Have you ever seen the fast paced fights in movies? Remember Kung Fu fighters locked in hand to hand combat with another martial arts expert? They attack and block each other’s moves consecutively. Then you see the good guy perform one quick move when he feels the time it right to strike his opponent.

Or have you seen Max Sterling, in his veritech, dodge a blast from a Zentraedi battle pod and riddle the pod and the one next to it almost simultaneously? How do they do this? How can we simulate this? Well, I have developed a way to use the Palladium rules of combat to simulate these quick actions. This is called "The Splice Attack Rule".

This rule deals with the usage of attacks during any type of combat. Its called "splice attacking". This combat rule is based on the number of attacks that those participating in the combat have. It allows for quick combat and is a new exciting part of any character.

When any combat commences, the first step is to determine the number of attacks that each participant has and determine the lowest. The lowest number of attacks that any participant has is used as the "Base". The Base number is the number of attacks that will define how many turns are in the melee.

Once the base is established, initiative is rolled and combat begins. Each turn, everyone takes a turn attacking in the order that the initiative determined. The melee ends when the base number of turns has occurred and the last person in the rotation finishes their attacks. The exciting part is what we do with the extra attacks during the turns.

Because the Base is the lowest number of attacks, most players should have left over attacks. These left over attacks are used by implementing the "splice attacking" rule.

To determine how many ‘splice attacks’ a character has, take the number of attacks that a character has and subtract the base for that melee. During the player’s turn they can do a regular attack, plus they may 'splice attack' one of their extra attacks during any round. They may do this as many times as they have extra attacks above the base. So, a character that had two attacks above the base may 'splice attack' one of their attacks during a round, and can only do this two times a melee.

If they have double (or more) than the number of attacks of the Base, then the potential number of splice attacks is two for one turn. This means thaty they can have a total of three (or more) attacks per turn!

For magic, psionics, weapon proficiencies, powers, or other special attacks (which sometimes have less or more attacks than normal hand to hand) use the character's amount of Hand to Hand attacks to determine the base at the beginning of the melee. These are the ways to use this:

FYI: (APM = Attacks Per Melee)

• If the special attack has LESS attacks than the hand to hand, then divide their number of HAND TO HAND attacks by the number of SPECIAL attacks (round up). This will show how many of his normal attacks AND splice attacks a special attack would take. In cases of remainders, the extra bit of attack is consumed if they switch attack methods and will be accounted for by rounding up. If they didn't switch attack methods, then they don't loose that extra bit. When more than two types of attacks are used in a melee see how many other types can be used by dividing the HTH by that attack. Then use that many attacks and splice attacks (if enough are left) to perform you're next move. After that, any remaining attacks can be used for any Hand to Hand action.

  EXAMPLE1: A character has 7 HTH APM and 2 APM using magic. Using the formula above (7/2 = 3.5 rounded to 4) means that 1 magic attack takes 4 of the character's consecutive attacks AND splice attacks during that melee. This takes 4 attacks if they decide to attack the other half of the melee using a different method. They then have 3 attacks left to use for whatever, including another special attack.

  EXAMPLE2: A character with 7 HTH APM, 2 APM using magic and 3 APM using psionics would have this setup: 1 magic attack would take 4 attacks and splice attacks (7/2 = 3.5 rounded to 4). And 1 psionic attack would take 3 attacks and splice attacks (7/3 = 2.33 rounded to 3). So this character could use 1 psionic attack and 1 magic attack per melee because the magic takes longer than the psionic to perform.

• If the special attack has MORE attacks than the HTH, then the extra attacks are splice attacks.

  EXAMPLE: An archer has 6 APM for HTH but 7 APM with a bow means that while the character is using the bow, they get another splice attack only while they are using the bow. Don't forget that it takes an attack to switch weapons though.

These are some of the rules and conditions.

• The splice attack can be used in any way a normal attack would be used. Whether offensively, defensively or as a sudden dodge (even if it isn't their turn). But this dodge would only be possible if they had an splice attack remaining in that melee and had NOT used their splice attack(s) that round.
• The target cannot dodge an splice attack unless he has an autododge or an ‘splice attack’ to dodge with.
• The splice attacks can make attacks that require two attacks happen in one turn. For example, a power punch that requires two attacks doesn’t need to use two attacks/turns if the character has an splice attack. Otherwise, the power punch will require two turns.
• If the normal attack was a dodge, the splice attacked shots have a –3 to strike. This is because the character is moving during the dodge while they are making the quick shot.
• An splice attack can attack a character who has just dodged, but with a –3 to strike because the target is considered a moving target. The attacker does not have to beat the original dodge roll.

An example of using the splice attack rule would be:

A group of three freedom fighters in cyclones encounters five Invid Shock troopers while riding through the countryside. Since they are using protoculture, the Invid attack and a battle commences.

First the Base would first be determined. Since the Invid Shock Troopers have only 4 attacks and the freedom fighters have more than 4 attacks, the Base for that melee would be 4. So, there are four rounds in this melee.

The initiative is rolled. The Invid go first and they each fire their plasma cannons at the group.

Player #1 has 6 attacks per melee and therefore gets two splice attacks to use that melee. Two of the Invid fire at him. His dodge roll is greater than both of the shots and therefore dodges both. He then decides to use an splice attack to fire his 60mm at the Invid. His roll is unsuccessful and therefore he misses. He has only one more splice attack for this melee to use as he wishes.

Player #2 has 7 attacks per melee. Only one Shock Trooper shoots at him and so he dodges with his normal attack. He uses his splice attack to fire his forearm missiles at the Invid. The roll is successful and the Invid is hit because he can’t dodge an splice attack. The Invid explodes upon impact. Player #2 now has two more splice attacks left this melee.

Player #3 gets hit by surprise from behind from another Invid (the GM is a meanie). But, player #3 is a hotshot veteran and has 9 attacks! Two armored scouts flying towards him are firing at him. He uses his initial attack to turn around. Then he splice attacks a shot from his 60mm at the Invid armored scout with a –3 to strike and splice attacks one more time to the other Invid with another –3 to strike. (He can only use the double splice attack once per melee in this case because he has one more than double the base.) He now has one splice attack per turn for the rest of this melee. Player #3 has been nicknamed "Lightning Jack" because of his quick reflexes.

The battle continues using the turns. The melee ends when the Invid have had four attacks since they have determined the base. In this case the experienced group, even though they are outnumbered, have an advantage because of their experience.

This rule will allow the characters to feel more excited about their characters. It will also allow for the characters to make some ‘lifesaving’ dodges or shots.