Combat Skills:
- Cleave
- Disarm
- Feint
- Grapple
- Block
- Shove/Throw
- Trip
- Unarmed
Each of these starts at 1/6 skill for all characters. Classes with fighter attack tables may increase one of them by 1/6 each level. If you have 1/6, you succeed when a 1 is rolled on a d6. With 2/6, you succeed on a 1 or a 2, 3/6 succeeds on 1, 2, or 3, and so on. If you have a 6/6, roll 2d6; you only fail on double sixes.
Cleave: after killing an enemy, roll a d6. On a success, you get a free attack on an adjacent foe. If your strength is 13 or higher, increase skill level by 1.
Disarm: as a move action, you may roll a d6. On a success, the defender's weapon is knocked to the floor, a number of squares away equal to the d6 roll. If your dexterity AND intelligence are 13 or higher, increase skill level by 1.
Feint: as a move action, you may roll a d6. On a success, the defender loses his dexterity and parry bonus to AC until the end of your next turn. If your charisma AND dexterity are 13 or higher, increase skill level by 1.
Grapple: as a move action, you may roll a d6 (you must have at least one hand free). On a success, your opponent cannot move and is "grappled". Both of you receive a -5 penalty to attacks with weapons larger than knives. Both of you lose your dexterity modifier and parry bonus to AC. If the grapple is held for a number of rounds equal than 6 minus your grapple skill, your opponent is knocked unconscious. If your strength is 13 or higher, increase grapple skill by 1.
Breaking the Grapple: if you are dealt damage, your must re-roll or lose the grapple. During their turn, your opponent can choose to Compete your grapple: you each roll a d6, adding grapple skill. If they win, you are thrown to the ground and the grapple is broken. If you win, the time to unconsciousness decreases by 1. On a tie, nothing changes.
Block: block works differently then the other skills, as it is passive, not active. The starting 1/6 skill grants you the +5 block bonus to AC that I discussed in the last post. Each additional skill point increases your block bonus by 1. You lose this extra bonus when in heavy armor.
Shove/Throw: as a move action, you may roll a d6. On a success, your opponent is pushed back 1 hex (or square, or 5 feet). If you succeed with a 3 or higher, they are also thrown to the ground. If your strength is 13 or higher, increase skill level by 1.
Trip: as a move action, you may roll a d6. On a success, your opponent is on the ground, in the same hex they were. If your dexterity is 13 or higher, increase skill level by 1. Decrease skill level by 1 against opponents with more than two legs.
Unarmed: This determines how much damage your strike without a weapon deals. 1/6: d3, 2-3/6: d4, 4-5/6: d6, 6/6: d8. Increase by 1 if Strength is 13 or higher.
Further Reading: this system is based off of James Raggi's skill system from Lamentations of the Flame Princess Grindhouse Edition. Rules are free at that link.
I'm going to try this system in an upcoming game of mine. I'll tell you how it turns out.
ReplyDeleteI played in Harlo's game, and I can't say the rules worked too well. I spent my point at first level improving my shove ability, which still only left it at 33%. I tried to use it, it failed, and my character died. I felt like the skill was a little bit pointless to have, because it wasn't as good as attacking. I don't demand that my character always be incredibly powerful, but still, if an option is basically useless, it just clutters up the game. I suppose if I had survived to higher levels, the skills would have become more useful, but somehow that feels wrong. Little grapples and shoves seem like techniques for bumbling beginning warriors, more than powerful heroes. I think that a few changes should be made:
ReplyDelete1) Make most of these abilities start with a higher likelihood at level one. Either 2/6 or 3/6. They don't have to be powerful, they just have to be conceivably useful. (I guess that with strength modifiers and additional points, a skill could be 50% at level one, but that still seems slightly low to me.)
2) Make higher level targets have larger dice, and lower level targets have less. If a kobold only has a 1d4, then a level one character can shove them around with ease, because at rank 2 there is a 50% chance of success. An orc could be 1d6, definitely more intimidating but not impossible to use a technique on. The dice could keep ascending, up to 1d20 for a giant, or even 1d100 for a dragon. Experience and armor could also be taken into account, say 1d4 for a sedentary, unarmed human, and 1d10 for a fully armored knight.
You don't have to make these changes, obviously, they're just some ideas. I think I'll try to implement a system along these lines into my games, and see how it works.
Thanks for the notes, you guys. I have actually ceased using this system, but for the period of time it was in use, I decided to allow most of the maneuvers to take a "move" action, rather than "attack". My players proceeded to use them all the time, generally attempting a trip+strike after they had closed. However, the system started to feel gimmicky after a time, and I consider the experiment a failure.
ReplyDeleteThe dice changing for monster sizes is clever, though...
Ha, I guess I kind of forgot this post was close to a year ago. Still, it's nice to be able to discuss it. I've got ideas coming to me that probably wouldn't be otherwise. Maybe I should go make a post of my own.
ReplyDelete