Conflicts may escalate beyond words or barehanded combat where combatants arm themselves with hand weapons and go toe-to-toe with an opponent, usually for blood.
While an Adventurer may strike by hand or foot into the spaces around them within arms reach, the length of melee weapons extends the area of attack further out.
Skill-against-skill, combatants may train with hand weapons to gain the upper hand in conflicts.
Because armed hand-to-hand conflict involves coordinated whole-body movement, these skills primarily build from Agility rather than Dexterity.
☐ FENCING (AGILITY)
Wielding various forms of long knives or swords according to specific schools or training techniques falls under the skill of Fencing.
☐ MARTIAL ARTS (AGILITY)
Many Martial Arts extend beyond hand and foot strikes to also incorporate or specialize in use of specialized hand weapons.
☐ MELEE WEAPONS (AGILITY)
Wielding hand weapons such as chains, knives, staves, poles, or swords falls under the skill of Melee combat.
◢ Moves
Like Martial Arts, traditional melee combat techniques evolved before spaceflight developed.
Vacuum changes melee combat drastically while pressure suited.
Blunt melee weapons make short work of complex life support and electronics systems.
Edged or pointed melee weapons quickly shred the integrity of unarmored pressure suits.
Most Adventurers think twice then think again before entering into a melee while pressure suited.
Melee combat also suffers significant movement penalty due to the pressure suit.
Armor, Shields, or Screens may protect Adventurers from hand-to-hand combat damage, but may not guarantee protection against tactical mis-steps.
Typically, these defenses absorb, deflect, or at least, reduce the damage taken from successful strikes made by opponents.
Armor, Shields, and Screens may offer different amounts of protection, or not, from blunt, edged, or pointed weapon strikes.
☐ ENDURANCE RESERVES
Melee combat, especially with two-handed or heavy melee weapons may quickly wear away Endurance Reserves until the one side or the other prevails due to greater Endurance Reserves.
☐ AGILITY RESERVES
The longer a melee combat continues, the harder the combatant may find it to continue accurate strikes and elegant or effective blocks or dodges.
☐ CONDITIONS
Armed hand-to-hand combat can result in combatants becoming Wounded to the degree that they keep suffering additional damage round by round from continued blood loss until aided.
First aid and rest can start the recovery process from most armed hand-to-hand combat, but deep wounds can drastically increase the recovery time.