What is combat like in Traveller?

[MrHemlocks]

Reason asking is because I really do not care for the generic AD&D type combat. Does this game have a more detailed combat system where criticals use hit location charts and the threat of combat is more than just loosing generic hit points ?

 

[Jacqual]

Traditionally in Traveller there is no hit location chart, but first attack is versus 1 of your 3 physical stats. If the damage exceeds the stat in points you are unconsious, and the your hitpoints are basically the total of your 3 physical stats. Combat is therefore pretty fast and dangerous, armor is very important. I dont remember if Mongoose Traveller has an actual hit location chart to use, but if they don't it would be easy enough to borrow from another game.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

What is it like? First, combat has an extremely lethal feel compared to AD&D as you will see below.
There are no locations or crit charts. Despite that, there is some flavored detail that AD&D lacks.

Traveller does not have increasing level based benefits like hit points. Your "hit points" are your stats (Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance) and if you get damaged in combat, your stats go down and so do your bonus DMs releated to the stat. So as you get wounded, your combat abilities are impacted directly. Better than generic hit point without too much complexity added.

Barring scientific gadgets, enhancements and such, a character at most can take 45 points of damage. The average Joe has 21 ponts. A fist does 1d6 per and a simple pistol does 3d6 or more. Portable energy weapons can do 16d6!

Characters go unconscious if two of the stats are reduced to 0. So characters can potentially die after only 2 pistol shots. Most player have characters with average Joe stats.

Armor subtracts damage points from attacks and does not alter the "to hit" roll. However protection is on the order of one to ten points, mostly, so characters are still not so likely to survive Fusion and Plasma Guns...

No attacks of opportunity. Actions are categorized as major, minor, free, and reactions. Characters only get one attack per round (major action), but can potentially dodge multiple attacks with increasing penalty to the dodging character.
In hand-to-hand characters can use their skill rating to act as a -DM (parrying), but you have to decide how much for attack and how much for parrying.
Shields, depending on the rules used, either adds to parrying (Core Rules) or subtracts from damage like armor (Supplement 4).

 

[Woods Walker]

Combat is actually quit simple in Traveller compared to D&D. It can be a bit dull without some descriptive work from players and GM. Not a problem really. Also the system can be added to pretty easily because of the basic framework.
The stat pool that generates "hit points" is pretty low relative to damage as previously mentioned. It's a good system overall but can splatter a PC all over the back wall if they aren't very, very careful. Particularly when energy weapons come into play.
For the less epic heroic power fantasy RPGs a good combat system should be straightforward and deadly enough to actually encourage players to avoid fighting. I think this system does that job pretty well.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Players don't have enough time to worry about hit points or hit locations, because their character is usually already dead. Just a 3D6 amount of damage to a player will take them down, if not kill them.

 

[hdan]

Characters without armor in gun fights will get killed pretty quickly. It has always been thusly in Traveller.

As a Referee, either make sure your guys only get into fist fights when unarmored, OR allow/encourage them to buy armor at their earliest convenience. Mongoose cloth armor is tailored and can be worn under clothes. Ship's crew uniforms (jump suits?) can also be armor, and people wear those things around the spaceport enough that nobody would be suspicious. Characters who go into potentially dangerous situations without any sort of body armor are going to be forced into an early retirement, so to speak.

You still have the problem that civilians wearing obvious body armor are going to attract attention, but maybe that's what the "throw against Law Level to avoid harassment" is all about.

 

[locarno24]

Reason asking is because I really do not care for the generic AD&D type combat. Does this game have a more detailed combat system where criticals use hit location charts and the threat of combat is more than just loosing generic hit points ?

As noted, there are no 'hit locations' as such, but there are meaningful effects that the GM can translate.

1) Because your stats are your 'hit points', any injury affects your ability to pass the appropriate checks - damage split between STR and DEX being a wound to the leg, or something similar.

2) Your 'hit location' is included in your roll to hit. Because you add the effect of your roll to the damage (i.e. the amount you beat the 'to hit' roll by), a master sniper aiming with a laser sight will do far more damage (normally) that a snapshot from a generic grunt, even though both may have fired a 2D6 damage weapon. The difference, obviously, is that the grunt's effect 0 put a fleshwound on your leg whilst the marksman's effect 6 or more means he's hit you centre of mass and planted you on your arse, stone dead.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

I had a player that wanted to cut the hand off of another player (who wouldn't hand over a briefcase containing an alien artifact) with a cutlass. His Effect of the attack was high enough to do a clean slice. And I divided the damage by 6 (rounding up) since it was just a hand getting cut off, because he would have died otherwise from the total damage. His INT was used to check for going into shock.

So I was taking an abstraction and defining it more clear.