Lively Combat!

[Water Bob]

In my Conan game, I wanted to liven up combat a bit. Instead of just having two characters slug it out (albeit with exciting description) in the normal D&D fashion, I wanted to add heat butts and elbow jabs, and see people people grappling and using their daggers to slice a foe's throat. I wanted them to be able to trip their foe or kick 'em in the chest, knocking them backwards.

I wanted combat in my game to be akin to what you see in this clip....



[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b6got4G4Ys]YouTube - ‪Fight scene from the film Centurion 2010.‬‏[/ame]



There are rules for all of this in the game, but those rules seem to get used sparingly because, when you use most of them, you allow your foe to first take an Attack of Opportunity on you (for example, if you punch your foe, you make yourself open to an AoO first--and that makes attempting the punch not worth the risk).







What I did was to encourage the gim and gritty fighting you see in the Centurion clip above was this:


First, I adopted the Active Defense rule. You know the one. It's an offical d20 variant where you roll your defense rather than have your attacker roll against an AC number. Take your AC and subtract 10 (the average roll of a d20 is 10). Then use the remainder as a modifier on your defense roll.

Thus, if you have an AC 17, your defense roll is d20 + 7.

The attacker rolls his attack normally, then, in opposed roll fashion, the defender rolls his defense.

I've used it in my game, and it's quite fun. One would think that adding a new die roll to combat would slow it down, but I haven't noticed it. We think the game is more exciting with the throw.

And, using Active Defense doesn't change a game in the slightest. Your character has the same chance of being hit whether he's AC 14 or rolling for defense with d20 + 4.







The next thing I did was throw in some exciting variables that can happen during a fight.

Check this out...





Natural 20 throws...

If the attacker rolls a natural 20, it's a critical threat, per the normal rules. Roll to see if the hit supports Critical Damage.



If a natural 20 is rolled on the defense roll, then the defender just parried or dodged in such a way that he's gained a counter attack on his enemy. This counter attack is a free action, but it also counts and an Attack of Opportunity (and characters are usually limited to one AoO per round).







Natural 1 throws...

If the attacker throws a natural 1, or if the defender throws a natural 1, then he has opened himself up to a special limited attack of opportunity from his foe.

This special AoO is limited in that it cannot be a lethal attack. It must be an attack aimed at delivering nonlethal damage or some other nonlethal type action.

Thus, if your foe throws a natural 1, you have an opportunity to head butt him, punch him in the face, elbow him, knee him, kick him in the gut, among many other nonlethal attacks.

Normally, a foe would earn an AoO against you for such an action, but under this special rule, when the natural 1 shows on the attack or defense roll, the target's AoO is ignored, making these types of nonlethal attacks safe to use.

So, when your foe throws a natural 1 on his attack or defense throw, you may attempt an unarmed strike safely, but you might also want to start a grapple, sunder his weapon or shield, attempt to trip him, or do something else.

All of this is legal as long as the character doesn't move or attempt to deliver lethal damage. For example, if a foe throws a "1" on his attack throw against you, you could take advantage of that by rolling the first part of a Feint attack (the acutal "feint"). Then, with your turn coming up next, you follow that Feint up with (if it was successful) your lethal attack, catching the foe Flat-Footed.







When Attack = Defense....

If the attack throw ties the defence throw, different things can happen.

If the attack throw ties the Parry defense roll, and the number is even, then the two weapons are locked together (use the Lock Weapons combat maneuver).

If the tie number is odd, then the attacker gets a free sunder attempt on his foe's weapon. Again, the defender does not get an Attack of Op as he normally would if someone tried to sunder his weapon or shield.





If the attack throw ties the Dodge defense roll, and the number is even, then the attacker is allowed to make a free disarm attempt against his opponent.

If the attack throw ties the Dodge defense roll, and the number is odd, then the attacker gets a free Trip attemp against the defender. Again, normally a defender would get an AoO against someone trying to trip him, but in this situation, the defender's AoO is barred. It's a consequence of the tie.







I find that these rules are perfect to making my Conan combat look like what you see in the video. Many, many strikes are just normal blows, but if a natural 20, natural 1, or a tie shows up, something interesting is going to happen that may change the nature of the combat.





The only thing I'm not sure about is the "Disarm" attempt on the Dodge fumble. The trip makes a lot of sense to me, but I'm not sure the disarm fits.

But, I can't think of another rule to use with the Dodge. Can you?

And, the Disarm seems to be a pretty chancy maneuver even taking out the foe's AoO. If the attacker fails his Disarm attempt, then the defender automatically gets a free Disarm attempt on the attacker! So, it could end up that Frank rolls an odd tie with his Dodge defense against his attacker. The attacker attempts the disarm but loses the toss, and Frank ends up disarming him!




