Is D&D combat meant to be heroic?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Au contraire. My villains monologue their butts off, and the PCs are about 21-22nd lvl. Mind you, they may be bobbing and weaving while it happens...

Same here. Time stands still for repartee.

 

[Griffith Dragonlake]

IMO it's just not worth it, even with Improved Disarm(and not only is that one of your feats gone, plus a fighter has to have an Int of 13 and spend a feat on Combat Expertise to get it). Just to note I have this same problem with tripping, overrunning, etc. The risk is greater than the reward. I wonder if this could be part of the problem with the fighter class in general, make these maneuvers easierfor them to achieve and qualify for and it opens up greater possibilities for the class.

Hey Imaro—How about hopping over to the House Rules Forum and post the disarm and trip rules you’d like to see? I’m an ex-SCA fighter and have posted my combat house rules from time to time but have never really looked at disarm and trip.

 

[Dr. Confoundo]

Well, you can always take a page from Mutants & Masterminds by adding hero points. One great usage of hero points is that you can spend one and gain the use of a specific feat for one round. Dueling that BBG, and need to part him from his immensely powerful magical sword? Spend a hero point, and gain Improved Disarm for the round. Need to knock the evil wizard off the top of the tower? Spend a point, and gain Improved Bull Rush. Etc.

 

[phindar]

I've done two things. The first is to use a Crit/Fumble table that takes into account the special manuevers, so that on a particular crit you get a free Trip attempt (or whatever) that doesn't provoke or give the enemy a trip attempt in return.

Another thing I tried (in my Gladiators! game) was to ditch the combat manuevers entirely. Instead, trying something like that was an attack roll at -4 to hit, and then an Opposed Attack+Size+Cir roll. Since everything went back to that same Manuever check, it was a lot easier to keep track of. The idea was to let everybody do those special manuevers and to be less feat dependent, so that combat was more random and cinematic (for lack of a better term, its still guys around the table yelling, "I stab the goblin in the neck!") It also made things a lot faster, which goes a long way towards making it feel more heroic.

I've thought about posting these in more detail in House Rules. Maybe when I have more time.

 

[Meloncov]

Improved disarm negates the AoO. If your facing someone roughly equal to yourself, you should win the disarm at least %70 of the time (due to the plus four from improved disarm) and due to locked gauntlets, you're unlikely to ever lose your weapon.

 

[Stalker0]

Improved Disarm negates the AOO AND the reverse disarm if you fail. Its improved trip where if you fail the trip your opponent still gets a chance to trip you.

 

[Shazman]

Thanks this was more what I was looking for, real reasons to use "heroic" combat maneuvers that don't end up with you gettin the whoopin handed to you.

You can be really good at these maneuvers if you are willing to burn some feats on it, and properly place your ability scores. Get monkey grip to wield a huge weapon and go to town disarming people. Be a dwarf, goliath, or half-giant with a spiked chain and improved trip for a powerful tripper. Throw improved bullrush and shocktrooper into the mix to push your enemies around while beating them to death. Complete warrior did a lot for 'special' maneuver feats.

 

[Henry]

I'm surprised that very few people forget about monologuing (sp?) being a free action... Remember, the DM decides ultimately how much you can accomplish with a given free action -- the guideline is "a few sentences." So, a paragraph this round, a paragraph next round, etc.

 

[Slife]

Here's a good "villain spell": Pohlkhat's Pompous Pontification. Also known as "Rhetorical Time Stop", this spell stops time like a regular Time Stop. However, the only action the caster may perform is to deliver a grandiose or megalomaniacal monologue. The caster may not move, but may gesticulate as appropriate to emphasize his point.

Talking is a free action. So the spell isn't really that useful...

 

[TarionzCousin]

I have taken Escrima for three years...

Dude, if the rash hasn't cleared up by now, you need to see a doctor.

But seriously, D&D combat is very unrealistic, but it can be heroic--witness Firelance's post.

We try to make combat in D&D seem as "heroic" as possible. Like Kamikazie says, this is usually done through description. We encourage players to go into as much detail as possible about exactly *how* they attack, dodge, or whatever (this often leads to players getting up from the table and demonstrating, which can be quite entertaining) and our DM will sometimes give bonuses based on the description. In my opinion, it makes combat a LOT more fun.

I give a standard +1 to hit when the player gives a heroic cinematic description of his/her actions. I also give the bonus for describing how you pick the lock, jump the gap, slink past the guards, etc. It makes things a little more heroic entertaining, and often it is very amusing for the rest of us at the table.

Edited for accuracy.