Non-Binary Ops and Tactics Close Combat System (NBOTCCS)

The goal of the NBOTCCS is to simply make the close combat penalties for weapons a bit more granular and thus add more value to the close combat feats. The revised close combat penalties are:
Pistols and Machine Pistols, Small sized (P)lasarms: No penalty
SMGs, Medium sized (P)lasarms: -2 to-hit
Carbines: -3 to-hit
Large sized (P)lasarms: -4 to-hit
Rifles, Shotguns and DMRs: -6 to-hit
Machine Guns, Sniper Rifles, Anti-Materiel Rifles and Launchers: -8 to hit

The respective close combat weapon feats reduce these penalties by 2, in addition to their usual effects instead of completely removing the penalty. Likewise, the impact of gear on the penalty has also changed significantly:
SBR upgrade, reduces penalty by 2
Synthetic stocks, reduces penalty by 1
Bumpfire Stocks, increases penalty by 2
Buffer stocks, ergonomic stocks and speedfeed stocks, increases penalty by 1
An attached detachable stock, increases penalty by 1
Folded folding stocks, reduces penalty by 2
Folded fixed folding stocks reduces penalty by 1
Pistol grip "stock", Reduces penalty by 4
Combat Cut Barrels, Reduces penalty by 2
Coach Cut Barrels, reduces penalty by 3
Compact Cut Barrels, Reduces penalty by 4
Pistol Cut Barrels, Removes penalty entirely
Additionally, items attached to a stock including: stock mag pouches, stock cartridge holders and buttpads increase the penalty by 1 each

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General Rule Tweaks-

-When using the “Aid Another” action, roll vs DEF 10 + opponent’s BAB + AGI modifier. You may do this up to three times per ally and are allowed to give them a different bonus each time. These bonuses stack.

-Aggressive Attack now targets touch DEF.

-Autofire Rebalance: Auto Slow RoF weapons now allow a 4 round burst fire and autofire attacks as normal, but disallow sprayfire and sweepfire attacks. In exchange they also receive a +1 recoil bonus when attempting an autofire or burstfire attack and may be used as self loading firearms if they lack the SL firemode.

-Apply the “Attacking into Melee Combat” penalty to a character whenever they successfully make a melee hit on an opponent for an entire round; regardless of actual distance to a character. The last character struck is exempt from this penalty and only suffers normal close combat penalties.

-Remove the notion that linked ammo belts cannot be over 50 rounds unless they’re in a Linked Ammo Box.

-Defensive Attack now gives +4 DEF and -2 to-hit instead of +2 DEF/-4 attack

-Attempting a Reaction now costs 5 CP instead of 7 CP (work in progress unsure of this one)

-When you successfully make a parry reaction, if you do get hit, the attack that hits you may never score a critical hit.

-You may now make a Feint attack. A feint is a melee attack that costs +2 CP, when feinting the attacker rolls a melee attack using BAB+FOC as normal, and the defender makes an opposed roll using BAB+WIS. All benefits from weapon upgrades, feats and facing apply as normal. If the attacker succeeds, the defender is considered flat footed against the attacker, and only the attacker, for a single attack. If the defender is using a Parry or Predict reaction, or is using defensive fighting they instead lose half their dodge bonus to DEF. If the attacker fails, the defender may make an attack of opportunity on the attacker. You may attempt a feint only once per round per opponent.

-A weapon mounted in a pintle mount upgrade halves the weapon’s CRP, then gives an additional +8 recoil bonus.

-Unarmed Strikes no longer target touch DEF

Feat Adjustments:

Shotgun Ace -
Original Text: When firing a bolt, pump, lever, semi- or fully automatic shotgun, the Combat Point cost for a no-miss shot is 5 less. When using this feat, a no-miss shot may not be combined with a called shot. Additionally, when using a bolt, pump, lever, semi- or fully automatic shotgun, the character may make one standard melee buttstroke or bayonet attack with it for 0 CP, once per round.

New Effects: Reduces the CP cost of using a shotgun as a melee weapon (bayonet, buttstroke, etc) by 1 CP. In addition, once per round whenever you hit an opponent with a melee attack you may attempt a no-miss shot for free.

