Player's Option™:
Combat & Tactics
Foreword
Way back in issue #39 of Dragon® Magazine, I found a great article called Good Hits and Bad Misses. My friends and I had been playing the AD&D® game for a couple of years, and we took one look and adopted the article's critical hit and fumble system. We ignored every piece of advice about responsible use of the system and began using the critical tables in our next game.
Our epic battles turned into bloodbaths. Our group of adventurers left a trail of dismemberment and sucking chest wounds in our wake. I distinctly recall one battle in which my character, a dwarven fighter named Hendel, had the unbelievable misfortune of losing one leg, an arm, and the other leg at the ankle. He still had 30 hit points left, so Hendel kept on battling, swinging his axe with great war-cries as he crawled along after his enemies. Talk about your suspended disbelief!
Now it occurs to me that maybe, just maybe, even Conan (or Godzilla!) would have been incapacitated by these injuries. In fact, maybe Hendel, if role-played well, would have curled up into a ball and cried for his mother when he lost that first leg. I sure would have. But we had a great time with it, even when fumbles led to friendly-fire decapitations and other such incidents.
The point to all this is that any fantasy role-playing game has a pretty tough job in creating fast but semi-realistic combat rules, and the AD&D game, even with variant rules like the critical hit system we ran amok with, is basically an abstract game. The Combat & Tactics book is a compromise that adds some detail to combat—not to make it more realistic, but to make combat more believable. There are darn good reasons why people stop fighting after they lose a couple of limbs, why 12th-level fighters don't turn their backs on guys with knives in their hands, and why people ought to be polite to angry folks pointing loaded crossbows at them.
If you're one of those players who thinks, "Hey, it's only 1d4 points of damage, what do I care?" (and who hasn't, once in a while?) you'll find that this book's going to make you think twice. I can't think of a single example in all of fantasy literature where a character wasn't concerned about someone trying to put a knife or arrow in him; why should your character be any different? Combat & Tactics rewards common sense and quick thinking. Taking needless risks and making bad decisions can get a person killed in a fight. Don't you think your character would see things the same way?
Rich Baker
November, 1994
Before anyone ever thought about creating a role-playing game, there was a little set of rules called the Chainmail™ game. With that slim booklet in hand, one could use miniature figures to conduct medieval battles, from sweeping conflicts in which huge armies of steel-clad men fought for honor and booty, to small bands of heroes storming formidable castles, to forces of elves taking up their bows against fearsome dragons.
The Chainmail rules were hardly the last word in historical accuracy, but they were easy to learn and easy to play. They also did a great job of conveying what it might have been like to see a medieval battle unfolding before you. The Chainmail game eventually gave rise to the first fantasy campaigns, but a set of miniatures rules is not a role-playing game, and it wasn't long before the D&D® game, and later the AD&D game, came along to replace it. Nevertheless, the Chainmail rules for tabletop combat remain at the root of the AD&D game.
The AD&D game is about more than combat, but what fantasy adventure is complete without at least one pitched battle where the heroes prevail by the strength of their sword arms and the sharpness of their wits? The Combat & Tactics book is for anyone whose heart races (as mine does) at the thought of clashing arms; not just hack 'n slash, but heroic battles with swirling action, ringing steel, and eldritch flashes of magic. You won't find 20 pages of tables telling you exactly where a sword blow lands in this book, but you will find plenty of ways to make combat more than a dice-rolling contest or an exercise in subtracting hit points from your character's total. If along the way you learn to stay away from fights unless you're sure your party can win them, that's even better.
Skip Williams
November, 1994
Table of Contents
Chapter One:
Player's Option™ Combat System
Does This Belong in My Campaign?
