Call of Cthulhu 7e Combat Rules and Survival Guide

Introduction

Call of Cthulhu 7e combat is a dangerous interruption to an investigation, rather than a balanced contest investigators are expected to win by clearing a room. A fistfight can put a character in the hospital, and a gun can end a scene before anyone understands what happened. Against a Mythos creature, direct violence may be the least useful option on the table.

None of that makes combat a failure of play. It means every fight needs an objective more specific than "reduce the other side to zero hit points." Get past the guard. Hold a door while someone finds the records. Rescue a companion. Break contact. Escape with proof. Goals like these make combat readable, give noncombat investigators something useful to do, and show why a retreat is often the real victory.

This guide covers the whole loop: the combat procedure from declaration to escape, the decisions around firearms and injury, and a practical method for deciding when to fight and when to flee. Detailed procedures for damage, firearms, and chases live in their own guides in this series.

Hot Take

In Call of Cthulhu, running is not what you do after the plan fails. It is often the plan that saves the evidence, the friendships, and the next scenario. Retreating with a living witness and enough information to come back prepared is frequently the most aggressive move available, and the monster now has a problem of its own: it has been seen.

The Combat Mindset

The Keeper Rulebook frames combat around one question before any roll: what is your character doing? That question matters more than which weapon is on the sheet.

An investigator facing a guard at an archive door might want to hurt the guard. They might instead want to get into the archive, stop the guard from raising an alarm, or buy time for a companion to slip past. Each goal calls for a different action and produces a different scene. A fighting maneuver, Fast Talk, a bribe, a distraction, a sprint, or a plain retreat can each beat an attack.

That makes combat collaborative. The scholar searches for the emergency exit while the boxer delays a pursuer. The doctor keeps an injured ally moving. The driver brings the car around. The photographer protects the proof while everyone else keeps it from being destroyed. A round should move the group toward its objective, not only trade damage.

Before anyone rolls, establish three facts:

1. What does each side want? Escape, capture, protection, delay, evidence, and destruction are all different goals.
2. What is the immediate danger? A weapon, a numbers advantage, a locked room, a looming creature, fire, or a crowd can change every choice.
3. What could end the scene? A door reached, a car started, a prisoner freed, an alarm raised, or a clear retreat route gives the fight a finish line.

If no one can name an objective beyond killing, pause and ask whether the scene should be a fight at all. Also skip the rules when the outcome does not matter. If an investigator can easily walk away from an unarmed drunk in an open street, describe it. If a creature blocks the only stairwell while the building burns, structured turns earn their place. Dice exist to resolve uncertainty under pressure.

Combat Rules: The Core Procedure

Use the same five-step loop for nearly every fight:

1. Establish who is involved, what each side wants, and what the environment offers.
2. Resolve any surprise action, then determine DEX order.
3. On each turn, ask for a specific action and goal.
4. Resolve the roll or opposed rolls, then describe how the fiction changed.
5. End the round once every capable combatant has had a chance to act, then reassess the objective.

This loop handles more than punches. It covers someone holding a door shut, a detective reaching a telephone, a cultist grabbing a ledger, a doctor dragging a patient toward cover, and an investigator sprinting for a parked car. Combat is structured time, not a separate board game.

Declare a Concrete Intent

The Keeper should ask what the investigator does in the fiction, not which box on the sheet the player wants to use. The rulebook's advice is to let the description suggest the roll, and then tell the player which skill applies. A good declaration names both an action and an outcome.

Weak declaration: "I shove the gun aside."

Useful declaration: "I seize the gun arm and keep the pistol pointed at the floor until Celia reaches the exit."

The first is a motion with no endpoint, and the opponent can simply step back and fire on their turn. The second is a fighting maneuver with a definite effect. It tells the Keeper what success means, what the target can resist, and how the rest of the group can act. Other useful declarations:

• "I punch the guard only long enough to get past the desk."
• "I pull Arthur behind the bookcase and use it as cover."
• "I take the case from her hand. I am not trying to take her down."
• "I fire at the lock, then run through the gate if it opens."
• "I hold the creature's attention while Nora copies the symbol."