Close Combat Shotgunner -
Original Text: When targeting an adjacent opponent with any shotgun the character takes no ranged attack penalties, and when firing a shotgun with a folded folding, or fixed folding stock or a pistol grip, the character does not take any penalties to their attack from the stock.

Adjusted Effect: Reduces the close combat penalty by 2 instead of negating it entirely.

Rifle Clubber -
Original Text: When executing a buttstroke attack, the character’s damage is 1d8+POW modifier lethal damage, and when executing a buttstroke attack the Combat Point cost is 1 less.

Adjusted Effect: the -1 CP cost applies to all melee attacks made with firearms, not just buttstroke attacks.

Rifle Master-
Original Text:
When wielding an assault, battle, carbine, or target rifle, or sub-machine gun the Critical Threat range for any of these weapons is 15-18.

Adjusted Effect: When wielding an assault, battle, carbine, or target rifle, or sub-machine gun the Critical Threat range for any of these weapons is 15-18, and the combat point cost to attack with these weapons is reduced by 1.

Closecombat Rifleman -
Original Text: When targeting an adjacent opponent with an assault, battle, or target rifle the character takes no ranged attack penalties, and when using a carbine as a melee weapon the Combat Point cost is reduced by 1.

Adjusted Effect: The -1 CP cost applies to melee attacks made by all rifles, carbines and SMGs. The close combat penalty is reduced by 2, instead of being completely negated.

Distance Rifle Specialist -
Original Text: When firing an anti-materiel, bolt action, designated marksman rifle, or sniper rifle, the Combat Point cost is 1 less and the character receives a +1 to all attacks. Also, when firing an anti-materiel, bolt action, designated marksman rifle, or sniper rifle while using a magnified optic of 1.5x or greater, a character does not receive a -4 penalty for their attack roll within the first range increment

Adjusted Effect: The -4 penalty for being in the first range increment is no longer removed, a character may now instead decrease their final range increment by up to 100’ once per turn. You may forgo the benefits of Far Shot if it would be beneficial to you.

DMR Expert -
Original Text: When firing a designated marksman rifle while using a magnified optic of 1.5x or greater, the Combat Point cost is 2 less. When clearing a jammed designated marksman rifle the Combat Point cost is 9 less, and when attempting to repair a designated marksman rifle the character receives a +6 bonus. Also, when a character with this feat reduces a creature to 0 CHP or less with a designated marksman rifle while using a magnified optic of 1.5x or greater, the character does not have to spend any Combat Points to sight in a new target.

Adjusted Effect: Additionally reduces the -4 penalty for being in the first range increment to -2.

Controlled Shot -
Original Text: Once per round, when making a single shot attack with a bolt action or sniper rifle, the character gains a +8 bonus to attack. This attack must be the only attack the character makes this round.

Adjusted Effect: The To-Hit bonus is +4 instead of +8.

Heavy Melee Weapon Martial Arts -
Original Text: When wielding a light mace, flail, heavy mace, kama, light pick, or heavy pick, the character receives +1 damage die of bludgeoning damage.

Adjusted Effect: The bonus damage die is of the same type as the weapon.

Shield Focus -
Original Text:  When using a shield in melee combat, a character gains a +3 equipment bonus to DEF and when wielding a shield the Critical Threat range is 15-18

Adjusted Effect: the +3 Equipment Bonus is instead a Misc. Bonus

Simple Weapon Specialist -
Original Text:
Choose a simple melee weapon
When attacking with the chosen weapon the Combat Point cost to attack is reduced by 1

Adjusted Effect: Allow unarmed strikes to benefit from the feat

Intermediate Defense Form:

Original Text:
When attempting the Deflect Reaction, the character receives a +4 to their Reflex Saving Throw, and the character gains a +4 bonus to disarm when wielding a psiblade or plasblade. Also, when attempting a Parry reaction against a target with a psiblade or plasblade, the character gains an additional +4 to their DEF increase from the parry, on a successful parry, when wielding a psiblade or plasblade. This increase lasts as long as the original bonus from successfully parrying against a target.

