D&D 4E Less miniature, simpler combats in 4E

[Angellis_ater]

So, I've been contemplating changing how combat works for us. We've recently encountered a spacing problem (a table broke and now we don't have room to place large maps anymore) and I'm considering new options for how to handle 4E combats.

Right now I am considering creating smaller "zones" and use the following rules:

One move action takes you to an adjacent zone.
One run action takes you two zones. (Or two move actions).
Inside a zone, you are either engaged or not. Engaged is melee distance. Unengaged is Close.

Close Burst 1 = All engaged are targeted.
Close Burst 2-4 = All in zone are targeted.
Close Burst 5+ = All in zone and all in adjacent zones are targeted.

Ranged 5 is within 1 zone, Ranged 10 is from one zone to an adjacent and above that every 5 squares is one additional "zone" away.

Engaged Rules:

- If you are engaged to two or more enemies, you grant combat advantage.
- If you are engaged with atleast one enemy, you have cover against ranged attacks from outside your zone.
- If you are engaged to two or more enemies, you have cover against ranged attacks from inside your zone too.
- Shifting will unengage you from one enemy. More squares shifted = more enemies to unengage from.
- Leaving engaged/making ranged or Area attacks while engaged = opportunity attack.

The areas I have difficulty solving are how to handle Reach Weapons and Close Blasts, and Area Burst 1 attacks (Area Burst above that follow the Close Burst schematics above + range as per ranged attacks) - so do you have any suggestions and/or ideas?

 

[ricardo440]

why not just change the scale on your maps?
Each square is 10' or 20'

 

[Shin Okada]

Ah... at least you did not break your room, right?

It is much easier to buy or build a new table than to make up a new house rule, I guess.

Or, you can always mop and clean up the floor and place cushions (and a carpet and such). Sit on the floor as Asians and Arabians do.

 

[Angellis_ater]

While funny, I'd love to get some response to the idea/houserule itself rather than suggestions on what to do with my table

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Check this out...

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It may give you some ideas. Wrecan has a pretty thorough grasp of the rules and a lot of DMing experience. I haven't used this, but I'd trust his house rules to be pretty well thought out.

 

[Angellis_ater]

Overall Wrecan seems to be going in about the same direction, only that I will most probably be a little more "scripted" in how I define zones.

For example, in a combat inside a mansion, each room would be a zone, the staircase would be one zone and the entracehall would be two zones.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Overall Wrecan seems to be going in about the same direction, only that I will most probably be a little more "scripted" in how I define zones.

For example, in a combat inside a mansion, each room would be a zone, the staircase would be one zone and the entracehall would be two zones.

Right, I think its an interesting approach for doing mapless combat. I think there are some other rules systems that have similar mechanics too. I haven't actually played one, but doesn't for instance 7th Sea do something along those lines? I'm not sure of the specifics but it might be worth checking out, they may have some useful ideas.

 

[Angellis_ater]

Thanks, I'll look over 7th Sea and see what they came up with - I've heard good things about 7th Sea before so this is just one more reason.

 

[DEFCON 1]

7th Sea does have rules for judging range, but that is mainly for their ship-to-ship combat and chase scenes. In both cases you have movement phases where you attempt to close or gain distance from each other, then you have attack phases (for ship combat mainly). However, in hand-to-hand swordfighting... it is just assumed that both combatants are fighting each other throughout whatever location you happen to be in, and thus specificity of exactly where you both are is not paid attention to. Using the 'terrain' of a location is basically a player choice whenever they want to add it to their action, and it's assumed the characters have moved wherever they needed to to accomplish it.

So I would not think that 7th Sea would be a good choice for trying to emulate 'mapless 4E'.

(That being said... I absolutely LOVE 7th Sea, their game mechanics, and their fluff, so I cannot recommend the game enough. It's my second-most-played game after D&D)

 

[Stalker0]

I think this system is a great approach, a solid foundation. Let's see what we can do with it.


For reach weapons...frankly I think reach weapons are weak in 4e anyway, so we can consider a completely different buff for these weapons. Maybe you get +3 with CA or something.

For ranged attacks and cover, I find that in most regular 4e battles, archers don't suffer cover problems that much since your friends don't provide cover and combats are much more mobile. So I would make the default that firing into an engaged group does not provide cover.

I think your biggest problem here is forced movement. Its a huge part of 4e, and there's no mention of how it works in your system.