D&D General Mechanics of starting a combat & ending a combat

[TheSword]

I’ve been teaching myself the rules for Imperium Maladictum a 40k RPG and one mechanic in the game I found quite interesting and worth sharing - Superiority and Resolve. It got me thinking about whether this would work in D&D and wouldn’t encourage the kind of player behaviors I like to see in the game.

Superiority

Superiority represents the tactical advantage the players characters have in a combat and the momentum. If they are smart they can gain some at the start through scouting or god tactics.

• Know thy enemy: Getting detailed information about the foes and their strengths and weaknesses in advance can give 1 point of Superiority.
• Know thy terrain: Getting detailed information about the terrain or using the terrain for a significant advantage - ambush, hidden approach, hazard etc. Could give one point of superiority.
• Know thy players: When the players come up with some inspired way to turn the tables or gain advantage in another way (disguising themselves as cultists) then they get a point of superiority.

As the fight goes on the players get an extra point of superiority when they kill or disable a leader, if they take down a major elite or if they take out half the regular moons of a fight.

They can lose superiority if they are surprised by enemy reinforcements, if a player character gets taken out of action or are disabled.

This superiority can be used once per round to get a bonus. In that game a bonus to one test per round equal to the superiority score.

Resolve

The enemy get a resolve score that’s based on their willingness to fight. An NPC has its own resolve. The more determined or fanatical the higher the resolve. Fighting on home turf or left with no way out might add +1 to resolve. Not thinking you can win or the fight having nothing to do with you might give -1.

NPCs can usually use the authority of their leader… as long as the leader is in the fight.

Once Superiority score is greater than the enemies Resolve then they become desperate. At that point they would either try to flee, surrender or go all out for a last gasp (perhaps if they think their is no escape or surrender is suicidal). Some enemies might enact a terrible plan when they become desperate.

Thoughts

All in all I really like these rules for three reasons. Firstly they encourage players to think before fighting - gather information about their foe, check out terrains, and devise plans to get the drop of their foes. There has never really been much incentive to make knowledge based checks to identify or to research monsters beyond working out their abilities which most players know already. This changes that.

Secondly they speed combat up to bring it to a resolution once it’s clear that you’re going through the motions. Too often I see fights drag on.

Lastly it encourages other outcomes to a fight than just keep fighting until you have reduced them all to zero hp. Morale checks in the past editions have always felt a bit arbitrary to me, while this system feels really nuanced and rewards the kind of player behaviors that I think are fun and interesting.

I wouldn’t be using numerical bonuses tests in D&D as I think it would break bounded accuracy but there lots of alternatives that superiority could bestow. Particularly since 5e doesn’t have a flat footed mechanics and surprise now just gives you advantage on initiative checks.

What do people think? Interesting mechanic or colossal waste of time.

 

[Tonguez]

I really like this it gets a better framework for Inspiration (Superiority) and Resolve makes Morale an active narrative tool tied to enemy motivation not GM fiat.

I really like that it encourages the players to make those tactical decisions to gain superiority rather than just targeting HP and that Superiority > Resolve autotriggers a reaction that mops up combat without having to slog through more dice rolls

I'd allow a party to get up to 3 Superiority tokens from scouting, scrying, investigation etc for each of your tactics- Know your Enemy/Terrain/Party

Then spend them in combat eg - impose advantage/disadvantage, move without Opportunity Attacks, negate a reaction trigger, modify terrain (create difficult terrain)

You just need to figure out otherways to gain/lost superiority in combat (kill the leaders, break the line, ?)

 

[dave2008]

This is very interesting and thank you for sharing. I like that it give a clear incentive for strategic planning and I absolutely think this idea can work in D&D. I will probably give it a try. I don't know that it has a lot of value for how I hear people actually play 5e though as giving PCs even more ways to be superior to their foes is not what GMs seem to struggle with. However, with the house-rules we play with it would be a welcome benefit for my PCs.

 

[TheSword]

This is very interesting and thank you for sharing. I like that it give a clear incentive for strategic planning and I absolutely think this idea can work in D&D. I will probably give it a try. I don't know that it has a lot of value for how I hear people actually play 5e though as giving PCs even more ways to be superior to their foes is not what GMs seem to struggle with. However, with the house-rules we play with it would be a welcome benefit for my PCs.

Yes. I think it would potentially need to replace something. Probably inspiration as Tonguez suggested.

