Can a PC rise from prone and attack in one action, perhaps with difficulty?

Question

How do you handle a PC who gets knocked down by a NPC (for example, a Caffa) wanting to get up and attack? Can they only stand up on their turn and not attack, or can they attack while getting up?

I know that you can move a short distance as part of another action (p. 18), but I can't tell if getting up from prone counts as an “immediate distance” or not.

If so, how do I determine the difficulty of attacking while standing up from prone? I can't tell how I should set the difficulty for an attack from prone without standing up, either: whether it should be 1 difficulty or 2.

Answer 1

The answer to the title question is a simple "No." Not according to the rules, as written.

You need to refer to the section on Actions (p198):

Anything that your character does in a round is an action. It’s easiest to think of an action as a single thing that you can do in five to ten seconds... Putting away your bow and pushing a heavy bookcase to block a door are two actions because each requires a different train of thought.

The bold element of the quote is important in answering your question. Getting up from the ground and then attacking represents "a different train of thought."

According to Taking Action (p189):

Each character gets one turn each round. On a character’s turn, she can do one thing — an action... Every action performs a task, and every task has a difficulty that determines what number a character must reach or surpass with a die roll to succeed... Most tasks have a difficulty of 0, which means the character succeeds automatically.

If not resisted or endangered, the action of standing from prone would have a difficulty of 0, but it does represent a complete action. If the prone character had to contend with resistance from the Caffa, per the example, then the difficulty would be higher (at least the level of the Caffa).

Someone with a Special Ability like Divide Your Mind (p36) could manage to rise from prone and attack in the same turn. A GM might make a call on other situations, like a character with the Fast Descriptor (p73) who can move a Short distance and make an action in the same turn.

Answer 2

Page 88 of the core rule book lists Knock Down as a possible major effect (it's listed again in optional rules on Page 113). About that, it says:

The foe is knocked prone (see Position, page 95). It can get up on its turn if it wishes.

So getting up takes an action.

In the spirit of the sort of cinematic adventure I like, I'd call it "Moving a Short Distance," and let any PC with an ability to move a short distance while taking an action use their action to get up and attack a foe in immediate range. But that's not, as far as I can tell, in the rules as written.