How to describe Strider's combat on Weathertop

[JacktheRabbit]

Thik about it this way. At this point in the story none of the Nazgul have done anything other than intimidate some hobbits and knock a cheap door down.

The Nazgul are creatures of night and darkness and I think they are still gaining their full power. As time passes they become more and more powerful. In addition I would expect that the Nazgul at this point are not prepped as much for battle as for extensive travel.

Combine that with the fact that Aragorn is much more than human and you have your answer.

Now if Aragorn was to try that with the head Nazgul when he arrives at the siege of Gondor I would expect much different results.

 

[Wicht]

In DnD terms - the ringwraiths have low AC and a high DR, with regeneration. Fire hurts them as normal and slows their regeneration. Their primary weapon is fear. This supernatural ability reduces their opponents BAB and removes any Dex. bonus to AC.

Aragorn charges in, immune to their fear. (This means that he is harder for them to hit and is more likely then others to hit them)

He gains surprise and is weilding their greatest weakness (fire) (In the book Aragorn actually has the hobbits maintain a roaring fire as a deterent to attack). During his surprise round, Aragorn moves into a defensive position, above Frodo. The torch adds a circumstance bonus to this move because of the ringwraiths fear of fire. The next round Aragorn employs a two weapon attack coupled with a high number of attacks per round (We will guess him to be at least 10th level though he certainly could be much higher. In two rounds he has set four ringwraiths on fire. The last ringwraith tries to flee and is caught by the torch as Aragorn throws it. The fight is over after one surprise round and three normal combat rounds.

 

[Storm Raven]

My question: Ringwraiths are suppose to be utter Badasses. Why are they scared off by a ranger with a sword and a torch?

They aren't. They had succeeded in their primary goal of wounding Frodo with the Morgul knife, and figured they would just collect his wraith form later when he was overcome by the sorcery of the blade.

They had fought Gandalf on Weathertop a few days before, which had probably weakened them somewhat. They didn't see the need to also get involved in a fight with a powerful ranger for no reason.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Maybe the ringwraiths know that he has combat reflexes?

Seriously, one of the things I really disliked about the film was the gumby way in which the ringwraiths all moved in unison. Gumby ringwraiths didn't stand a chance against him

 

[Lord Vangarel]

Thanks Wicht, that's the type of description I was looking for. Still shouldn't there be something for forcing creatures backwards like he does. Strider jumps into the middle of them waving his torch and sword around and the Ringwraiths scatter. Maybe it's just me but in D&D they tend to just stand there waiting to hit back!

 

[JacktheRabbit]

I liked that. It very much suggested that the wraiths had become little better than slaves of their rings and as such limited thinking extensions of their master Sauron.

Maybe the ringwraiths know that he has combat reflexes?

Seriously, one of the things I really disliked about the film was the gumby way in which the ringwraiths all moved in unison. Gumby ringwraiths didn't stand a chance against him

 

[Henry]

Maybe it had nothing to do with his weapon, but that he was wielding the torch?

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

As a pureblooded descendent of kings, Aragorn has a strong connection to old magic.

You could make a good case for him slicing through DR.

 

[Uller]

There is nothing in the standard D&D rules that allows you to drive back several foes. The only reasonable "in game" action that can really do what Aragorn did was an intimidate check.

He bull rushes the first to drive it back, then uses intimidate while flailing around his sword and torch. Since fire is one of the things the wraiths fear and (as was mentioned) they already delivered what they thought was a fatal wound to Frodo, they were in no mood to fight an obviously very powerful foe. So they were easily driven off.

I don't know what kind of sword he had, but his "real" sword is still broken at this point. So it was not likely any sort of powerful anti-wraith sword.

 

[Irda Ranger]

From what I know of the rules, there is nothing to simulate this. However, you could use the rules for Bull Rush, but make an attack roll instead of an opposed strength check. Your oppenent can simply avoid your attack by making a 5' step backwards. Combine this with Whirlwind Attack, and you drive off everyone within 5' of you.

I am not sure how I would "balance" this rule at the moment. Maybe you take a penalty to attack. I dunno ...

I also haven't read the books, so I don't know if Aragorn would be the type to have Whirlwind attack. But those are my thoughts.

Irda Ranger