PEACH- My alternate combat system

[Dei]

This is a system of combat that I've been thinking of trying out in my group which I feel would work a little more like real combat.

A basic attack action would work thusly:

You declare your target and make your attack roll.

Your target makes an opposed roll (their attempt to parry) to which they add any relevant modifiers such as dodge bonuses.

If you beat their roll you have hit them and you calculate damage.

The damage is then reduced depending on the armour they are wearing, i.e. leather armour will have a very low DR while full plate will have a very high one. Magical +to armour adds to this DR.

End attack action

However my thinking is that armour is also very restricting and therefore, the heavier your suit of armour, the harder it is to swing your sword meaning that wearing armour will give a -to attack rolls sort of like an armour check penalty.

I was also thinking of using a system whereby if you beat your targets opposed roll by a large amount you get to bypass a certain amount of DR, perhaps 1 point of DR for every 5 points you beat their roll by (this is to signify that you've beaten down their defences and managed to land a better than normal blow)

I haven't done much testing or worked out the exact numbers for DR or Armour penalty to attack rolls as I wanted the opinion of the larger community before I did anything else. I was trying to give combat a more "sword-fight" feel where the clash of blades is as important as the clash of armour and shield and a skilled fighter will still be able to survive in combat without armour as he'll be able to use his skill to parry and defend with his sword.

So your thoughts?

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

This is a system of combat that I've been thinking of trying out in my group which I feel would work a little more like real combat.

A basic attack action would work thusly:

You declare your target and make your attack roll.

Your target makes an opposed roll (their attempt to parry) to which they add any relevant modifiers such as dodge bonuses.

If you beat their roll you have hit them and you calculate damage.

The damage is then reduced depending on the armour they are wearing, i.e. leather armour will have a very low DR while full plate will have a very high one. Magical +to armour adds to this DR.

End attack action

However my thinking is that armour is also very restricting and therefore, the heavier your suit of armour, the harder it is to swing your sword meaning that wearing armour will give a -to attack rolls sort of like an armour check penalty.

I was also thinking of using a system whereby if you beat your targets opposed roll by a large amount you get to bypass a certain amount of DR, perhaps 1 point of DR for every 5 points you beat their roll by (this is to signify that you've beaten down their defences and managed to land a better than normal blow)

I haven't done much testing or worked out the exact numbers for DR or Armour penalty to attack rolls as I wanted the opinion of the larger community before I did anything else. I was trying to give combat a more "sword-fight" feel where the clash of blades is as important as the clash of armour and shield and a skilled fighter will still be able to survive in combat without armour as he'll be able to use his skill to parry and defend with his sword.

So your thoughts?

My first thought was: This belongs into the House Rules forum!

My second thought: Others have had this idea before, there are probably even some threads on it in the House Rules forum. If not, at least the people who thought about it will be found there.

A few ideas more on topic (mostly, admittedly, negatively or reminding of problems):
Keep in mind that, if armor causes to many penalties and you also give a bonus for "good" attacks, armor might easily become useless, and the high-dex fighter might be the superior build (since he can use weapon finesse and his resulting good attack bonus to abandon strength). But this is just a risk, it depends a lot on the specifics of the system wether this actually becomes an issue or not.

What you have to keep in mind is that such rules will increase the real-world time required for a single attack. Both sides have to roll their dice, add the appropriate modifiers, then one side rolls damage while the other has to subtract its DR. It might not be so beginner's friendly having so many steps, but in the long term, it might not matter.

The biggest step in actually implementing these rules will be the conversion of monsters to the new rule. It is easy to redesign class tables, but reworking all monster stats takes time and effort, especially if you want to maintain the old CRs.

 

[comrade raoul]

The Conan rules work a lot like this, and you ought to look at them for inspiration.

Consider, however, that there is no real need for an opposed "parry" roll--they unproductively increase randomness and slow down combat. Instead use--as D&D does--10 + relevant defensive modifiers, and then switch armor to DR.

 

[shoof]

You would also want to look at the Grim and Gritty Combat system, it works just like what you are looking for.

We'eve been playing a campaign with the rules for a few months now and we love it, combat is deadly again.

 

[Quidam]

Could a mod please move this? I'd hate to see the Rules forum become a PEACH tree.

 

[Dei]

ah, right, didn't realise there was a seperate house rules forum, could a mod please move this?

Thanks for your ideas though all, the 10+ modifiers idea is one that I quite like. As for the Grim and Gritty rules, where could I find those? Not seen anything like them before.

 

[Piratecat]

Will do!

 

[dvvega]

You do realise that the defence roll is actually part of d20 as it stands.

Everyone is assumed to be 'taking 10' on their defence thus you start with an AC of 10. All you are doing is changing that assumed value and rolling it.

Now to your points about DR based on armour ...

Unearthed Arcana has an optional rule (part of the SRD I think now) that halves the armour value of the armour and makes it DR. Thus an Armour Value of 5 would be AC +3 and DR 2/-.

So that covers most of what you are thinking, the last bit is the slowing down of people in heavier armour.

Strangely enough the maximum Dex bonus that heavier armours have is supposed to simulate that. It only really caters for slowing the wearing down in the AC department - you are restricted in movement thus you get less Dexterity bonus for your AC.

I would use this as a guideline for your attack rolls as well. So use it for maximum attack bonus as well.

 

[Plane Sailing]

However my thinking is that armour is also very restricting and therefore, the heavier your suit of armour, the harder it is to swing your sword meaning that wearing armour will give a -to attack rolls sort of like an armour check penalty.

Surprisingly (and perhaps counter-intuitively), real world armour isn't actually that restricting. I've watched guys in full plate armour run, jump, twirl around and do pretty much everything except somersault in some actual plate armour (it was at the Royal Armouries museum in Leeds, UK).

The True20 system has many things that I think you'd appreciate, it is worth having a look at their rules over here www.true20.com

Cheers