Sunday Stats | Combat

[wynn]

SUNDAY STATS || COMBAT

Now to put all those fancy numbers on your sheets to work! Before looking over this, or afterwards, it might help to look at an example of using these combat rules in practice, to see how it looks when tagging. There's a great in-game example here! Combat rules help to figure out things such as:

a) what order people act in - usually in this game, we throw strict tagging order out the window, but as soon as we've entered a combat situation, there's a very rigid code of tagging order, dictated by the rules of Initiative below

b) how much you can do, how effective it is, how much damage you take. Unlike in most RPs where YOU decide if you take out / kill NPCs, you must always write your tags expressing how much damage is done and then leaving it up to the GM to establish in their next tag whether your opponent fell (unless, of course, you're talking to me OOCly at the time, and want to know if they died before you finished your tag! that's fine too).

Combat time breaks down what your character is doing into a six second window. Whoever has the highest initiative acts first within the frame of those 6 seconds, whereas whoever has the lowest acts last. Everything that your character does in their tag must be only what they can accomplish within six seconds. Your character's stats reflect what they are able to do in that time frame.   Once everyone has gone once, we start a new "round", or six second time period.

INITIATIVE (aka Init)

Every round, each person acts once, from highest initiative to lowest. Your initiative is determined by rolling 1d20 + your Dex bonus, and stays the same until the end of the combat.

If some participants are taken by surprise, the other ones get a free round before the surprised ones can act.

Before the very first time you act in a combat, you are "flat-footed"; this means you don't get a Dex bonus to your armor class and can't make Attacks of Opportunity (see below).  

TAKING ACTIONS

There's lots of confusing stuff in the rules about standard actions, full-round actions, move actions, free actions, etc. Here's what I think is a simpler way to think about it:

You have 5 combat points in a round to spend however you like.

Full-round actions cost 5 points.
Standard actions cost 3 points.
Move actions cost 2 points.
Free actions cost 0 points.
If you haven't otherwise moved, you can always move five feet for 0 points.
So you can take one full-round action, or a standard and a move, or two moves, and all of that is along with as many free actions as you like, plus maybe a move of five feet.

ATTACKS OF OPPORTUNITY

Some things that you do (typically, actions that distract you from defending yourself) provoke an Attack of Opportunity, which means that nearby opponents get a free attack (although a combatant can only take one AoO per round, even if multiple opponents provoke one). So try to avoid that. Withdraw and Move Five Feet are particularly helpful in avoiding attacks of opportunity while remaining mobile.

ACTIONS

I've left out actions that are obscure or high-level. Actions that provoke 'Attacks of Opportunity' are marked with a star.

Withdraw (5). Move up to double your speed without provoking an AoO due to moving out of your current spot.
Run* (5). Move up to four times your speed, but lose your Dexterity bonus to your armor class.
Melee attack (3). Take one swing at an enemy. If you like, you can fight defensively by taking a -4 penalty to hit in return for a +2 armor class bonus.
Ranged attack* (3). -4 to hit if your target is engaged in melee with an ally of yours.
Unarmed attack* (3). Only your opponent gets an AoO.
Full attack (5). If you have multiple attacks per round, you need to use this action in order to use all of them.
Cast Spell* (3). If you take damage from the AoO, you have to make a Concentration check to finish the spell. You can try to avoid provoking an AoO by making a Concentration check (DC 15 + spell level), but if that fails, you lose the spell.
Move* (2) up to your speed. Causes an AoO if you move out of a threatened area.
Crawl* (2) five feet if you're unfortunate enough to be prone.
Draw a weapon (2)
Manipulate an item (2), like open a door or pick something up.
Stand up (2)
Drop an item (0)
Drop prone (0)
Talk (0)
Move five feet (0) but only if you are not otherwise moving this round.
Delay action (5). Wait until later this round to act, but your initiative stays at that reduced value.
Ready action (3). Prepare a specific action to respond to another specfic future action (e.g., "as soon as something comes through the door I shoot it").

