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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 5517813" data-attributes="member: 92305">I was doing a little play testing of the new combat procedure that uses the Dynamic Defense rule where defenders roll defense rolls instead of an attack being compared to a static AC number.  I pulled out a map from a boxed set and randomly rolled starting positions, giving each combatant a loin clout and battleaxe.  Then, I just let them go to town.  Both are 1st level characters, so I knew the combat would be short. Caelis won nish, and as luck would have it, he was exactly 30 feet (by the convoluted route I walked him through, avoiding tables and walls and such) from being toe-to-toe with his opponent, Thrallan. Randomly placed, Thrallan got stuck in a long, narrow, 5' wide hallway. I made neither of them flat footed, and both had their weapons out, searching for the other. When Caelis came around the corner for him, it was no surprise to Thrallan. Caelis is left handed, so I imagined him storming up to Thrallan with his battleaxe held over his right shoulder doing a slicing chop at Thrallan's upper torso as soon as he got in range. These first level Barbarians are actually better at the parry than they are the dodge, so I imagined right handed Thrallan throwing up his own battleaxe to catch the other below the blade, knocking handles together, then, on his turn, knocking away Caelis' weapon and doing a similar strike in return. Well, it didn't work out that way. Caelis rolled a 16 on his attack while Thrallan rolled a 15 on his parry. Caelis did 9 points of damage on Thrallan, knocking him from 11 hit points to 2. Here's where my questions comes up.... I imagined that, when Thrallan thew up his block, that the haft of Caelis' axe caught Thrallan on the fingers and knuckles. I had Thrallan throw a DEX check vs. a DC 9 (the total damage) to see if he retains the grip on his axe or drops it. Then, I had Thrallan a CON check vs a DC 9 to see if the damage is serious (broken hand or fingers or crushed knuckles) or if it was something that would heal quickly and normally. The result was: Caelis came around the corner, hustled up to his brother and swung. Thrallan threw up his block, got caught on the knuckles, and his battleaxe went spiraling at his feet. The damage to Thrallan's hand isn't serious and permanent, but it is throbbing pretty bad and will remain close to useless until the hit points are restored. That's a lot of color I threw in there as a GM. I do it in my game all the time, and I wonder how many of you do the same? Add things like the chance to drop the weapon...figuring out what happened with a blow...and the like? I read a good article not that long ago (wish I could find it again) written by Ian Sturrock (one of the authors of the Conan core rule book--the game I play which is based on D&D 3.5, but not exactly the same game) that said this exact type of thing was intended for the rules but was never implemented--mainly for space reasons, but also because it's not an easy concept for some to grasp or to explain. Sturrock suggested that the GM consider actions in the fight and then apply modifiers to further combat actions as needed. For example, if a right handed fighter parries, using his weapon, a left handed fighter's strike, it could be awkward to then re-maneuver the weapon quickly enough to gain some momentum into a counter strike at the enemy. So, had Thrallan successfully blocked Caelis' blow in the example above, a -2 to Thrallan's attack would have been appropriate given that Caelis is left handed and Thrallan is right handed. Some may not want to deal with this type of detail in combat. I find it quite fun, breathing life into a combat system that can get stale if you let it. Also, it has the side benefit of making the player think of non-traditional attacks rather than always simply attacking with his main weapon. Had Thrallan been successful with the block, maybe his player would balk at the -2 penalty on Thrallan's attack and instead decide to kick out with one of his feet. Sturrock would say the kick is the most natural response and allow a +2 mod on the attack. The fight goes on, back and forth, like this, with the GM intrepreting and throwing in little modifiers and checks here an there based on what he declares is happening during the fight. Who else plays like this?</blockquote>

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