Jd Smith1
Hero
I always house-rule combat; 5e especially.
What me and my gamers look for in a melee setting:
1) Hit locations. We use a dice that notes the affected area.
2) Armor that reflects reality. Light armor is harder to hit, easier to hurt, and heavy is vice versa. Armor absorbs damage; for example, ring mail on the torso absorbs d10 damage per strike. The damage armor absorbs also damages the armor, reflecting an attacker hammering a damaged place.
3) Shields work like armor, but they go quicker, and an attacker can specifically target the shield. Shields also can only work on attacks coming from the front or left side. Overhead is possible depending on the type of shield.
4) Damage is more than just whittling away at hit points. If a hit of more than X amounts of hit points (based on level) there is a chance you take a bleeding wound, broken bone, punctured eye, etc., based upon location. Each of these wounds bring on a unique penalty, and none are minor.
5) Weapons interact with armor in different ways. War hammer damage, for example, only faces half armor soak.
6) There is no coming back from death, and when you hit zero you are dying, and only medical treatment in a timely fashion will save you (so don't go too far from the others).
What me and my gamers look for in a melee setting:
1) Hit locations. We use a dice that notes the affected area.
2) Armor that reflects reality. Light armor is harder to hit, easier to hurt, and heavy is vice versa. Armor absorbs damage; for example, ring mail on the torso absorbs d10 damage per strike. The damage armor absorbs also damages the armor, reflecting an attacker hammering a damaged place.
3) Shields work like armor, but they go quicker, and an attacker can specifically target the shield. Shields also can only work on attacks coming from the front or left side. Overhead is possible depending on the type of shield.
4) Damage is more than just whittling away at hit points. If a hit of more than X amounts of hit points (based on level) there is a chance you take a bleeding wound, broken bone, punctured eye, etc., based upon location. Each of these wounds bring on a unique penalty, and none are minor.
5) Weapons interact with armor in different ways. War hammer damage, for example, only faces half armor soak.
6) There is no coming back from death, and when you hit zero you are dying, and only medical treatment in a timely fashion will save you (so don't go too far from the others).