The Battle Map
Figures and Facing
Scale
Melee Scale
Range
Weapons
Monsters
Missile Scale
Switching Scale
Combined Scale
The Combat Round
Combat Rounds and
Game Time
Spell Durations
Combat Status
Clear
Threatened
Unusual Monsters and Threatening
Grappled
Attacks of Opportunity
Movement
Base Movement
Exceptional Abilities
and Movement
Strength
Dexterity
Encumbrance
Simplified Encumbrance
Opening the Battle
Surprise
Encounter Distance
Set-up
The Five Basic Steps of Every Combat Round
Step One: Monster Action Determination
Step Two: Player Action Declaration
Step Three: Initiative
Step Four: Resolution of Actions
Step Five: End of Round Resolution
Initiative
The Initiative Roll
Base Initiative
Weapon Speeds
Critical Events
Combat Actions
Combat Actions and Movement
No-Move Actions
Half-Move Actions
Full-move Actions
Movement and Initiative
Combat Movement
on the Battle Map
Moving Through Other Figures in Combat
Overruns
Choosing an Action
The Actions
Attack
Cast a Spell
Charge
Cover
Fire/Throw Missiles
Guard
Move
Parry
Run
Sprint
Unarmed Combat
Use A Magical Item
Withdraw
Ending the Combat Round
Retreats
Fatigue
Keeping Track of Fatigue
Effects of Fatigue
Recovering from Fatigue
Effects of Force Marching on Fatigue
Morale
Informal Morale Checks
Formal Morale Checks
Failing a Morale Check
Status
Special Combat Conditions
Standard and Optional
AD&D Rules
Movement and Footing
Cover and Concealment
Mounts
Rear or Flank Attacks
Sitting, Kneeling,
and Lying Prone
Damage and Dying
Weapon Type vs. Armor Type
Firing Into a Melee
Additional Rules
Higher Ground
Knockdowns
Critical Hits
The Gray Areas
Example of Combat
Round One
Round Two
Round Three
Round Four
Chapter Two:
Combat Options
Does This Belong in My Campaign?
Battle Tactics
Shield Wall
Versus Missiles
Versus Melee
Spear Hedges
Mounted Charge
Archery from Horseback
Attack Options
The Opposed Roll
Block
Called Shot
Disarm
Grab
Overbear
Pull/Trip
Sap
Shield-Punch
Shield-Rush
Special Weapon Maneuver
Trap
Trap and Break
Unarmed Attack
Unhorse
Fighting Styles
Single Weapon
Two-handed Weapon
Size and Two-handed Weapons
One- or Two-handed Weapons
One-handed Weapons
used Two-handed
Weapon and Shield
Two Weapon
Unarmed
Missile or Thrown Weapon
Multiple Loaded Weapons
Thrown Weapons
Weapon-Specific Styles
Dueling
What's A Duel?
Initiative
The Dueling Plot
Attacking in the Right Spot
Reading an Opponent's Move
Moving the Figures
Choice of Defense
Choice of Attack
Ending a Duel
Heroic Frays
Chapter Three: The Battlefield
Does This Belong in My Campaign?
