Player's Option™:

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.

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

18/01 136 175 214 253

18/51 161 200 239 278

18/76 186 225 264 303

18/91 236 275 314 353

18/00 336 375 414 453

A creature's final movement is figured by comparing current encumbrance with natural base movement.

Base Encumbrance Category

Move None Lt. Mod. Hvy. Severe

1 1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 1 1 1

3 3 2 2 1 1

4 4 3 2 1 1

5 5 4 3 1 1

6 6 4 3 2 1

7 7 5 4 2 1

8 8 6 4 2 1

9 9 7 5 2 1

10 10 7 5 3 1

11 11 8 6 3 1

12 12 9 6 3 1

13 13 10 7 3 1

14 14 11 7 4 1

15 15 12 8 4 1

16 16 12 8 4 1

17 17 13 9 4 1

18 18 14 9 5 1

In addition to affecting how far a character can move in a combat round, encumbrance also affects how well a character can fight. Moderately encumbered characters suffer a –1 penalty to attack rolls. Heavily encumbered characters suffer a –2 attack penalty, and their Armor Class suffers a +1 penalty. If the character is severely encumbered, he suffers a –4 penalty to all attacks and a +3 penalty to his Armor Class. Fatigue may temporarily increase a character's effective encumbrance; see Fatigue for more information.

Simplified Encumbrance

If the standard encumbrance rules aren't worth the trouble, here's an easier way to do it. Most of the weight a character carries is in armor and weapons. To streamline things, only use the character's armor, shield, and largest weapon when figuring the total weight carried. This slightly favors PCs, but it's much faster than tracking every addition of weight.

In Chapter Seven, armor is rated with a base encumbrance. This is the typical encumbrance level of a human wearing that armor. For example, plate mail is rated as moderate encumbrance, with a movement of 6 for a typical human. These default values make it easy to eyeball NPC movement rates.

If you use the simplified encumbrance rule, make sure that it is not abused. If the DM feels that a PC is taking advantage of this rule (for example, carrying dozens of weapons or vast amounts of adventuring gear), he can insist on using the more detailed accounting of the normal encumbrance rules.

Opening the Battle Now that you know what the map looks like, how to handle long- and short-range battles, and how the figures interact on the map, it's time to discuss the set-up and presentation of a fight. What effect does surprise have? Where do terrain features go? Who sets up their figures where?

Surprise

Before a battle begins, one or both sides may have to check for surprise. The Dungeon Master has the final word on whether or not a surprise check applies. There are situations in which one side may have to make a surprise check but their opponents don't—for example, an ambush or a nighttime encounter with enemies carrying bright lights. Surprise conditions and modifiers are discussed extensively in the DMG and the PHB (Chapter 11: Encounters for both).

The surprise check is a d10 roll, modified for the surrounding conditions and any special preparations one party or the other makes. Normally, a group is surprised on a roll of 1, 2, or 3. The surprisers get a free round of attacks, movement, or spells against the surprised members of the other group.

Encounter Distance

The distance between two groups is an important part of setting up the battle. The terrain and weather have a great effect on encounter distance; even an eagle-eyed character will have a hard time spotting his enemies in a dense fog or pitch-black night.

The DM can simply assign an encounter distance based on his estimation of the situation, or he can roll on the table below. In many cases, the range of the encounter is obvious; if a party of heroes kicks down a dungeon door and storms a guardroom, it stands to reason that the gnoll warriors are somewhere in that room.

Situation Range (melee scale)

Both groups surprised 1d4 squares

One group surprised 1d6 squares

No surprise:

Smoke or heavy fog 1d8 squares

Jungle/dense forest 2d10 squares

Light forest 4d6 squares

Scrub/brush/bush 4d12 squares

Grassland/field 10d6 squares

Dungeon/night Limit of vision

No cover Long missile range

Note that dungeon or night encounters refer to the vision limits of whoever can see the farthest. If a party of heroes equipped with lanterns can see 30 feet in a dark forest, a hunting party of orcs that can see 60 feet may try to open the battle with a volley of arrow fire out of the darkness.

If a situation arises where there is no real cover or the enemy's approach is detected hundreds of yards away, the encounter should be set up at the maximum range of the longest-range missile weapon in the fight. In this case, it will probably be necessary to begin the battle in missile scale and move to melee scale when the groups close.

Set-up

The last step before starting the fight is setting up the battlefield and the location of the combatants. The DM should first arrange the battlefield; if the fight is taking place in a room inside a dungeon, the DM notes the room's size, shape, and interesting contents before placing any creatures in it. Chapter Three describes battlefields of all kinds in great detail.

If one side has spotted the other without being seen, or has surprised the other group, they can make their opponents set up first and then place their own combatants to take advantage of the situation. (They still have to observe the encounter distance dictated by the DM, though.)

If neither side is surprised, or if other special circumstances exist, the DM can dictate the positions of all characters and monsters at the beginning of the battle. The PCs should be set up in their normal marching order, with any adjustments the DM deems appropriate. Someone had to open the door to the guardroom, after all. The monsters are placed by the DM as she sees fit.

If the DM knows something the players don't, there's no reason she can't keep some figures off the map until the players have reason to spot them. If there's a giant spider on the ceiling and no one looks up, the DM should feel free to spring a fiendish surprise when a character walks under it.

The Five Basic of Every Combat Round With the exception of two skilled fighters using similar weapons or styles, combat is utter chaos. It's ludicrous to believe that any set of game rules could begin to approach an accurate simulation of fights that range from barroom brawls to fantastic duels between archmages and dragons.

However, there has to be some way to resolve combat. In the Player's Option combat system, battles are divided into combat rounds, and each round is divided into five basic steps. These steps are:

Step One: Monster Action Determination

Step Two: PC Action Declaration

Step Three: Initiative

Step Four: Resolution of Actions

Step Five: End-of-Round Resolution

Step One:

Monster Action Determination

Before the players announce what their characters are doing this round, the DM secretly decides what actions the monsters take. Once the DM decides what the monsters will do, he should stick by it—he's on his honor not to switch actions after learning the players' decisions. After all, the monsters don't know what the PCs are going to do before they do it. If necessary, the DM can make notes about monster actions to remind himself of what they intend to do.

Generally, monsters and NPCs have the same actions available to them that the player characters do. They can charge, attack, or withdraw, just like the PCs. Monsters normally choose the most advantageous and sensible actions for the situation. Refer to Chapter Nine: Monsters, for more information.

Step Two: Player Action Declaration

After the DM has decided what the monsters will do, each player must announce his character's action for the combat round.

Step Three: Initiative

In this step, all characters in a fight determine when their declared actions actually take place. The Player's Option combat system resolves actions in a series of initiative phases, with the resolution time of different actions affected by weapon choice, creature size, and other factors. See Initiative, below, for more information on the initiative system.

Step Four: Resolution of Actions

The declared actions of all characters and monsters are resolved using the initiative phase system. A character can abort his planned action and do something else, but the new action takes place at the very end of the combat round.

