Reactions and opposed rolls

[RosenMcStern]

The debate on the new rule update has been going on for two weeks, and there is a general consensus on the new tables, while not all people likes the opposed roll rule in combat. I am very very concerned, instead, of the randomizing effect of pre-declaring defenses when you face an opposition who is much less skilled than you but has a greater number of total CAs.

Fortunately, the Forumer Lost in Space has come out with a brilliant idea about reactions, which I have elaborated into a houserule. It is a bit more complicate than the opposed roll rule, but I think the added fun and realism are worth it.

------------------------------

The activity of parrying an incoming blow is an instinctive feat, and a character who is standing and conscious is considered to be reacting to any physical attacks coming from adjacent sources he is aware of, regardless of the number of Reactions he has available and decides to spend for that particular defense. Actually spending a reaction represents the fact that a character has detected that one peculiar event in his immediate surroundings is worthy of committing all of his attention, and is concentrating on it. A character must spend a reaction in the following cases:

• 
  1) to cast an antimagic spell (Countermagic, Neutralise Magic) at an incoming spell;
  2) to perform a Riposte or an opportunity attack
  3) to dodge or parry a ranged attack
  4) to dive for cover
  5) to alter the result of a dodge or parry against a tied melee attack resolution, whether to downgrade his opponent's offensive success or to avoid the attacker to downgrade his defensive success.

As a result of point 5) above, in case of a success/success result or a critical/critical result in the resolution of a melee attack, the following cases may take place:

Attacker rolls higher (including bonus for skill over 100%):
- the defender spends a reaction, and the roll is treated as a tie (parry blocks AP or dodge reduces damage to minimum)
- the defenders cannot or will not spend a reaction, and the defense is downgraded (attack succeeds as a normal or critical hit)

Defender rolls higher (including bonus for skill over 100%):
- the defender spends a reaction, and the attack is downgraded (usually to a complete miss)
- the defenders cannot or will not spend a reaction, and the attack is treated as a tie (parry blocks AP or dodge reduces damage to minimum)

--------------------------

What are the adventages of this solution?

• a) fighting someone who has more CAs than you is still a pain in the ***, but no longer a total lottery.
  b) Combat becomes more HeroQuest-like, since a skilled fighter can handle several opponents at a time if he has a "mastery advantage" over them (90% more skill)
  c) if you are fighting less skilled opponents, you are more likely to have spare reactions left for a riposte or opportunity attack
  d) defending against ranged attacks becomes more difficult, as it should be.
  e) as the tie result can now take place, the AP value of weapons is relevant again, but not the most important factor (i.e. you can parry a poleaxe with a dagger, but you need a 90% skill advantage to do it effectively - if you are not that skilled you need a shield)

Let's see an example of what this rule can produce in a typical combat situation:

Garrath Sharpsword is attacked by Ramba the Troll Priestess and her three trollkin henchmen. Ramba is 80% with her Troll Maul, as she is a Xiola Umbar priestess, while the trollkin are just 50% with their clubs, although their high DEX allows them 3 CAs per round. Garrath is 150% with his sword, and 100% with his shield, which he cautiously brought with him.

To deal with the trollkin, Garrath uses his sword. Since he outskills them by far, they cannot roll better than him except in case of a critical, so he does not spend reactions against them, knowing that, in the worst case, his sword will turn their club attacks into 2-point bruises that are easily absorbed by his armor.

To deal with the mommy, Garrath cannot afford to use his sword, since Ramba has an approximate 15% chance per blow of outskilling Garrath, in which case he could downgrade Garrath's parry to a miss. Garrath can still use a Reaction to prevent the downgrading adn force a tie, and so interpose his parrying weapon for its basic APs, but in the case of the Troll Maul vs. the Sword this is not enough. Garrath must use his Shield instead, even though this increases Ramba's chances to roll better than him. It is better to receive two Troll Maul blows per round and block 8 points than it is to receive one blow and block 4 points. Of course if Garrath rolls higher he still spends a Reaction against Ramba in order to downgrade her attack to a total miss, which is always a better idea with a Troll Maul.

Comments welcome. Thanks again to Lost in Space for the basic idea.

 

[frogspawner]

First impression - sorry, but it's too complicated.

But you're right that pre-declaring defences is bad. So just do the parry/dodge when you know if the attack hits (if the damage is bad enough to bother).

 

[weasel_fierce]

Im rather used to parries being declared first, but it can work either way honestly