New Combat System – Part 2
Thanks for the feedback on the first part of the new combat system. Here we go beyond the basics a bit and look at how things like Dexterity, Shields, Armour and Weapons affect work. The combat maneuvers are taken directly from the excellent idea presented with Super Simple Combat Maneuvers.
I’m not entirely sure about the Armour system, but I think this might be what I want.
Dexterity Roll
Characters with above average dexterity can either roll a d4 vs opponents combat roll to block their attack, or increase any existing armour roll dice by one step.
Special Weapons & Shields
Shield: Roll a d6 vs opponents combat roll to block their attack
Two Weapons: May choose to reroll Weapon Roll using dice for 2nd weapon
Two Handed: May choose to reroll a Combat roll of 1
Longer Weapon: On the 1st round your combat roll also succeeds if it matches opponents combat roll
Combat Maneuvers
Assist Ally: Defensive Fighting Blocks and Shield Rolls can be given to a nearby ally
Charge: use the next higher dice size (e.g. a d6 becomes a d8) for Weapon Roll with 2 handed weapon
Shield Bash: Use your shield as a second weapon (d4) instead of blocking attacks
Special Maneuvers: Roll Combat dice normally, opponent can ‘accept’ special maneuver conditions or take Weapon Roll as normal.
Weapon Roll
Characters who succeed with their Attack roll next make a Weapon Roll.
Characters can use up to the limit for their class (d4,d6,d8) on a Weapon Roll
Weapons also have a maximum dice size that can be used for Weapon RollsTwo-handed weapons gain one additional dice step beyond Class and Weapon limits
Some conditions, effects, magic and maneuvers (e.g. charge) may allow additional stepsArmour Roll
If an armour roll is higher than the weapon roll, the attack is blocked.
Characters can use up to the limit for their class (d4,d6,d8) on an Armour Roll
Armour also has a maximum dice size that can be used for Armour RollsTypes of Armour
Light: d4
Medium: d6, -1 step for Speed Rolls
Heavy: d8, -2 steps for Speed RollsSome weapons (Axe, Mace) or situations can reduce the size of the Armour Dice.
The defender can choose to reduce Weapon + Armour Dice on a 1-for-1 basic to a minimum of d4 for the Weapon Roll
As with the previous post I’d love to know what you think. 
You might also like
|
|
|
|
|
At one point I used a system of armour roll VS damage roll in Piecemeal but personally found it pushed users to the extreme, it was most effective to either have the heaviest armour or no armour at all, anything else was completely counter productive (as there was a slight bonus for no armour, equivalent to what would be +1 to speed rolls in your system.) This caused me to move to straight up damage reduction so that armour was always effective at least somewhat. In fantasy setting this came up more.
Right out of the gate I am a bit confused by the d4 mechanism.
–Is it used so that there is only a 25% chance of avoiding a Strike?
—If so, I think it is reasonable.
Next, I’d like to suggest that the Two-Handed rule allow for a re-roll based on the die-type of the weapon:
d4: 1…(25%)
d6: 1-2.(33%)
d8: 1-3.(24%)
@Zzarchov: My thinking was that different types of armour would be better for different situations. For general adventuring when you’d need to make more Speed Rolls (Running, Avoiding Traps, Treacherous Terrain) you’d want lighter or no armour. For battles with large numbers of weaker opponents you’d want the armour – since you wouldn’t be able to use your Defence Blocks against a large number of opponents, and their lower Weapon Rolls would more likely be blocked by the armour. Against single powerful enemies the armour is less useful since they’re more likely be rolling higher Weapon Dice.
This part:
“The defender can choose to reduce Weapon + Armour Dice on a 1-for-1 basic to a minimum of d4 for the Weapon Roll”
Is where it’s a hybrid of Armour Save and Damage Reduction.
@Timeshadows: The Dex save is d4 vs. whatever your opponent rolled for their Combat Roll. Since they normally need to roll a 4 to succeed anyway I’m not sure this will come up that often – although it would if you were being charged (dive out of the way) or there was some other condition that let your opponent succeed as long as they matched your Combat Roll. Currently the save is much less than 25% since in D&D it’s only worth about 5%.
Dex save will also factor into missile weapons and avoiding traps (still working on that part).
