Here's something that I really never thought of until I decided to put a critter against a couple runners...

How many dice do they roll for their attack? The critters listed in the Critters book don't have any skills listed. I'm assuming it's all melee combat, but what is their skill at melee combat. There are a few that list to resolve their combat as ranged combat, then what skill is used for that?

As for martial arts and critters. I'm also guessing it would be considered Brawling with no maneuvers.

If I'm overlooking the obvious here, please let me know where to find it.

Thanks

Critters use reaction as their combat skill, if memory serves.

yeah, that's a very obscure rule. as i recall, it's in SR3 under Spirits and Dragons, and also in Critters. check the portion of each which talks about what each stat (Bod, Qui, etc.) means. under Rea, it should mention that critters use Rea as their combat skill.

It does serve. Reaction.

~J

Thanks... I thought it'd be something like that. Sometimes they put the information in the most obvious places.

They can also use Combat Pool, using up to their Reaction in dice, for melee. It is calculated normally.

By the way, this is one of the reasons that insect spirit queens are so tough - they usually have a Reaction of Force x 3. For, say, a Force: 12 queen... well, you do the math.

It's described in the "Statistics Key" on SR3.265:

In SR it is very possible to be a sterotypical burly Asian martial artist who successfully wrestles tigers and grizzly bears.

Yup, Reaction is used as a critter's Melee Cmbat skill, with Combat Pool up to its rating and the usual uses of Karma Pool.

Of course, if you're dealing with a humanoid critter, IE: one derived from the metahuman races or a sentient that is capable of learning skills (Wendigos, Vampires, Ghouls, Dragons) then as a GM you'll have to add a few skills to the critters profile. I alway found it a bugger that there was no GM guide for magical powers for those critters capable of casting spells etc. IE: how many Force Points do you give a mage vampire or a dragon? What's the average Force rating? Etc.

Maybe we can answer some of these in the upcoming Running Wild Sourcebook.

vampires and dragons don't have any force ratings. they have essence, and some of them have magic ratings. force is a stat that only applies to spirits (as far as critters are concerned).

Yup! Dead on there Rock-Steady.