Step Five: End-of-Round Resolution

After all actions have been resolved, there are several things that need to be done before the round ends. The four parts of this step are fatigue, retreats, morale, and status.

Fatigue is a measure of the character's endurance over a prolonged combat. At the end of each round, the character checks to see if the combat has lasted long enough for him to become fatigued or exhausted.

Retreats occur when a figure is forced to fall back by the press of the fight. This can have the effect of breaking up an enemy line or forcing the retreating character over a cliff, into quicksand, and so on.

The DM makes morale checks for the monsters, if appropriate. Most creatures don't care to carry a losing battle to their own deaths and will try to break off the fight if things aren't going their way.

Last but not least, characters who are suffering from spell effects, poison, or special critical hits suffer damage or fight off the effect. The exact procedure is determined by the type of condition the character is suffering from.

Initiative Timing is everything in combat. Does a fighter try to get in a quick blow before his enemy can react, or does he wait for a better opening? Who gets to go first when a barbarian warrior is trying to cut down a mage casting a spell? The initiative structure presented here is designed to answer those questions and provide your character with better alternatives for combat.

The Initiative Roll

The Player's Option combat system resolves actions in five action phases: very fast, fast, average, slow, and very slow. A character's action phase is determined by his base initiative, modified by his weapon speed and the combat action he selects for the round. Striking at an opponent standing next to you doesn't take much time at all, but running halfway across the battlefield in a long charge will take a little more time.

At the beginning of each round of combat, both sides roll a d10. The side with the lowest roll wins initiative. In each action phase, the side that has won initiative attacks and moves first. In any given action phase for one side of a fight, attacks and spells occur before movement takes place. (In other words, if you and your companion both take an action in the average phase, your buddy gets to fire an arrow or cast a spell down that hallway before you actually begin running down it.) If there are fast creatures on both sides of the fight, the fast creature that won initiative strikes before the fast creature that lost initiative. Fast creatures strike before average creatures, even if the average creature's side won initiative.

Some initiative rolls provide unusual results:

A roll of 1 accelerates the action phase of that side by one, so a slow character gets to go in the average phase;
A roll of 10 slows the action phase of that side by one step;
A tie results in a critical event. Reroll the initiative dice until one side or the other wins, and then consult the Critical Event Table below.

Base Initiative

A creature's base initiative is the time it begins to move or makes an attack if it attacks without weapons. Monsters that normally fight with natural weaponry are simply assigned a base initiative determined by their size and speed.

Monster Size Base Initiative

Tiny or Small Very Fast

Man-Sized Fast

Large Average

Huge Slow

Gargantuan Very Slow

Improve base initiative one grade for a movement rate of 18 or better, and reduce base initiative one grade for a movement rate of 6 or less. Also, moderately encumbered characters and monsters suffer a one-phase initiative penalty, heavily encumbered creatures are slowed by two phases, and severely encumbered creatures suffer a three-phase initiative penalty.

Note that most player characters have a base initiative of fast. Remember, this doesn't take into account weapon speeds or combat actions. Record the character's base initiative on the character sheet—it's used in each and every round of combat.

Weapon Speeds

Characters armed with weapons modify their base initiative with their weapon speed. All weapons are assigned a speed rating of fast, average, slow, or very slow. When the character makes an attack, his action phase is his base initiative or weapon speed, whichever is later. A fast human armed with a two-handed sword, a slow weapon, attacks in the slow phase of the round. The base initiatives of magical weapons are modified as follows:

Magical Bonus Base Initiative Modifier

+1 none

+2 or +3 one phase

+4 or more two phases

Thus, a human wielding a two-handed sword +2 gains a one-phase modifier, attacking in the average phase rather than the slow phase.

Critical Events

Strange things happen in the fog of war. Many battles hinge on a lucky break or an unforeseen complication. In the Player's Option combat system, this is reflected by the critical event roll.

Critical events are provided to add color and excitement to the melee. They create openings or opportunities that quick-thinking PCs can take advantage of. They also allow the DM to present a more active and visual portrayal of the characters in battle.

The DM is free to rule that the critical event does not occur, or even alter it to reflect the exact circumstances of the battle. For example, if the battle is taking place on a mountainside beneath an overhang of snow, the DM can decide that the critical event is an avalanche triggered by the fighting.

As a general rule, critical events should not directly inflict damage to a character or creature, although they can force saving throw rolls or ability checks to avoid damage. Use critical events to create chaos and disorder on the battlefield, but avoid favoring one side or the other.

Critical Event Table

d20 roll Result

1–2 Armor Trouble

3–4 Battlefield Damaged

5 Battlefield Shifts

6 Close Quarters

7 Item Damaged

8 Item Dropped

9–11 Knock Down

12 Lucky Break

13 Lucky Opening

14–15 Mount Trouble

16 Reinforcements

17 Retreat

18 Slip

19–20 Weapon Trouble

Armor Trouble

A random combatant has trouble with his armor. Roll 1d6 for the exact problem. The character can remedy the situation by spending one round standing still and repairing his armor.

d6 roll Result

1–2 Helm lost, victim's head is exposed

3–5 Shield lost

6 Plate lost, +2 to AC (plate armor only)

Battlefield Damaged

Something in or around the battlefield gets broken. If the fight occurs indoors, it might be a piece of furniture, a window, or a keg of ale.

Battlefield Shifts

The tide of battle carries all figures 1d6 squares in a random direction from their current location. Nobody gains any attacks of opportunity.

Close Quarters

Two enemies that threaten each other find themselves inside one another's reach and are effectively grappled.

Item Damaged

A random combatant has something damaged by a wild swing. Choose anything except a weapon and roll an item saving throw to see if it broke.

Item Dropped

As above, but the item is spilled, dropped, or cut free from the owner's person.

Knock Down

A random combatant engaged in melee is knocked to the ground by a collision with someone near him. The nearest figure (friend or foe) must roll a successful saving throw vs. paralyzation or fall down next to him.

Lucky Break

A random combatant is favored by fate and gains a +4 bonus to his Armor Class and saving throws for this round only.

Lucky Opening

A random combatant sees his chance. He gets a +4 bonus to the attack roll against whatever enemy he had planned to attack this round.

Mount Trouble

A random mounted combatant experiences difficulty with his animal. Roll 1d6:

d6 roll Result

1–3 Mount bolts. It sprints for 1d10 rounds in a random direction or until the

rider rolls a successful riding proficiency check.

4–5 Mount rears. The rider must roll a successful riding proficiency check or

fall off the mount.

6 Mount falls. The thrown rider must roll a successful saving throw vs.

paralyzation or be stunned for 1d6 rounds.

Reinforcements

Allies of the DM's choice show up for one side or the other.

Retreat

The press drives back all threatened figures of one side or the other. See Retreats, below.

Slip

A random combatant slips and falls, spending the round on his back.

