Shadowrun is very loose with encumbrance. The system presumes everyone will be reasonable and not be trying to carry more than they can actually carry. As a baseline, a character can carry their strength x10 kg worth of stuff. For every 15kg you exceed this carrying capacity, you take a -1 to your physical limit, to a minimum of 1.

Unfortunately, there are no weight listings for anything. But its the future! Any type of armor can be worn by anyone, regardless of their physical stats. And this is fine in a world with ultra lightweight but strong materials, micro-servos and the like, with clothing and armor designed to best distribute weight so as to not fatigue the wearer. Indeed, the world is a very dangerous place, and the idea of wearing some sort of protection has become so common place that armored clothing is built for everyday wear.

That being said, armor DOES NOT stack (unless its fancy high fashion armor explicitly designed to do so, in which case one of the pieces is actually considered an armor accessory). In theory, one could be a human wearing a skin tight microweave suit under security body armor, and a troll sized lined coat tailored down to fit on a human sized person over full body armor. But that does not give you insane armor- your armor rating is always based on the highest rated armor you're wearing.

Its actually not unreasonable to wear armored clothing or form fitting body armor or a sneak suit under something bulkier, even if the armor values do not stack. So if some mage tosses a fireball at you and destroys your armored jacket, you're not totally unprotected. So, something light under something heavy, sure. Wearing security armor under power heavy military grade armor, no.

Armor accessories are items that have a “+” in front of their armor rating. These explicitly DO combine with other types of armor, adding its armor rating to your total armor rating. These are things like helmets, shields, specialized forearm guards and greaves. You can use multiple accessories (again, using common sense- you can't wear two helmets together!) but the utility of these items are limited by your strength attribute. For every 2 full points by which the bonus from ARMOR ACCESSORIES exceeds the character's strength, the character's agility and reaction each receive a -1 penalty.

If a target is completely behind cover, the attacker may attempt to attack them through the barrier. Note that if the barrier completely obscures the target, the attacker suffers the -6 blind fire penalty for being unable to see exactly where behind the barrier the defender is. However, since the defender can't see what's going on the other side of the barrier either, they are considered unaware and do not get a defense test. Or rather, they only get to roll a number of dice on defense based on the level of cover. Which, if its able to completely obscure the target, is considered “good” cover, and the defender gets to roll 4 dice. If the barrier is transparent though, the blind fire penalty does not apply, and the defender defends as normal. In either case, the attack will only do damage if it manages to punch through cover to get at the target behind it.

Perform the attack and defense tests using the considerations above. (As to why you have to roll to hit something like a stationary wall, you're not targeting the wall itself, you're trying to target the exact part of the wall in front of the guy you are trying to hit) If the attacker manages to win, the barrier takes the hit first. If the modified damage value does not exceed the modified armor value of the barrier (a listing of common armor values for various barriers can be found on p197 of SR5), the barrier completely stops the attack and it does no damage at all. If the modified damage value does exceed the modified armor value, you can begin to roll the damage resistance tests.

How much damage goes to the barrier and how much goes to the target behind it depends on the type of attack.

These are attacks by firearms, projectiles or pointy-edged melee weapons.

When attacking a target through a barrier with a penetration weapon, if the attack hits, and the modified damage value of the attack exceeds the modified armor value of the barrier (if it does not, the attack is completely stopped by the barrier and no further rolls are required), the barrier takes one box of unresisted damage, and the rest transfers to the target behind it.

In the case of multiple bullets, barriers take 2 boxes of unresisted damage for a three round burst, three boxes of unresisted damage for a six round burst, and four boxes of unresisted damage for a 10 round burst. Subtract any damage taken by the barrier from the modified total damage, this is the amount of damage the target takes, and they roll the damage resistance test as normal against the remaining damage.

Note that versus the defender, you are calculating new modified damage and armor values based on this remaining damage value.

These are attacks by everything else.

If an attack by one of these weapons hits, and the modified damage value of the attack exceeds the modified armor value of the barrier, the gamemaster rolls the structure+armor (a list of common barriers and their armor/structure ratings can be found on p197 of SR5) of the barrier to resist damage, and the barrier takes any unresisted damage. If this unresisted damage exceeds the barrier's structure, any remaining damage is transferred to the target behind it. They make a damage resistance test as normal against the remaining damage.

Again, if the modified damage value does not exceed the modified armor value of the barrier, the attack is completely stopped and does no damage.

If the intention is to actually destroy the barrier (or knock a really big hole in it), resolve the attack against the barrier as normal. Since the barrier is immobile, it can not dodge, and the attack automatically hits. (The only way to miss is on a critical glitch) However, the attack test is still being rolled to generate extra hits with which to increase the damage value of the attack. If the attack roll generates no hits, then only the normal damage value of the attack is applied. A character with the Demolitions skill can roll Demolitions + Logic for their attack roll provided they are using explosives and have the time to plant them.

