[CONAN] New Combat Procedure

[Supplement Four]

I'm making the combat in Conan more visual--more like the gritty, gory combats we read in the stories. I want more out of the game than just to dots on a map that are considered to be locked into melee. I want the combat encounter to be more simulated--more roleplayed.

Akin to how you can play a thief picking a lock. You can simply have the player playing the thief to roll his Lockpicking skill and see if he succeeds or fails. Or, you can go old school and have the player describe how he is approaching the lock. What he does. How exactly he does it. "I approach the door, but without touching it, I get down on one knee and peek through the key hole. Do I see anything on the other side?"

I want combat in the game to flow like this--like I'm living through a fantastic fight scene in a gripping novel.

The basic Mongoose Conan system works pretty well for what I want to bring to my game, but I've found I've got to tweak it just a bit.

Here's my thoughts...



First off, I'm using the optional Dynamic Defense Rule, which means a parry or a dodge is rolled using a d20 plus modifiers instead of a static defense number. If you think about it, a character's parry or dodge AC is really just a roll where the player is "Taking Ten" on his defense.

Since the combat round is only six seconds long, it's much easier to consider each attack roll as an actual swing. Under normal d20 3.5 rules, the attack roll is an abstraction of what really goes on in the combat. A single hit could mean the attacker swung three times and hit on the fourth, swung and hit only once, or a number of unlimited combinations. Under my tweak, each actual dice throw represents an actual swing.



When the combat begins...

1. The attacker describes his attack.

2. Then the defender decides how he will defend himself.

3. Dodges are rolled before attacks, and one dodge throw is used for all attacks.

4. Parries are rolled after attacks, and one parry is rolled per attack.



One of the things I like about this system is that it gives a character that is good with Dodge a reason to use his Parry and not always stick with Dodge.





Let's look at an example of how the system works.

Let's say a Vanir is using a broadsword and shield, combating a Cimmerian who is using a battleaxe.

1. The player (GM) playing the Vanir describes the Vanir's attack. "He takes a step and jabs fiercely with the point of his broadsword, trying to run you through, and then follows the jab with a swing of his shield, attempting to slap the hard edge of his shield into your face." The Vanir is attacking with two weapons, of course, using the standard rules and modifiers.

2. The Cimmerian player announces his defense. "I sidestep right, avoiding both blows." The Dodge is rolled first, so the defending player rolls a total of 13.

3. Now, the Vanir rolls both his attacks, first for the sword thrust as he described, then for the shield blow. Both attacks are compared to the defender's Dodge 13. The Vanir scores an 18 with the sword and a 12 with the shield bash.

4. Since the sword hits, the Dodge is not successful, and the defender will not move to another square. Damage is applied for the sword thrust. The shield did not connect, though.

 

[Supplement Four]

All attacks during the round will go against a single Dodge. This makes it harder to avoid multiple attacks while dodging, as it is in real life (much harder to avoid three stabs from three enemies than it is a single stab from one enemy). If the Dodge is successful, the dodging character must move into an open adjacent square. If any attack against the dodging character hits, then the dodging character must stay in his occupied square.

Attacks at the dodging character that occur after the character has dodged can either be compared to the established dodge number or the defender may roll anew using parries.

For example, let's say our Cimmerian above is successful dodging the two blows the Vanir made against him. The Cimmerian moves to the right one square with his successful dodge.

Now, the Cimmerian attacks the Vanir, and the Cimmerian uses his 5' step in the process, moving to yet another square.

Next, a second Vanir enters the combat and attacks the Cimmerian. The Cimmerian has two choices of defense. He can use his previous Dodge number of 13, or he can attempt to parry the second Vanir's blow with a fresh parry defense throw.

Dodges are rolled but once per combat round, and the total applies to all attacks at the character for the entire round. If a Dodge is successful, the character must move into one adjacent open square. If any attack defeats the dodge, then the dodging character does not move.