Weapon Trouble

A random combatant experiences difficulty with his weapon. Roll 1d6:

d6 roll Result

1–2 Combatant disarmed unless a successful saving throw vs. paralyzation is

rolled.

3–5 Hard parry may break weapon. Roll a successful item saving throw vs.

crushing blow to avoid.

6 If the character killed an opponent last round, his weapon is stuck in the

foe's body. Take a round to pull it out.

Combat Actions Combat actions are basic strategies that a character can follow in a round of combat. Does Argath the Brave stand his ground and wait for the orcs to come to him, or does he charge rashly into the center of their line? Does Rowan the Mage cast a spell or spend her round moving to a better vantage point? You decide when you select your character's combat action for that round.

There are several factors involved in choosing a combat action. It is dangerous to do anything but attack or parry when your character is threatened by an adjacent opponent. It's downright useless to declare a charge when your character is grappled by a giant constrictor snake.

Player characters have the right to choose any action they like in combat, as long as they meet the basic requirements for it. (It makes no sense for a character without magical items to announce that he will use one for his combat action.) However, once the requirements have been met, all options are open. The DM should not disallow a combat action except under the most extreme circumstances. No matter how foolish or difficult something may seem, let the PC try it if he really wants to. (Of course, the DM can assign difficulty modifiers if she deems it necessary.)

The following choices are available as combat actions in the Player's Option combat system:

Attack Fire Missiles Run

Cast a Spell Guard Sprint

Charge Move Use a Magical Item

Cover Parry

Each of these actions is explained in more detail later in this section.

Combat Actions and Movement

A character's choice of combat action governs how far he can move in a given combat round. For example, a wizard certainly can't move a considerable distance, picking his way through swinging weapons and uneven footing, while attempting to cast a spell, which requires great concentration and precision. Likewise, a warrior cannot safely withdraw from a fight merely by turning and walking away at normal speed. Certain kinds of actions naturally preclude movement, while other choices are actually more effective when larger distances are crossed. Some choices allow for a range of movment options.

The various combat actions fit into three basic movement categories. These categories include no-move actions, half-move actions, and full-move actions. Some of the combat actions listed above may fit into only one category, while others may function with two or even all three types of movement.

No-Move Actions

No-move actions are just that—the character performs some sort of action during her proper action phase, whether it is fighting an opponent or using a wand, without moving significantly during the round. Even if a character chooses any one of the no-move actions, however, she can still adjust her position during her action phase. She can move one square in any direction and choose any facing as a free adjustment to her position. If the character is threatened, she can adjust her position without provoking an attack of opportunity by making sure that her adjustment does not take her out of the enemy's front squares or turn her back to him. No-move actions include:

Attack
Cast a Spell
Cover
Fire/Throw Missiles (normal ROF)
Guard
Parry
Unarmed Combat
Use a Magical Item

Half-Move Actions

Half-move actions allow a character to move up to half his normal movement rate and still perform some other action, such as attacking with a weapon or firing missiles. There are, however, limits to what can be done or how far a character can move and still accomplish these actions. Half-move actions include:

Attack
Charge
Fire/Throw Missiles (half the normal ROF)
Guard
Unarmed Combat
Withdraw

Full-move Actions

Full-move actions involve a character moving his full normal movement rate (or even more, in some cases) before attempting other actions. Full-Move actions include:

Charge
Move
Run
Sprint

Movement and Initiative

Compare these two actions: one character with a readied bow decides to fire at an orc chieftain 40 feet away, and a second character with a readied sword decides to run over to the orc and take a swing at him. Which action is resolved first? Obviously, the archer's attack will arrive before the swordsman gets his swing. Moving takes time, especially in a 10–15 second combat round.

Characters don't instantaneously blink across a battlefield just because it's their turn to move. They begin their move at one point in time and then finish moving sometime later. A character who begins his move when fast actions are resolved may finish his move while average or slow actions are resolved.

Movement always begins in a character's base initiative phase and is performed in half-move increments, one phase at a time. For a half-move action, the total amount of movement takes place in a single phase. For a full-move action, the character moves no more than half of his total movement in each of two consecutive phases, so a sprinting character is actually travelling 1.5 times his full normal movement in each of his two movement phases. After any movement is completed for the character, the rest of the combat action is resolved. Note that an action may be delayed by movement, but it will never occur sooner than normal because of movement. In other words, if a fast character with a two-handed sword (a slow weapon) chooses to make a half-move and attack, the half-move occurs in the fast phase, but the attack does not happen until the slow phase (unless the character was charging; see below).

Note that when several allies (characters or creatures that all won or lost initiative together) are acting in the same phase, characters performing actions do so before their companions begin to move.

For example, Boldo the swordsman intends to take a half-move and attack an orc, while his companion, Fletcher the bowman, prepares to fire an arrow at it. If Boldo's half-move and Fletcher's shot both occur in the same phase, the arrow actually streaks toward the orc before the swordsman lunges forward to close with it.

Also note that the 1-square adjustment of a no-move action is considered simultaneous with the action itself. Thus, the adjustment and the no-move action all occur before any normal movement is performed by allies who are eligible to do so during the same phase.

Combat Movement on the Battle Map

When a character actually moves across the battlefield, don't pick up the figure and then drop it back down again several spaces away. Trace the exact path the character is following from square to square on the battle map. A character never knows when there is a trap he may trigger or an invisible enemy threatening part of his planned move.

Characters can make any facing changes they want with no cost in movement points during their move. Remember, too, that characters can make a single facing change during an enemy's move if the enemy moves adjacent to them.

Moving Through Other Figures

in Combat

A character can move through a square occupied by a friendly figure as long as that figure isn't threatened or attacking in the current round. Enemies can only occupy the same square if they are grappled or if one is prone. Otherwise, larger creatures can attempt to make an overrun.

Overruns

When a larger creature attempts to move into a smaller, standing enemy's square, it is called an overrun. Mounted figures use their mount's size for this purpose, so a human on a size L horse can overrun a human on foot. Overruns create an attack of opportunity for the figure being stepped on. After the defender's attack, the defender must roll a successful saving throw vs. paralyzation or be knocked down. Even if he does successfully save, he is forced one square away from his current location. This save is modified by a –4 penalty for a creature two sizes larger than the defender, a –8 penalty for a creature three sizes larger, etc.

For example, a halfling (size S) gets in an ogre's way. After the halfing's attack of opportunity, he must roll a successful saving throw vs. paralyzation or be knocked down. The ogre is two sizes larger, so the saving throw is rolled with a –4 penalty. Even if the halfling successfully saves, he is forced out of the square.

When a defender is knocked down by an overrunning creature, he may suffer a trampling attack. The trampler gets an attack of opportunity that inflicts 1d4 points of damage per difference in size. Even though the defender is prone, no modifiers apply; trampling is an afterthought on the attacker's part. The DM can adjust the damage as he sees fit; very dense creatures such as clay or stone golems may not be seriously hurt by even a giant's trample.