New Text:
When attempting the Deflect Reaction, the character receives a +4 to their Reflex Saving Throw, and the character gains a +4 bonus to disarm when wielding a psiblade or plasblade. Also when defensively fighting with a psiblade or plasblade, the character receives +1 to the defense bonus and there is no additional CP cost.

Expert Defense Form:

Original Text:
When any hostile creature moves adjacent to the character, the character immediately receives an Attack of Opportunity when wielding a psiblade or plasblade. This is limited to one attack per hostile creature. When fighting defensively with a psiblade or plasblade, there is no additional Combat Point cost and the attack penalty is reduced to -2. When wielding a psiblade or plasblade, the Combat Point cost to perform any reaction is reduced by 3

New Text:

When any hostile creature moves adjacent to the character, the character immediately receives an Attack of Opportunity when wielding a psiblade or plasblade. This is limited to one attack per hostile creature. When fighting defensively with a psiblade or plasblade, the defense bonus is increased by a further +1. When wielding a psiblade or plasblade, the Combat Point cost to perform any reaction is reduced by 3

Reaction Form Focus:

Original Text:
When using a psiblade or plasblade, a character gains a +5 bonus to their Will Saving Throw when performing the Predict reaction and a +5 bonus to their Reflex Saving Throw when performing the Parry reaction.

New Text:
When using a psiblade or plasblade, a character gains a +4 bonus to their saving throw when performing the predict and parry reactions, and a +2 bonus to all other reactions.

Reaction Form Expertise:

Original Text:
When using a psiblade or plasblade, a character gains an additional +3 bonus to their Will Saving Throw when performing the Predict reaction and an additional +3 bonus to their Reflex Saving Throw when performing the Parry reaction. Also, when using a psiblade or a plasblade, the character can change their reaction to either the Predict reaction or the Parry reaction, after the first attack that triggers their reaction, once per round. If they choose to do this, they immediately lose the previous bonus from the previous reaction and they immediately reroll the saving throw and receive the new bonus

New Text:
When using a psiblade or plasblade, a character gains an additional +2 bonus to all saving throws when performing a reaction. Also, they get additional benefits when attempting a reaction. When performing a predict reaction, the character gains +3 Dodge DEF until their next turn. When performing a parry reaction, receive a +2 misc DEF bonus. When performing a brace reaction, receive Dr/3 against the damage types you did not select. When performing the stumble rection, you may knock an opponent prone instead of a kneeling position.

Reaction Form Master:

Original Text:
When using a psiblade or plasblade, the character can change their reaction to either the Predict reaction or the Parry reaction, after the first attack that triggers their reaction, up to five times per round. If they choose to do this, they immediately lose the previous bonus from the previous reaction and they immediately reroll the saving throw and receive the new bonus.

New Text:
When using a psiblade or plasblade, the character gains further benefits when attempting a reaction. When performing a predict reaction, the character gains +3 Dodge DEF until their next turn. When performing a parry reaction, receive a +2 misc DEF bonus. When performing a brace reaction, receive Dr/5 against the damage types you did not select. When performing the stumble rection, you may stumble an additional time.

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Precision Form Focus:

Original Text:

A character gains a +4 attack bonus to all Called Shot attacks against arms and legs made when attacking with a psiblade or plasblade. The character may also make non-lethal attacks with the psiblade or plasblade at a -2 attack penalty. Also, when attacking an object, the character gains a +2 attack bonus and ignores 1 point of hardness.

New Text:
A character reduces the penalty for all Called Shot attacks against arms and legs made when attacking with a psiblade or plasblade by 4 or may gain a +1 to-hit bonus for any attack that is not a Called Shot. The character may also make non-lethal attacks with the psiblade or plasblade at a -2 attack penalty. Also, when attacking an object, the character gains a +2 attack bonus and ignores 1 point of hardness.

Precision Form Expertise:

Original Text:

A character gains an additional +4 attack bonus to all Called Shot attacks against arms and legs made when attacking with a psiblade or plasblade, gains a +4 attack bonus to all Called Shot attacks against hands and feet when attacking with a psiblade or plasblade, and the character suffers no attack penalty when Aggressive attacking with a psiblade or plasblade. Also, when attacking an object, the character gains a +4 attack bonus and ignores 2 points of hardness.

