D&D General GM's Closet for the CONAN RPG

Water Bob · Mar 22, 2013

TERROR OF THE UNKNOWN

This is a combat rule buried in the back of the 2E Core Rulebook in the Bestiary chapter, pg. 376. And, basically, it says that a character may actually become quite afraid of some unnatural beast that he encounters. The rule describes the saves uses to overcome this conditon, but it's important to note that the rule should be used anytime a character encounters a monster he has not encountered before. We're not talking about usual beasts here, like wolves, snakes, and bears. No, we're taking about those eldritch beasties like demons, fiends, ghosts, and the undead.

Barbarians have a special ability that works with Terror called Crimson Mist. And, it's interesting to note that the rule can be implemented even with normal beasts, if that beast is extremely rare and unheard of in a foreign land. For example, mammoths could scare the heck out of a person who's never seen or heard of one before. So, there may be special occasions where the rule is used with non-eldritch beasties.

Water Bob · Mar 22, 2013

THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE RIGHT JOB

Another thing I like about this game is the way the game mechanics flow together to give characters a real reason for picking different weapons to match different physical capability.

The Finesse attack style is favored by characters with low STR, and only easily maneuverable weapons can be used with this style.

For example, a short sword is a Finesse weapon. A big, honkin' scimitar is not. Both do 1d8 damage.

This gives characters a real, mechanical reason to use a short sword over a scimitar if the character is a low STR, unarmored city dweller. You don't see many of them dragging around scimitars on their sides. No, it's the lighter, more subtle short sword that you'd expect to see. And, outside of straight roleplaying, there's a mechanical reason to choose the short sword over the scimitar.

The same goes for the Armor Piercing system in the game. Each weapon is rated for its ability to punch through armor. The cutlass is rated at AP 2 and does 1d10 damage. The warhammer is rated at AP 7 and does 1d6 damage.

Given those game stats, it's easy to see the mechanical reason that pirates would favor the cutlass, and you wouldn't see warhammers on a sailing vessel unless one was kept around to knock down doors.

The cutlass is only AP 2, and thus, is not every effective at cutting through thick armor. A character with STR 16 (+3) will have total armor piercing capability of AP 5 with this weapon. A foe wearing breastplate and mail hauberk has armor rated at DR 9. This means, on a successful hit, the character will do: 1d10 weapon damage + 3 STR modifier - 9 Armor resistance, or 1d10 -6 damage. That's 0-4 points of damage, with a 60% chance, per hit, of landing 0 points of damage (glancing blow that reflects off the armor).

On the other hand, take the same character with a warhammer. The weapon is rated at AP 7, which gives the character a total armor piercing capability of 10. This means, against the same foe in the breastplate and mail hauberk,
the character will do damage, on a successful hit, equal to: 1d6 weapon damage + 3 STR modifier - 4 Armor resistance, or 1d6 -1. That's 0-5 points of damage with only a 17% chance of scoring 0 damage.

Obviously, the warhammer is the better weapon against a heavily armored foe.

This is why pirates will favor the cutlass--because their opponents are typically not armored and usually other swabbies from another sea vessel. And, the warhammer will be found more often on the large battlefield, where hordes of heavily armored knights are going at each other.

I love how this game uses the mechanics to influence weapon choice and doesn't just rely on roleplaying.

Water Bob · Mar 22, 2013

Delete

Water Bob · Mar 23, 2013

FRIENDS WILL BE FRIENDS

This is a tactic that works well if you've got a high level character and a low level character working together. It's also a good tactic if one of the group is low on hit points where a another single hit may kill him. Using what I describe here can still make that character participate in the combat but also be protected from attack.

The first thing you'll want to do is make sure that the two characters act together during the same Initiative count. That's not always necessary, but, in many situations, it can be desireable. The Delay action can be used to align the nish counts for the two characters.

Second, make sure that the weak character is equipped with a reach weapon.

Then, what happens is that the weaker character mirrors the stronger character's movement. Let the stronger character lead and face the foe. The stronger character will engage the foe normally, but the weaker character will stand behind the stronger, 10' from the foe, using a reach weapon through the stronger character's square.

The weaker character will not attack normally. Instead, the weaker character will use the Aid Another maneuver. All the weaker character has to do, using that maneuver, is make an attack vs. AC 10. If he succeeds, he gives the stronger character either a +2 bonus on his next attack or a +2 bonus to his armor class, at the player's option. There's no downside if the weaker character fails to hit AC 10, and the weaker character is protected from attack by the stonger character that stands between him and the foe.

