Conan second edition Combat chapter

[Axerules]

A question for Gareth:

Special Attacks and Manoeuvres, pages 204 to 212, are now gathered.
It is nice to have all combat options in the same place.
But it creates a problem:

In AE, you could perform only one Combat Manoeuvre/round. The sentence was not reprinted (or I didn't find it). Is it an oversight ?
Special Attacks and Manoeuvres are no more clearly distinct.

How does it work:


A:
RAW: you can now perform any number of Special Attacks and any number of Manoeuvres.
A HUGE change: with more easier-to-do Manoeuvres, combat rounds could become very complicated since a lot of different combos are now possible. If A is correct, one could make 3 Rolls and 4 Ripostes in the same round ?
B:
Only one Special Attack/Manoeuvre is allowed each round.
It would be another huge change: in AE, D&D or the SRD, nothing prevents a character to make one trip, one disarm and one sunder if he has three attacks. But it would make combat rounds easier to handle.

C:
Same as in AE: any number of Special Attacks and only one Manoeuvre.
If C is correct, which ones are Special Attacks and which ones Manoeuvres ? It is easy for the old stuff if you own AE, but for new things like Aim, Roll, Riposte...


Have you thought those things through when Aid Another, Aim and Cat's Parry were written on the same page ? Did I miss (or misunderstood) something ?

An official answer would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[Supplement Four]

In Second Edition, the Special Maneuvers all have indications of what kind of Action is required to perform the maneuver. The Overrun is a Standard action, and thus, a character could not make a melee attack (which is also a Standard action) and perform the Overrun in the same combat round.

OTOH, the Dance Aside is an Immediate action. Action types are described on pages 180-181 of 2E Conan, and there, we see that an Immediate action is a type of Free action. Thus, if a character is allowed to perform the Dance Aside (by having his opponent's attack throw be less than half the character's Dodge AC), this does not preclude the character from taking his normal actions during the round. A character that is attacked and has the Dance Aside triggered can still use his Standard and Move actions normally.

To answer the question in the OP: It depends on the type of action required by the Maneuver.

A:
RAW: you can now perform any number of Special Attacks and any number of Manoeuvres.
A HUGE change: with more easier-to-do Manoeuvres, combat rounds could become very complicated since a lot of different combos are now possible. If A is correct, one could make 3 Rolls and 4 Ripostes in the same round ?

The Riposte is an Immediate action, thus, it is conceivable that a character could make 4 Riposte maneuvers in the same combat round. The attacks would have to come from 4 different foes, and the character must be defending himself with the Parry defense. Every attack that is less than half the character's Parry AC allows the character to make a Riposte. If all 4 enemy attacks were low enough to qualify the maneuver, then the character would, indeed, get 4 counter attacks on his enemies.

This shouldn't complicate combat at all. Each attack on the character by an enemy is made individually. If the target is eligible to make a Riposte (meets prerequisites), then simply give the target the Riposte maneuver after every attack that qualifies.

For example:

Attacker 1 - Rolls attack against the character, and his total is higher than half the character's Parry AC. No Riposte here. Move on.

Attacker 2 - Rolls attack against character, and the total is less than half the character's Parry AC. Roll the character's Riposte now.

Attacker 3 - Rolls attack against the character, and the total is less than half the character's Parry AC. Roll the character's second Riposte now.

Attacker 4 - Rolls attack against the character, and his total is higher than half the character's Parry AC. No Riposte here.

Think of the Riposte as a type of triggered Attack of Opportunity. I suppose you could House Rule the Riposte, if you wanted, making it count as an Attack of Opportunity and subject to those rules (only one AoO per round unless the Combat Reflexes Feat is taken and the character has a high DEX).

Note that the Riposte, as written, will become less likely with multiple attackers because of the Multiple Opponents rule (page 202) and the Flanking rule (page 198). Both of these rules provide attack bonuses so that rolling low becomes less likely.

Only one Special Attack/Manoeuvre is allowed each round.
It would be another huge change: in AE, D&D or the SRD, nothing prevents a character to make one trip, one disarm and one sunder if he has three attacks. But it would make combat rounds easier to handle.

As noted above, a character cannot make a Trip, Disarm, and Sunder, all in one round. The Trip is a Standard action. The Disarm is a Standard action. And, the Sunder is also a Standard action.

Since a character can perform only one Standard action and one Move action per round (or a Full action in place of those two), the character would have to choose one maneuver and give up his normal attack in order to perform the maneuver.

Same as in AE: any number of Special Attacks and only one Manoeuvre.
If C is correct, which ones are Special Attacks and which ones Manoeuvres ? It is easy for the old stuff if you own AE, but for new things like Aim, Roll, Riposte...

Aim is a Full-round action, which means that the character can do no other thing but that action during the round. The character will aim for the entire six seconds of the combat round, and he benefits from this by gaining the +2 attack modifier on the following round when he takes his Standard action to fire his weapon.

The Riposte is an Immediate action, but it also requires the character to be defending himself using his Parry AC. This may fall into the perview of the GM, but I would consider a character using an entire round to aim as being flat-footed. This means that the character cannot use his Parry or Dodge defense, and thus the Riposte is not possible.

Have you thought those things through when Aid Another, Aim and Cat's Parry were written on the same page ? Did I miss (or misunderstood) something ?

Aid Another is a Standard action, and Aim is a Full Round action. Therefore, the same character could not use both maneuvers in a single combat round.

The Cat's Parry is an Immediate action, and this could, conceivably be combined with Aid Another (Cat's Parry could not be combined with Aim as noted above), but remember that Cat's Parry provides an Attack of Opportunity. Thus, the AoO rules rules are used (in that a character can only perform one AoO per combat round unless the Combat Reflexes feat is taken and the character has a high DEX).