Continuing our example, the halfling fails his saving throw and is knocked flat by the ogre's rush. The ogre gets a free attack of opportunity and rolls a hit. Since there is a two-category difference in size between them, the halfling suffers 2d4 points of damage. Being trampled by someone ten times your weight can be lethal.

A prone creature with an enemy in its square may get up by using a full-move action. Since two standing enemy figures cannot occupy the same square, size always wins; the larger of the two creatures displaces the smaller one. In addition, the standing figure always chooses which square the displaced figure enters. If the creatures are of the same size, an opposed Strength roll is made to determine who stays and who is displaced.

Concluding our example, the halfling decides to rise again to avoid getting trampled some more. Since the ogre is larger than the halfling, the halfling must be displaced one square in order to rise. Since the ogre is also the standing creature, it decides which square the halfling is displaced to. If the roles had been reversed, with the halfling in the square of a prone ogre that wished to stand, the halfling would still have to be displaced, since it is smaller. However, this time the halfing, which is the standing figure, chooses which square to be displaced to.

Of course, the standing figure might wish to keep the other figure from rising, or the prone figure might decide to fight it out rather than try to rise. If one figure wishes to keep another figure prone, an overbearing attack is necessary, but treat the situation as if the attack roll to hit AC 10 is automatically successful (see Overbearing, Chapter Five).

Choosing an Action

When it is time for a character to select an action for the round, the action is chosen independently without selecting a movement category beforehand. For example, if a warrior chooses to attack, there is no need to declare whether this is a no-move attack or a half-move and attack. The player simply announces that his warrior intends to attack.

This allows some flexibility in the system so that the ebb and flow of battle does not thwart the characters' actions each round. By waiting until a character's action phase occurs to determine how much movement is needed to perform a chosen action, much of this problem is eliminated.

Still, there are times when characters may be prevented from completing their action by a change in their situation. A spellcaster may have his spell interrupted, or a fleeing character may find himself trapped with no place to run. When a character's action is prevented by an enemy's interference, the action is lost for the round and the character can take no other action for that round.

On the other hand, characters may sometimes start an action and then think better of it. A character may begin a charge and then pull up short when he realizes he is about to run into a hedge of pikes, or a character who had planned to fire a crossbow may suddenly recognize his target as a potential ally.

At that point, a character can choose to either hold or abort a combat action when his action phase arises. Holding an action simply involves delaying the intended action for one or more action phases.

For example, Tyar the Glorious wins initiative and declares that he will attack (because there is an orc in front of him). Tyar would normally perform his attack on the average phase, due to his long sword. However, on the fast phase Twillo the Sly, Tyar's thiefly companion, successfully kills the orc with a backstabbing attack. Tyar sees an ogre that will most likely advance during the average phase, but only after Tyar is elligible to take his attack (since Tyar won initiative). Tyar decides to hold his attack until the slow phase so that he can attack the ogre after it advances.

A character may also choose to abort his planned action in favor of another. There are some limits to the new choice of actions, and the character's turn automatically bounces to immediately after the very slow phase of the combat round. It is treated like an extra phase and is resolved normally in all respects. See the individual action choices for more details.

The Actions

Below are listed each of the actions available to a character and how they are resolved.

Attack

This is the basic action for characters and monsters in a fight. When a character chooses to attack, he makes his normal hand-held weapon attacks. Characters and creatures can make a half-move and attack or they can stand their ground and attack as a no-move action.

Monsters with multiple attacks perform all their attacks on the same phase. If a dragon attacks with average speed, its bite, claws, tail, and wing buffets all take place in the average phase of the combat round. Characters using a weapon in each hand strike in the same fashion, during the action phase of the slower weapon.

Characters who have multiple attacks with the same weapon (such as high-level fighters or weapon specialists) make their first attack normally and then make one attack each phase thereafter until they've resolved all of their multiple attacks. A long sword specialist with two attacks in a round makes his first attack in the average phase and his second in the slow phase of the round.

Normally, a character can combine a move and an attack only by moving first and resolving attacks later. However, a character can choose to attack first and then make a half-move at the end of the round. Note that characters can adjust their position each time they attack, so a hero with multiple attacks could attack several creatures standing apart from each other.

Attacks of opportunity (see Threatening) do not count as a character's attack for the round. It is possible for a creature to get more attacks than normal if its opponent provides it with an opening for an attack of opportunity.

Characters and monsters may choose a number of attack options, such as grab, block, trap, or disarm. The fighter might use his bill-hook to pull a mounted opponent off his horse, or he might try to trip the animal. He could even go on the defensive and try to block his enemy's blow. Refer to Attack Options in Chapter Two for more information about the various alternatives.

Cast a Spell

Wizards and priests may choose to cast spells during combat. All spells are assigned an action phase just as weapons are. The character is considered to begin casting in the very fast phase and to finish in the spell's action phase. If the spellcaster is injured by an attack during the casting, the spell is lost.

Spells and spell-like abilities are assigned action phases based on their casting times:

Casting Time Phase

1–3 Fast

4–6 Average

7–9 Slow

1 round or more Very Slow

When a character casts a spell, she loses any Dexterity benefit to her Armor Class, since she must hold still and concentrate to make the spell work. After the spell has been cast, the mage or priest may apply her Dexterity bonus to her Armor Class again. If the spellcaster doesn't cast a very slow spell, she can take a half-move at the end of the round.

Psionic powers take effect during a randomly determined phase, regardless of the psionic creature's regular Base Phase.

Random Psionic Initiative

d10 roll* Base Phase

1-2 Very Fast

3-4 Fast

5-6 Average

7-8 Slow

9-10 Very Slow

*Add the power's Preparation Time to this roll.

Charge

Characters and monsters can charge to rapidly close for combat and make an attack. Charging is a full-move action, but a charging character may move 11/2 times his base movement when he charges. A knight with a movement of 6 can charge an enemy up to 9 spaces away.

Characters begin their charge on their base initiative, moving up to one-half the distance of the charge. In the following phase, they move the remainder of the distance. Unlike most attack forms, the charge attack is resolved the moment the attacker arrives. If the knight above has a base initiative of fast and an opponent is standing 7 squares away, the knight moves 5 spaces in the fast phase and 2 more in the average phase, at which point he attacks immediately.

Charging (which might more accurately be called the reckless attack) gives characters several advantages but also imposes some penalties. The charging character gains a +2 bonus on his attack roll. Some weapons, such as lances, are suited for charging and inflict double damage when used in a charge.

Because they are so intent on the attack, however, charging characters are at a disadvantage defensively. They lose all Dexterity bonuses to Armor Class and suffer a +1 penalty to AC in addition to that. Guarding characters with weapons longer than the charger's automatically strike first. In addition, characters can set spears (see Guard) against charges.

Cover

A character with a cocked and loaded crossbow, or an arrow nocked and drawn in a bow, can announce that he is covering an opponent within his weapon's short range. The covering character can only choose to cover a single square on the board, as long as that square is within the weapon's short range and in sight. Only characters with a weapon proficiency slot in bow or crossbow can cover someone in this manner. Covering situations usually are created by the circumstances of the initial encounter; for example, an archer may surprise his enemy, cover him, and order him to drop his weapon. Characters can also declare a combat action to cover someone.

Since the arrow or bolt is ready to be fired, the covering character's first shot is fast (or very fast if the character is a specialist.) See Bows and Crossbows in Chapter Seven. The covering character automatically wins initiative against the covered target. It is possible for a very fast creature to beat out the shot of a proficient archer, but even very fast creatures can be covered by a specialist.

The character can hold his cover until later in the round, if he wants to see what his target is going to do. He can fire first in any later phase. After the first shot has been loosed, the covering character can perform the rest of his missile fire at the regular action phase and rate of fire.

The covering shot itself is made with a +2 bonus to the attack roll. Covering is handy for freezing opponents in their tracks, since everybody knows how quickly an arrow or bolt can be released once it is drawn.

Covering can also be used with any hand-held bladed weapon—basically, the character puts her sword to an opponent's throat in a single adjacent square and menaces him. The victim must be stunned, dazed, pinned, unconscious, or surprised for a character to cover him with a melee weapon. As with bows and crossbows, the covering character automatically wins initiative against her target and can attack in the fast phase, or in the very fast phase if she is a specialist. The attack is made with a +2 bonus to hit, and the critical number (see Critical Hits in Chapter Six) drops to a 16.

Fire/Throw Missiles

Firing missiles and throwing hand-held weapons (including splashing holy water or oil) is another basic action that is very common in combat. The character can stand still and attack at his full rate of fire, or he can make a half-move and fire or throw missiles at 1/2 his normal rate.

The one exception to this move-and-fire routine is for missile weapons that have a rate of fire less than 1/round (this includes large crossbows and most firearms). In this case, the character wielding such a weapon can move half his normal rate and still fire the weapon only on the initial discharge of the weapon. The weapon is assumed to be loaded and cocked. After this first shot, the character can only fire the weapon as a no-move action.

Firing or throwing missiles is dangerous when a character is threatened by another creature, since it creates an attack of opportunity. The only exception to this rule is during the same combat round that the threatening creature actually moves up to threaten the character. The character can get his shots in while his enemy closes, but after that he had better switch to a melee weapon.

Characters with multiple missile attacks in the same combat round perform their first attack on the normal action phase, and then follow with one missile per phase until they've completed their full rate of fire. For example, a dart specialist has 3 attacks per round with his darts, a fast weapon. He therefore throws his first dart in the fast phase, the second in the average phase, and the third in the slow phase.

Some monsters, such as manticores, may have multiple missiles that are fired simultaneously. These attacks are all resolved in the same phase.

Guard

When a character guards, she waits for her opponents to come to her. Guarding is a half-move action, or a no-move action if the character stands her ground. A guarding character strikes the moment an attacker moves into the guarding character's threatening squares, regardless of her actual initiative and action phase. The only way an enemy can attack a guarding character first is with a longer-ranged weapon.

If a guarding character is attacked by a charging character, the character that won initiative attacks first (unless one of the characters has a longer-ranged weapon than the other). If both the charging and guarding characters have weapons of equal range, then the character with the larger weapon strikes first. Guarding characters are considered to be set for charge, and spears and spear-like polearms inflict double damage against charging creatures (see Chapter Seven).

For example, Aerwen loses initiative and is armed with a long sword, normally a weapon of average speed. A very fast size M creature takes a half-move to attack her with claws in the fast phase, but since Aerwen is guarding, she attacks first. If the very fast creature were charging, it would attack first since it won initiative for the round. If Aerwen had a long spear (range 2), she would get the first blow despite the creature's charge.

If no one attacks a guarding character, she can abort to an attack at the end of the round and take a half-move to reach someone.

Move

Moving allows a character to cover a lot of ground without dropping his defenses. Moving is normally a full-move action, but if a character only moves half his maximum move or less, he can consider it a half-move action instead.

Movement normally begins on a character's base initiative, without modifiers for weapon speed. Each half-move a character makes requires one phase, so a fast character does half his move in the fast phase and finishes his move in the average phase.

Parry

Sometimes the best thing to do is take cover and try not to get clobbered. Any character can choose to parry as a combat action. Parrying is a no-move action that is in effect for the entire combat round. If a character parries, he cannot move, attack, or cast spells.

Parrying reduces a nonwarrior character's Armor Class by one-half his level. A 6th-level wizard with an AC of 5 who parries reduces his AC to 2. Warriors who choose to parry reduce their AC by one-half their level, plus one. A 6th-level fighter gets an AC bonus of 4 by parrying.

Run

A character can double his base movement by running. Running is considered a full-move action; the character can't do anything else in the same combat round that he runs. Running on a battlefield is dangerous; the character loses all Dexterity bonuses to his Armor Class and suffers a +1 AC penalty on top of that. In addition, he is considered to be charging if he runs into a square threatened by an opponent with a set spear.

Characters can maintain a run as long as they have the necessary fatigue points (see Fatigue, below). Outside of combat, they can run for a number of rounds equal to their Constitution score. After that, they must stop and rest. See Jogging and Running in the Player's Handbook under Chapter 14: Time and Movement for more information.

Sprint

A character can triple his base movement by sprinting. Like running, sprinting is a full-move action that drops the character's defenses for the round.

Unarmed Combat

Any character may choose to make an unarmed attack instead of attacking with his weapons. There are four basic types of unarmed combat: punching, wrestling, overbearing, and martial arts. Refer to Chapter Five for more information on resolving unarmed attacks.

A character can perform an unarmed attack on his base initiative if he doesn't have to move to reach his target, or he can take a half-move action to close for combat. Attacking armed opponents (including monsters with natural attacks) is dangerous for an unarmed fighter; if the character attacks an armed creature that is threatening him, he suffers an immediate attack of opportunity from his intended victim. The armed defender gains a +4 bonus on his attack roll and his damage roll against an unarmed attacker.

Monsters with natural weaponry almost never make unarmed attacks. However, it is possible for intelligent creatures to "pull in their claws" and try to batter a character into unconsciousness. Monsters without natural attacks may resort to unarmed combat if they are disarmed or want to capture their enemy.

Use A Magical Item

Generally, a character can use a magical item as a fast action or make a half-move and use an item as an average action. Some magical items take more or less time, as noted below:

Item Phase

Potion Average

Scroll Very Slow

Rod, Staff, or Wand Fast

Miscellaneous Magical Item Average

For most magical items with functions that do not emulate combat or spellcasting actions, the magic of the item is activated during the resolution step at the end of the round. In a few cases where powers take an unusual amount of time to activate, the DM is the final arbiter. If an item combines weapon-like characteristics and miscellaneous magic, such as a rod of lordly might, it should be treated as a weapon when being used to attack and as a magical item when its other functions are being used.

Withdraw

Withdrawing is the only safe way to leave a square that is threatened by an opponent. When a character withdraws, he backs carefully away from his opponent without turning his back or creating an attack of opportunity for his opponent.

Withdrawing is a half-move that takes place on the character's base initiative. A withdrawing character cannot attack or cast spells, although he can still get attacks of opportunity.

Ending the Combat Round After all the combat actions have been resolved, it is time to finish up the round and get ready for the next one. The end of the round is a time to take care of any loose ends or bookkeeping that needs to be looked after. The four major items that are addressed at the end of the round are retreats, fatigue, morale, and status.

Retreats

When one character inflicts melee damage (but not as a result of missile combat) on an enemy without being hit in return, she may force her foe to retreat, driving him back with well-aimed blows. The attacker doesn't have to force her enemy back; she can decide to let him stand fast and not press the advantage. A defender can ignore the requirement to retreat if he is 4 or more levels/Hit Dice higher than the attacker or if he is two sizes larger than the attacker. A retreat cannot occur if the enemy was knocked down during the round.

When a character retreats, he must move backward into one of his rear spaces chosen by the attacker. If there is no place to retreat directly behind him, the attacker must choose one of the retreating character's flank spaces. If the character is unable to retreat into any rear or flank space, he must roll a successful saving throw vs. paralyzation or be knocked down in the space he is in. In some special situations, the DM may allow a retreating character a chance to avoid being forced back. This allows a character with his back to a cliff (for example) to avoid giving ground.

The creature who forces a retreat may follow her retreating enemy, keeping her foe in a threatened square. The attacker can instead choose to back her enemy off and then hold her own position.

Retreats are good for breaking up enemy battle-lines or for maneuvering an enemy into a battlefield hazard. Retreats can also be used to disengage from a threatening creature by driving it back. Retreats don't create attacks of opportunity for the creature forcing the retreat; this is the end of the combat round and everyone is finished attacking for the round. However, the retreating creature may have been pushed into a situation where his rear or flank is exposed to an enemy during the next round of combat.

Fatigue

Fighting a prolonged battle can be exhausting. Only the most heroic characters can stand fast against wave after wave of foes without tiring. The various character classes gain a number of fatigue points equal to their base Hit Die value. In other words, a warrior has 10 fatigue points, a thief 6, etc. Warriors gain one additional fatigue point each time they gain a level; nonwarriors gain one fatigue point every two levels. This value is modified by the hit-point bonus or penalty for Constitution.

For monsters, fatigue points are equal to 8 (since monsters use a d8 for their Hit Dice) plus the number of Hit Dice, rounded down. Thus an ogre (4+1 Hit Dice) has 12 fatigue points.

Keeping Track of Fatigue

Characters and monsters start off in a fresh state. In every phase that a character or monster moves or attacks, check off one fatigue point. When the total reaches 0, the character or creature is fatigued. Reset the fatigue score back to its original value and check off two points in every phase that movement or combat takes place. When the score reaches 0 again, the creature is exhausted.

Effects of Fatigue

Characters and monsters who are fatigued move and fight as if they were encumbered one category more than they really are. For example, A character who was moderately encumbered becomes heavily encumbered when he is fatigued.

Exhausted characters move and fight as if they were encumbered two categories more than normal. An exhausted, moderately encumbered character moves and fights as if he were severely encumbered. Usually, exhausted characters are well-advised to catch their breath.

Recovering from Fatigue

If a character or monster spends one round resting, making no moves or attacks of any kind, he gets the chance to recover one category of fatigue (exhausted to fatigued, fatigued to fresh) by rolling a successful saving throw vs. paralyzation. Characters modify the die roll by a cumulative +1 bonus for each consecutive round they spend resting. The character's hit-point bonus for exceptional Constitution is also used as a modifier to the recovery roll.

When a character recovers a fatigue category, his fatigue number is re-set all the way back to its original value. He gets a second wind and can rejoin the fray.

Effects of Force Marching on Fatigue

Whenever characters have failed a Constitution check as a result of force marching and are still in the process of recovering (see the PHB, Chapter 14: Time and Movement, under Cross-Country Movement), they automatically begin the combat in a fatigued state rather than fresh. Fatigue points are consumed at the doubled rate and all the penalties for being fatigued (as well as the penalties for force marching) apply, until a state of exhaustion is reached. Furthermore, creatures cannot return to a fully fresh state during the battle; only the noncombat recovery period for force marching can remove this restriction.

Morale

The end of the round is also the time for morale checks. Remember, player characters never need to check morale; they're smart enough to know when to cut and run, and foolish enough not to run when they should. However, NPC allies or followers of the PCs may decide to abandon them if things go poorly.

Morale is discussed at length in the Dungeon Master Guide, so it won't be reiterated here. The DM is not required to make a morale roll every round; he can use his own judgment to decide when someone might be thinking of calling it a day. Some good guidelines of when monsters or NPCs might make morale checks:

When surprised;
When faced by an obviously superior enemy force;
When an ally is slain by magic;
When 25% of their group has fallen;
When 50% of their group has fallen;
When their leader deserts or is killed;
When they are fighting an enemy that can't be hurt by their weapons;
When they are offered a chance to surrender and they've already met one other condition for a morale check.

Informal Morale Checks

The DM can always just decide if a creature or NPC passes its morale check, without even rolling dice. The DM should be fair with this; it'll quickly annoy the players if their trusted henchmen run away through DM capriciousness at the first sign of trouble.

Formal Morale Checks

A formal morale check is a comparison of a 2d10 roll against the creature's base Morale rating, modified for the situation. An extensive list of modifiers appear on the DM Screen and under Morale in Chapter 9: Combat in the Dungeon Master Guide.

Failing a Morale Check

When a character or group of monsters fails a morale check, their first consideration is to get away from the fight. If they fail by a small margin (say, 1 or 2 on the die roll), they try to withdraw in good order. If they fail by a large margin, they break off the fight and flee for their lives. Intelligent creatures may try to surrender if there is no place for them to run, or if they think they won't be able to get away.

Status

This is a catch-all phrase for any condition or situation that may affect the actions next round. Did a character get knocked down during the fight? He'll start the next round prone. Generally, magical effects and continuing damage (poison, burning, acid, etc.) actually inflict their damage in this part of the combat round.

Special Combat Conditions There are a number of special situations that can arise in the course of a fight, through natural circumstances or military planning. Someone might fall down or be incapacitated by a spell. A battle fought in a thick, tangled forest may limit archery to shots of 30 feet or less. Stinging snowstorms or sandstorms may limit visibility and carry away light missiles. The side that considers the characteristics of the battlefield in its tactics often gains an advantage over its enemies. Chapter Three describes battlefields in great detail, but there are a few special rules that should be mentioned here.

Standard and Optional AD&D Rules

These rules can all be found in the Player's Handbook and/or the Dungeon Master Guide. Even if they are listed as optional rules in the core rule books, they are a standard part of the Player's Option combat system. They are presented again here (with any necessary combat system alterations and additions) for ease of reference. Refer to Chapter 9: Combat in the PHB and DMG for more details.

Movement and Footing

Ground characteristics may drastically limit a character's ability to move in a fight. The movement reductions listed below apply to the character's base movement, so a character with a normal move of 12 spaces would be reduced to a move of four spaces in heavy brush. If a character passes through multiple ground types in one round, he uses the worst of the modifiers.

Condition Reduce Move by

Heavy brush or thicket 2/3

Light brush or forest 1/3

Ice or slippery footing 1/3

Steep slope or rough ground 1/2

Knee-deep snow, water, or soft sand 1/3

Waist-deep snow or water 1/2

Shoulder-deep snow or water 2/3

Cover and Concealment

Concealment and cover work only against missile fire, and cover also provides a bonus to saving throw rolls where an effect causes physical damage, like a fireball spell.

The amount of the target that is concealed or covered determines the penalty to any missile attacks made against the target.

Target is: Cover Concealment

25% hidden –2 –1

50% hidden –4 –2

75% hidden –7 –3

90% hidden –10 –4

A target is impossible to hit when it is completely blocked from the archer by cover.

Line of Fire. A figure's line of fire is considered to run from the center of its square to the center of the target's square. If the line of fire passes through any part of a square containing an obstacle, the target is considered to be covered or concealed to some extent. The DM can decide whether the target is 25%, 50%, 75%, or 90% screened, or he can roll randomly if it is not clear. If the line of fire passes through a square containing a figure engaged in melee, the archer must use the rules for firing into a melee to determine where his shot goes.

Note that intelligent creatures who are facing the archer will usually use the screening object for its maximum effect, while animals and monsters that aren't intelligent (Int 1 or less) will rarely try to screen themselves against an archer's fire.

If there's any question about which squares the line of fire passes through, you can use a string, a ruler, or the edge of a card to check the missile's path.

Mounts

Mounts provide their rider with a +1 bonus to attack rolls when fighting against unmounted opponents, while the opponents suffer a –1 penalty to attacks against the rider (there is no penalty to attack the mount itself). Most mounts are fairly large and can overrun smaller creatures. A normal human on horseback can use his mount's speed and size to trample his opponents underfoot (see Overrun). Many mounts are also capable of making attacks along with their rider.

Rear or Flank Attacks

If a creature is able to position itself for a rear or flank attack, it gains a significant advantage. Flank attacks get a +1 bonus to hit, and rear attacks a +2 bonus. A thief attacking from the rear can declare a backstab and gain a +4 bonus to his attack roll. In addition to the attacker advantages, the defender's shield doesn't help against flank attacks on his unshielded side nor on any rear attacks. Last but not least, the defender's Dexterity adjustment doesn't count against rear attacks, since the defender can't see the attack coming and attempt to dodge it.

Sitting, Kneeling, and Lying Prone

Characters may sit, kneel, or fall prone as a no-move action. Getting up from sitting or kneeling is considered a half-move action, so a character can stand and still fire a missile or make an attack. Standing up from a prone position is treated as a full-move action, so the character can do nothing else in that round except rise.

Sitting or kneeling characters are slightly harder to hit with missiles or thrown weapons; they gain an Armor Class bonus of –1 against any ranged attacks. However, they're at a disadvantage in melee. Anyone making a melee attack against a sitting or kneeling character gains a +2 bonus to hit them.

Prone characters present very small missile targets and gain an AC bonus of –2 versus ranged attacks. However, they are very vulnerable to anyone close enough to threaten them. Melee attacks against prone characters gain a +4 bonus to hit.

Kneeling characters can use any weapon with no penalty. Sitting characters can only use crossbows without a penalty; with any other weapon, they suffer a –2 penalty to their attack rolls. (Note that characters on horseback are mounted, not sitting!) Prone characters can only use crossbows or size S weapons while they're on the ground. A prone character firing a crossbow attacks at one-half the normal rate of fire and makes any melee attacks with a –4 penalty to hit.

Damage and Dying

Creatures reduced to negative hit points are incapacitated and begin losing 1 hit point per round until they reach –10, at which point they die. A creature's loss of hit points can be halted by binding its wounds, using the healing proficiency, or casting some kind of curative magic on the victim.

Characters who have been reduced to 0 hit points or less are helpless; they can't tend their own wounds or take any actions. At exactly 0 hit points, the character is simply unconscious, and remains so until healed or until 2d6 full turns pass. If a character's death is prevented by binding his wounds or healing him, the character is completely helpless for at least 24 hours.

It is dangerous to leave characters at a negative hit point total for long. Each day that a character begins with negative hit points, roll a d10 and compare it with the absolute value of the character's hit points (in other words, take into account only the numerical value of the hit points, ignoring the negative sign). If the die roll is less than this numerical score, the character loses 1d4 additional hit points. This additional loss of hit points can be avoided if someone with the healing proficiency is there to tend to the patient, or if curative magic is used.

For example, Gorathan the Unlucky was badly mauled by a dire wolf and reduced to –5 hit points. His companions bound his wounds, but no clerics or proficient healers were nearby, so Gorathan didn't recover any hit points. The next day, a d10 is rolled to see if he worsens or not. If the roll is a 4 or less (which is less than the "5" of Gorathan's –5 hit points), Gorathan loses 1d4 additional hit points. If the roll is a 5 or better, Gorathan recovers hit points normally for a day of bed rest. If Gorathan has some bad rolls, he might not make it.

Weapon Type vs. Armor Type

Some weapons have an innate advantage against certain types of armor. In the Middle Ages, hundreds of weapons were designed for the purpose of penetrating heavy armor. Weapon types and armor types are explored in more detail in Chapter Seven.

Firing Into a Melee

Throughout the ages, friendly fire has been a significant threat on the battlefield. In the Player's Option combat system, the shorter combat round means that archers can't wait to pick and choose their shots. They have to fire or hold their fire in an instant.

A melee is defined as any situation in which one creature threatens another. Firing or throwing missiles at either of the two engaged creatures requires the shooter to roll to see which figure he actually attacks. All creatures that are threatened or threatening one another in the same group are included, so the archer is guaranteed of at least firing at the right engagement.

To determine the actual target, assign each Man-sized target 1 point on a die. Small-sized targets get 1/2 a point, Large targets 2 points, Huge targets 4 points, and Gargantuan targets 6 points.

Additional Rules

These rules are specific to the Player's Option combat system.

Higher Ground

If the attacker's waist is higher than his opponent's head, he gains a +1 bonus to his attack rolls. Stairways, tabletops, and steep slopes may create higher-ground opportunities for a character in combat. This doesn't apply to colossal creatures such as giants who are fighting on level ground against much shorter characters, nor does it apply to mounted characters; they already get a bonus.

Knockdowns

Some creatures can smash their opponents to the ground with raw strength or heavy weaponry. Knockdowns are based on the size of the attacker's weapon compared to the size of the defender.