Battlefields
The Four Basic Battlefields
Dungeons or Caves
Town or Building
Outside
Castles or Fortifications
Battlefield Characteristics
Encounter Range
Lines of Fire
Cover and Concealment
Footing
Obstacles
Unusual Materials or Hazards
Terrain Types
Badlands
Caves
Desert
Fields or Farmland
Forest, Heavy or Jungle
Forest, Light
Hills
Marsh
Mountains
Plains
Ships
Swamp
Taverns
Town Streets
Generating a Battlefield
Step One: Scale
Step Two: Topography
Flat
Hilly
Broken
Slopes and Escarpments
Step Three: Ground Cover and Water
Clear
Thickets
Light Woods
Heavy Woods
Clear
Bog
Stream
Pond
Step Four: Obstacles
Step Five: Putting It All Together
Fighting in Unusual Conditions
Limited Visibility
Moonlight or Moderate Fog or Rain
Starlight or Dense Fog or Heavy Rain
Total Darkness
Water
Weapon Restrictions
Vision
Movement
Fighting Underwater Monsters From the Surface
Climbing
Movement
Fighting
Fighting Flying Creatures
Aerial Combat
Initiative
Threatening
Movement
Attacks from Below
Attacks from Above
Unseating a Rider
Combat on Other Planes
Astral Combat
Ethereal Combat
The Effects of Magic on the Battlefield
Wizard Spells
Priest Spells
Magical Items
Chapter Four: Weapon Specialization & Mastery
Weapon Proficiencies
Intelligence and Proficiencies
Proficiencies and the
Weapon Groups
Specialization and
Weapon Groups
Character Classes and Weapon Proficiencies
Kits and Barred Weapons
New Weapons
Shield Proficiency
Armor Proficiency
Weapon Mastery
Nonproficiency
Familiarity
Proficiency
Expertise
Specialization
Melee Weapons
Missile Weapons
Bows
Crossbows
Firearms
Weapon Mastery
Effects of Mastery
High Mastery
Grand Mastery
Special DM Note
Fighting Style Specializations
Weapon and Shield Style
One-handed Weapon Style
Two-handed Weapon Style
Two-Weapon Style
Missile or Thrown Weapon Style
Horse Archers
Local Fighting Styles
Special Talents
Chapter Five:
Unarmed Combat
Does This Belong in My Campaign?
Brawling
Brawling Attacks Against Armed Opponents
Temporary Damage
Opposed Rolls
Pummeling
Pummeling Procedures
Pummeling Skill Levels
An Example of Pummeling
Special Pummeling Maneuvers
Sapping
Kicking
Wrestling
Wrestling Procedures
Holds
Previously Established Holds and Locks
Breaking Free
Assistance
Locks
Wrestler Versus Wrestler
Wrestling Skill Levels
An Example of Wrestling
Overbearing
Overbearing Procedures
Pins
Effects of Pins
Maintaining and Breaking Pins
Assistance
Overbearing Skill Levels
An Example of Overbearing
Attack Options and
Unarmed Attacks
Subdual Attacks
An Example of Subduing
Martial Arts
Martial Arts Procedures
Martial Arts Skill Levels
Martial Arts Weapons
An Example of Martial Arts Combat
Martial Arts Talents
Chapter Six:
Critical Hits
Does This Belong in My Campaign?
Critical Hits: System I
Critical Hits: System II
Critical Hit Charts
Location
Severity
Resistance
Reading the Critical Hit Tables
Specific Injuries
Critical Hit Effects
Critical Hit Tables
Chapter Seven:
Weapons & Armor
Equipment Groups
Reading the Equipment Lists
Stone Age or Savage Cultures
Tools/Common
The Bronze Age and Ancient Cultures
Roman
Dark Ages
The Crusades
Hundred Years' War
The Renaissance
Middle Eastern
Oriental
Firearms
Armor
Master Weapon List
Weapon Descriptions
Weapons Tables
Weapon Groups
Weapons and Ability Bonuses
Armor Descriptions
Chapter Eight:
Siege Warfare
Does This Belong in My Campaign?
War Machines
Bombardment Engines
Ballista
Bombard
Cannon
Catapult
Trebuchet
Bombardment Engine
Procedures
Indirect Fire Engines
An Example of Indirect
Bombardment
Direct Fire Engines
An Example of Direct
Bombardment
Vehicles
Chariot
Howdah
Carrying Capacities For Beasts
Wagon
Driving Checks and Flipping Over
Ramming
Miscellaneous War Machines
Battering Ram
Bore
Cauldron
Gallery Shed
Greek Fire Projector
Mantlet/Abatis
Ram Catcher
Rocks
Critical Hits and
Knockdown Dice
Multiple Targets
Siege Tower
Escalades
The Approach of A Castle
Walls
Wall Defenses
Scaling Walls
Ladders
Grappling Hooks
War Machine vs. War Machine
Fires
Sapping
Petards
Creatures Inside
Destroyed Targets
Magical Attacks
Sieges
Reduction
Reduction Procedures
Saving Throw Failure
Mines
Counter Mining
Investment
Mass Combat
Mass Combat Procedures
An Example of Mass Combat
Proficiencies
Chapter Nine:
Monsters
Does This Belong in My Campaign?
