*Edited for clarity*

1 - Ok, for the attack scores on the living it's up to you to determine what the score would be. I generally use an attack score of 10-12 for civilians and whatever the stated minimum is for police officers and military for those types (I just don't remember what those numbers are off the top of my head). The reason there isn't a stated value is because NPCs will have attack values that vary just as much as the players attack stats since they're all living people. The short of it is just decide on an attack value for the type of NPCs (civvie, cop, soldier) and stick with that.

2 - Melee attacks vs the living functions like this; NPC rolls a d100 and adds their attack value WITHOUT LETHALITY and the player that's in combat with the NPC does the same. Whoever scores higher strikes their opponent and does damage.

3 - I'm a bit fuzzy on full defense so I'll let one of the devs answer that question.


Example of living on living combat:

*YOU*
Attack: 15
Defense: 5
Weapon: Crowbar - lethality 35 against single target. 1d6 damage per degree of success (DOS).

*SCUMBAG*
Attack: 12
Defense: 5
Weapon: Chainsaw - lethality 95. 2d6 damage per DOS.

NOTE: I don't have the book infront of me so all the lethality and damage numbers are pulled from memory and may not be 100% accurate. Also note that I'm not counting any of the special rules for these weapons as I can't remember what they are from memory.

You and Scumbag get into a fight. You both roll your base attack values + d100 and compare your scores.

Scenario 1:
You roll a 72 score an 87 (72 roll + 15 attack), not too shabby. Scumbag rolled a 13 and scored a 35 (13 roll + 12 attack). You beat Scumbag in melee by 3 DOS! Now you roll damage. Damage against the living is calculated in the following way; you take the lethality of the weapon you're using and divide it by 10, rounding down (in this case it would be 3). You then roll the weapons damage dice times the number you just got, so in this case you would roll 3d6. *However, since you got 3 DOS on your attack you would roll an additional 3d6 for a total of 6d6.

*Edit: DOS does factor into damage vs the living at 1d6 per DOS.*

Now you roll your 6d6 damage against Scumbag and score a 20. His defense is 5 so you subtract 5 from your damage roll and end up with a 15. Scumbag has taken 15 damage and is likely suffering a broken bone or two.

Scenario 2:
You roll a 13 and score a 28 (13 roll + 15 attack). Scumbag rolled a 40 and scored a 52 (40 roll + 12 attack) getting 2 DOS. Scumbag has a chainsaw so the damage is going to be pretty bad. 9 (95/10 rounded down) X 2d6 (damage dice) = 18d6 plus the 2d6 from his 2 DOS= 20d6! Scumbag rolls 20d6 for damage and scores a 35(bad news)! 35 (damage) - 5 (your defense) = 30. You've taken 30 points of damage.

Hope this helps!

Dev Note: If anything I said is wrong just let me know and I'll change it, unless you guys can change it then obviously feel free.

I have a hunch a non-inhibited base defence is factored in for certain types of damage, possibly collision and fall damage, (though I'm not sure on that)

yeah, Squibble pretty much nailed it. The Living are basically organized by how they behave. The Attack values are special because they are so diverse that it's better left up to the GM to determine. Personally, I roll anywhere from 2 to 5d6, depending upon how violent they may be.

His description of combat mechanics are also correct To answer his question though, DoS DOES factor into damage for the living, you roll 1 die for damage per DoS in an attack as normal.

I edited my post for clarity. Thank you Chris!

Many thanks. Your answers were helpful.

Great support!