5 unarmed PC's vs 1 or 2 armed NPCs.

[shouit]

I am planning on starting the campaign with the party in cell awaiting being sacrificed to some dark god. Since there is no encounter levels, I am curious whether five to six unarmed PCs(lvl 1) could take one or two guards(lvl 1). They would have numbers, but I was curious if the AoO would kill the PCs? What you all think? When I get it completely formulated, I will post the adventure.

 

[B_Steele]

I would place several objects in the cell that could be used as improvised weapons to help even the odds if they are smart enough to use them.

For example:

Wooden Food Bowl = Small club or sap
Waste Bucket = Club
Loose Stone in Floor
Large Chip of Wall Brick = Simple Knife

Or perhaps the guards don't always carry their weapon ON them...like they set it down for a second to clean up a mess or unlock the cell door, that sort of thing. I think 5 on 2 should be good odds if you make sure they have the opportunity to even the odds.

If they miss their chance...run em through!

Cheers,
Bry

 

[argo]

(note: if you are unarmed and attempt to disarm you take a -4 penalty to the roll since your unarmed attack is a light weapon, however if you succede then you are holding the weapon you took away in your hand!)

I can't remember if it's an official d20 rule or not, but a rule I always use is that if you're completely unarmed you can also claim the +4 bonus for using a two-handed weapon since you are, in effect, using both hands. This gives a net disarm result of +0.

 

[argo]

Your thread got me ruminating on some good old days, so I thought I'd share...


In one game I ran I started the players without equipment in a cell. The cell was a dank pit complete with the cliche skeleton chained to the wall. Well it wasn't five minutes before the players were going over the cell with a fine-tooth comb looking for anything to use for a weapon/tool. One player scrounges with the skeleton and comes up with a broken shard of the femur, so he asks if he can use that as an improvised dagger and I agree. The player then says, in all seriousness:
"Cool, two minutes ago I was naked and unarmed. Now I'm holding a broken bone... things are looking up!" :lol:


In another game I'm a player. Me and one other PC, both about 5th level, are sitting around the house, unarmed of course. Suddenly a load of zealot priests break in, the fanatics are like 1st level and armed with daggers. About 6 of them jump me alone in a courtyard but instead of running I say "screw it" and go after them. I start making unarmed disarms while soaking the HP damage from the AoO's. And each time I take one of their daggers away I turn around and use To The Hilt to "stick it" back to the guy I took it away from :twisted:

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did this belong to you?"

Good times....

 

[Clovenhoof]

I can't remember if it's an official d20 rule or not, but a rule I always use is that if you're completely unarmed you can also claim the +4 bonus for using a two-handed weapon since you are, in effect, using both hands. This gives a net disarm result of +0.

It's not an official rule. When you use a TH weapon to deal damage, you add 1,5x Str. This does not happen with unarmed attackes. Not even with IUA or suchlike.
The difficulty in making an unarmed disarm is that you have to take heed that your hands not getting cut up / crushed. So for this reason I wouldn't make unarmed disarm easier than intended.

 

[kintire]

It shouldn't be a problem, unless the guards have combat reflexes. They get only 1 AOO against 2-3 PCs...

 

[Se Chris]

Oooops. That mention of the optional 2H disarm rule was me. I wondered why I'd hit 'submit' but my post hadn't appeared...

Turns out I'd hit 'edit' instead of 'quote' on argo's post.

Sorry.

 

[Prof.Dogg]

It shouldn't be a problem, unless the guards have combat reflexes. They get only 1 AOO against 2-3 PCs...

Plus if they don't have Combat Reflxes and the PCs gain the advantage of surprise (i.e. rendering the guards flat-footed for 1-2 rounds depending on their initiative roll for the 2nd round), they won't get AoO period.