So, a lower level character can really help out by giving that attack or AC bonus to his partner, only having to hit an AC 10. It's like always catching the foe flatfooted.

And, the weaker character is usually protected from attack by the companion that fights in-between.

Water Bob · Mar 24, 2013

Water Bob · Mar 24, 2013

Here are some links that may interest you if you are not interseted in using Mongoose's d20 based Conan RPG (which is, imo, the best version of rules ever written to capture the Hyborian Age).

CONAN RPG & d20

THE HYBORIAN AGE.

Vincent Delarge's Site (who wrote several books for Mongoose's Conan RPG).

Vincent's Red Sonja Site

Dr. Skull's Conan Cult

Hyborian Adventures A Nordheimr based game.

Hyborian Adventures True 20.

AD&D

Hyborian Age AD&D Setting

ZeFRS

Zeb Cook's Fantasy Roleplaying System The original TSR Conan rules. Highly Recommended! Here's a link to a page with a bunch of ZeFRS stuff.

BARBARIANS OF LEMURIA

Barbarians of Lemuria Free version.

SAVAGE WORLDS

Savage Hyboria

FANTASY CRAFT

MasterCraft Conversion Guide

Water Bob · Mar 29, 2013

Piercing Armor - How Does It Work?

In the Conan RPG, armor prevents the character from taking some damage. Armor does not make the character harder to hit as is normal in most d20 and D&D games. The mechanics are simple. I'll show you how it works.

Each weapon in the game is given an Armor Piercing rating. Since the strength of a character is key in that character using a weapon to bash through armor, a character's STR modifier is added to the weapon's AP rating to get a total penetration value.

For example, Rael, a Vanir raider, has STR 14, which gives him a +1 STR bonus with one handed weapons, no bonus with off-hand weapons, and +1 bonus with two-handed weapons.

Rael is wielding a war spear, which is rated at AP 2. Since the war spear is a two-handed weapon, Rael's total armor piercing capability with this weapon is AP 3.

Each armor piece in the game is rated for its damage reduction. For example, a scale hauberk is rated at DR 9. This means, when the character wearing this armor is struck, the armor will deflect 9 points of damage. Thus, if the total damage is 5 points, then the protected character receives no damage. The weapon connected but was deflected--a glancing blow. If the total damage is 13 points, then 9 points are deflected, and the character wearing the armor takes 4 points of damage.

If the total AP of the weapon equals or exceeds the DR rating of the armor, then the DR rating is halved.

Thus, if Rael uses his war spear and hits an Aesir foe that is wearing a scale hauberk, the war spear will not penetrate the armor. AP 3 is less than DR 9. So, on Rael's hit, the damage throw will look like this:

1d10 weapon damage + 1 STR bonus - 9 Armor Protection, or 1d10 -8.

You can easily see that, using this war spear, Rael will put 0-2 points of damage on his foe with a non-critical hit, and 80% of the time, the damage will be zero.

Now, let's change up the scenario a little bit. Fighting next to Rael is clansman, Moyle. And, Moyle is using a bardiche, which is an AP 5 rated weapon. Moyle's STR bonus is +3, and since the bardiche is a two-handed weapon, the STR bonus is 1.5 times normal (+4), giving Moyle a total armor piercing capability of AP 9 with that weapon.

Moyle's foe is another Aesir warrior, but this one wears Mail Shirt and Brigadine Coat that is rated at DR 8. Since Moyle's total AP 9 exceeds the Aesir's DR 8, the DR rating of the Aesir's armor is halved to DR 4. Thus, any non-critical hit that Moyle makes on his foe will result in this damage:

1d10 + 1d8 weapon damage + 4 STR bonus - 4 Armor Protection, or 2-18 (1d10 + 1d8) damage.

If this sounds complicated, it's not in play. Players know their character's total AP. You make the AP vs. DR comparison at the top of the fight and just remember to reduce any damage by either the full or half DR rating. It's pretty simple.

Water Bob · Mar 29, 2013

DEFENSE

D&D players are used to an Armor Class where armor makes the character harder to hit. This is changed in the Conan RPG. Each combat round, a character has a choice in the way he will defend himself. He can Parry incoming blows, or he can attempt to Dodge incoming blows. Armor does not factor into the chance to hit the character at all. What armor does is absorb some damage if a character is hit.

