Kill Team 2024 Combat Rules

Defense Mechanics

Defense Dice

All operatives roll exactly 3 defense dice.

This is a fixed value in Kill Team 2024 and cannot be modified by abilities or equipment, with one exception:

Exception - Piercing X:

• Piercing 1: Defender rolls 2 defense dice
• Piercing 2: Defender rolls 1 defense die
• Piercing 3: Defender rolls 0 defense dice (no save possible)

Save Characteristic

Each operative has a Save value (e.g., 3+, 4+, 5+):

• Normal success: Die roll ≥ Save value
• Critical success: Die roll of 6
• Fail: Die roll < Save value

Cover Saves

Operatives in cover can retain automatic saves without rolling:

• Cover provides "auto-successes" retained before rolling defense dice
• These are retained as normal successes (not critical)
• Piercing can reduce the number of available cover saves

Changes from Kill Team 2021

Removed Mechanics

❌ Invulnerable Saves - This mechanic no longer exists in KT2024

Modified Mechanics

✓ Defense Dice - Now always 3 (was variable based on operative profile in 2021)

Attack Sequence Overview

1. Attacker rolls attack dice

   • Number based on weapon profile
   • Modified by weapon rules (Balanced, Relentless, etc.)

2. Attacker retains successes

   • Normal successes and critical successes
   • Modified by weapon rules (Accurate, Lethal, Rending, Severe, etc.)

3. Defender rolls defense dice (always 3)

   • Modified by attacker's Piercing
   • Modified by cover saves

4. Defender retains successes

   • Normal successes and critical successes

5. Cancel hits with saves

   • Critical saves cancel any hit 1:1
   • Normal saves cancel normal hits 1:1
   • Normal saves cancel critical hits 2:1

6. Resolve damage

   • Remaining hits deal damage
   • Devastating damage occurs regardless of saves
   • Saintly Relics (if any): for a damaging attack dice, roll 1 D6 (or 2 D6 if INSPIRING); on any 6, ignore that dice's damage entirely (at most one dice per action)
   • Feel No Pain (if any): roll one die per surviving hit; each roll at/above the threshold reduces that hit's damage by 1

Defender Abilities

Obscured

When the defender is obscured from the attacker:

• All attacker crits are retained as normal successes instead
• Crit-triggered abilities cannot trigger (Rending, Punishing blocked)
• One attacker success is discarded at the end

Just a Scratch (Crits)

Cancel one attack die just before damage is resolved:

• Prefers crits: Cancels a critical hit if available
• Falls back to canceling a normal hit if no crits

Just a Scratch (Normals)

Cancel one normal hit just before damage is resolved:

• Only targets normals: Will not cancel critical hits
• Useful when you want to preserve the option to cancel crits with saves

Feel No Pain (FNP)

Just before damage is resolved, roll one die for each surviving hit (strike):

• Threshold: 4+, 5+, or 6+ (set in the Defender's advanced params)
• On a roll at or above the threshold, that hit's damage is reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 0)
• One roll per surviving hit, not per point of damage
• Even MWx (Devastating) damage can be prevented via FNP

Saintly Relics

Whenever an attack dice would inflict damage, roll to ignore all of that dice's damage:

• Modes: 1D6 (normal) or 2D6 (the operative is INSPIRING), set in the Defender's/Fighter's advanced params
• Roll the relic dice; on any 6, ignore all damage from that attack dice
• Caps: at most one attack dice ignored per action and two per battle; a failed roll uses up neither
• Shoot (exact): targets the highest-damage surviving hit first (crits before norms), trying each damaging dice in turn until one is ignored; over multiple rounds the two-per-battle cap is enforced across the battle
• Fight (Monte Carlo): spends the ignore on a strike only when no larger strike is still pending from that attacker (so it lands on the biggest)
• Not modeled: MWx (Devastating) damage is never ignored (matching Just a Scratch)

Key Principles

1. Defense dice are always 3 (unless reduced by Piercing)
2. No invulnerable saves exist in KT2024
3. Cover provides auto-successes, not additional dice
4. Piercing is the only way to reduce defense dice below 3

Last updated: June 2026