State your limits too. "I want the guard unconscious" and "I want the guard unable to follow us for one round" are different requests. The first can bring medical, legal, and moral consequences; the second is a short tactical problem. If the investigator does not intend serious injury, say so, and the Keeper can use a maneuver or an Intimidate attempt instead of treating every physical action as an attack.

Example: Nora reaches a locked storeroom while a caretaker approaches with a wrench. Her player says, "I don't want to hurt him. I want to keep him from grabbing the key ring until Arthur gets the door open." The Keeper resolves that as a maneuver while Arthur spends his turn on the lock. The scene becomes a team problem rather than a one-on-one brawl.

The Combat Round and DEX Order

A combat round is a deliberately elastic slice of time in which everyone who wants to act and can act gets at least one action. It is not a stopwatch. What matters is that everyone gets a turn before the next round begins.

Rank combatants by DEX from highest to lowest. If DEX is tied, the side with the higher combat skill goes first. A readied firearm changes this: because pulling a trigger is faster than swinging a club, a character with a gun already in hand shoots at DEX plus 50.

On a turn, a character can:

• Attack with Fighting or Firearms.
• Attempt a fighting maneuver.
• Flee from the combat.
• Cast a spell.
• Take another action that needs time and perhaps a roll, such as picking a lock, lifting a fallen ally, grabbing evidence, or starting a car.

Some monsters make several attacks, and all of them happen on the monster's turn.

A character may delay until someone else has acted. That helps when an investigator wants to see which way the guard moves, or wait for a companion to open a route. If several delaying characters then want to act at once, the highest DEX goes first. If two characters each insist on waiting for the other, the round can end with neither acting. Delay is a tactical choice, not a way to act after seeing every outcome.

Run the narration in the same pattern each round:

1. Restate the immediate danger and the current objective.
2. Ask each player what they do when their turn arrives.
3. Name the roll, resolving opposed actions together.
4. Describe the result as a change in position, risk, access, injury, or information.
5. Ask whether the original objective still makes sense.

This rhythm keeps combat from becoming a string of disconnected attack rolls. The fight should evolve: the exit closes, the evidence catches fire, the cultist surrenders, the monster shrugs off bullets, or the car pulls up at the curb.

Resolving Close Attacks

Close attacks are opposed rolls. The attacker rolls the relevant Fighting specialization. The target chooses to dodge or fight back, then rolls Dodge or Fighting. Compare levels of success (Regular, Hard, Extreme), not the raw numbers. Roll both sides at the same time when you can.

Against a dodging target, the attacker must get a higher level of success to deal damage. A tie goes to the dodger. If both fail, nobody is hurt.

Against a target fighting back, both sides are trying to hurt the other. The better level of success avoids harm and deals damage. A tie goes to the attacker. If both fail, neither side deals damage.

So a close combat roll is an exchange, not an attack roll followed by a separate defense roll. Narrate the result to fit the intent: a successful fight-back might be a block and a counterpunch, a knife hand caught and twisted, or a quick reversal that opens an escape route. Unarmed human attacks deal 1D3 plus any damage bonus. An everyday object such as a chair leg or kitchen knife uses Fighting (Brawl); a sword or other specialized weapon needs its own Fighting specialization.

Combat rolls cannot be pushed. A pushed roll represents a second, more determined attempt, and in a fight that second attempt is simply your next attack on a later turn.

Dodge or Fight Back

Choose dodge when avoiding injury, holding position, or surviving long enough to act matters more than hurting the attacker. Dodge wins ties, so it is the safer choice for an outmatched investigator, and usually the right one for a scholar, doctor, or wounded character facing someone trained or armed.

Choose fight back when stopping the attacker now is worth the danger. Winning deals damage, and a defender can fight back with a maneuver instead of a damaging blow. It fits when a companion needs help, an enemy must be disarmed, or there is nowhere to retreat.

Read the scene before treating either choice as automatic. Dodging a knife in a narrow train corridor avoids the blade but leaves you trapped. Fighting back may open an escape route, but the tie goes to the attacker. Tell the Keeper what you want the response to change.

The rulebook has monsters and NPCs fight back by default to keep things quick. They dodge only when their priority is escape.

Extreme Successes and Impales

An Extreme success increases damage only when it comes from an attack made on the attacker's own turn. Fighting back does not trigger it. Each combatant gets one moment in the spotlight each round, and that is their chance at an outstanding hit.

• Non-impaling weapon (fist, kick, club): an Extreme success deals maximum weapon damage plus maximum damage bonus.
• Impaling weapon (blade, bullet): the attack is an impale. Apply maximum weapon damage plus maximum damage bonus, then add one normal damage roll for the weapon.

The rulebook's own example is a switchblade (1D4) in the hands of someone with a 1D4 damage bonus: an impale deals 1D4 + 8, so 9 to 12 points. That is enough to cause a Major Wound on most investigators in one blow. Do not build plans that assume a character can absorb several exceptional hits. A player holding an impaling weapon should also expect fallout beyond the scene: blood evidence, medical needs, and police interest.

If whether a weapon can impale would change a player's decision, the Keeper should say so before the player commits.

Fighting Maneuvers

Use a fighting maneuver when the goal is to change the situation rather than mainly deal damage: disarming, restraining, breaking free, taking an item, knocking someone down, or pushing them through a doorway.

Step one: compare Build.

• Same or higher Build than the target: no modifier.
• One point lower: one penalty die.
• Two points lower: two penalty dice.
• Three or more points lower: the maneuver is impossible.

A human can try to snatch a key from a giant creature's belt, but cannot wrestle it to the floor.

Step two: roll it like an attack. The target dodges or fights back. Against a dodger, a tie means the target avoids the maneuver. Against someone fighting back, a tie means the maneuver succeeds, while a better result from the defender makes the maneuver fail and deals damage to the maneuvering character. A defender can answer with a maneuver of their own, which turns the exchange into a contest between goals rather than damage.

A successful maneuver achieves one definite goal, such as:

• Disarm the target or take a held item, such as a book.
• Impose an ongoing disadvantage: one penalty die on the target's future actions, or one bonus die for allies acting against the target, from being restrained or knocked down.
• Escape a restraint.
• Push the target over a ledge, through a window, or onto the floor.

The fiction can still cause damage. Throwing someone through a second-floor window is not harmless because the roll was called a maneuver. State the likely harm before the roll.

Example: Harvey, Build 0, tries to shove a knife-wielding thug, Build 1, out of his way. He rolls with one penalty die. The thug fights back and gets the better result, so Harvey's shove fails and he is stabbed. Pick maneuvers with the Build gap in mind.

Surprise and the First Blow

Not every fight starts with both sides squared up. A sudden, unexpected attack can be resolved before combat rounds begin, so that the person who started it does not end up acting last.

If the target could see it coming, the Keeper may call for Listen, Spot Hidden, or Psychology, with the attacker's Stealth setting the difficulty. A target who anticipates the attack can dodge or fight back normally. A target who does not may take an attack that succeeds automatically unless fumbled, or the attacker may just get a bonus die, depending on the situation. A club to the back of an unaware head succeeds automatically; seizing a weapon from someone's hand only earns a bonus die. Ranged attacks always need a roll to hit, even against an unaware target.

When a target cannot or will not dodge or fight back, the attacker rolls normally and misses only on a fumble. If the target is asleep and stays asleep, the Keeper does not need a roll at all.

Resolve the surprise once, then switch to DEX order. A successful ambush should not become an extra turn every round.

Outnumbered, Restrained, and Prone

Numbers matter in close combat. Once a character has dodged or fought back in a round, every later melee attack against them that round gets one bonus die. This does not apply to firearm attacks. A creature with several attacks can defend that many times before attackers gain the bonus die, and some Mythos entities can never be outnumbered by investigators.

