be changed to Off-balance if there is no rational reason why the weapon would be dropped.

Fall: Not only does the attack fail, but the character badly over-extends himself and spills to the ground. He is treated as Off-balance and lying prone until he spends an action getting back on his feet.

Flash: The musket's priming powder ignites prematurely (a "flash in the pan"), causing a smoky explosion but failing to shoot. The weapon requires one extra action to reload.

Fouled: The musket's barrel becomes clogged with burnt powder. The weapon cannot be fired again until cleaned (a Good complex skill check of slight difficulty).

Hesitation: For some reason, the character hesitated too long before launching the attack. It is embarrassingly off-target, but there are no serious consequences.

Jam: The attack fails because a spent shell casing that has not ejected clogs the gun's chamber. The weapon cannot be fired again until the jam is cleared (requiring an action spent making a successful skill check).

Off-balance: Not only does the attack fail, but the character slightly over-extends himself and loses his footing. For the rest of the round (or, if this is already the end of the round, at least through the character's first action in the next round), he is treated as "Off-balance" (suffering a +2 step penalty on all attacks and physical actions).

Out of ammo: The attack fails because the character squeezed off a few too many rounds and emptied his clip without realizing it. The weapon must be reloaded before it can be fired again.

Power drain: The attack fails because the weapon's power cell is suddenly drained of energy. The power clip must be changed before the weapon can be used again.

Power jam: The attack fails because the weapon's power cell overheats and fuses with the assembly.  An action must be spent making a successful skill check to eject it before a new power cell can be inserted and the weapon used again.

Snap: The attack fails because the bowstring snaps under tension.  It must be replaced before the bow can be used again.

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