A character can only move a maximum of one square due to a successful dodge in one combat round, regardless of the number of attacks thrown at him.

 

[Supplement Four]

If a defender wants to take a wait-n-see approach to defense, he should select to parry the first blow thrown at him.

In the example above, the Vanir is thrusting with his broadsword and swinging his shield. Instead of attempting to dodge both attacks, the defender could attempt to parry the first sword blow and then decide to either parry or dodge the shield bash.

1. Vanir announces his attack.

2. Cimmerian indicates that he will parry the first blow from the sword.

3. Vanir makes attack. Cimmerian rolls parry.

4. Based on that outcome, the Cimmerian could attempt to Dodge the shield blow or parry it as well.

 

[Supplement Four]

I want to take kintire's objections in the other thread and see how this system holds up to his comments.

Situation:

Guard attacks Barbarian. He's an experienced fighter with three attacks, Dual wielding and he gets one extra due to high BAB anyway. First attack, he swings, rolls low, barbarian dodges. Barbarian "has to" to move a square. he moves one square directly away. Second and third attack, Barbarian is out of reach.

1. Guard announces, "I'll come at the barbarian with sword and dagger. I'll swing high at the head and shoulders twice with the sword then jab once, low to the belly, with the dagger."

2. Barbarian says he'll dodge all three blows. He rolls his Dodge now, once. The single dodge will be compared to all three attacks.

3. The fist sword swing misses. If the other two blows miss also, then the Barbarian successfully dodges and must move into an adjacent square. If either of the remaining attacks hit, then the dodge is not successful, and the barbarian does not move.

Guard shoots Barbarian standing in doorway with rapid shot. Shot 1: barbarian dodges. He moves one square, out of the doorway. Shot 2: Barbarian is out of line of sight.

1. Guard announces the bow attack.

2. Barbarian says he will dodge the attack (as he cannot parry arrows). Dodge is thrown.

3. Both attacks are made against the single Dodge number. If either hit, the dodge is not successful, and the barbarian remains in his current square. If both arrows miss, then the barbrian can dodge one square--even around the doorway, out of sight.

Fifteen Guards shoot at fleeing barbarian. He dodges each one: some successfully some not. He moves fifteen squares towards his escape, and THEN its his turn to move!

Do all 15 Guards go before the barbarian? I'll work it both ways.

1. The GM indicates that 15 Guards are firing bows at a fleeing barbarian.

2. The barbarian player says that he will dodge. He rolls his Dodge.

3. All 15 attacks are made against the barbarian's single dodge. chances are some will hit. It's hard to dodge 15 archers. But, if he does dodge them all, the barbarian is forced to move into an adjacent square. More likely, though, the barbarian will be hit by one of the 15 attacks, making the dodge not successful, and thus not allowing the move to the new square.



4. Let's assume that 7 Guards fire at the fleeing barbarian, then the barbarian's turn to act comes up, followed by another 8 Guards at the gate, firing arrows at the barbarian.

4a. GM announces the 7 Guards are firing bows at the fleeing barbarian.

4b. Barbarian player says he will dodge the arrows as best he can. A dodge total of 13 is thrown.

4c. All 7 Guard attacks are compared to the 13 dodge. If all miss, the character must move into one adjacent square. If one or more hits, the character stays in his same square.

4d. It's the barbarian's turn, and he runs in a straight line to get out of the place.

4e. At the gate, 8 more Guards fire bows at the barbarian.

4f. The barbarian's player has a choice. All 8 shots can go against the previous rolled Dodge of 13, or each shot can be compared to range difficulty only, which is a straight d20 throw with no modiers.



In all situations, the dodging character can only move a maximum of one square per round when forced to move due to a successful dodge.

 

[superc0ntra]

I like it and will test it our next gaming session

 

[Supplement Four]

I like it and will test it our next gaming session

I did my own test. I like it too...but not enough to change the RAW rule. I've gone back to RAW again.

Maybe one of these days I'll figure it out to a point to where I'm happy with it. :wink: