Attack from Above

Rad: Man, Mr. Gar is pretty cool but like, how'd he even get up there?

Enid: He's level 11 dude. Come on.

-- OK KO: Let's Be Heroes, Episode 1

Attack from Above is a combat option available to anyone sneaky enough to pull it off. Roll a Quick Contest of Stealth vs the defender's Vision. A victim walking along a trail, alley, etc is at -2 unless otherwise looking up. If they are looking up (such as an avid birdwatcher or tourist), their Vision roll is at +2 instead. Peripheral Vision has no special value in this situation.

On a success, the defender gets no active defense against the attack. On a failure, the defender is still at -2 against the attack. Note that an alerted foe with a polearm can use a Wait and ready a stop thrust -- attacking such a defender is a good way of turning oneself into a kebab.

Either way, the attacker is at -2 to attack this way -- but see Technique below.

Technique

Some stealthy styles teach the Attack from Above technique, which buys off the -2.

• Default: prerequisite skill-2.
• Prerequisite: Any unarmed or Melee Weapon skill; cannot exceed prerequisite skill.
• As an Average technique, one point will get a -1, and two points will net a Skill+0 when attacking from above.

Diving Onto Danger

You can technically drop from any height while performing an Attack from Above, although fall damage still applies. Acrobatics and Catfall can certainly help, and a target may even count as soft ground. In some cinematic settings, you may even waive fall damage entirely if you land on an opponent.

Quotes

rules in relation to Runaround Attacks are spoken of by Kromm here http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php?p=1678019&postcount=14

In Martial Arts

introduced a technique of this name designed to buy off its penalties.

REMEMBER B400: If a random attack comes from directly above, treat “feet” as “hands” and “legs” as “arms.”

See Also

• Dropping
• Overhead