Supernatural Attacks in O.G.R.E.S.

Art by Bradley K. McDevitt. Used under license.

Some questions have come up recently (even in my own gaming group) that highlight something about supernatural attack, about which I was apparently not clear enough in the rules. That, or it's there and just easily overlooked. So here it is.

Supernatural attacks in O.G.R.E.S. games (Night Shift, Wasted Lands, and Thirteen Parsecs) are a concept that was added to allow for even greater abstraction of combat. The idea of the game, after all, is to keep things fast, loose, and fun. That's why we have all attacks doing a d6 damage (sometimes 2 or 3, but usually 1d6).

Just to reiterate what the rules-as-written state, supernatural attacks are, in essence, how you stake a vampire, how you decapitate an immortal, how you rip the heart out of an angel, or how you tag a werewolf with a silver bullet. They represent the fact that as characters adventure, they pick things up that are useful against Things that Go Bump in the Night, without expansive storylines or side treks detailing how exactly the characters obtain silver bullets, wooden stakes, etc. Such characters have a "bag of tricks." They are already equipped to battle these creatures, and for such characters who gain supernatural attacks at a level beyond one, they have simply picked up this bag of tricks at some point during downtime.

If the GM desires, when a character gains this ability, you can even role play how they came across their bag of tricks. But that's neither here nor there.

The Origin of Supernatural Attacks

Supernatural Attacks come from the Original and Advanced version of the World's Most Famous RPG, wherein certain creatures could only be struck by specific substances or (usually) "+1 or better weapons." As O.G.R.E.S. is inspired by and in no small part derived from these systems, and since combat is so very abstracted, it was necessary to have a corresponding mechanic here.

Since all weapons deal 1d6 damage in O.G.R.E.S., and since the very nature of O.G.R.E.S. leaves treasure and equipment nebulous and flavor-based, it seemed that an equally abstracted means of having said attacks was also worthwhile. It also follows the old-school method of some character classes gaining the ability for their attacks to "count as magical."

Hence, Supernatural attacks. Along with this abstraction, however, comes a vitally important caveat:

Supernatural Attacks Do Not Normally Combine with Other Class Abilities

That's right. So if you're playing a mid-level Barbarian Warrior in Wasted Lands with a two-handed sword who is currently in the thick of his Fighting Madness, you might normally roll up to 5d6 and keep the best of the lot. If you're fighting a vampire, however, and you fall back on your Supernatural Attacks (which are the only way to harm/kill it), you do not roll that full dice pool. You roll only 1d6 damage for your supernatural attack. Yes, you still add your Strength bonus for your Melee Combat ability. But that's it. The only class abilities that normally combine with Supernatural Attacks are Melee Combat and Ranged Combat.

This is true for any class engaging in supernatural attacks, even if it does not say so under their class ability description as with Blasters and Archers. The same goes for inventions, which count as supernatural attacks exactly as the class ability. Spells and psychic powers, however, still do whatever standard damage they normally would do, with exceptions. They are expressly mystical in nature and do not count as "bag of tricks" attacks.

Thus, if a sorcerer casts concussive blast that normally deals 5d6 damage, it still does 5d6 damage (and the supernatural creature gets a save as normal). The same would go for a psychic using electrokinesis. A psychic, however, hurling a blunt object with Telekinesis, would simply do 1d6 damage as a normal supernatural attack. The GM must use their common sense in adjudicating these things.

Yes, this is absolutely a game design choice to make such supernatural creatures much more difficult of a challenge in game. As one of my players recently pointed out, O.G.R.E.S. is a game system where each character class is REALLY good where they specialize. A warrior who is allowed to use supernatural attacks AND do a fistfull of dice worth of damage will negate a vampire or dragon pretty damned fast.

If, however, you want an in-game explanation, it's that in this case, the weapon you are using against the vampire is the only thing that's hurting it. It's that stout piece of timber, or the silver on the head of the cane, or that twinge of magic about your axe, or what-have-you. Your strength and skill, while they certainly allow you to better make contact and deal damage, do not contribute to the damage dealt.

Supernatural attacks, in many ways, are a great equalizer that make powerful supernatural entities terrifying.

Art by Bradley K. McDevitt. Used under License.

Taking Things a Step Further

Let's take things a bit further, however, in the interest of role playing. What happens in game if a player actually goes out of their way to obtain specific items of power? What if, for example, they deliberately have the blade of their sword silvered, or they actually seek out and obtain a cold-iron hammer? Shouldn't they get some benefit from the effort?

While this is not a hard rule in the game, and should probably be restricted to Cinematic or (at harshest) Realistic games, I would say yes, they do deserve a benefit. In such cases, where in addition to their supernatural attacks, a player very specifically has silver-tipped arrows, they should be allowed to add an extra die to their damage pool and use the best result. They still can't combine their full class damage ability, but having the specific item required from a prior adventure gives them the ability to maximize their supernatural attacks in that manner, rather than digging through their generic bag of tricks to find something that will probably work here.

What about Fate Points?

Fate Points are an interesting exception, here. While there are no specific Fate Point uses that allow you to stack class abilities in this way, the Game Master could, feasibly allow a one-time use of it via the catch-all "Providence Smiles" Fate Point use. You just happen to strike that critter in just the right way, enabling that one-time, once-per-session stacking.

In addition, our new Fate Cards for Wasted Lands (which are 100% compatible with all three O.G.R.E.S. games) have a specific Fate Card that allows just this thing to happen. If you happen to draw that card, you can then use it multiple times by spending Fate Points. So that's another way to bring that stacking into play.

So there you have it a look at how Supernatural Attacks work (or are intended to work) in the O.G.R.E.S. rules system, and why they work that way. As always, thanks for reading!

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