Although an alternative could be to use slightly tougher foes because fighting until death wouldn’t be the only combat resolution.

I see a lot of fight to the death ends to fights and very little surrender. Probably because the PCs can end up slaughtering or torturing defeated foes. Often I think this is a result of previous GM double crosses where defeated foes return to plague them again. For me if superiority makes a foe surrender or flee in all but the most exceptional cases it should genuine and lasting.

 

[dave2008]

Yes. I think it would potentially need to replace something. Probably inspiration as Tonguez suggested.

Although an alternative could be to use slightly tougher foes because fighting until death wouldn’t be the only combat resolution.

We use max stat of 18* and magic items max at +1 bonus to hit.** At the end game that is an effective -3 to -4 penalty compared to how I see a lot of people are playing.

*We are thinking of going to max stat of 16 for our next campaign.
**On hindsight I would have removed to hit bonuses completely but I had already given out +1 items

 

[Koloth]

Keep in mind that NPC opponents should get the same advantages against the PCs. This will make attacking the goblins in their home lair a much more dangerous affair. The goblins know about all the dead ends, the location of traps, and the very special pets. Also very possible that goblin scouts have been watching the approaching party of PCs for the last several days and sending reports to goblin HQ. Said goblins should also get a morale bonus for defending home turf against the evil invaders.

Under such a system, be sure to clarify that XP and loot awards are just the same for encounters that end with little to no combat due to superior intelligence gathering, well planned tactics and even diplomacy as compared to encounters that end with the NPC side being totally wiped out after a fight to the death. Examples: The nearby village rewards the PCs for negotiating an end to the goblin raids. After driving the raiders away from the caravan, the party's scouts find the raider's abandoned camp with loot from past raids.

When the players know that inovative tactics can be just as profitable as brute force, very likely that you will get more inovative tactics and less concern with maximizing that alpha strike.

 

[TheSword]

Keep in mind that NPC opponents should get the same advantages against the PCs. This will make attacking the goblins in their home lair a much more dangerous affair. The goblins know about all the dead ends, the location of traps, and the very special pets. Also very possible that goblin scouts have been watching the approaching party of PCs for the last several days and sending reports to goblin HQ. Said goblins should also get a morale bonus for defending home turf against the evil invaders.

Under such a system, be sure to clarify that XP and loot awards are just the same for encounters that end with little to no combat due to superior intelligence gathering, well planned tactics and even diplomacy as compared to encounters that end with the NPC side being totally wiped out after a fight to the death. Examples: The nearby village rewards the PCs for negotiating an end to the goblin raids. After driving the raiders away from the caravan, the party's scouts find the raider's abandoned camp with loot from past raids.

When the players know that inovative tactics can be just as profitable as brute force, very likely that you will get more inovative tactics and less concern with maximizing that alpha strike.

Really good point. It is actually a framework for sensibly working out how to avoid a fight altogether.

If the combat starts and the party are already above enemy resolve then they really don’t want this fight.

Just off my head I started thinking how this could make monster hunt type encounters more interesting. There is a real incentive to identify the monster, bait it out of its lair, have a plan.

 

[Tonguez]

Keep in mind that NPC opponents should get the same advantages against the PCs. This will make attacking the goblins in their home lair a much more dangerous affair. The goblins know about all the dead ends, the location of traps, and the very special pets. Also very possible that goblin scouts have been watching the approaching party of PCs for the last several days and sending reports to goblin HQ. Said goblins should also get a morale bonus for defending home turf against the evil invaders.

Under such a system, be sure to clarify that XP and loot awards are just the same for encounters that end with little to no combat due to superior intelligence gathering, well planned tactics and even diplomacy as compared to encounters that end with the NPC side being totally wiped out after a fight to the death. Examples: The nearby village rewards the PCs for negotiating an end to the goblin raids. After driving the raiders away from the caravan, the party's scouts find the raider's abandoned camp with loot from past raids.

When the players know that inovative tactics can be just as profitable as brute force, very likely that you will get more inovative tactics and less concern with maximizing that alpha strike.

I'd just give bonus Resolve +1 for monsters being in their lairs and maybe let them spend resolve to trigger traps and similar 'lair effects'.

I also think that using this system would require the whole notion of XP for killing monsters to be replaced with a broader XP for overcoming challenges or milestone system. Indeed gaining bonus Superiority could be a milestone itself! You gain 10 Superiority and the local village recognises you as Local Heroes, even the goblin tribes wont mess with those under your protection....