So, each character has three Armor Class states.

Flatfooted: This is usually AC 10, unless the character has DEX 9 or less (in which case, the flatfooted AC can be lower).

Dodge AC

Parry AC

If a character is not expecting an incoming blow, then the character is flatfooted. Otherwise, in combat, the character decides which defense he will use, Dodge or Parry, and he can change his defense stance at the top of each round.

The Dodge AC is calculated by taking the character's flatfooted AC and adding in both the character's DEX bonus and his Dodge bonus that comes from his character level.

The Parry AC is calculated by taking the flatfooted AC and adding the character's STR bonus and his Parry level bonus.

For example, look at the NPC I provided earlier in this thread, Morghun Clanson. He's a 3rd level Barbarian class with Dodge AC 13 and Parry AC 14.

How were those AC arrived at?

Dodge AC = 10 flatfooted + 1 DEX + 2 Level Dodge Bonus = AC 13.

Parry AC = 10 flatfooted + 3 STR + 1 Level Parry Bonus = AC 14.

Once calculated, simply write the character's three AC states on the character sheet in the appropriate spaces.

Melee attacks can be Dodged or Parried, based on the defender's defence style.

Missile, Thrown Weapon, and Touch attacks attacks can only be Dodged.

If a character is completely surrounded on all sides, he cannot Dodge effectively and suffers a -2 AC Dodge penalty.

Changing between the Dodge and Parry defense is a free action and can be done inside or a round as a reaction to being attacked. Thus a character may Parry the incoming blows from his foe and then Dodge the knife being thrown at his back by a second foe later on in the round.

Sleeping/Unconscious or bound characters have effective DEX 0 and thus take a -5 AC penalty to defense (on top of losing any DEX bonus).

Some of the heavier armors will cap the DEX bonus and may reduce the Dodge AC.

A shield bonus is applied to the Parry AC only during melee, but it is applied to the Dodge AC when defending against Missiel or Thrown Weapoan attacks.

Azgulor · Mar 30, 2013

Thread full of awesome!

Thanks for putting all of this up. I'm a huge fan of the Conan RPG and was supremely disappointed when Mongoose lost the license. Although, if they'd take the license RuneQuest/Legendary they'd have ultimately lost me.

I've switched over to Pathfinder as I started running games for my kids (& this expanded to a larger group including their friends) and needed a more PG than PG-13/R game. If there were ever an opportunity (in my dreams, I know) for someone to get the Conan license & merge the Mongoose Conan RPG onto a Pathfinder framework to gain the PF improvements (skill points, favored class benefits, Advanced Race Guide, character class archetypes) I'd have my swords-n-sorcery heartbreaker.

Great game & great stuff. Thanks again for posting all of this.

Water Bob · Mar 30, 2013

Azgulor said:
Thread full of awesome!

Thanks man!

I've got more stuff coming!

I've switched over to Pathfinder as I started running games for my kids (& this expanded to a larger group including their friends) and needed a more PG than PG-13/R game.

As GM, why not run the Conan RPG in a PG fashion? Certain, the Hyborian Age is rated R. Well...maybe NC17...or even rated "RL" for "real life grit depicted", but as GM, you don't have to play that way.

If you get into sorcerery, you'll have to change up the really evil bits, but I've run a game now for three years. I've set it all in Cimmeria. And, the only sorcerery the PCs have seen is with the bad guys.

You could easily run a cleaned up, D&D-ish version of Conan, if you wanted.

If there were ever an opportunity (in my dreams, I know) for someone to get the Conan license & merge the Mongoose Conan RPG onto a Pathfinder framework to gain the PF improvements (skill points, favored class benefits, Advanced Race Guide, character class archetypes) I'd have my swords-n-sorcery heartbreaker.

I like Pathfinder, but I don't think it's an improvement on the Conan system. Combat, for example, is so much more exciting in Conan than it is in Pathfinder. PF has the generic combat maneuvers, but that's exactly how those maneuvers feel in the game with the one-size-fits-all, and everybody-can-do-it stunts. They feel generic! To me, anyway.

Conan's combat is so exciting, espeically with the GUSTUD rule that I added (see this thread), that it's going to be hard for me to play another fantasy game that doesn't have this level of intensity. See my next post as I dissect some of Howard's combat prose and translate it into game terms.

Pathfinder doesn't turn out that type of combat.