Fighting (Brawl)

Key facts

Base Value

25

Overview

Fighting (Brawl) is unarmed and improvised close combat: punches, kicks, headlocks, and the chair leg you picked up on the way in. It is the default melee skill in Call of Cthulhu and the one that quietly covers most of what happens when a scene goes wrong indoors. It matters more than its reputation suggests. Investigators rarely start a fight on purpose, but they get grabbed, cornered, and dragged toward things, and Brawl is what decides whether you break the grip. It is also both halves of melee: the same skill that throws the punch is the skill you roll to fight back when a cultist swings first.

How it works

Base Value: 25%, level with Firearms (Rifle/Shotgun) as the highest starting combat skill on the sheet Key Uses:

• Punching, kicking, and headbutting
• Grappling, pinning, and breaking free of a hold
• Improvised weapons: bottles, chairs, tools
• Fighting back against an incoming melee attack Special Rules: Unarmed damage is 1d3 plus your Damage Bonus, which comes from STR plus SIZ, so a large investigator hits meaningfully harder. Melee is resolved as an opposed roll: the defender chooses to fight back with their own Fighting skill or to Dodge. A single blow of half your hit points or more inflicts a major wound.

Tips and playstyle

Build Advice: The 25% base means you are never completely helpless, which is why many investigators leave it there and spend elsewhere. Raise it if your concept is physical or if you expect grapples. Occupation Synergies: Dodge is the better default defense when you have no intention of trading blows. STR and SIZ feed the Damage Bonus that makes Brawl worth using at all, and Intimidate pairs with it for scenes you want to end before the first punch. Character Concepts: Boxer, dockworker, police officer, soldier, criminal enforcer, farmhand.

Frequently asked questions