Creatures in Battle
Intelligence
Alignment
Morale
Creature Types
Humanoid
Animal
Monster
Attack and Armor Types
Attacks
Armor
Index
Credits
Design: L. Richard Baker III & Skip Williams
Editing: Thomas M. Reid
Project Coordinator: Steve Winter
Art Coordinator: Peggy Cooper
Cover Illustration: Jeff Easley
Interior Illustrations: Doug Chaffee, Les Dorscheid, Larry Elmore,
Ken & Charles Frank, Roger Loveless, Erik Olson, and Alan Pollack
Graphics Coordinator: Paul Jaquays
Graphic Design: Dee Barnett
Production: Paul Hanchette
Typography: Angelika Lokotz
Photography: Charles Kohl
Diagrams: Paul Hanchette
Special Thanks: Dave Gross
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeons & Dragons, AD&D, D&D, Dungeon Master, Dragon Strike, and Dragon are registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.
Chainmail, Monstrous Manual, Planescape, Player's Option, and the TSR logo are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the
material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of TSR, Inc.
Random House and its affiliate companies have worldwide distribution rights in the book trade for English language products of TSR, Inc.
Distributed to the book trade in the United Kingdom by TSR Ltd. Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributors.
©1995 TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
0–7869–0096–2 2149XXX1501 2nd Printing, Nov 1995.
Chapter One:
Player's Option™
Combat System
This chapter introduces the Player's Option combat system, an advanced set of skirmish rules designed to add detail and flavor to battles in an AD&D game. The combat rules from the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master® Guide have been expanded and streamlined to create more active, exciting battles.
In most forms of personal combat, there is a lot more going on than a cycle of swing-and-miss and swing-and-hit actions. In a fight, people move around. They press advantages or fall back when they need to get some room. Consider a pair of boxers. They're not just throwing punches; they're ducking, dodging, weaving, and trying different attack strategies such as jabs, hooks, or uppercuts.
Armed combat is much the same. Position is important. Enemies try to surround lone characters to get flank or rear attacks. Large creatures such as giants or dragons use their bulk to knock smaller opponents back and scatter defenses. These are not unusual attacks or special maneuvers; they're things that just happen in the chaos of a fight.
The Player's Option combat system incorporates these effects and tactics, making them available for heroes and monsters both. Your battles will never be the same again.
Does This Belong in My Campiagn? The Player's Option combat system is an integrated set of rules that dovetails with the later chapters in this book. However, you don't have to use this chapter in order to make use of the other systems.
This chapter presents several new combat actions, restructures the AD&D initiative system, and introduces retreats, fatigue, and critical events. Most of the material assumes that you will use these rules with character and monster miniatures on some kind of map. If you don't want to run combat like this, you'll still find that the new initiative system and actions can be used without any figures or maps at all.
The Battle Map The Player's Option combat system is played on a gridded battle map with 1-inch squares. The battle map becomes a diagram of the battlefield that can be used with figures, stand-up counters, or markers. The exact location of each character or creature is important, since facing and terrain are critical to the tactics of a fight.
A number of games and accessories, such as the Dungeons & Dragons® Adventure Packs, include gridded maps. Feel free to borrow mapboards and modify them for use in your own campaign.
You can also use dry-erase boards, magnetic dungeon tiles, or washable gridded mats to portray your battlefield. You can make your own maps to customize the battlefield for each combat. In fact, it's a good idea for the DM to prepare for an encounter by making a map of the battlefield beforehand. As long as the map is marked in 1-inch squares, it will do.
Some DMs and players may prefer battle maps marked with hexes instead of squares. Hexes, however, introduce certain inconveniences to the rules that do not surface with a square grid. (For example, can figures occupy partial hexes near walls?) Nevertheless, with a few modifications it is certainly possible to adapt the Player's Option combat system to a hex grid.