This rewards teamwork. One investigator draws the guard's response; the next attacks with an advantage. It also shows why being surrounded by ordinary people is so dangerous. A lone investigator should not stand and trade blows with three enemies because the sheet shows a decent Fighting skill.

A restrained character stays held until they break free with their own maneuver, or the holder lets go, is incapacitated, or suffers a Major Wound. A character knocked down is at an ongoing disadvantage until they get up. Describe these states in terms the player can use: "You are pinned against the banister; the pistol is still in your hand, but you can't aim it freely" works better than announcing a penalty.

Ranged and Thrown Attacks

Bows and other missile weapons use the firearm procedure: range sets the difficulty, and the target can dive for cover. Thrown weapons can be opposed with Dodge like a Fighting attack. A target can fight back against a ranged or thrown attack only when within one-fifth of their DEX in feet of the attacker.

Thrown and missile weapons that rely on the user's strength, such as bows and slings, add half the attacker's damage bonus. Crossbows do not. This one is easy to miss because thrown weapons sit between the close combat and firearm procedures, so name the skill, range, and likely defense before rolling.

Firing into a melee carries one penalty die, and a fumble hits an ally. If someone wants to shoot through a crowd or near vital evidence, establish the risk first. The Firearms Guide covers range bands, aiming, cover, multiple shots, and malfunctions.

Fleeing Close Combat

A character can use their action to flee close combat if they have an escape route and are not physically restrained. Fleeing is an action, not a failed Dodge. It should move the investigator toward a door, alley, vehicle, or crowd, where the scene either ends or becomes a chase.

The Keeper should describe routes before players spend turns hunting for one. If the room has a back door, a window, a stairwell, and a table that can be overturned, the group needs to know. If there is no route, say so, and making one becomes part of the objective.

Not every escape needs full chase rules. If the pursuer cannot realistically follow, summarize it.

Firearms Change the Scene

Guns make distance, cover, ammunition, surprise, and turn order matter immediately. Firearm rolls are not opposed: range sets the difficulty, and the target cannot dodge or fight back against the shot, though an aware target can dive for cover. A gun can stop a human threat in one shot. It can also draw attention, damage evidence, hit a bystander, malfunction, or do almost nothing to an inhuman target.

Before drawing, ask practical questions. Is there cover? Is the target already close enough to grab the gun? (At point-blank range a shooter can be attacked in melee or disarmed.) Is an innocent person behind the target? Does the group need this place intact? Will the shot bring police, cultists, or something larger out of the dark? Those questions are why a gun scene needs an objective, rather than an argument for banning firearms.

Use firearms to create decisions. A revolver pointed at the last exit may force a retreat. A shotgun may buy the one round someone needs to start the car. A misfire at the wrong moment can turn a fight into a chase. Keepers should describe weapon handling and range clearly, and if bullets have no useful effect on a creature, show it quickly so the group can change plans.

Damage Is a Story Cost

Hit point loss, armor, Major Wounds, unconsciousness, and healing decide whether an investigator can keep moving, whether the group has to abandon a lead, and whether a win costs enough to change the next chapter.

The thresholds are short. Damage from one attack that is less than half the target's maximum hit points is regular damage. Half or more is a Major Wound: the victim falls prone and rolls CON to stay conscious. More than their maximum in one attack kills them outright. Reaching zero hit points with only regular damage means unconsciousness. Reaching zero with a Major Wound means dying, and only First Aid can stabilize a dying character. The Damage, Armor, and Hit Points Guide walks through each step, including recovery.

When someone takes a Major Wound or drops, say what the group can see and what choices it has right now. Can someone carry them? Is there cover? Does someone need First Aid this round? Is leaving the only sensible move? The drama comes from that decision, not from hiding the consequence.

When to Fight and When to Flee

Call of Cthulhu 7e asks investigators to decide what is worth the risk, rather than to win every dangerous encounter. A fight may protect a witness, create the one opening needed to escape, or stop an atrocity in progress. It may also cost the evidence, the next lead, a trusted ally, or weeks of recovery. Telling those cases apart is one of the most useful survival skills at the table.

