Combat Example, correct?

[urdinaran]

Ok, one of my players and I were familiarizing ourselves with the combat system in Conan and the following ensued:

Damir (Zamorian/Thief1) sneaks up on a guard (Hyborian/Soldier1), passes his Move Silently check, etc.

He gets a surprise round, since the guard was unaware of him, the guard has a DV 10 (due to being flat-footed).

Damir does a finesse attack on him, so he needs to roll 15 ( DV 10 + DR 5).

He succeeds and does d10+d8+d8 (Target Flat-Footed, Sneak Attack/Arming Sword, Light Footed).

In the combat we did, Damir caused 10 pts of damage (no DR due to Finesse attack), leaving the guard with 2 HP left; He then beat the guard for Initiative and walloped him again because of being Flat-Footed during the 1st round of combat.

Is this correct?

 

[Trodax]

Sounds right to me.

Only thing I'm unsure of is if you can get the Lightfooted feat at 1st level; I thought it had a bunch of prereqs. Don't have my books in front of me, so I could be totally wrong on that.

 

[Turim]

Seems correct to me. I just wanted to clear this up, since you said he needs to hit DV 15. If he hits DV 10-14 he will still hit, but he will not bypass DR. If he hits without bypassing, Str modifier will not be added to Armour Piercing, and armour will not be damaged if he deals 20 (25) damage.

 

[Mike_J]

Only thing I'm unsure of is if you can get the Lightfooted feat at 1st level; I thought it had a bunch of prereqs. Don't have my books in front of me, so I could be totally wrong on that.

Prereqs for light footed:

Sneak Attack class feature
Hide 1 rank
Move Silently 1 rank

Not all that steep, and a very handy feat

 

[Trodax]

Prereqs for light footed:

Sneak Attack class feature
Hide 1 rank
Move Silently 1 rank

Not all that steep, and a very handy feat

Yeah, I checked it and found that I had misremembered the prereqs. I thought you had to have Dodge and maybe something else as well.

You're right; it is a very sweet feat, especially at low levels. It's probably a good deal for a Thief to get it at 1st level and then instead get Fleet-footed as a bonus at level 4 (?).

Oh, and Mike; welcome to the boards!

 

[Mike_J]

Thanks Trodax!

I'm actually the player Urdinaran mentions at the top of the thread.

It's probably a good deal for a Thief to get it at 1st level and then instead get Fleet-footed as a bonus at level 4

That is exactly my plan. The extra die, the ability to role d8's and the finesse attack makes the sneak attack much deadlier at low levels here than in standard D20, and our combat experiments bore that out. Of course, they also showed that if I'm caught in a straight up fight I'm hamburger, but that's when I run screaming for the Cimmerian.

 

[urdinaran]

Thanks for the replies. My biggest concern would be that as a character goes up in level, and his BAB also rises, getting the first hit becomes important as it will be very easy to hit an opponent. I say this because it goes both ways. NPC Thieves will be able to do the same thing.

Another situation we were wondering about was this:

PC turns the corner and is facing a guard (neither get a surprise round). The PC wins initiative and engages the guard. The guard has a shield and a shortsword. The guard would still be DV 10 (can't parry or dodge) and get no benefit from his shield, even though he has it out and clearly sees an opponent coming at him.

What are your thoughts on this?

 

[Deadpool]

PC turns the corner and is facing a guard (neither get a surprise round). The PC wins initiative and engages the guard. The guard has a shield and a shortsword. The guard would still be DV 10 (can't parry or dodge) and get no benefit from his shield, even though he has it out and clearly sees an opponent coming at him.

What are your thoughts on this?

The first thing to resolve is who knew what. Did the guard hear the PC coming around the corner? Did the PC know there was a guard?

If the PC knew the guard was there but the guard didn't hear the PC then he wouldn't have time to put up his guard to defend against the surprise attack. That is why Barbarians get the ability to not be surprised or flat-footed (at a certain level) because they are used to defending against surprise attacks with lightning speed. A simple guard would not.

 

[argo]

Another situation we were wondering about was this:

PC turns the corner and is facing a guard (neither get a surprise round). The PC wins initiative and engages the guard. The guard has a shield and a shortsword. The guard would still be DV 10 (can't parry or dodge) and get no benefit from his shield, even though he has it out and clearly sees an opponent coming at him.

What are your thoughts on this?

Two words; Reflexive Parry

(Side note: IMC I houseruled the prereq's for Reflexive Parry down to Base Pary Bonus of +4 instead of +8, so the Soldier can get it by level 6 instead of level 11).

Later.

 

[Mike_J]

Just to clarify Urdinarian's question.

Assume neither of us is surprised, but I (the thief) win initiative.

In D20 a combatant is considered flat footed until their first action comes up (I could be mistaken in this). If that is true, do I get a sneak attack on the guard at a DC 10 in the first round despite the fact he is not surprised?

 

[Turim]

It is true, and you get to sneak attack vs. DV 10 even if you didn't surprise him.

 

[argo]

Just to clarify Urdinarian's question.

Assume neither of us is surprised, but I (the thief) win initiative.

In D20 a combatant is considered flat footed until their first action comes up (I could be mistaken in this). If that is true, do I get a sneak attack on the guard at a DC 10 in the first round despite the fact he is not surprised?

Yes you get your sneak attack.

And the better way to look at it is that you are both suprised. The guy who wins initiative is the guy who pulls his act together first.

Hope that helps.