When a character is struck or wounded (even if his/her armour absorbs all the damage), the character may be knocked back or over by the impetus of the attack. He/she must make a dice roll using his/her ST + Athletics (Acrobatics) to avoid being knocked over.
The difficulty is equal to the basic damage inflicted (i.e. before reduced by armour and soaking).
The following modifiers apply to the dice roll:
| Situation | Modifier |
| Weapon doing damage was Impaling | 2 |
| Weapon doing damage was Cutting | 0 |
| Weapon doing damage was Blunt | -2 |
| Attack struck character's Hand or Arm | 2 |
| Attack struck character's Head, Eyes, Throat, Chest, Abdomen or Groin | 0 |
| Attack struck character's Leg (and character is on foot) | -2 |
The result of the dice roll is:
| Dice roll result | Meaning |
| Fails by 7 points or more | Knocked over - Character is knocked back one metre under the impact of the blow, loses two action points and falls over. |
| Fails by more than 3 and less than 6 points | Knocked back - Character is knocked back one metre on the combat "board" under the impact of the blow, loses two action points recovering his/her balance (or falls over if does not have two action points left). |
| Fails by 3 points or less | Knocked off-balance - character loses one action point recovering balance (or falls over if does not have an action point left). |
| Succeeds (i.e. dice roll result is greater than or equal to basic damage) | No effect. |
If a character is mounted, he/she uses his/her Riding (including relevant specialisms) instead of his/her Athletics. A mounted character who is knocked over will fall off his/her mount. A mounted character who is knocked back or knocked off-balance will stay on his/her mount, unless he/she does not have sufficient action points to avoid falling over, in which case he/she will fall off.
Note that the knockback from a wound is worked out before the ongoing impairment associated with that wound takes effect.
See also: example of a wound