The question here is: Can you think of a better match for the tied Dodge Defense? Trip works. What else?

 

[hippononymous]

I think you should leave it up to the player to decide what maneuver to make on a tied Defense roll. It will let the player add flavor to their character and eliminate the 'if odd, do this, if even roll, do this' business, which would require remembering more rules.

I really like this system though, seems like it would be a lot of fun to play!

 

[Water Bob]

I think you should leave it up to the player to decide what maneuver to make on a tied Defense roll.

The player already decides in three instances: When his opponent rolls a "1" on his attack throw; when his opponent rolls a "1" on his Parry defense roll; or when his opponent rolls a "1" on his Dodge roll.

When the attack roll = defense roll, the situation is a bit different. It's not really a fumble but more of an opportunity that presents itself under the battlefield conditions.

Notice that the attacker gives up a hit when a tie happens because when the attack roll equals defense, the attack is successful. So, I wanted to do something different with those numbers.

I don' like the disarm for the Dodge tie, as I said above. It doesn't make sense to me.

Right now, here's where I'm leaning:

When Attack = Parry, and the number is odd, the two Lock Weapons.

When Attack = Parry, and the number is even, the attacker is allowed a free sunder attempt on his foe's shield or weapon, whatever the foe used to parry.

When Attack = Dodge, the attacker is allowed a free trip attempt on his foe.




Note that these situations don't favor the attacker as much as it might seem. Take the free trip attempt when the attack = Dodge. This represents a kick or a body slam/shield slam or some other movement that attempts to knock the foe down during the combat. If you watch the fight scene from the Centurion movie linked in the OP, you'll see a trip as a fighter raises his leg and kicks his opponent in the gut, knocking him backwards on his butt. That's what this is supposed to represent in the game.

Normally a trip attempt goes like this:

1. Foe gets Attack of Opportunity on attacker, unless the attacker has a weapon designed to trip or has a Feat that allows him to ignore the AoO.

2. Attacker makes a touch attack. Defender can Dodge this touch attack.

3. If the attacker wins, the defender goes down.

4. if the attacker loses, the defender gets a chance to knock the attacker down by making a touch attack vs. the attacker's Dodge.


Because this is a special case attack, the foe does not get the AoO mentioned in step 1 when this special trip is unleased, signaled by the attack = defense throw. But, this isn't always "safe" play for the attacker even though he avoids that AoO. If he loses the trip attempt, he may be tripped himself.

That's the risk.

 

[MadLuke]

Doesn't this make your combat too much slower?

I like the opportunity to make non lethal damage during combat, but instead of add so many option I'd rather introduce a simple rule that if you miss your foe by 10 or more, he gains an AoO just for non lethal damage.

And I'd prefer to not allow any defense roll, hust to avoid unnecessary play delay.

Bye, MadLuke.

 

[Water Bob]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b6got4G4Ys[/ame]





At 0:48, you see a ceturion benefit from the free trip attack because his attack roll equaled his foe's Dodge roll. The soldier kicks his foe to the ground.

At 0:59, a Pict rolls a "1" on his attack roll, missing his opponent, and the centurion benefits from this by laying a left hand punch on his enemy.

At 1:03, there was a similar situation last round where the Pict rolled a "1" on his defense roll, and the centurion decided to grapple with his enemy. On this round, the centurion used his dagger/knife to slice his enemy's throat. Under this system, the centurion cannot make a lethal attack when his enemy rolls a "1" on an attack or defense throw. That round, he started the grapple. But, as they were grappling going into round two, that's when the centurion used the rules (as written) to pull his knife and attack his grappled enemy. The attack must have been fatal (maybe a critical hit?), because, obviously, the Pict did not survive from that attack.

At 1:07, we see a centurion benefitting from a "1" being thrown on his foe's attack or defense throw. The centurion elected to throw an unarmed punch.

At 1:12, we see the Pict with the hand axe roll a "1" on his attack, and the centurion decides to trip him. Note that you don't have to wait for the attack = dodge situation in order to attempt a trip. Whenever your opponent throws a "1" on his attack or defense throw, you can pick any reasonable nonlethal attack against him. Here, the centurion wanted to trip his foe. If you get a foe on the ground, you've got a good advantage over him as his defenses are lowered while he's on the ground, and you will get a free Attack of Opportunity on him when he tries to stand.

1:16 shows us the result of another grapple that ended with the centurion pulling his knife and killing his foe.