Figures and Facing
Every character in a fight is represented by a miniature, stand-up, or marker of some kind. Figures show the location of every creature in the battle and also show the facing of each creature. In melee scale, one Man-sized creature fills one square on the map.
In any fight, facing is very important. It's hard to punch someone standing behind you unless you turn around. Each figure or marker on the battle map should have an obvious front facing. For miniatures in strange poses, everyone should agree beforehand what direction is the front of figure. "This figure faces the square his sword is pointing at" is good enough.
All figures have front, flank, and rear spaces. The three spaces in front of a figure are its front spaces, the two spaces directly beside it are flank spaces, and the three spaces behind it are rear spaces. Facings can be at the side of a square or at the corner (see diagram).
Normally, characters can only attack enemies in their front spaces and gain attack bonuses when they attack an enemy's flank or rear.
There are two situations where more than one figure can occupy a single square: grappled figures are both in the defender's square, and characters in close order (see Chapter Two) can fit two figures to a single square. If there is more than one figure in a square, each figure has the same front, flank, and rear spaces; no one is considered to be in the left side of the space, or the back of the space, or whatever.
Tiny (Size T) creatures can fit an unlimited number in one square, although it would be unusual for more than 10 to be in one space unless they were insect-sized.
Figures that are smaller than Man-sized (Size S) normally occupy one square each, but if space is tight they'll fight two to a square with no penalty. Small creatures in close order can fit three figures in a square.
Large (size L) creatures normally occupy one space on the map. They can fight in close order simply by occupying adjacent spaces.
Huge (size H) creatures occupy two to four spaces on the map, depending on their size and shape. Humanoids such as giants and ettins are two squares wide, creating an extra front space and an extra rear space. Horse-like or serpentine creatures have a narrow front and a long body, creating two extra flank spaces. Block-like or massive creatures occupy a four-space square.
Gargantuan (Size G) creatures occupy at least six spaces. They can be even bigger if the DM decides that the creature's proportions are truly immense. A dragon with a 40-foot body could take up a block of spaces two wide and eight long! Gargantuan creatures define front, flank, and rear spaces so that roughly one-third of the adjacent squares fall into each category.
Scale In normal combat situations, each 1-inch square on the map represents an area 5 feet square. This is referred to as melee scale. Under certain special circumstances, each 1-inch square can represent 5 yards. This is known as missile scale.
Melee Scale
The melee scale is the default scale for battles that take place indoors, inside dungeons, in darkness or fog, or at close range. As long as the combatants are all starting within 50 or 60 yards of each other, most battle maps are big enough to run in melee scale from the start. This will save you the trouble of converting from missile scale to melee scale during the battle (see Missile Scale, below).
In melee scale, remember that spell and missile ranges are based on yards, not feet. A thrown dagger normally has a short range of 10 yards, or 30 feet. In melee scale, this is 6 squares on the battle map. A spell with a 30-yard range can be targeted 18 squares away.
Range
Most characters and monsters can only make melee attacks against creatures standing in one of their front spaces. However, some weapons provide extra reach for characters, and some monsters cover a greater area because of size.
Weapons
Many polearms are assigned a range, much like missile weapons. A polearm with a range of 2 can strike enemies standing in the character's front square or any adjacent square beyond the row of front squares.
Some weapons are defined as range only weapons. Pikes and lances fall into this category. These weapons can be used to make normal attacks in the squares they can reach but cannot be used against targets in between the wielder and the weapon's point.
Creatures wielding range 2 or larger weapons or natural attack forms cannot make melee attacks through an occupied square to another square unless as part of a spear or pike hedge (see Chapter Two).
Monsters
Any Large creature armed with a weapon adds 1 to its range, due to its great natural reach. For example, an ogre wielding a spear (normally range 1) has a range of 2 with the weapon. Any Huge creature armed with a weapon adds 2 to the weapon's range. A Gargantuan creature adds 3 to a weapon's range; a titan swinging a 15-foot sword endangers an enemy quite a ways off.