Ask What You Must Accomplish

"Can we win this fight?" is a fair question, but it should not come first. It pushes the group to treat the scene as a fair contest where taking out the other side is the only result that counts. Ask these instead:

1. What must we accomplish before leaving?
2. What happens if we stay here one more round?
3. What do we lose if we fight our way through?
4. What route, person, or object lets us leave now?
5. Can we come back later with better information or preparation?

The answers expose the real stakes. The guard outside the archive is dangerous, but the group only needs his key ring. The cultist is armed, but the group only needs to get a witness across the street. The creature may be impossible to hurt, yet light, noise, a barrier, or a route it cannot follow may slow it down.

Winning gets more precise. You win when the witness is safe, the document is copied, the ritual is interrupted, the group reaches the car, or the threat is held off long enough for someone else to act. The fight can end before the enemy does.

Read the Threat Before You Commit

Take a moment before the first attack to size up the scene. This is the quick assessment an investigator would make as things turn dangerous, not an invitation to stall. Look past raw numbers and ask who has:

• Weapons that can cause a Major Wound in one good hit.
• Cover, higher ground, or a position by the only exit.
• Allies nearby or a way to call them.
• The ability to move faster, fly, climb, or ignore normal terrain.
• Knowledge of the building, keys, vehicles, or hidden routes.
• A reason to capture rather than kill.

One of these advantages may be manageable. Several mean the group should be solving a different problem. A pursuer with a revolver, two friends in the next room, and control of the stairwell calls for cover, another route, a distraction, or a way to change the scene, well ahead of a chance to show off a Fighting skill.

Investigators have advantages too. The opposition may not know the group has copied the ledger, parked a car out back, bribed the night porter, or recognized the symbol on the wall. A retreat can use those facts. Surprise can justify an attack that protects an exit or a vulnerable person, but it is often worth more as a chance to leave unseen.

Ask the Keeper direct questions: "Is there another door?" "Does the guard look alone?" "Can the creature fit through the window?" "What's between us and the street?" Asking gives the group information to choose with.

Name the Objective and the Exit

Before initiative, the group should be able to state one objective and one exit. The objective turns danger into a scene rather than a brawl. The exit is the point at which the group can stop risking itself. Useful objectives:

• Get the unconscious ally into the car.
• Copy the plate number before the suspect drives away.
• Keep the cultist away from the altar for one round.
• Take the diary and leave the manor.
• Get the witness out without revealing who they are.
• Delay the pursuer until the bridge is raised.

Exits can be a door, fire escape, alley, crowd, vehicle, locked gate, telephone call, bargaining position, or a barrier the threat cannot cross quickly. Assign each piece: "Mara gets the diary. Sloane starts the car. I hold the door until they're outside." The rules can support that plan.

An exit only counts if the slowest person can use it: the injured investigator, the witness who freezes, the person carrying the evidence. A narrow stair may be an exit for the fastest investigator and a trap for everyone else. This is why an early retreat usually beats a late one. Before anyone is wounded, the group can move together. After someone hits zero, the group may have to carry them, protect the medic, and give up the very objective that kept them there.

When Fighting Is the Right Call

Fight when violence directly prevents immediate harm that cannot be avoided another way. That can be the ethical, practical, and brave choice, as long as it opens a specific door rather than becoming a default. Fight when:

• Someone cannot escape without protection right now.
• The threat is about to hurt an innocent person and waiting is not acceptable.
• An opponent blocks the only workable exit or access point.
• One quick action can stop a ritual, disarm a pursuer, or prevent an alarm.
• The group has a clear advantage and ending the danger now prevents worse harm.
• Escape is cut off, but the opposition can be disrupted long enough to open a route.

Even then, pick the narrowest action that does the job. A maneuver can take the gun. One shot can keep an attacker away from the witness. A character with good Dodge can draw attention while someone else opens the exit.

