More New Year Tinkering with Combat

All rule changes have unintended consequences

Thanks to Brendan's comments on my last post, I have made some changes and offer Part 2 to my combat house rules.

The big change was Brendan's comment that if AC=Dexterity then Dexterity becomes overpowered.

My response is to make the base AC (or evade in my new terminology) class specific. With an option to increase over time (see next post).

Magic user / Specialist/Thief / normal man = 10
Cleric = 11
Fighter = 12
Demi-human as per campaign world

Dexterity bonus applies to base.

So...

Part 1 with this adaption & Part 2:

Surprise

1-2 on d6

Personal Initiative

1d6 + Dexterity Bonus

To hit an opponent

To hit an opponent roll a d20 (+ any modifiers) equal to or above an opponents evade score.

Dexterity bonus applies ‘to hit’ (melee and missile)

[Conversion from descending AC for most monsters: Evade score = 19 – AC]

To avoid being hit by an opponent

Evade score                               = Class Base + Dexterity Bonus + Any Evade Skill Points (see next post)

Magic user / Specialist/Thief / normal man = 10
Cleric = 11
Fighter = 12
Demi-human as per campaign world

Small Shield (150cn enc)           = +1 evade vs 1 attack

Large Shield (300cn enc)           = +1 evade vs 2 attacks

Damage

Strength bonus applies to damage from melee, thrown weapons, bows (not crossbows) etc

Armor Class	Damage reduction per die
Leather & padded hood	-1 damage per die
Chain & coif/helmet	-2 damage per die
Platemail & helmet	-3 damage per die
Great Helm	Additional -1 damage, surprised on a 1-3

Notes

A successful hit will always deal a minimum of 1 damage per die.

If head protection is not worn, armor will not reduce the damage of a 2^nd successful attack that round.

Monster List for Labyrinth Lord demonstrates damage reduction not hard to apply to the majority of monster attacks. e.g. 2d8 damage and leather armor would reduce each d8 by 1 (minimum of 1 damage per die)

Natural ‘20’

Always hits

Maximum Damage (no need to roll)

Cleave (if fighting 2 or more similar opponents any excess damage after first opponent is killed, automatically carries over onto next opponent)

If opponent is wearing armor, they may need to roll to see if their armor has been damaged (see below in Weapons & Armor Damage).

Natural ‘1’

Weapons

A natural roll of 1 means the combatant must make a save vs paralysis [justification for this saving throw - reducing ability to act] or the weapon is notched / damaged and becomes -1 'to hit' and damage.

(A natural 20 will still always hit. Once a weapon will deliver 0 damage it is destroyed).

Strung Missile Weapons

A natural roll of 1 means the string has snapped.

Hurled Weapon (or Unarmed combat)

A natural roll of 1 means the thrower has fallen off balance. Roll vs Dexterity or lose Dex and shield bonus and is -(1-4) on the initiative roll next round.

Weapons & Armor Damage

Armor Damage

- When a combatant is struck by a natural 20 in melee, a saving throw vs poison [saving throw justification - increasing vulnerability] must be made. A failure means the armor loses defensiveness.

- Shields are always lost first, then worn armor.

- When damage reduction is reduced to zero the armor is destroyed, but may still be repairable.

eg. Plate Mail becomes -2 damage reduction, then -1 damage reduction, then destroyed.

- Magic armor gives bonus to saves but magical items can still lose their defensive value. eg. Magic Shield +1 becomes magic shield +0, then destroyed.

Damaged armor can be repaired at 25gp and 3 days per loss of damage reduction.

Magic armor needs a magic user to fix, and at greater expense.

A character must attend to his armor and weapons a minimum of four times a year. Else -1 on any saving throw for the items.

In tropical and marsh environments, every week the character must spend all day tending to their weapons and armor.

[Rather than go down the route of individual saves per item type, I am electing to keep the saving throw character dependent.]

A 20 always succeeds. A 1 always fails.

It is important to remember the save is when an item will fail you when needed most (in lethal combat), not how many practice hits in safety it would take to break the item.

Weapon and Armor Quality effect on Saving Throw 

Poor Quality                         -2 to saving throw

Ordinary Quality                  no modifier to saving throw

Good Quality                        +2 to saving throw

Superb Quality                     +4 to saving throw

Magic Item                            + of item multiplied by 4

Each point of damage to the item is applied to each subsequent saving throw for that weapon or armor [a broken item becomes increasingly more likely to break again]. 

Wisdom bonus is applied to all saving throws

Encumbrance & Movement

Strength	Movement	Penalty
Up to 1/4*Strength in Dungeon Stonea	120’	No penalty
1/4 to 1/2*Strength in Dungeon Stone	90’	-1 personal initiative, -1 evade
1/2 to 3/4*Strength in Dungeon Stone	60’	-2 personal initiative, -2 evade
3/4 to Strength in Dungeon Stone	30’	-3 personal initiative, -3 evade
Greater than Strength, up to double Strength in Dungeon Stone	10’	-4 personal initiative, -4 evade

^a 1 Dungeon Stone = 15 pounds = 150 cn = 1500 coins of the kingdom (small)

All encumbrance limits are rounded to nearest 0.5 Dungeon stone

           

[Encumbrance rules may enhance player choice. Is there a chance players may elect to go sans armor, or plate mail will no longer be the default?]