Some combat house rules to peruse or ignore

S'mon · Mar 19, 2019

TaranTheWanderer said:
I would still allow verbal spells. I think it's important to acknowledge WHY a wizard can't cast a spell in a grapple.

The idea is that it disrupts the concentration needed to cast a spell. So I'm allowing cantrips with no check, since they are written to not require much effort in 5e.

Re disarms, an opp att doesn't make sense to me, nor does allowing a DEX save to resist once the hit has occurred - DEX already factors into how hard it is to hit someone - but nor do I want it to be particularly easy to disarm. Hm, maybe the DC should be the greater of 5 or half damage, rather than 10 - I used 10 as that's the base DC for Concentration checks, but maybe that's too high. Putting it at 5 further discourages mooks from attempting a disarm, and favours sneak-attacking Rogues & big-damage types, which makes sense to me.

TaranTheWanderer · Mar 19, 2019

S'mon said:
The idea is that it disrupts the concentration needed to cast a spell. So I'm allowing cantrips with no check, since they are written to not require much effort in 5e.

Re disarms, an opp att doesn't make sense to me, nor does allowing a DEX save to resist once the hit has occurred - DEX already factors into how hard it is to hit someone - but nor do I want it to be particularly easy to disarm. Hm, maybe the DC should be the greater of 5 or half damage, rather than 10 - I used 10 as that's the base DC for Concentration checks, but maybe that's too high. Putting it at 5 further discourages mooks from attempting a disarm, and favours sneak-attacking Rogues & big-damage types, which makes sense to me.

To me, an AoO makes as much sense as AoO anywhere else. I mean, if you aren't carrying a weapon and you're trying to disarm someone who has one, it makes sense that they get a shot at you. In any case, I just mentioned it because that's how it worked in 3e.

TBH, if a player randomly asked me if he could disarm someone, I'd just allow a contested weapon roll. If the person being disarmed was holding the weapon in two hands, I'd give them advantage. Maybe failure by 5 would mean you drop your own weapon. I feel there should be a consequence for failure...IdK. That's a bit of an off-the-cuff way of how I'd handle it. You could even make their passive attack bonus be the DC, if you really wanted but that might be too easy. So, someone with a +7 attack would be DC17 or DC22 if they had a 2 handed weapon. I think, for most bosses, that would probably work out to a 50% chance to disarm someone, though. It would be harder for mooks to disarm heroes because their attack bonuses tend to be lower.

re: cantrips. To me a cantrip is still a spell, so I don't like to make the distinction. But that's my opinion on it: If they require somatic, they are going to be more difficult in a grapple.

5ekyu · Mar 19, 2019

S'mon said:
Wow you're obnoxious! :-O

and the post about *me* has nothing to do with the issues presented.

you said it wasnt supposed to be easy. you asked if it seemed to easy *after* listing the save and the disad as if they were seriously making it hard to do.

So i went thru those point by point with very basic simple dnd 101 intro class examples of how they hit this and that.

Like i said, dont know if you did not do that basic analysis before saying you thought it was "not easy" for the reasons you spotlighted or if you were spinning/selling/posturing... but it seems likely one of those must be true.

Do you really think, did you really think it thru, realized the advantage cancels hit odds and how it would hit the bards and other dex type swingers and conclude "yeah thats gonna be a hard disarm"? That seems a lot less likely than either of the alternative (didnt actually check it out or selling) i suggested.

CubicsRube · Mar 19, 2019

S'mon said:
Wow you're obnoxious! :-O

There's a reason i blocked them over a year ago!

CubicsRube · Mar 19, 2019

[MENTION=463]S'mon[/MENTION] i have the same issue with ranged weapons in melee. I'd even be tempted to disallow ranged weapons in melee at all. I don't see how a person is to stand still and draw a bow or swing a sling and still defend themselves.

5ekyu · Mar 20, 2019

CubicsRube said:
There's a reason i blocked them over a year ago!

Who?

Sword of Spirit · Mar 20, 2019

I don't see disarm as a big problem for important weapons. The winner of the battle generally gets the gear. Unless people are regularly getting into fights they can't win just to disarm their better equipped foe and then try to escape with their weapon (a high risk proposal) disarming doesn't invalidate having cool gear.

TaranTheWanderer · Mar 20, 2019

What I love about homebrew threads is the give and take and refining of rules that people want to implement into their games. And the mutual respect people afford each other, given their goal for finding the perfect solution.

Brainstorming is about cooking up rough ideas, figuring out the how and why it may or may not work and then refining it to something beautiful that works for a person's table. And Sometimes proposed solutions don't even work and then it's back to the drawing board and that's part of the fun.

Therefore, If a I see a particular flaw with a suggestion, I find it helpful to mention it and then follow that up with a constructive alternative.

Charlaquin · Mar 20, 2019

CubicsRube said:
There's a reason i blocked them over a year ago!

They blocked me because I called them out for being rude. I’m not terribly torn up about that.

Shiroiken · Mar 20, 2019

S'mon said:
The following incur opportunity attacks if done within enemy reach:
Shooting a bow, except a crossbow
Reloading a bow, gun or similar weapon
Standing from prone
Picking up an object (such as a dropped weapon) from the floor and standing back up

I'd be alright with most of this, but did you mean Reloading a Crossbow? Otherwise you have 2 attacks of opportunity for using a bow, which is pointless since you only get 1 reaction per round (and even cool effects only give you 1 per turn). Really improves the crossbow over the bow, but overall ranged while in melee becomes ugly (which I'm okay with).

S'mon said:
The following use up half a character's movement:
Mounting or dismounting a mount.

This is already RAW.

S'mon said:
Grappled Casting: A character who attempts to cast a spell while Grappled must make a CON save at DC 10 or else lose the spell. If Restrained or Grappled & Prone, the save is with Disadvantage.

I would require the save, but only lose the action, not the slot. The loss of action is horrible enough.

S'mon said:
Mobbing: When multiple attackers of the same size category surround their opponent (ie are within 5'), the 5th+ attackers that round have Advantage on their attacks.

DMG mob rules work better and faster.

S'mon said:
Disarming: Attack is with Disadvantage (& can't attempt a disarm if already at disadvantage); if it hits then target takes damage & makes a STR or CON save (defender's choice) at higher of DC 10 or half the damage dealt to not drop object. Save is with Advantage if using both hands.

Steps on the Battlemaster's ability. Disarm as it works quite fine.

Some combat house rules to peruse or ignore

S'mon

Legend

TaranTheWanderer

Legend

5ekyu

Hero

CubicsRube

Hero

CubicsRube

Hero

5ekyu

Hero

Sword of Spirit

Legend

TaranTheWanderer

Legend

Charlaquin

Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)

Shiroiken

Legend

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