Example, fight for the door rather than the room: The investigators are hiding a witness in a hotel room when two armed men reach the hallway. What the group needs is about thirty seconds for the witness to reach the service stairs; beating both men is beside the point. One investigator holds the connecting door shut, another moves the witness, and a third uses a loud command, or one controlled shot if the men force the issue. Once the witness is on the stairs, the fight is over. Trading more attacks in the room would swap a finished objective for a pointless one.

When Fleeing Is the Right Call

Flee when the threat's advantages are too large, when the objective is already complete, or when one more round costs more than staying is worth. This is especially true when an enemy can cause a Major Wound, when someone is already hurt, or when ordinary attacks have visibly failed. Leave when:

• The evidence is secured and staying only risks losing it.
• An ally is wounded, unconscious, or needs First Aid.
• The opposition has more people, better weapons, or reinforcements on the way.
• The surroundings are getting worse: fire, flood, collapse, smoke, or police attention.
• The creature ignores the group's best attacks or has an ability they cannot answer here.
• Nobody can say what another round of fighting would achieve.

Fleeing does not mean panicking. A disciplined retreat can use cover, a delayed action, a feint, a smoky corridor, a locked door, a waiting car, a prearranged signal, or a companion who stays just long enough to slow pursuit. It is still a plan; its finish line is safety.

Treat the first Major Wound as an alarm. When one lands, take one sentence to get clear: "The box is ticked. If she hits zero, she's dying. What's the plan now?" The answer may still be to act once more, but it should be a deliberate choice. The worst time to decide to flee is after the exit has been cut off. If someone is down, send one person toward transport or help before everyone else starts trading blows. The group can always return to a fight. It cannot always bring back an ally who died because no one left room to act.

Delay, Distract, Negotiate, and Hide

Fight and flee are not the only options. Many scenes are won by creating enough uncertainty to grab the objective and go. These middle options are often safer because they change the conflict without requiring the group to overpower anyone.

• Delay: Hold a door, block a stairwell, cut the lights, jam a lock, or drag furniture into the way. Delay works when everyone knows how long it has to last. "One round until the car arrives" is a usable goal; "keep them busy" needs sharpening.
• Distract: Create another urgent problem: a false alarm, a thrown object, a shouted warning, a ringing phone, a staged argument, or a misleading clue. Aim it at what the opposition cares about. A cultist may ignore a loud noise but react instantly if the ritual book seems to be on fire.
• Negotiate: When the other side wants something, trade time, information, a plausible lie, or an apparent concession for distance and access. Be clear about the cost. A deal that gets the investigators out is a win even if it creates a new problem to investigate.
• Hide: If the opposition is searching rather than attacking, hiding keeps the group healthy and the enemy uncertain, and may reveal information. It still needs an exit plan. Hiding in a dead-end room only postpones the question.

Turn a Retreat into a Plan

A retreat works when each investigator has a job. Do not let everyone run in the same direction and hope turn order sorts it out. Use four roles:

1. Mover: Gets the witness, evidence, or wounded person toward the exit.
2. Pathfinder: Opens doors, starts the car, picks the route, or clears the obstacle.
3. Delay: Holds a door, distracts, fires a controlled shot, or uses a maneuver to slow pursuit.
4. Rear guard: Watches the threat and leaves as soon as the others have space.

One investigator can cover two roles, and the same player should not always end up as rear guard. Rotate the risk based on skills, position, and who is already hurt. The rear guard's job is to leave before the group has to rescue them too.

Terrain makes retreats safer when it forces pursuers to choose. A locked door costs time. A narrow stairway limits numbers. A dark room hides which way the group went. A crowd adds witnesses and confusion. A car changes the distance. A bridge, elevator, fire escape, or riverboat can turn a pursuit into a different kind of scene. A retreat through three empty rooms with no decisions is not much of an escape; one that asks whether to take the flooded basement, the public lobby, or the roof is.

Protecting the Wounded, the Witness, and the Evidence

Once someone cannot move freely, three things compete for attention: people, proof, and time. Say that conflict out loud.

• Wounded investigators: An unconscious investigator cannot be left sitting in the turn order while everyone keeps fighting. Assign someone to move or stabilize them. Clearing a path for First Aid can matter more than landing another hit.
• Witnesses: Witnesses may not grasp the danger, may refuse to run, or may be exactly what the enemy wants. Give short, clear instructions: "Stay behind me and get in the car." Keepers should let frightened NPCs follow reasonable direction rather than making them a burden by default.
• Evidence: Evidence only helps if the group leaves with it. A notebook can be photographed or copied, a heavy artifact wrapped and hidden, a fragile object handed to one dedicated carrier. When the evidence and an injured person cannot both be moved easily, make the cost visible and let the group choose.

When the Threat Cannot Be Defeated Here

Some threats are beyond what investigators can defeat in one place with ordinary weapons. The signs may be obvious: bullets barely matter, the thing is too large, it heals, it moves impossibly, or contact with it triggers a Sanity crisis. The right answer is rarely to drop the case. Change the scale of the plan instead.

A retreat raises useful questions. What does the threat avoid? Where does it go? Who knows its history? What object, ritual, place, daylight condition, authority, or ally might matter? The group can research a weakness, come back with resources, lure the thing somewhere prepared, or protect people while another solution comes together.

The enemy does not need to be invulnerable for retreat to be right. A human organization that controls the police, the docks, or the town can be as dangerous as any monster. The answer is still information, preparation, bargaining power, and an objective that does not depend on a fair fight.

After You Escape

End combat rounds once the group has really broken contact. Then run a short aftermath: account for everyone, check injuries, secure the evidence, decide whether First Aid is needed (it only works within an hour), and work out whether the opposition knows where the group is headed.

Do not skip this because nobody is rolling initiative. The escape may have revealed a clue: a license plate, a phrase the pursuer shouted, the building's layout, a symbol on a weapon, or the fact that the enemy let the group go. Injuries may call for a hospital, a trusted doctor, or a delay. The enemy may now know the investigators' names.

Use what you learned to make the next scene deliberate. Change clothes, hide the evidence, call an ally, return with a warrant, study the artifact, or plan the next visit for daylight with a car waiting outside. A good aftermath turns a bad scene into preparation.

When a Chase Is Better Than a Fight

Use a chase when both sides are trying to reach or leave a place and the route itself is interesting. A chase turns distance, barriers, vehicles, and split-second choices into the scene. It beats a combat round when the central question is "can we get away?" or "can we catch them before they reach the train?"

A chase starts with a speed roll: CON on foot, Drive Auto in a vehicle. If the fleeing side's adjusted MOV ends up higher, they simply escape and nobody plays it out. Otherwise the Keeper starts the pursuer close behind and runs locations, hazards, and barriers. The Chase Rules Guide has the full procedure. Combat rounds and chase rounds are interchangeable, so a fight can turn into a chase without breaking the flow.

Do not force a full chase for every retreat. If the group has clearly escaped, summarize it. Bring out the chase rules when the group can choose paths, use the surroundings, help each other, and change the outcome.

The investigation still matters mid-chase. The fleeing cultist may be carrying the diary. The driver may know a shortcut to the estate. The injured witness slows the group but can point out a landmark. A police patrol could mean safety or a new problem.

A Compact Survival Flow

Use this flow whenever violence looks imminent:

1. Name the objective. What must the group accomplish for the scene to count as a success?
2. Read the threat. Who has weapons, cover, numbers, mobility, or an inhuman advantage?
3. Find the exit. Identify a door, vehicle, crowd, barrier, negotiation, or route before the first roll.
4. Choose the lowest-risk action that advances the objective. Maneuver, distract, flee, or do the mission before attacking out of habit.
5. Reassess after every round. Has the objective changed? Is someone wounded? Is escape now the only sensible win?
6. End the scene when the goal is met. Do not keep trading attacks just because initiative has been rolled.

This flow keeps the rules pointed at the kind of horror investigation Call of Cthulhu is built for. For a turn-by-turn version, see the Combat Flowchart.