Before rolling the barrier's damage resistance test, adjust the modified damage value from the attack for the type of attack it is. Unarmed and Melee Attacks, as well as Combat Spells do not have their damage value changed. Explosives in contact with the barrier, as well as AV rockets and missiles have their base damage values doubled before adding the successes on the attack roll to determine the modified damage value. Unfortunately, penetration weapons, as noted above do a fixed amount of unresisted damage to the barrier and the remaining damage is applied to whatever is directly behind it.

As above, if the modified damage value does not exceed the modified armor value, the barrier is untouched. If the modified damage value is enough to overcome the modified armor value, roll the barrier's damage resistance by rolling its body+structure. Each hit reduces the modified damage value by 1, and if there is any remaining damage at the end of this test, apply it to the object. If the amount of damage taken is greater than or equal to the structure of the object, the attack has made a hole in the structure. The size of the hole is one square meter per structure rating increments of damage. i.e. if a wall is structure 15, and the attack did 30 points of damage to it after the resistance test, the attack blows a 2 square meter hole into it. (30/15 = 2!) Obviously, if the size of the hole exceeds the physical size of the barrier, the barrier is utterly destroyed.

Called shots normally incur a -4 dice pool penalty and cost a free action in addition to their basic attack action.

These are the types of called shots available from SR5 (p195):

Blast Out of Hand: Knock an item out of a target's hand, but they take no damage. Attacker and defender roll as normal, the attacker taking the -4 called shot penalty to their roll in addition to any other modifiers. If the attacker gets more net hits, the item is knocked out of the defender's hand and sent flying away (net hits - 1) from the defender. The direction should be away from the attacker.

Dirty Trick: If the attack succeeds with even a single net hit, the target takes a -4 dice pool modifier on their next action.

Harder Knock: Make a weapon that does stun damage do physical damage. This includes your fists (if you don't already do physical damage with your unarmed attacks)

Knock Down: (Melee Only!) Attacker MUST declare they are performing a knock down attack during the declare actions portion of the combat phase. The attacker makes the melee attack as normal. If they score more hits than the defender, compare the attack's strength plus net hits against the defender's physical limit. If the value exceeds the defender's physical limit, the defender is knocked down to the ground (but takes no damage).

The attacker can choose to follow the victim to the ground as a free drop prone action. If they glitch on the test though, they fall down regardless. On a critical glitch, the defender falls down while the attacker stays standing.

Shake Up: You perform an attack that shakes the opponent up. If the attack hits, the defender loses 5 from their initiative score along with any damage. Even if the defender resists all damage, this initiative penalty still occurs. If the target's initiative is brought below 0, they lose their last action phase for the turn.

Split the Damage: Do this if you want to intentionally split the damage of a physical attack so as to knock the target out first before actually killing them. This can only be done if the target has armor, and the AP of the attack needs to be less than that armor. If the attack succeeds, split the damage evenly between the physical and stun condition monitors. If it is an odd value, the stun damage is the higher value. Also, if the modified damage value of the attack ends up being less than the modified armor value of the target, the attack does only half damage, all of it stun.

Trick Shot: You do a fancy trick to cow onlookers. This cannot be done in the middle of combat- if you shoot an opponent's hat off in the middle of a firefight, they have no idea if you intentionally shot their hat off or just narrowly missed killing them. Trick shots usually require some sort of set up, like outright telling an opponent before hostilities start that you're showing them a demonstration of your skill, and then tossing a quarter in the air, quickly drawing your gun and shooting it.

Not the number of hits you make on the attack test. That number acts as a positive modifier for any intimidation test made by the attacker or known associates of the attacker right after.

Vitals: You aim for a more vital spot on the target. If the attack hits, it does an additional +2 DV. For vehicles, the attacker can try to target and attack a specific part of a vehicle such as a window, tire, sensor, or light. Blown out tires inflict a -2 modifier per flat tire to vehicle tests.

If a defender has defended against another attack since their last action phase, apply a -1 cumulative modifier for each defense roll after the first.

Interrupt Actions can only be taken if the character has enough initiative to pay for the action. Also, they do not lose their action phase UNLESS the cost takes their initiative step to 0.

Block: -5 Initiative, Defender adds their unarmed combat skill to their defense test against a single melee attack.

Counterstrike (p124, RaG): -7 Initiative, in place of the normal defense test, defender makes an unarmed combat + reaction [physical] test against the opponent's standard attack test. If the defender gains more successes than the attacker, they avoid the attack and land a hit of their own. The counter strike has a damage equal to the defender's unarmed DV + net hits, which the opponent resists with a standard damage resistance test. If the defender failed to gain more successes than the attacker, they get hit as normal. This requires training in a martial arts form that contains the counterstrike technique.

