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Message: <blockquote data-quote="General Barron" data-source="post: 2326467" data-attributes="member: 32468">Thanks for the replies. Some good input so far. I especially like Quickleaf's idea on combat stat progression. I'll even expand upon it a bit. As for high DR making a wearer impervious to ranged attacks, I have 3 points: first, I was watching a show on the History Channel, where they made a breastplate at tested it vs various weapons. When they hit it with the equivalent of an arrow, it barely left a dent. So someone wearing full plate would be very difficult to injure with arrows IRL. Second, the 'power' attribute gives mid-high level warriors extra damage which helps to overcome the DR. Third, some weapons can be made specifically to penetrate armor, which is something I forgot to mention in my first post. More rules follow:   Statistics Progression: The following covers how a character/monster advances in the new combat stats (attack/defense/power/speed). Whenever a character would gain a point of BaB, he instead gains a number of points that he can 'spend' to increase the combat stats of his choice. No unmodified stat can be higher than his BaB would be, however. The number of points a character gets to spend for each increase in BaB depends on his BaB progression: Good BaB: 3 points/BaB increaseAverage BaB: 2 points/BaB increasePoor BaB: 1 point/BaB increase Fighters: If you feel that fighters are under-powered, then you can make fighters gain an extra point on each one of their 'empty' levels where they gain no special ability (3, 5, 7, etc). This reinforces the fighter's supposed role as the best class at weapons fighting. Weapon Statistics: Additions/changes to the first post: Combat Modifiers: Most weapons that provide defense modifiers do NOT provide this modifier against ranged attacks. Shields are an obvious exception. Reach: The attack bonus/penalty for reach differences between weapons should be 2x the difference. 1x the difference does not provide enough of a bonus/penalty to make it worth risking an AoO in order to close with the enemy. Reach & fighting space (optional): Slashing a 5-foot greatsword about in a 5-foot wide hallway just isn't going to work. Or using a 3-foot longsword either (when adding in the length of an arm). In such cramped situations, one will have to fight with his weapon in an abnormal and less effective manner; or would be better off using a weapon designed for close quarters. When using a weapon that attacks with a chopping/swinging motion, a character must have (reach x 2.5') clear space around him to fight normally. If the space is cramped (walls, furniture, allies, etc in the way), then the character recieves an attack penalty of -2 per 'extra' unit of reach his weapon requires beyond what is available. Eg: A reach 1 weapon requires a 2.5' clear space on all sides of the wielder (i.e. a 5' diameter). If the wielder was fighting in a 5' wide hallway (1 square wide), he would take no penalty to attacks. In the same hallway, someone wielding a reach 2 weapon (requiring 5' clear space) would take a -2 attack penalty; a reach 3 weapon would take a -4 penalty, and so on. Armor check penalty: ALL weapons (not just shields) now have an ACP stat (doing a backflip while holding a greatsword is bound to be difficult). Generally the ACP would be equal to the weapon's reach, although particularly bulky weapons (such as shields) have larger penalties. A weapon's ACP ONLY applies when the weapon is in a character's hand; it does not apply if it is sheathed or across the back. Also, bear in mind that a character can drop his weapon as a free action before performing a skill that would be penalized by holding it. Armor Piercing: This stat represents the weapon's ability to penetrate armor. Normally it is 0, except for weapons specifically designed for this purpose. On a successful attack, the victim's DR from armor is reduced by the weapon's AP for calculating damage (on that attack only). Crossbows are a good example of a weapon that would have a high AP. For ranged weapons, the weapon's AP is reduced by -1 for each range increment from the attacker to the target. Fighting Styles: Below is new information on how various fighting styles work under this system: 2 weapon fighting: This works as described in the first post. 2 handed weapons: When using a 2-handed weapon, no special rules apply. A new rule is that a character can wield a 1-handed weapon, such as a longsword, in 2 hands. Doing this provides a +2 quickness bonus to the weapon, due to the extra control afforded by using 2 hands. Light weapons are too small (eg: daggers) or light (eg: rapiers) to gain any benefit from being wielded in this way. Double weapons: Double weapons only count as 1 weapon (not 2) for purposes of combat statistic modifiers. For example, a double weapon that provides a +1 to defense gives a total defense bonus of +1 (not +1x2=+2 for both sides of the weapon), even if both sides aren't used to attack in one round. If only 1 side of that weapon was used in combat, then the wielder would get his +1 defense bonus (but if both sides were used, he would get no bonus). Unarmed: Unarmed combat is treated just like normal melee attacks. If the attacker does not have the Improved Unarmed Combat feat, then he provokes an AoO whenever he attacks. Even with this feat, the attacker still provokes an AoO if he tries to "close" in on his opponent (see Weapon Reach).Normally unarmed attacks are reach 0, but the DM might allow the Improved Unarmed Combat feat to grant a +1 reach bonus to unarmed attacks (representing the use of kicks). The character can choose whether or not to use this reach bonus (depending on if he is closed in on his opponent or not). 1 handed weapons: A normal character is going to be at a disadvantage when leaving one hand empty in combat. For a skilled warrior however, the free hand would allow for more freedom of movement to dodge attacks, or could be used to support the other edge of his weapon when blocking a particularly strong blow. This will be represented by feats below. Feats: Below are new or modified feats for this system: Single weapon fighting [general]: When fighting with a weapon in one hand and nothing in the other, you are able to use the extra mobility provided to better defend yourself.Prereq: +1 BaBBenefit: You gain a +1 bonus to AC vs melee attacks during round when you do not use your empty hand for any other action. Normal: There is no defense benefit to having an empty hand.Special: Some DMs might want to give this feat to all classes with Good BaB progression for free at 1st level. This allows the player to make a character that fits his concept, without having to sacrifice a feat. This +1 AC could otherwise easily be obtained by using a buckler or parrying dagger in the other hand, therefore this feat isn't really much of an advantage.A fighter can take this feat as one of his fighter bonus feats. Improved single weapon fighting [general]: You are even better at gaining an advantage from having a free hand in combat.Prereq: +4 BaB, Single weapon fightingBenefit: You gain an additional +1 bonus to AC vs melee attacks during round when you do not use your empty hand for any other action. Additionally, you gain a +1 quickness to your weapon hand.Normal: There is no defense benefit to having an empty hand.Special: A fighter can take this feat as one of his fighter bonus feats. Greater single weapon fighting [general]: You are a master at fighting with one empty hand.Prereq: Fighter level 8, Improved single weapon fightingBenefit: You gain an additional +2 bonus to AC vs melee attacks during round when you do not use your empty hand for any other action. Additionally, you gain another +1 quickness to your weapon hand.Normal: There is no defense benefit to having an empty hand.Special: A fighter can take this feat as one of his fighter bonus feats. (EDIT-modified prereqs for feats)</blockquote>

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