Some monsters may also have natural attacks that allow them to strike opponents at ranges greater than 1.
Missile Scale
Some battles may open in missile scale, which is five yards to the square. The only reason to set up a battle in missile scale is when the two hostile forces try to engage each other with spells or missiles at ranges greater than 50 yards or so. Naturally, this usually happens in outdoor settings with good visibility. If neither side has any missile or spell capability, there is no reason to set up the battle in missile scale. Save yourself the trouble of converting and set it up in melee scale from the start.
For example, the heroes
encounter a party of orcs while climbing a high mountain pass. The DM decides
that the two groups spot each other at a range of 500 yards, since there isn't
much cover. Nothing happens until the groups close to 210 yards, since that is
the maximum range of the party's longbows. The DM tells the players that they
begin the battle in missile scale, 42 squares away from the orcs.
In missile scale, characters and monsters move 1/3 as fast as normal. A character that could normally move 12 squares in a combat round can only move four spaces per round in missile scale. There are nine melee squares in a single missile square, so up to nine Man-sized creatures can occupy a square when missile scale is in effect.
Since all spell and missile weapon ranges are expressed in yards, it is easy to figure ranges in missile scale. A target eight squares away is actually 40 yards distant.
Switching Scale
When two opposing creatures move adjacent to each other, it's time to switch the scale from missile to melee scale. Select one figure as an anchor, and move all the other figures three times as far from the anchor as they were. In effect, you're zooming in on the battle.
An easier but less accurate method of zooming in on the battle is to simply announce that you're switching scale and allow both players and monsters to get a second set-up. As long as everyone sticks by the spirit of the set-up, just eyeball it. Make certain that the opposing forces have three times as many squares between them as they did before the scale was zoomed in.
Combined Scale
A handy way to keep track of where the party members are in relation to each other is to have them set up their marching order in melee scale. Set up the monster group in melee scale in relation to each other. Now, assume that all the spaces between the party and the monsters are missile squares. Make sure you indicate where the scale changes by setting a pencil or ruler on the map.
This combined scale method assures that monsters trying to close under missile fire have to withstand the normal amount of attacks before they get close enough for melee. It's also useful for determing the areas of effect of any spells cast at the opposing group. When any two opposing characters come in contact, switch the scale.
The Combat Round In a standard AD&D game, rounds are assumed to be about one minute long. The combat system round lasts about 10 to 15 seconds, during which a typical swordsman will make about three to six swings. Most characters and monsters can only make one effective attack in this time; the rest of the swings are feints, parries, or just for show.
Higher-level characters with multiple attacks are able to make more of these swings count. Parries are followed up with ripostes. Feints suddenly become attacks when an opening presents itself. With time and practice, a skillful swordsman can make every swing of his sword a potentially lethal attack.
Combat Rounds and Game Time
Combat rounds replace the one-minute round in normal AD&D combat situations. If you need to keep count, five combat rounds equal one normal round, and 50 equal a full turn.
To make things easy, the DM can rule that a battle, regardless of its actual length, takes one turn. Characters tend to spend several minutes checking on fallen enemies, surveying their own injuries, and making sure that the enemy has abandoned the field before dropping their guard. Unless time is an issue, this is reasonable.
Spell Durations
All spells with durations expressed in rounds last for the exact same number of combat rounds. Spells with durations measured in turns last for the entire battle. If a spell measured in rounds is in the middle of its duration when the fighting begins, the balance of its duration runs in combat rounds.
For example, a 5th-level
mage casts a haste spell that lasts three rounds, plus one round per level, for
a total of eight rounds. In the fifth round, the party gets into a fight. The
haste spell lasts four combat rounds before expiring.