RESOLVING ANY NORMAL ATTACK

Roll a d20 + your Base Attack Bonus + your Str modifier (or Dex if it's a missile weapon). If this number is equal to or higher than your target's defense score, you do damage equal to your weapon's damage  + your Str modifier if it's a melee weapon, or just the weapon's damage if it's a ranged weapon.

If you roll a 1, you automatically miss. If you roll a 20, you automatically hit. If you roll in your weapon's threat range (typically just 20 but sometimes more), you have a critical hit; you therefore do some multiple of your usual damage.  (Info one both a weapon's threat range and critical multiplier can be found on any equipment charts with weapons listed, or you can ask the GM!)    Note for people who have played D&D before:  this may be different than what you're used to, because you do not have to roll to CONFIRM crits.  Consider it a house rule. 
For damage, roll the dice associated with your weapon and if it's a melee weapon add your strength bonus (one and a half times the strength bonus if it's a two-handed weapon, or half of the strength bonus if the weapon is in your off hand). Damage can't go below 1.

INJURY AND DEATH


A combatant reduced to 0 hit points is unconscious. At -1 HP, you're dying. Every round, you may make a Fortitude save of 20 or higher to become stable; otherwise you lose another hit point that round. When you reach -10, you die. You can stabilize someone else by successfully making a DC 15 Heal check.

Massive Damage:  If a character takes an amount of damage in any one hit that is equal to two times their Constitution score (score, not modifier), they have to make a Fortitude save of 15 or higher, or they will automatically pass out. 


COMBAT MODIFIERS

If the defender is behind physical cover, he gets +4 to his defense.
If he has concealment (e.g., in darkness, fog, or tall grass), then any successful hit on him has a 20% chance of missing anyway.

If you and an ally are on opposite sides of a defender, he is flanked and you both get +2 to hit.

SPECIAL ATTACKS

You can make other kinds of attacks than just swinging or shooting at someone, if you're feeling creative:

Aid another (3). Instead of attacking an enemy, roll against AC 10. If successful, your friend gets +2 to hit or +2 AC against that enemy until your next turn.
Bull rush* (3). Make an opposed Strength check to push the defender back five feet (useful if you're on the edge of a ravine!).
Charge (5). Move at least 10 feet and at most double your speed, then attack with +2 to hit and -2 to your AC.
Disarm* (3).
   - Your target gets an AoO. If he does damage, you fail.
    - Make an opposed attack roll. Two-handed weapons get +4, light weapons get -4. Larger combatants get +4 per size difference.
     - If you won, the defender is disarmed. If you failed, the defender gets to make a check as in 2. to disarm you.
Feint (3). Make a Bluff check against the opponent's Sense Motive + BAB. If you win, on your next attack against him he doesn't get a Dexterity bonus.
Grapple* (3).
   -Your target gets an AoO. If he does damage, you fail.
   - Make a melee attack to grab.
    - Make an opposed grapple check (BAB + Strength bonus) to hold and do unarmed strike damage.
    -  On future rounds you can try to do more stuff or he can try to break the hold.
Overrun* (3).
  - Defender can simply step aside and let you move through if he wants.
  - If he blocks, make a Str vs Dex/Str check, plus 4 per size difference.
  - If you win, he is knocked prone and you can keep moving. If you lose, he makes the same check as in 2. to knock you prone.
Sunder* (3): try to attack his weapon or shield. Make an opposed attack roll as per Disarm to do damage to it.
Trip* (3).
   - Your target gets an AoO unless you are tripping it with a special trip-enabled weapon.
   - Make an unarmed attack (or a melee attack if you are using a weapon).
   - If that succeeds, make an opposed check as per Overrun.
   - If you win, he is knocked prone. If you lose, he makes the same check as in 3. to knock you prone.
Two-weapon attack (3). If you want to attack with two weapons, the first one is -6 to hit and the second is -10 (-4/-8 if the off-hand weapon is light, -4/-4 if you have the Two-Weapon Fighting feat, -2/-2 if both).

* This awesome guide adapted from here!  That person is brilliant.

NEXT TIME:  Leveling up.