3.1.4.12 Soak [R/F]

In combat, when an attack strikes a character, he/she may make a Soak (if he/she has sufficient action points to do so) to attempt to reduce the damage by rolling with the blow. A Soak is declared after the dice rolls to determine whether the attack has hit or not.

The Soak is a reaction if the character has not already reacted to the attack, or a follow-on if he/she has already reacted to the attack (by unsuccessfully blocking, jumping back, side-stepping or parrying), but there is no other difference between a Soak reaction and a Soak follow-on.

A Soak does not involve any movement on the combat "board".

A Soak costs one action point.

When a character makes a Soak, he/she makes a dice roll using his/her Combat (including Soak specialism) + ST. Based on the dice roll result achieved, the wound severity is reduced:

Soak dice roll result Number of wound severity levels reduced
Zero or less 0
between 1/2 and 5 1 (e.g. Fatal becomes Critical)
between 5 1/2 and 10 2 (e.g. Fatal becomes Serious)
between 10 1/2 and 15 3 (e.g. Fatal becomes Medium)
between 15 1/2 and 20 4 (e.g. Fatal becomes Light)
between 20 1/2 and 25 5 (e.g. Fatal becomes Scratch)
25 1/2 or more 6 (e.g. Fatal becomes None)

For example, Urlik has been struck by Cogan. If he does not soak, he will receive a Serious wound. He decides to attempt to soak some of the damage. His ST is +2 and his Combat skill is 4 with a +1 bonus in Soak. His basic result is 7. This guarantees a reduction of two wound severity levels, taking the wound to a Light wound. He decides not to risk the chance of a worse wound, and so ends up with a Light wound.