1:24 shows us a Full Action where the centurion missed with his main weapon but succeeded with a shield bash.

1:27, we see another trip.

1:31 is neat because the centurion used an unarmed attack--a kick--that brought the Pict's nonlethal damage total higher than his hit point total. Thus, the Pict went down, unconscious.

1:56 shows the advantage one gets if he can get his foe on the ground.

2:04 is a trip directed at a mounted rider.

 

[Water Bob]

Doesn't this make your combat too much slower?

Like anything, it's slow while you're climbing the learning curve. But once you've played it a few times and get the "knack", it moves faster than combat in my old 2E AD&D game. In fact, it flows quite well.

The reason it flows is that there are "triggers" built into the system. And, these are easy triggers to remember. You're looking for natural 20's, natural 1's, and anytime the attack throw and defense throw tie.

20's are easy to remember. It's either a Critical Threat on the attack throw, as you already play. Or, it's a free counter attack if it appears on the defense throw.

Easy cheesy.





1's are even easier to remember. If a natural "1" shows up on either an attack throw or a defense throw, it's the advantaged player's choice in what he can do. He can do whatever he wants as long as he doesn't move and attacks his foe only with nonlethal means (an unarmed attack, a trip, a grapple, a sunder, etc.).

Super easy cheesy, and it's up to the player what happens.




When ties happen, one of three things occur. How long will it take you to memorize this? (See Note Below on This.)

Attack = Parry and an odd number? Lock Weaons is the result.

Attack = Parry and an even number? Sunder weapon is the result.

Attack = Dodge? Trip.

Not so bad, huh?





NOTE: The Conan RPG has separate defenses in the Parry and Dodge. If you're interested in using this system with a regular D&D game, then this party is just as easy as the first two parts. Since D&D doesn't differentiate between Parry and Dodge, if Attack = AC, then give the attacker a choice of a weapon lock, sunder, or trip.

I like the opportunity to make non lethal damage during combat, but instead of add so many option I'd rather introduce a simple rule that if you miss your foe by 10 or more, he gains an AoO just for non lethal damage.

Personally, I think "10 or more" is a bad trigger. It means that you have to count. With the 20, 1, and tie, you just have to look at the dice. No thinking involved.

And I'd prefer to not allow any defense roll, hust to avoid unnecessary play delay.

You should really try it. It's quite fun. Before I added all this other stuff to the combat system, we just switched from AC to the Active Defense throw. It adds so much to your game.

You roll an attack. It's an 18! "The barbarian lifts his great warsword over his head and brings it down, with all his might! It's flying through the air, slicing its way at your neck and shoulder! Roll a 19 or better, or that blow will hit you!"

It really adds some drama to combat.

Before you knock it, try it. Just try it one game session without all the other stuff. Keep your game as-is, but only roll defense. I think you might be surprised.







EDIT: Also remember that any of these special attacks are considered Attacks of Opportunity. A character can only take advantage of one AoO per round unless he has a feat like Combat Reflexes and a high DEX.

Thus, if your foe tries to attack you using a weapon in each hand, and he rolls a "1" on both attempts, then you can only take advantage of one of these special attack opportunities.

And, if this unlucky SOB then rolls a "1" on his Defense roll when you attack him at the bottom of the round, you just ignore it and count it as a normal hit because you've used your only AoO opportunity this round.

This means that you won't get bogged down every combat round with a couple of special attack opportunities. It will keep the frequency of these special attacks to a manageable, realistic (if you believe the Centurion clip), and fun level.





2nd EDIT: One of the hidden reasons I like this system, too, is that it makes the Combat Reflexes Feat a pretty attractive Feat to get, if you have a high DEX. But, it doesn't overpower the Feat since the opportunities are random rolled and not controlled by the player.

 

[Summer-Knight925]

Instead of a Disarm, it should be a overrun attempt

the parry was so weak the attacker just blew through his defenses, knocking him on his fanny

also, if anyone has a feat for like, improved trip, perhaps they should get a bonus something special, like bonus options of what to do during that attempt

like for trip, if you have improved trip and you knock an opponent prone, you can make an attack of opportunity against the prone opponent and if it hit it is a critical hit

or if you have improved trip and you get tripped you'd have something, I think that would add more flavor and make using that system more rewarding...

of course, how do you trip a dragon?

 

[kitcik]

Oh, Bob.


Bob, bob, bob.




And weave.

 

[Water Bob]

Oh, Bob.


Bob, bob, bob.




And weave.

Like the water. What does it do?

It bobs.

Up and down. It bobs.

 

[Summer-Knight925]

Bob the basket weaver

Immune to vorpal weapons