Characters never fall down -OR- Uncinematic combat

[takyris]

Or, as I'm doing in an action-movie d20 Modern Game, have it be flavor text and skill checks.

If a character is on a bridge, and gets hit, he makes a balance check due to the narrow fighting space. If he fails, he has to make a Climb check to grab hold of the bridge railing. With two checks, it's rare for a PC to go plummeting off the bridge, but those Strong1/Tough1 guys go off like extras in an action movie.

A good hit might knock them down, but they roll with it and vault back to their feet as a free action (ie, no rules-based effect). If a bad guy trips them, that's the one time they fall flat and have to awkwardly push themselves back to their feet, because it was a deliberate trip attempt.

Another PC said that he wanted to do a flying tackle on somebody -- he wasn't interested in damage, just knocking the person down. He did an unarmed charge attack, and I had the bad guy make a balance check, DC 10+damage dealt, to remain standing, instead of taking nonlethal damage.

It's been a fun game so far in terms of having more creative combats. Will let you know how things go with it.

 

[Rackhir]

D&D is essentially a non-cinematic rpg system without some significant modifications. It's basically designed to do the "Boromir looks like a Pincushion" kind of fighting, not a swashbuckling kind of fighting. I think there have been some supliments published that deal with adapting combat to that sort of style, if you want to do some looking. Something like Champions deals much better with high powered cinematic battles than D&D ever will.

 

[Orryn Emrys]

I've got to agree with Trilobyte on this one. If it seems appropriate that the player should be knocked down then have them be knocked down. That's part of why D&D has a DM, to make rulings on situations that aren't covered by the rules. There is no need to add to the system to cover this situation. If we added a rule in every case like this one we'd all be toting around fifty pounds of books, or a laptop just for gaming. If you feel bad about arbitrarily saying the character is knocked down then give them a reflax save to avoid it.

In my own games, combat sometimes has a cinematic feel and sometimes doesn't. My players are very keen on realism. I've been using the approach Pelenor outlined above for quite some time... and I admit that it sometimes seems to tip the balance provided by a clean rule-based decision, but I can rely on my players to accept both my arbitration and the reality or flavorful "side-effects" of a combat situation that add so much life to an otherwise sterile reliance on the rules.

Don't get me wrong, I believe that the rules should be the final arbiter on discerning how to deal with the consequences of every relevant action in a combat scenario, but I do not believe that they should ever be used to limit the field of options... combat is organic, with potentially hundreds of factors that can influence the results of any maneuver, and I feel that it is the Dungeon Master's job to introduce this consideration during game play and shake up the exchange with unforseen complications.

Besides, it keeps 'em on their toes....

 

[Gothmog]

I handle being knocked prone in a really easy manner. Any time a character takes more than 1/2 his remaining HP in a single blow, he makes a DC 15 Reflex save or is knocked prone. If he makes the save, he can either move back 5 feet, or take a -1 penalty to AC for the next round due to being off balance. Simple, and doens't require many extra rolls in combat, but still simulates the effects of forceful blows.

 

[takyris]

d20 Modern has the "Take more than (Con) hit points of damage, and you have to make a Fort15 save of drop to -1 hit points." Why not "Take more than (Dex) hit points of damage, and you have to make a Ref16 save or be knocked prone"?

And to go along with that, "Take more than (Wis) hit points of damage, and you have to make a Will15 save or be shaken for one minute."

 

[JPL]

How about that? When your character rolls a critical hit, you have the option of multiplying your damage or perform some kind of stunt (like knocking down your opponents, breaking down their weapons, etc.)

Bingo.

They drop their weapon, or their helm gets knocked down over their eyes, or they are momentarily stunned by a low blow.

 

[Psion]

I fully agree, but I don't know how to fix it.

I use the "clobbered" variant rules in the DMG and assign other effects than being forced to only take a partial action next round. Being knocked prone is virtually the same thing.

 

[barsoomcore]

d20 Modern has the "Take more than (Con) hit points of damage, and you have to make a Fort15 save of drop to -1 hit points." Why not "Take more than (Dex) hit points of damage, and you have to make a Ref16 save or be knocked prone"?

And to go along with that, "Take more than (Wis) hit points of damage, and you have to make a Will15 save or be shaken for one minute."

taky, you're a genius.

And you are SO stolen.

That's BRILLIANT.

 

[Altalazar]

DMs should remember that they are free to describe any combat strike cinematically in any way they like, so long as the DM also remembers that the described effect does not necessarilly affect game play. You can say a player reels from the punch but that does not mean in game the player suffers a penalty.to his next attack. This in itself makes the PCs seem more heroic as the recover instantly from deadly punches and give as good as they got.

On the other hand, if it really makes sense that the character would be knocked, down, do what is said above - give a good chance that they will be knocked down. Forget the letter of the rules - sometimes you just need to make little things up on the fly to handle such situations to give it a more real feel - players won't be upset if you do it right because hey - it MAKES SENSE. And I'm sure one of those times THEY will be the ones swinging down into the helicopter to kick the BBEG in the chest. Little things like this go on all the time in my games and no one thinks anything of it - because it is done where it is approrpriate and just "makes sense" to everyone involved on an intuitive level.

 

[maddman75]

The suggestion to have a threshold at Dex or Wis is a good one - I always prefer it when a house rule works within the system instead of against it. But that I feel would make combat more gritty and realistic, not cinematic.

I really like the idea of being able to trade crits for stunts. In fact consider it stolen. Along with my called shot rule this could really liven up combat. For the curious, any time you do enough damage to kill a creature you can instead choose to hold the attack to, for instance, take a prisoner, staple someone to a wall with an arrow, put out an eye, whatever you like. Justification being that once someone's hp are down and you hit them, they can no longer make your blows less severe. You could put your blade right through his heart - what's to stop you from putting it to his throat and telling him not to move? Or pinning him to the wall through his cloak?