Dodge: -5 Initiative, Defender adds their gymnastics skill to their defense test against a single melee attack.

Dive For Cover: -5 Initiative, Defender drops prone, but behind any cover with 4 meters.

Hit the Dirt: -5 Initiative, if the Defender has no free action with which to drop prone to avoid suppressive fire, they may do this to still drop prone, taking an initiative penalty to do so.

Intercept: -5 Initiative, if an opponent within reach + 1 meters is trying to move past them, or trying to break out of melee combat with them, the character can make a melee attack out of turn.

Parry: -5 Initiative, Defender adds their melee combat skill to their defense test against a single melee attack. Bonus die, such as that from a relevant foci, can be added to this test.

Reversal (p124, RaG): -7 initiative, when a character finds himself in a clinch or grapple action and does not have the superior position modifier, they can perform a reversal to make an unarmed attack test with a threshold equal to the number of hits the opponent had on their original clinch or grapple attack. If successful, the character and opponent are still in the clinch or grapple, but the roles are reversed and the character now has the superior position modifier. If it was a grapple that was reversed, the opponent is now the one immobilized and who must try to escape on their next attack action. The character can also now perform one of the standard subdual actions on their next action. This requires training in a martial arts form that contains the reversal technique.

Riposte (p125, RaG): -7 initiative, in place of the normal defense test, defender makes a melee weapon skill + reaction [physical] test against the opponent's standard attack test. If the defender gains more successes than the attacker, they avoid the attack and land a hit of their own. The riposte has a damage equal to the normal DV of the weapon + net hits, which the opponent resists with a standard damage resistance test. If the defender failed to gain more successes than the attacker, they get hit as normal, making a damage resistance test against the attacker's damage, with the damage increased by 2 due to being off balance from the attempted riposte. This requires training in a martial arts form that contains the riposte technique.

Full Defense: -10 initiative, the defender declares they are going on full defense and gets their willpower (or agility if they possess the “agile defender” quality, charisma if they possess the “too pretty to hit” quality, gymnastics if they have the “acrobatic defender” quality, or perception if they have the “perceptive defender” quality. Note for the last two, since they are skills, applying gymnastics subjects the roll to the character's physical limit, and applying perception subjects the roll to the character's mental limit) on ALL defense tests for the rest of the combat turn. This bonus is cumulative with any other defensive interrupts the character takes.

So long as the character is not surprised, they can declare a full defense at the beginning of the combat turn, out of the initiative order, taking the initiative hit at the start in order to get the benefits for the ENTIRE combat turn. Also note that this does not mean the character is doing nothing but defending, just that they are focused on defending, that is why they received a penalty to their initiative. They may still perform normal actions during their action phases.

Characters who take a number of boxes of damage (Physical or Stun) from a SINGLE attack AFTER a damage resistance test in excess of their physical limit are knocked down. Any character who takes more than 10 boxes of damage in a SINGLE attack after a resistance test are ALWAYS knocked down.

When attacking multiple opponents, calculate the attack pool first (combat skill + agility [physical]), including all modifiers, THEN divide the pool as evenly as possible among the opponents.

An attacker gains a bonus of +2 on any melee attack made while the attacker is considered running. They DO NOT get the -2 penalty to skill checks made when running. Defenders who have a delayed action can brace themselves against a charging opponent, gaining a +1 to their defense test.

Whenever you have at least one friend in the melee with you, gain +1 to your attack pool. The bonus DOES NOT increase based on number of allies. Additionally, the defender is subject to the defending against multiple attacks penalty if they are attacked multiple times between their action phases.

Attackers can also work together to mess someone up. On their action phase, instead of performing an direct attack, they can choose to aid their allies in the fight with a melee teamwork action. This is a complex action, and the attacker rolls combat skill + agility [accuracy] with all appropriate modifiers, including the +1 modifier from having an ally in the fight with them against the opponents intuition. Net hits on this test are added as a die pool bonus to the next ally to attack the SAME opponent. The next attacker can also use these hits as a bonus on their own melee teamwork action, and so forth.

However, only three melee teamwork actions can be made before a standard attack test must be made.

Resolve the attack as normal, using the Unarmed Combat skill. If the attacker wins, compare their strength + net hits to the defender's physical limit. If the attacker's total exceeds this limit, the attacker grapples and immobilizes the defender. This attack does no damage to the defender.

To break free, the defender must take a complex action on their next available action phase, and succeed in a Unarmed Combat + Strength test, with a threshold equal to the number of net hits scored on the attacker's original attack. If they fail, they remained subdued and unable to take any actions that require physical movement. The subdued character is considered “prone” for any attacks made against them.