New Text:

The character reduces the penalty for all Called Shot attacks against arms and legs, hands and feet by 4 when attacking with a psiblade or plasblade and receives an additional +1 to-hit bonus for any attack that is not a called shot. Additionally, The character suffers no attack penalty when Aggressive attacking with a psiblade or plasblade. Also, when attacking an object, the character gains a +4 attack bonus and ignores 2 points of hardness.

Precision Form Mastery:

Original Text:
A character gains an additional +4 attack bonus to all Called Shot attacks against arms and legs made when attacking with a psiblade or plasblade, gains an additional +4 attack bonus to all Called Shot attacks against hands and feet when attacking with a psiblade or plasblade, and gains a +4 attack bonus to all Called Shot attacks against heads. Also, when attacking an object, the character gains a +6 attack bonus and ignores 3 point of hardness.

New Text:
The character reduces the penalty for all Called Shot attacks against arms and legs, hands and feet or head by 4 when attacking with a psiblade or plasblade and receives an additional +1 to-hit bonus for any attack that is not a called shot. If the character hits the head of the opponent, they deal double the rolled damage. Also, when attacking an object, the character gains a +6 attack bonus and ignores 3 point of hardness.


Weapon Adjustments -

Heavy Pick -
Original: Does 3d6 Piercing damage
Adjustment: Does 2d10 Piercing damage

Kama -
Original: Does 2d6 Slashing damage
Adjustment: Reduce Kama to 1d6 slashing or piercing

Broadaxe -
Original: Only does 1d8+2 slashing damage
Adjustment: Give the broadaxe a 2d4 piercing damage spike with a 13-18 critical range

Nunchaku -
Original: Is not a double weapon
Adjustment: Nunchaku are a double weapon, with the opposite end counting as a small weapon. In addition, nunchaku do not need to pay the +1 CP cost to two-weapon fight.

Cutlass -
Original: Does 3d3 Slashing damage, no special traits
Adjustment: Makes aggressive attacks at no additional cost, may thrust without a damage penalty, and has a +2 bonus when making a parry reaction

Short Staff -
Original: Does 1d6 bludgeoning damage, no special traits
Adjustment: Reduces the attack penalty from striking into the rear and flanks by 4

Quarterstaff
Original: Does 1d8 bludgeoning damage, no special traits
Adjustment: Reduces the attack penalty from striking into the rear and flanks by 2

Machine Guns (LMGs, GPMGs, etc.) -
Original: No special benefits
Adjustment: All machine guns now target a 15’x15’ area when making an autofire attack. Machine Gun Savant increases this to a 20’x20’ area.

Bows -
Original: The cost to fire a bow is 5, 6, 7 CP for a light, standard and heavy pull respectively
Adjustment: The cost to fire a bow is 3, 4, 5 for a light, standard and heavy pull instead.

Ops Fantasy Armor Tweaks and Homebrew:

Gambeson| +0 DEF, +5 Max AGI, -1 Armor Penalty, 0 CP loss, 1.9 Lbs, 60 AP, Misc bonus
6/Bludgeoning
4/Piercing
2/Slashing
(Most of the light armors were honestly in a good spot. However I still buffed everything and more or less followed a philosophy of every piece of armor being capable of also being worn entirely on it's own, even if it's concealable. Gambeson being first, gaining some slashing protection and getting a tiny bit more piercing and bludgeoning protection; making it more functional overall)

Silk Vest| +0 DEF, +5 Max AGI, -1 Armor Penalty, 0 CP loss, 1.5 Lbs, 18 AP, Misc bonus
5/Ballistic
2/Piercing
(Silk vest got a bit more DR overall and 1 more hit of extra AP, plus some piercing protection. Historically silk was used to protect from arrows, so giving it a bit more protection felt fitting. Also lost some armor penalty)

Leather Vest| +1 DEF, +4 Max AGI, -1 Armor Penalty, 0 CP loss, 5 Lbs, 60 AP, Misc bonus
5/Slashing
2/Piercing, Bludgeoning
(The basic leather vest gained 1 point of slashing DR, a good deal of AP, lost the CP cost to move and eased up on the armor penalty. This makes it the go-to light armor for those on a budget. Decent all round protection without sacrificing much in the way of movement.)

