Fighting in crowds

[Liminal Syzygy]

I'm designing a scenario in which the PCs will have to fight their enemies in a dense crowd. I have seen no rules for this, do they exist?

I am considering the following:

* No Attacks of Opportunity (crowded conditions reduce chances and allow people to sheild themselves with other's bodies)
* Automatic half cover
* Movement 25% for medium humanoids, 50% for small
* You can use Intimidate at DC15 to get crowds to back off from you for 3 rounds as a misc standard action (we are talking wall to wall flesh which doesn't allow people to stay away). This allows you to move and use attacks of opportunity, but you lose the advantage of cover.
* Spell casters need to cast defensively or cast as if they have taken 5hp of damage from random jostling

Any ideas or comments? Did I miss rules for this somewhere?

 

[Dravin]

The jostling effecting spell casters sounds good, but make sure it doesn't apply if the spell has only a vocal component, or at least that would be what I do. But then the number of purely vocal spells isn’t many, so it's not a great worry.

Aside from that I can’t think of much else, hope your players remember not to use spells with an area of effect.

 

[Black Omega]

* Automatic half cover

Keep in mind that if the cover makes them miss, someone in the crowd is getting hacked instead. I've run into this when my PC has used other characters as 'cover'.

 

[Umbran]

* You can use Intimidate at DC15 to get crowds to back off from you for 3 rounds as a misc standard action (we are talking wall to wall flesh which doesn't allow people to stay away). This allows you to move and use attacks of opportunity, but you lose the advantage of cover.

Is this a crowd of particularly stupid people?

You're in a packed department store at holiday time. Two guys draw swords and start swinging. Are you going to actually stop and look and see if they look particularly mean about it before you really put effort into getting out of the way?

People in a crowd where sharp and pointy objects are being violently waved about are going to do their darndest to get out of the way. They will move if at all possible. Glowering extra hard at them is inconsequential compared to the presence of live steel in a cramped place.

 

[Jack Haggerty]

Also remember that if a fight starts up in the midst of a crowd, the crowd is mostly going to panic in an attempt to run away from the fight. If there isn't enough room to run away, they very well may trample each other in their haste to get out of the way of swinging swords.

D20 Star Wars has some guidelines for fighting in crowds, but I'm at work and my rulebook's at home. Give me about an hour and a half...

 

[Liminal Syzygy]

Also remember that if a fight starts up in the midst of a crowd, the crowd is mostly going to panic in an attempt to run away from the fight. If there isn't enough room to run away, they very well may trample each other in their haste to get out of the way of swinging swords.

D20 Star Wars has some guidelines for fighting in crowds, but I'm at work and my rulebook's at home. Give me about an hour and a half...

Great! I would appreciate it if you could post that!

I'm not going to worry about tramples as much as this will be basically a brawl/subdual damage fight but it will be much more important than a simple tavern brawl (simply no access to weapons).

 

[Plane Sailing]

If the crowds are that dense you might want to disallow cleaving

Cheers

 

[hong]

If there were any penalties, I'd apply them to the first round only. After people start swinging swords and axes around, as was mentioned, the crowd will probably clear out quick-smart.

 

[Xahn'Tyr]

Have you considered just calling them "entangled" with a crowd?

An entangled creature suffers a -2 penalty to attack rolls and a -4 penalty to effective Dexterity. If the bonds are anchored to an immobile object, the entangled character cannot move. otherwise, he can move at half speed, but can't run or charge. An entangled character who attempts to cast a spell must make a Concentration check (DC usually 15) or lose the spell.

 

[Rashak Mani]

I agree with the previous posts... in any bar fight everyone just gets out of the way ... quick...

Now in those first 2-4 rnds your ideas might work... I certainly would check for trampling. Halflings might get around more easily in a crowd... but crowd can more easily run over the same halfling in a rush....

Your question did remind me of those movie scenes where the characters are running thru a market or shopping... where people only become aware of them seconds before they pass... the so called "running fight" or "chase" thru crowds.. Missile wpns would be almost useless... and a lot of problems would be in order.