Unarmed combat in Starfall is visceral and desperate. Characters who master it become legends: the hoplite who shattered a Rift horror's carapace with bare hands, the scavenger who fought off pirates with nothing but cybernetic claws, or the guild enforcer whose reputation alone keeps brawlers at bay. When the Rift takes your weapons and the void presses close, your body is the last defense.
In Starfall Galaxy, survival often depends on what you can do with your bare hands—or claws, tail, cybernetic implants, or bio-augmented limbs. Unarmed Attacks represent strikes made without a weapon: fists, headbutts, kicks, tail slaps, or any anatomical or implanted striking surface. Whether you're brawling in a Rift station bar, subduing captives, or fighting for your life against alien horrors when your gun runs dry, unarmed attacks are a core part of combat.
Unarmed is a weapon trait that identifies attacks made without wielding a manufactured weapon.
Key Properties of the Unarmed Trait
Always Available: You can't be disarmed of unarmed attacks—they're part of your body (or implants).
Works with Unarmed-Specific Abilities: Feats, class features, and items that reference "unarmed attacks" apply only to attacks with the Unarmed trait.
Nonlethal by Default (Fists): Standard fist strikes are nonlethal, allowing subdual without killing. Special unarmed attacks (claws, fangs, etc.) may be lethal unless specified otherwise.
Proficiency: All characters are trained in unarmed attacks. Classes like Soldiers, Monks (if adapted), or other martial specialists may gain higher proficiency.
Unarmed Attacks in Starfall Galaxy
In Starfall's grim, survival-focused setting, unarmed combat is often a desperate measure—or a honed skill. Different character archetypes approach unarmed strikes differently:
Terran Survivors and Rift Scavengers: Scrappy brawlers who rely on improvised, dirty fighting when weapons fail.
Augmented Soldiers: Veterans with cybernetic enhancements—shock knuckles, retractable claws, or reinforced bone plating—that turn their bodies into weapons.
Alien Combatants: Many alien ancestries possess natural weapons (claws, mandibles, spines) that are deadlier than human fists.
Monks and Martial Artists: Specialists who have elevated unarmed combat into an art form, blending technique, discipline, and sometimes mystical enhancement.
Related Rules & Abilities
Nonlethal Damage: Fist strikes and some unarmed attacks deal nonlethal damage by default, allowing for capture and interrogation rather than killing.
Finesse Trait: Unarmed attacks often have the Finesse trait, allowing you to use Dexterity instead of Strength for attack rolls.
Agile Trait: Many unarmed attacks have the Agile trait, reducing the multiple attack penalty.
Feats and Class Features: Numerous options enhance unarmed attacks—improving damage, adding traits (deadly, reach, etc.), or unlocking special techniques.
Example Special Unarmed Attacks
Claws (Ancestry): 1d6 slashing, Agile, Finesse, Unarmed
Fangs (Ancestry): 1d8 piercing, Unarmed
Tail Slap (Ancestry): 1d6 bludgeoning, Reach 10 feet, Trip, Unarmed
Shock Fist (Cybernetic): 1d6 electricity, Nonlethal, Unarmed
Unarmed Attacks: The Basics
An unarmed attack uses your body to deal damage, following the same rules as armed attacks but with a few unique properties.
Fist
The most common unarmed attack is a fist strike. While the rules typically reference fists, the same statistics apply to any basic unarmed attack—kicks, elbows, headbutts, etc.—unless specified otherwise by an ancestry feat, class feature, spell, or augmentation.
Damage: 1d4 bludgeoning
You may use any part of your body to make a fist strike (or equivalent unarmed attack) using these statistics.
Special Unarmed Attacks
Many ancestries, classes, feats, spells, and augmentations grant access to special unarmed attacks with unique damage types, traits, or tactical advantages. These include:
Claws, Fangs, and Horns: Common for alien ancestries or bio-augmented characters, often dealing slashing or piercing damage.
Tails: Flexible, often with reach or trip properties.
Cybernetic Enhancements: Implanted spikes, shock fists, or kinetic boosters that modify damage and traits.
Magical Transformations: Spells or ritual effects that grant temporary natural weapons.
Unarmed attacks are a universal, versatile, and essential part of combat in Starfall Galaxy. Whether you're throwing a punch in a bar fight or unleashing bio-augmented fury in life-or-death struggle, the Unarmed trait and its mechanics ensure that your character is never truly defenseless.
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