Player Guidance

• Put an objective in every declaration. Instead of "I shoot," try "I shoot the lock so we can get through the gate" or "I restrain him until Nora reaches the car." Say how long the effect needs to last, and say your exit plan as clearly as your attack.
• Learn when to dodge. A low Fighting skill does not make your investigator useless. Dodging one attack while a companion opens the exit can save the group.
• Use your other skills. A high Drive Auto turns a retreat into a rescue. Fast Talk buys time. First Aid and Medicine keep a companion alive. Call of Cthulhu does not reward everyone for acting like a gunfighter.
• Ask before you commit. "Can I reach the door?" "Is he holding the gun one-handed?" "Would a shove send him over the railing?" "Who needs help to move?" These questions are part of playing an investigator.
• Be willing to leave a clue behind when the alternative is a Major Wound or a dead companion. The clue may be recoverable. The group may not be.
• Accept a retreat when the evidence says it's right. You can come back with a plan, allies, a car, or a better read on the threat.

Keeper Guidance

• Set the stakes and the room before initiative. Players need exits, cover, obstacles, who looks armed, and what the opposition wants. If there is a nonviolent solution, make it visible rather than something to guess at.
• Open each round with the fiction. Remind players who is restrained, where the exit is, who has the evidence, and what new danger has appeared. Then ask for intent.
• Apply Build limits openly. Tell a player when a big target means a penalty die or makes a maneuver impossible, then offer another option: "You can't pin it, but you might grab the satchel on its belt."
• Use surprise fairly. Let alert characters roll to anticipate when the fiction supports it, then move straight to DEX order.
• Signal overwhelming threats early. Show scale, weapons, reinforcements, or bullets failing promptly. That gives players the information their investigators would have before a life-or-death choice.
• End the fight when the objective is met. Once the witness is safe or the group reaches the car, do not drag them back into initiative because an enemy is still standing. Start a chase only if the pursuit is uncertain and worth playing.
• Make retreat costly only when the cost is interesting. A lost clue, a hostile faction, a damaged reputation, or a wounded ally creates future play. Blocking every exit just teaches players that planning does not matter.

Combat and Chases Guide Library

Combat and Chase Checklist

Before violence starts:

• Define the group's concrete objective, the route out, and the opposition's likely goal.
• Describe exits, cover, terrain, weapons, reinforcements, witnesses, and fragile evidence.
• Decide who moves people or evidence and who delays pursuit.
• Check whether negotiation, a maneuver, or escape can solve the problem.
• Resolve any single surprise action, then set DEX order, with readied firearms at DEX plus 50.

On each turn:

• Ask for a concrete intent and name the action: attack, maneuver, flee, spell, or another timed action.
• For close attacks, have the target choose dodge or fight back before rolling, then compare success levels and apply the right tie rule.
• Compare Build before any maneuver and give each success one definite effect.
• Apply the outnumbered bonus die only after the target has used its defenses that round.
• Describe what changed, then ask what one more round can realistically achieve.

When to stop:

• The objective is complete, or a Major Wound, zero hit points, or overwhelming opposition has changed the risk.
• Nobody can name a useful result from another round.
• Flee when a route exists, and turn it into a chase only when pursuit is worth playing.

After the scene:

• Account for people, injuries, equipment, and evidence.
• Apply First Aid within the hour and seek care before pressing on.
• Record what the opposition learned and what the escape revealed.
• Return to the investigation as soon as the immediate danger is over.

Give the group a goal, a route, and a reason to care about getting home, and every punch, gunshot, locked door, and retreat can serve the investigation instead of swallowing it.

Where To Go Next

Violence in Call of Cthulhu almost always follows from what the investigators just learned, and it often threatens someone's Sanity right after. Pair this guide with the Sanity System Guide for what a wound or a narrow escape costs an investigator's mind, and the Investigator Builds Guide for giving your group a First Aid answer and an escape plan before the first shot is fired. The Call of Cthulhu 7e Guide Hub maps every topic guide in the collection if you need something this page does not cover.