Everything else about the spell still functions on a round-by-round basis, as it did before. A cleric casting heat metal still inflicts 2d4 points of searing damage in the third, fourth, and fifth combat rounds. A wizard with a feather fall spell still falls at a rate of 120 feet per combat round. Remember, this is an abstract system; applying physics properties to every situation (such as the fact that the wizard with feather fall is now plummeting to the ground at a hasty 6.8 mph rather than the standard 1.4 mph) may reveal lots of facts, but it won't make for a better game.
Combat Status Any figure involved in combat falls into one of three categories: clear, threatened, or grappled. This represents the immediacy of an enemy threat and influences what actions the character can choose for that combat round. A character's options are extremely limited when he is caught in an owlbear's hug.
In addition to governing the character's choice of combat actions for the round, threatening is also important because it determines who is subject to what are known as attacks of opportunity (see below).
Clear
Characters who are standing free of the melee and aren't endangered by any adjacent monsters are considered clear. (The character can still be attacked by missile fire, charged, or have a spell thrown at him, of course.) As long as a character is not in the threatened spaces of any enemy figure, he is clear. The character's choice of combat action is unrestricted.
Characters who are clear are allowed to turn to threaten a figure that moves up to them in the course of a combat round. The character doesn't have to do this; he can ignore the danger. The character only gets this free facing change once per round, so he can elect to threaten the first figure that moves up to him or to wait upon the arrival of a more dangerous enemy.
Threatened
Any square that a creature can reach with its weapons or claws also threatens those squares and therefore any characters or creatures standing in one of the threatened squares. The character's own facing doesn't matter—it's possible to be threatened by someone standing behind you.
Threatened characters can choose to ignore the creature threatening them and take any combat action they wish, but if they do, the threatening creature gains an immediate attack of opportunity. The following actions create an attack of opportunity for the threatening creature:
- Attempting missile combat (other than at the threatening creature, and only in the combat round when it first threatens the character).
- Moving away from the threatening creature. This includes move, charge, and run, but not withdraw.
- Turning so that the threatening creature is now in a rear square.
- Attempting an unarmed attack against any foe except an unarmed human-like creature.
Monsters and characters threaten all eligible squares throughout the entire round. If a character tries to sprint through the threatened squares to get by the defender, the defender gets an attack of opportunity as the character runs by. If the creature being attacked suffers from a successful knockdown roll or if a critical hit from the attack of opportunity is suffered, then it must stop moving. Otherwise, it may run by the creature threatening it.
Unusual Monsters and Threatening
There are a number of creatures that do not have a clear front facing. Who can tell what the dangerous end of an ochre jelly or otyugh is? These amorphous monsters don't have rear or flank spaces, and therefore threaten any character who moves next to them.
Grappled
Grappled characters are physically restrained by their foes. There are a number of ways to grapple with an opponent; wrestling, martial holds, pinning, and grabbing are all possible. In addition, some monsters have special attacks that grapple their victims. For example, a giant scorpion can pin its prey in its claws, or an owlbear can hug a victim.
Grappled creatures must get free before they can move. The only combat actions a grappled creature can take are:
Respond with unarmed combat.
Attack the grappling creature with a size S weapon.
Attempt to escape. Each grappling method defines a means of escape.
Grappling creatures occupy the same square on the battle map, unless there is something unusual about the monster doing the grappling. For example, a roper can grapple characters up to 10 squares away with its special tentacle attack.
Grappling figures never threaten other squares.
Attacks of Opportunity
Attacks of opportunity occur when a threatened character or creature ignores the enemy next to it or turns its back on a foe. The threatening enemy gets to make an immediate melee attack (or sequence of attacks for monsters with multiple attacks) against the threatened creature. Attacks of opportunity cannot be performed with missile weapons. This is a free attack that does not take the place of any actions the threatening creature had already planned.
A creature can't make more than one attack of opportunity against a single opponent in the course of a combat round, but if several enemies leave themselves open, the creature can make one free attack against each one.
There is a limit to the number of attacks of opportunity a single creature may make in one round. Warriors and monsters can make three attacks of opportunity plus one per five levels or Hit Dice. All other characters can make one attack of opportunity plus one per five levels. Thirty kobolds trying to swarm past a fighter in a narrow passage will take losses, but some will still get through.