Studded Leather Vest| +2 DEF, +4 Max AGI, -2 Armor Penalty, 1 CP loss, 6.3 Lbs, 72 AP, Cost 20 WP Misc bonus
6/Slashing
3/Piercing, Bludgeoning
(Studded leather became slightly better overall, becoming a +2 DEF armor and gaining 1 point more DR in slashing and the Pi/Bl protection. Thus making it a good generalist option for people with light armor proficiency.)

Linothorax| +2 DEF, +4 Max AGI, -2 Armor Penalty, 1 CP loss, 6 Lbs, 72 AP, Misc bonus
6/Piercing
3/Slashing
1/Bludgeoning
(Linothorax got bludgeoning DR, 1 point extra piercing and became +2 DEF making it a specialist counterpart to the studded leather vest. Better against archers and spearmen, but weaker against other threats.)

Copper Scaled Linothorax| +2 DEF, +3 Max AGI, -2 Armor Penalty, 1 CP loss, 8.5 Lbs, 105 AP, Misc bonus
7/Piercing
5/Slashing
3/Bludgeoning
(Normally this is barely light armor considered medium. But dirt cheap, so I made it a bit better than the regular linothorax and gave it the ability to withstand a good deal of punishment before breaking. Otherwise not a great option.)

Chainshirt| +2 DEF, +3 Max AGI, -4 Armor Penalty, 1 CP loss, 13.8 Lbs, 72 AP, Misc bonus
9/Slashing
2/Bludgeoning
1/Piercing
(The chainshirt gained significantly more protection overall and lost 1 CP cost to move, in exchange it got a larger armor penalty and lost some AP as well, making it less sturdy when worn on it's own.)

Brigandine| +3 DEF, +3 Max AGI, -3 Armor Penalty, 2 CP loss, 9.4 Lbs, 120 AP, Misc bonus
8/Slashing, Piercing, Bludgeoning
2/Ballistic
(The vanilla Brigandine vest was an interesting gimmick, having even numbers for slashing, piercing and bludgeoning across the board. It unfortunately only provided light level protection with terrible penalties for what it provided. I simply brought the DR and AP up to medium appropriate levels. Making this a very good vest for both people without proficiency or those who want equal protection against all threats)

Chainmail| +3 DEF, +3 Max AGI, -4 Armor Penalty, 2 CP loss, 15 Lbs, 100 AP, Misc bonus
10/Slashing
3/Bludgeoning
2/Piercing
(The full chainmail hauberk is a slightly upgraded version of the shirt only version, just like in vanilla.)

Bronze Breastplate| +4 DEF, +3 Max AGI, -4 Armor Penalty, 2 CP loss, 26.4 Lbs, 150 AP, Cost 35 WP, Misc bonus
10/Slashing
7/Piercing
5/Bludgeoning
(The bronze breastplate, along with the steel variant, got upgraded into a fantasy tac vest equivalent. The bronze version is notably a lot weaker but made a lot cheaper. The old bronze breastplate was worse than even the copper scaled linothorax while being much more expensive and heavier.)

Breastplate| +4 DEF, +3 Max AGI, -5 Armor Penalty, 2 CP loss, 25 Lbs, 210 AP, Cost 60 WP, Misc bonus
14/Slashing
10/Piercing
6/Bludgeoning
4/Ballistic
(The vanilla breastplate was more or less fine. But this was adjusted to fall in line with the rest of the changes I made. It's now the most expensive medium armor but you get a lot of performance out of it for that price.)

Scalemail| +5 DEF, +1 Max AGI, -6 Armor Penalty, 2 CP loss, 23.4 Lbs, 84 AP, Cost 50 WP, Misc bonus
7/Slashing, Piercing
5/Bludgeoning
2/Ballistic
(Scalemail had an interesting quirk of being heavy tier DEF protection in the medium category; in exchange for poor DR. I more or less kept it the same, but gave it slightly more protection and AP, though it's still notably worse than the other modified armors by a longshot, I also reduced the CP cost to move by 1 to make it more squarely medium territory.)