I see what you’re saying about the reroll a 1 being more beneficial if you have a lower Combat Dice (based on Class, not Weapon). Not sure if that’s an awful thing or not. It certainly encourages weaker combatants to fight with their weapons two handed… and in a way that does seem appropriate. hmm…
I definitely need to keep an eye on any “reroll a 1″ type scenarios with the dice-step system.
Stuart, I must be extra dense today, because I think I’ve actually become more confused after your last response.
How does the d4 Defence Roll work?
–Please provide a few game examples, eh? :-/
Thanks.
Sure, here’s a sample combat!
Boris Von Hack the Brawny (Str +) 2nd level Fighting Man is armed with an Axe. He is facing off against Slippery Cedric the Quick (Dex +) 3rd level Traveler who is armed with a Sword and Shield and wearing light armour.
Boris has a d6 for his Combat Roll (d6 for Fighting Man). Cedric also has a d6 for his Combat Roll (d4 for Traveler, + one step for being 1 level higher than Boris).
Boris chooses to fight aggressively this round. This lets him roll d8 for his Combat Roll this round. Cedric chooses to fight defensively. This lets him block any of Boris’ Combat Rolls that are less than his own Combat Roll.
Both characters roll their Combat Dice and compare results. Boris gets a 1 and Cedric gets a 3, but since Boris is using his Axe two-handed he gets to roll again… and gets a 6! Boris’ result is greater than 4 so he is successful. Cedric’s defensive fighting does not block Boris’ attack since he rolled lower. He also fails to succeed in his attack against Boris this round as he rolled less than 4.
Cedric next gets to try blocking Boris’ attack with his shield and rolls d6… and gets a 5, which isn’t a block. If he had rolled 6 his shield would have blocked the attack. He also gets a Dexterity Roll of d4, but since he would be unable to get a 6 on d4 he chooses to have it enhance his Armour Roll instead.
Boris gets d10 for his weapon roll (d6 for Axe, +1 step for two-handed, +1 step for Strength).
Cedric gets d6 for his armour roll (d4 for Light, +1 step for Dex).
Cedric doesn’t want to chance taking d10 stamina loss this round so he reduces his Armour roll to d4 and the Weapon Roll to d8. He might alternately have reduced his Armour roll to 0 and the Weapon Roll to d6 if he wasn’t feeling very lucky.
Boris rolls a d8 for Weapon Roll and gets a 4. Cedric rolls d4 for his Armour Roll and gets a 3. That’s lower than Boris’ roll so he loses 4 Stamina points this round.
I created a step die system similar to yours, but came from the “4 Color System” as a base. My step die is basically a d12 max ability, but can be tweaked to go higher. The attributes are: Melee, Coordination, Brawn, Fortitude, Intellect, Awareness and Willpower. The average human character ranks at d6.
I also use a Target Number or Base of 4, but the defender always has the option of rolling their Coordination or Armour Value (possibly getting higher than 4, possibly not).
I handle damage a bit differently. Degrees of Success provides the base damage with a multiplier based on the Weapon used. Example: d’Jaun is using his short sword and attacking Bili. Bili chooses no defense (which defaults to 4) and d’Jaun has a Melee of d8 – he rolls a 7 which grants him 3 Degrees of Success (7-4=3). A sword does “x2” so the total would be 3×2=6.
Any successful attack always gives a minimum of 1 point of damage (plus that of the Degree of success). The scalability takes care of itself. A character with a d6 melee using his or her fists would inflict damage, but not as much as d12 Troll could bash out.
Weapon Damage by Degree of Success
Degree of Success x 1 Damage- claws, hands ,foil, short bow
Degree of Success x 2 Damage- blade, club, cudgel, cutlass, dagger, hooves, horns, long bow, repeating crossbow, sling, spear, sporting bow, short sword ,teeth, thrasher
Degree of Success x 3 Damage- bastard sword, bayonet, carbine, halberd, military crossbow, pike, pistol, revolver, rifle, sub-machine gun, stinger
Degree of Success x 4 Damage- broadsword ,laser carbine, shotgun
Degree of Success x 5 Damage- laser rifle
The above is a slightly modified list of what I also use with Traveller, (something I gleaned from the web of forum many moons ago)…
Cheers and Keep it Up… Your Mechanics look very good…
Wothbora
Leave your response!
Dungeons & Dragons
Recent Posts
Blogs I'm Reading
Members
Most Commented