The attacker does not need to make any further tests to maintain the grapple, but must spend a complex action on each of his action phases to maintain the grapple. They can also choose to instead spend their complex action taking one of the following actions:

- Make an additional unarmed combat test to gain a better grip. The attacker gets a +2 modifier for having superior position. If the attacker wins, they ADD these new net hits to their previous grappling net hits, making it much harder for the defender to escape. However, if the defender wins, reduce the attacker's net hits by the defender's net hits.

- Inflict stun damage on the character with a damage value equal to the attacker's strength. This does NOT require an attack test, and the defender resists as normal. Armor applies.

- Make an additional unarmed combat test to knock the defender down, per the called shot. The attacker gets the superior position bonus (+2).

Reach does not affect the attacker's attack test, but it does affect the defense roll of the defender. The net reach difference, after comparing that of the attacker and defender is applied as a positive modifier to the defense test if the defender has longer reach, and as a negative modifier to the defense test if the attacker has longer reach.

If one is only trying to touch an opponent (say, to plant a tracker, use shock gloves, or discharge a spell), the attacker gets +2 to their attack test.

Rather than being interrupt actions, these defensive actions are free actions that you can only do once its your action phase. However, since you are performing this as one of the actions on your action phase, you still take the initiative penalty, but the effects last for the rest of the combat round.

Pre-Emptive Block: -5 initiative, can add their unarmed combat skill on all defense checks for the rest of the combat turn.

Pre-Emptive Dodge: -5 initiative, can add their gymnastics skill on all defense checks for the rest of the combat turn.

Pre-Emptive Parry: -5 initiative, can add their melee weapons skill (the one appropriate to the weapon being used) on all defense checks for the rest of the combat turn. Bonus dice, such as that from weapon foci can be applied to these checks as well.

Prone characters have a more difficult time getting out of the way, receiving a -2 penalty on their defense test. This DOES NOT apply to defending against ranged attacks unless the attacker is extremely close (less than 5 meters).

Acid: Acid damage is physical. In addition to any normal damage done by an acid attack, any armor it hits has its rating reduced by 1. If the acid is not removed from the target, it continues to burn. (Acid from “normal” attacks must be washed off properly, acid from spells evaporate at the end of the spell's duration) Each combat turn afterwards, decrease the acid's damage value by 1 and apply the damage again, including the reduction in armor rating. The acid continues to burn until it is removed, or loses all of its base DV.

Cold: Cold damage is physical. Make an armor test for any armor directly hit. If the armor gets no hits, it breaks and cannot be used as armor. The insulation armor modification adds its rating to armor for resisting cold based attacks.

Electricity: Electrical damage can be stun or physical depending on the source and/or target. The non-conductivity armor modification adds its rating to armor for resisting electrical attacks. Electrical attacks that hit and do damage have a secondary effect. (if the defender takes no damage, the secondary effects do not take place). Secondary effects include: a -1 dice modifier on all actions and defense tests but NOT damage resistance test, for 1 combat turn. They also receive an IMMEDIATE initiative score reduction of 5. The dice pool penalty and initiative score reduction DO NOT accumulate with multiple attacks, but the duration is increased for another combat turn with each successive electrical attack that manages to cause damage. Anyone who's initiative score is reduced to 0 because of the penalty loses their last action phase. If their initiative score was already 0 before the attack, the penalty is applied to the next combat turn.

Against electronics, all electrical damage is physical. Electronic equipment resists as normal, and if they take even one box of damage, they suffer a secondary effect- they take secondary matrix damage equal to one half the physical damage, rounded down. See Matrix Damage.

Vehicles can be damaged by electricity, but suffer no secondary effects. However, electronic parts of vehicles can take damage if specifically targeted via a called shot.

Fire: Fire damage is physical. The fire protection armor modification adds its rating to armor for resisting fire attacks. Fire has the chance to catch objects on fire. To see if an object catches fire, roll armor + fire protection rating - the AP of the fire, which is determined below:

The threshold for this test is the number of net hits rolled on the fire based attack. If the item succeeds it does not catch on fire.

If something catches fire, the fire has an initial damage value of 3, caused at the end of each combat turn. The DV increases by 1 at the beginning of each successive combat turn after the object caught fire, until the fire is put out or the object is completely consumed. To put out a fire, make an Agility + Intuition test, reducing the fire's DV by 1 for each hit. Obviously, once the DV is reduced to 0, the fire goes out. Remember that so long as the object is on fire, it has a chance to catch nearby objects on fire.

Falling: Characters take falling damage if they fall a distance of more than 3 meters. The damage value of the fall is equal to the number of meters fallen, with an AP of -4. Falling damage is resisted with body + armor, as normal.

Characters fall at a rate of 50 meters in the first combat turn, 150 meters in the second combat turn, and 200 meters every following turn after that. (The character has achieved terminal velocity).