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<blockquote data-quote="Cadfan" data-source="post: 4360398" data-attributes="member: 40961">The problem with disarming foes is that, if you make it something you do during a fight rather than at the end, you have to add all of the following to your game system-1. A method for picking up dropped weapons.2. A way to tell, for every single monster that has a weapon, the nature of their unarmed combat prowess, including which abilities work and how well.3e had these things, but they kind of sucked.&nbsp; I'm looking at the 3e Ogre Mage right now.&nbsp; If you disarm the Ogre Mage, obviously his greatsword attack doesn't work.&nbsp; His base attack is printed in his stat block.&nbsp; His strength bonus is there as well.&nbsp; You can add them together to get his unarmed attack bonus.&nbsp; Then for his unarmed attack damage, you can start with the 1d3 unarmed attack damage of a medium creature, and check the Ogre Mage's size to increase it by the appropriate number of dice.&nbsp; Fortunately none of his powers require weapons (in 3e, nothing actually REQUIRES weapons), so that's all the work you have to do.And of course to disarm him in the first place involved an arcane set of rules based on weapon size and number of hands holding the weapon.This is a pain in the neck.&nbsp; The game could make it go more smoothly by adding &quot;abilities while disarmed&quot; to every monster stat block, but that would be an annoying amount of clutter.Its just too much work for one unusual ability that is far too easily defeated by carrying a backup weapon.&nbsp; It multiplies statblock complexity for very little gain.&nbsp; Far better to concentrate on combat tricks with more efficient payoff.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Cadfan, post: 4360398, member: 40961"] The problem with disarming foes is that, if you make it something you do during a fight rather than at the end, you have to add all of the following to your game system- 1. A method for picking up dropped weapons. 2. A way to tell, for every single monster that has a weapon, the nature of their unarmed combat prowess, including which abilities work and how well. 3e had these things, but they kind of sucked. I'm looking at the 3e Ogre Mage right now. If you disarm the Ogre Mage, obviously his greatsword attack doesn't work. His base attack is printed in his stat block. His strength bonus is there as well. You can add them together to get his unarmed attack bonus. Then for his unarmed attack damage, you can start with the 1d3 unarmed attack damage of a medium creature, and check the Ogre Mage's size to increase it by the appropriate number of dice. Fortunately none of his powers require weapons (in 3e, nothing actually REQUIRES weapons), so that's all the work you have to do. And of course to disarm him in the first place involved an arcane set of rules based on weapon size and number of hands holding the weapon. This is a pain in the neck. The game could make it go more smoothly by adding "abilities while disarmed" to every monster stat block, but that would be an annoying amount of clutter. Its just too much work for one unusual ability that is far too easily defeated by carrying a backup weapon. It multiplies statblock complexity for very little gain. Far better to concentrate on combat tricks with more efficient payoff. [/QUOTE]

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