SWD General Rules

This were our house rules for the previous edition of Savage Worlds.

Berserk

As an action, you make attempt to succeed at a Smarts roll to go berserk. In addition, when wounded, you may choose to voluntarily fail the Smarts roll.

In highly cinematic settings (ask the GM!) a new edge exists: Wild Berserker (Veteran, Berserk). While berserk, you get +4 to Toughness instead of +2!

Carrying Capacity and Pack Animals

The encumbrance rules are meant for humanoid PCs. For large, four-legged animals, multiply Carrying Capacity and Max Load by (Size + 1): double for Size +1, triple for Size +2, and so on.

Explosions and Other Area Attacks

The roll to evade an explosion is at -3 (instead of -2) if you're more than one full game-inch away from the edge of the burst template. This has no effect on the roll to pick up a grenade and throw it back.

Leadership Edges

The concept of a "command radius" makes sense in low-tech games -- but not when you have radios, telepathy, or any other means of easily (no action required) remaining in constant contact with no delay or lag. For any setting in which this applies, Leadership edges apply to any teammate who (A) accepts you as their field commander, (B) you are in constant contact with, and (C) you have an unobstructed view of.

The Command Presence edge removes that last requirement, allowing you to advise even an unseen subordinate.

Lockpicking

This skill covers any means of breaking and entering, including forcing doors, overriding security systems, opening safes, and so on.

Natural Weapons

The edges Martial Artist, Brawler, and their improved versions do apply to attacks made with natural (racial) weapons. Martial Artist adds its d4 (or d6) to the existing attack -- to a maximum of four dice being added to Strength, as per Strength-Based Damage, below.

Shaken Recovery

If your Spirit roll to recover succeeds, you can act on the same turn. You do not need a raise. (This is an official rules change/errata.)

Sniping

When taking the Aim maneuver with a personal (not vehicular) weapon, you may multiply its normal range increments by 4. However, instead of shooting at +2 to skill, you shoot at -6 (or -8 if it's a weapon without a scope, like a pistol) in addition to range penalties (based on the new ranges).

Strength-Based Damage

The maximum number of dice you can add to a Strength-based damage roll is four. If more dice than this would apply, use the best four. A flat add is unaffected. (This usually comes up only with a damage field; if you prefer, you can resolve the damage field as a separate, linked attack instead.)

Telepathy and Language

The powers Mind Reading and Telepathy (from Savage Rifts) both work even if you don't share a language with the target. However, they do not actually translate anything (use Speak Language for that). Instead, they convey basic concepts only; e.g., "When you ask her where the safe house is, you get a mental image of a small fishing community, along with the sense that it's about a day's travel north."

Wounds and Soak

An attack can do five wounds of damage at most, before soak. That's enough to kill you, but it gives wildcards at least a chance to survive an overkill attack via soak. For an NPC with more than a three-wound limit, this cap is raised to (wound limit + 2) wounds.

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