Splint Mail| +5 DEF, +1 Max AGI, -5 Armor Penalty, 3 CP loss, 23.1 Lbs, 320 AP, Misc bonus
16/Slashing
14/Bludgeoning
8/Piercing
2/Ballistic
(Splintmail was terrible. Giving only 7 slashing and 4 bludgeoning protection while being a heavy class armor. It did have only 2 CP cost to move, but the massive gaping piercing vulnerability was not acceptable for heavy armor. I remade it to be proper heavy armor.)

Full Plate| +6 DEF, +1 Max AGI, -8 Armor Penalty, 4 CP loss, 37.5 Lbs, 400 AP, Misc bonus
20/Slashing
14/Piercing
10/Bludgeoning
4/Ballistic
(The knight in shining armor, full plate got brought in line with the armorplate of Modern times; still obviously weaker but for 120 WP you're getting the best protection available in a fantasy game. With a set of this armor, you could shrug off a truly heroic amount of damage and keep going.)


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Leather Lamellar|Md. T, +3 DEF, +2 Max AGI, -4 Armor Penalty, 2 CP loss, 20 Lbs, 140 AP, Cost 40 WP
12/Piercing
8/Slashing, Bludgeoning

(The first of four armor sets I made to fill in gaps that I felt the fantasy armory had in terms of protection, namely bludgeoning and piercing specialized armors in the heavy and medium category. Leather Lamellar is the piercing specialized medium armor, famously used by samurai up until the sengoku period; where plate armor became popular. Despite being more protective than brigandine, it's much heavier, more expensive and has a worse AGI and armor penalty with less durability; so it's not just an obvious pick over brigandine.)

Heavy Jack|Md. T, +2 DEF, +3 Max AGI, -4 Armor Penalty, 1 CP loss, 13 Lbs, 210 AP, Cost 25 WP, "This armor protects the arms, legs, hands and feet of the wearer"
14/Bludgeoning
8/Piercing
6/Slashing
(Heavy Jack fills in for the bludgeoning specialized medium armor. Essentially just a thicker, all encompassing gambeson; perhaps with added metal plates (though that would make it a jack of plates); it fills in the massive gap of protection against maces that fantasy ops has. Maces have the potential to do 20+ damage in a single standard hit even before power, feats and upgrades come into play. Full and heavy attacks make the situation worse even before feats and upgrades come into play. So this armor has huge bludgeoning protection just as an option for people looking for that kind of protection, I debated on making it concealable but made it tactical specifically so it could stack with chainmail since historically armor like this was worn underneath chainmail; since chain offered poor protection against bludgeoning and piercing strikes which is what a gambeson specializes in.)

Mirror Plate| Hvy. T, +4 DEF, +2 Max AGI, -4 Armor Penalty, 3 CP loss, 30 Lbs, 300 AP, Cost 70 WP
20/Piercing
12/Bludgeoning
8/Slashing
6/Ballistic
(Mirror plate is functionally a ranged fantasy heavy armor. In real life, mirror plate was favored by the ottomans, persians, russians and some asian cultures stretching all the way to china. They were essentially 4 large metal plates worn on each side of the body, usually linked together with chain. Here, it specializes in piercing with decent bludgeoning protection and some of the best ballistic protection available of the era. Slashing is a notable weakness and it offers poor DEF for it's CP cost as well.)

Laminar| Hvy. T, +5 DEF, +1 Max AGI, -7 Armor Penalty, 3 CP loss, 35 Lbs, 320 AP, Cost 95 WP
20/Bludgeoning
12/Slashing, Piercing
1/Ballistic
(Laminar armor is the final piece of armor I made for fantasy games, filling in the role of heavy bludgeoning protection. In real life, laminar is armor made of multiple overlapping plates of material, sometimes leather and later metal. Realistically it should be an all round protection option, which this has some of; but I decided to make it bludgeoning specialized as heavy armor is exceptionally weak to blunt weapons and axes. Expensive, heavy and with terrible armor penalty, laminar gives decently well rounded protection overall and stacks well with concealable armors like chain or a gambeson but has a notable weakness against piercing damage no matter what you stack with it, making picks a bit more useful in a fantasy game.)