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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sonofapreacherman" data-source="post: 1301534" data-attributes="member: 2315">Spatzimaus.I won't pretend to have followed every single point you made in that post, but I do want to thank you making it. Your thoughts are appreciated. It almost seemed like you were "thinking out loud", during some of it.<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />That said, I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here with my changes to Dungeons and Dragons combat (though it may seem that way). Since I replied to your post, a few additional details have been revealed or decided.The most important of which is that piercing weapons halve AC as damage reduction. That includes arrows. But piecing weapons cannot be used to power attack, lacking the prerequisite swing of a bludgeon or slashing weapon to build up momentum.The second important point to make about the variant combat system is that, with shields, EC is only a little smaller than the current values of AC. This is because shields offer a much greater bonus to EC than the printed version of AC (about twice as much in most cases). For example, a character can elect to gain a +4 bonus to EC from their heater shield, but then cannot parry with their shield that round (a trade off). A tower shield offers a +8 bonus to EC or complete cover, and cannot be used to parry at all (in additional to all the other penalties normally associated with tower shields).In the printed rules, a character with 14 Dexterity, a chain shirt and heavy shield, has an AC of 10 + 2 + 4 + 2 = 18.In the variant combat system, the same character has an EC of 10 + 2 + 4 = 16, or an EC of 10 + 2 = 12 if they want to parry with their shield (not to mention 4 points of damage reduction).Moreover, light weapons gain a +4 on parry rolls, single-handed weapons gain no bonus, and two-handed weapons take a -4 penalty on parry rolls. A shield that can be parried, however, uses their EC bonus on the parry rolls and does not suffer two-handed weapon penalties when used for EC or when used to parry as an attack of opportunity. A shield only suffers two-weapon penalties when used to bash or parry as an off-hand attack.But they important, because in order to even be interested in this variant combat system in the first place, you have to want those details. You have to want more than simply... roll dice, beat AC, roll damage. You have to want a lot more tension in your combat for a little extra time (which quickly diminishes, in my experience, once the learning curve is over).I realize. But the point was that you stacked the example with a rogue getting the drop on their opponent. That’s all. Every time that happens, the rogue is always at an advantage (with the printed rules or the variant combat system). Just like there are ways to counteract being flanked, flat-footed, etc. with the printed rules, so too are there ways to parry during these conditions with the variant combat system.Except that the fighter and their good BAB hasn't made their parry roll yet, which can easily negate the bad BAB attack in the first place.See the piecing weapon addendum (halving AC as damage reduction addendum).Except that the Max Dexterity Bonus for armor also limits their BAB Dexterity bonus.Not at all. Again, the standardized piercing weapon rule addresses this concern without using feats as band-aids.I presume you mean AC as damage reduction? If so, that is how it works now, so I'm not sure of your point here. You subtract your AC as damage reduction value from the damage you are dealt. Same thing really.</blockquote>

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