Surprised characters and monsters cannot make attacks of opportunity during the round in which they are surprised.
Movement Obviously, movement is an important part of a fight. If a character is wielding a sword, he can't hurt anyone with it unless he gets very close to them. The more time a character spends moving, the less he is able to do when he gets there.
In the standard AD&D game, every character and monster has a base movement rate. Since Player's Option combat rounds are shorter than AD&D rounds, each point of that base movement rate allows a PC, NPC, or creature to move one square per combat round in melee scale. A human fighter with a movement rate of 12 can move 12 squares, or 60 feet, in one combat round. If a character moves diagonally, it costs 3 movement points for each 2 squares, rounded up. If a character moves three squares diagonally, it costs 5 movement points: 3 for the first two squares and 2 for the the third square.
Remember, this is a conservative advance. Figures can exceed their normal movement rates by charging, running, or sprinting (see Attack Options, below). The same human fighter sprints 180 feet in a combat round, which isn't bad for an untrained runner wearing sturdy boots, heavy clothes, and carrying a sword.
Characters determine their combat system movement in three steps:
- Determine the character's base movement rate from his character race;
- Adjust the base movement rate for exceptional ability scores;
- Modify the character's movement due to his encumbrance.
Base Movement
Every character (and monster) begins with a base movement determined by race. For monsters, this information appears in the apropriate Monstrous Manual™ accessory under Movement. For characters, the base move varies by race:
Character Race Movement Rate
Human 12
Elf or Half-elf 12
Dwarf 6
Gnome 6
Halfling 6
Unless the DM wants to generate ability scores for every NPC in the game, it's safe to assume that any generic member of the race has the base movement rate listed. However, player characters and exceptional NPCs may be able to move faster than normal.
Exceptional Abilities
and Movement
Characters with exceptional Strength or Dexterity scores can increase their base movement rate beyond the normal limits of their race. Similarly, characters with weaknesses in these areas are slower than others of their kind.
Strength
Add the character's hit probability adjustment to her base movement rate. If you are also playing with the Skills & Powers rulebook, add the hit probability adjustment based on the character's Strength/Stamina (not Strength/Muscle) instead.
Dexterity
Add the character's reaction adjustment to his base movement rate. If you are also playing with the Skills & Powers rules, use the adjustment for Dexterity/Balance instead.
For example, Loftos the
Swift, a human fighter, has a Strength of 17 and a Dexterity of 16. His
Strength gives him a hit probability bonus of +1, and his Dexterity gives him a
reaction bonus of +1, too. His base movement rate, therefore, is 12+1+1, or 14.
Encumbrance
Even the fastest sprinter won't move so quickly when he's carrying 140 pounds of armor, weapons, and adventuring gear. A character's encumbrance falls into five categories: none, light, moderate, heavy, and severe. Encumbrance is described in the Player's Handbook in Chapter 6: Money and Equipment.
To determine the character's encumbrance category, find his Strength and read across the table. The numbers on the table are the breakpoints for each category. A character with a Strength of 14 is not encumbered until he has 56 pounds of gear, lightly encumbered until he has 86 pounds of gear, moderately encumbered until he carries 116 pounds of gear, and heavily encumbered up to a load of 146 pounds.
To calculate a monster's strength for this purpose, add 31/2 points per size category (rounded down) to the monster's base Hit Dice (ignoring plusses). Thus, an ogre has a generic Strength score of 18 (Large creature is size category 4, x 31/2 = 14, plus 4 Hit Dice = 18).
Character Encumbrance Category
Strength Lt. Mod. Hvy. Severe
3 6 7 8 10
4–5 11 14 17 20
6–7 21 20 39 47
8–9 36 51 66 81
10–11 41 59 77 97
12–13 46 70 94 118
14–15 56 86 116 146
16 71 101 131 161
17 86 122 158 194
18 111 150 189 228
18/01 136