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David Noonan on D&D Complexity
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<blockquote data-quote="Justin Bacon" data-source="post: 3125835" data-attributes="member: 3795"><p>Compare and contrast:</p><p></p><p>1. Making a standard attack (in any of several varieties) is a single die roll followed by a damage roll. Depending on the type of attack, you might provoke a standard AoO.</p><p></p><p>2. Initiating a grapple is a four step process which involves provoking an AoO with special-case consequences; a die roll; an opposed roll; a damage roll; a special case size modifier; and some special-case movement rules.</p><p></p><p>Once you're in the grapple, you apply a special condition to yourself with a variety of effects. Your actions in a grapple are limited to a very specific (but lengthy) list of alternatives, all with variable special-case rules applied to them. </p><p></p><p>One of the things you can do in a grapple is pin our opponent, which applies a set of special case rules to yourself and a different special condition to the person being pinned (with its own slew of distinct special-case rules). </p><p></p><p>Joining an existing grapple uses a slightly different set of rules than initiating a grapple. And once you've got multiple grapplers in there, yet more special case rules apply.</p><p></p><p>......</p><p></p><p>Yeah, those rules are complex. If by nothing else, then by comparison to the rest of the combat rules. More importantly, they're not elegant and they're not intuitive.</p><p></p><p>(The combat maneuver which comes closest to grapple's complexity is probably disarm, which involves a special-case AoO, a special-case size modifier (based on weapon size), and an opposed roll. As you can see, grapple is still in its own little world of complexity.)</p><p></p><p>(Let me put it another way: I've prepped cheat sheets for combat. I've got one sheet which includes a complete summary of all the combat actions; and then I've got a complete page dedicated entirely to the grapple rules.)</p><p></p><p>A more elegant and less complex system would standardize away a lot of the "special case" rules for grappling. It would also include a unified mechanic for resolving actions within a grapple. I'd suggest a simple rule of, "You can attempt any action in a grapple, but you must first succeed at an opposed grapple check. You move at half-speed while in a grapple."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Justin Bacon, post: 3125835, member: 3795"] Compare and contrast: 1. Making a standard attack (in any of several varieties) is a single die roll followed by a damage roll. Depending on the type of attack, you might provoke a standard AoO. 2. Initiating a grapple is a four step process which involves provoking an AoO with special-case consequences; a die roll; an opposed roll; a damage roll; a special case size modifier; and some special-case movement rules. Once you're in the grapple, you apply a special condition to yourself with a variety of effects. Your actions in a grapple are limited to a very specific (but lengthy) list of alternatives, all with variable special-case rules applied to them. One of the things you can do in a grapple is pin our opponent, which applies a set of special case rules to yourself and a different special condition to the person being pinned (with its own slew of distinct special-case rules). Joining an existing grapple uses a slightly different set of rules than initiating a grapple. And once you've got multiple grapplers in there, yet more special case rules apply. ...... Yeah, those rules are complex. If by nothing else, then by comparison to the rest of the combat rules. More importantly, they're not elegant and they're not intuitive. (The combat maneuver which comes closest to grapple's complexity is probably disarm, which involves a special-case AoO, a special-case size modifier (based on weapon size), and an opposed roll. As you can see, grapple is still in its own little world of complexity.) (Let me put it another way: I've prepped cheat sheets for combat. I've got one sheet which includes a complete summary of all the combat actions; and then I've got a complete page dedicated entirely to the grapple rules.) A more elegant and less complex system would standardize away a lot of the "special case" rules for grappling. It would also include a unified mechanic for resolving actions within a grapple. I'd suggest a simple rule of, "You can attempt any action in a grapple, but you must first succeed at an opposed grapple check. You move at half-speed while in a grapple." [/QUOTE]
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