Every weapon (including monster attacks) is assigned a knockdown die that is rolled when a hit is scored. Light weapons have a small die, while heavy weapons use a d10 or d12 for knockdowns. The size of the target determines what roll is required for a knockdown.

Target Size Knockdown Roll

T 3

S 5

M 7

L 9

H 11

Don't confuse the knockdown die with the actual damage caused by the hit; they are two different things. It is a little quicker to roll the knockdown chance along with the damage dice, but don't feel like you have to.

Obviously, some creatures are immune to knockdowns. An ochre jelly, black pudding, or fire elemental can't really be knocked down, nor could a crocodile or shark in the water. In addition, some monsters may be unusually resistant to knockdown effects.

Knockdown Effects. Creatures who suffer a knockdown must roll a successful saving throw vs. death or be knocked prone. The victim can stand up by forfeiting a half-move or an attack. If he has already completed his actions for the round, he has to wait until next round to stand up. Refer to Sitting, Kneeling, and Prone above for more information about being on the ground.

Any character or creature armed with a loaded and cocked crossbow or firearm that is knocked down must roll a successful saving throw vs. paralyzation or accidentally fire the weapon.

Monsters and Knockdowns. Monsters who wield weapons can use the knockdown die size that is listed for that weapon, and then modify the die for their own size. Increase the die one step for each Size category larger than Man-sized, or decrease it for each one under. For example, an ogre is wielding a morningstar, which normally has a knockdown die of d10. Because the ogre is Size L, one size larger than Man-sized, the knockdown die increases to a d12.

For monsters with natural attacks, choose a weapon that seems close to the attack type and then modify it for the monster's size. An adult dragon's claws may be like long swords. A wyvern's sting might be similar to a spear. Monsters may resist knockdowns better if they have four or more legs, are exceptionally dense or low-built, or seem generally tougher than normal.

Critical Hits

Although critical hits are mentioned in the core AD&D rules as an option, this system works differently than any provided there. A critical hit may occur when a character rolls exceptionally well during his attack. The attack roll must be a natural 18 or higher, and the roll must hit the target by at least 5. A 1st-level fighter with a THAC0 of 20 can achieve a critical against an opponent with AC 5, since he can roll a 20 and hit him with 5 to spare, but he can't get a critical against an opponent with AC 4 (or better).

As a basic rule, critical hits inflict double damage. However, Chapter Six is devoted to the topic of critical hits and presents an integrated system that accounts for the strength of the blow, the location injured, and a dash of luck.

If PCs can get critical hits with great attack rolls, monsters should be able to as well. Otherwise, the balance of the game shifts in favor of the player characters.

The Gray Areas

Opponents who are facing off across squares that are partially blocked by solid obstacles may or may not be able to effectively attack one another. For example, two opponents are facing each other diagonally where a wall corner abutts the intersection of their squares. Half of the people using the Player's Option combat system will argue that they can attack each other, and half of them will argue against it. The same problem arises when considering whether or not figures can occupy half squares (like any square that is bisected by a diagonal wall). Some people will argue for such a rule, and some will argue against it.

The answer to these and other similar gray areas of figure placement and movement is, it doesn't really matter, as long as the solution is equitable. If characters can attack around corners, then so can monsters. If you don't want it to happen, then it doesn't—for characters or monsters. Neither choice skews the system to favor anyone, so both solutions are equally viable. Just decide as a group beforehand how you want to handle the situation, then stick with it. These kinds of situations and conditions are way too numerous to mention or adjudicate within these pages, but the guidelines set out above should give the DM and players enough to work with.

Example of Combat Here's the scenario: four adventurers are exploring the dungeons beneath a ruined temple when they encounter a guardroom with six bugbears armed with morningstars. The heroes are Dain, a dwarf fighter with 13 fatigue points; Pascal, a human paladin with 10 fatigue points; Lyssa, an elven mage with 4 fatigue points; and Damiar, a half-elven thief with 6 fatigue points. The bugbears each have 11 fatigue points (Monsters get 8 points plus their Hit Dice, in this case 3+1). None of the members of either group are considered encumbered.

No one is surprised, so the DM places the bugbears in their room and tells the players to arrange their heroes in the doorway. Since Damiar opened the door, the DM decides that Damiar must be in front, even though Dain usually takes point in the marching order.

Round One

First, the DM decides what the bugbears are going to do. The two on the flanks move to take cover, the one in the middle flips the table for cover, his companions close for combat, and the last bugbear is still getting out of bed and decides to wait and see what happens. Now the DM asks each of the players what their characters will do:

Damiar: "I'll shoot at the nearest bugbear."

Pascal: "Bugbears? We can take them. I'll close for an attack!"

Lyssa: "I'll throw a sleep spell."

Dain: "There might be more of 'em around. I'll cover the hallway with my crossbow."

Everyone has declared an action, so it's time to roll initiative. The DM rolls a 5, but the players beat him with a roll of 3. Now, the DM begins with very fast actions and starts working through the round.

DM: "Okay, nobody's very fast this round. You guys won initiative, so who's fast?"

Lyssa: "My sleep spell's fast."

Pascal: "I start moving."

DM: "Where do you want to center your spell, Lyssa?"

Damiar: "Don't catch us with it!"

Lyssa: "I'll center it on the bugbear in the middle of the room." (Rolls effect) "My spell affects 5 Hit Dice of bugbears."

DM: "Sorry, that's only one. He's out."

Pascal: "I'm moving! I'll jump on the table in front of them."

DM: "No problem. You threaten the bugbear, and he threatens you. Don't forget to mark a fatigue point off. That's it for fast. Let's go on to average actions."

The bugbear's base initiative is average, but the players won initiative and get to resolve their average actions first. Pascal is wielding an average-speed long sword.

Damiar: "My first bowshot is average. I rolled a 20! Is that a critical hit?"

Damiar's adjusted THAC0 with his longbow is a 16, so he hit an AC –4 with his roll of 20. The bugbears are only AC 5, so he easily hits the bugbear with a good enough roll to critically hit the monster. The basic critical rule is double damage dice, but the DM could use the critical hit rules in Chapter Six if he wanted to. With doubled damage, Damiar rolls 2d8 for his sheaf arrow and tags the bugbear for 15 points of damage, dropping it with one shot!

The two bugbears moving under cover begin their moves now. The last bugbear meets Pascal. Pascal gets her attack first, but even with a +1 bonus for height advantage, she misses. Her opponent misses her as well. Damiar uses his second bow shot and fires at a bugbear using cover, missing by a mile.

At the end of the round, Pascal and Damiar have each used two points of fatigue, while Dain and Lyssa have used none. The two bugbears that took cover have each used one, while the one locked in combat has used two. There are no retreats, but the DM decides that a morale check is in order since the bugbears have seen two of their fellows knocked out of action. The bugbears pass the check, and the round is over.

Round Two

The DM decides that the two bugbears on the flanks remain under cover this round and guard. The bugbear engaging Pascal decides to take a half-move and attack, looking to open the range and take advantage of its longer reach. The last bugbear will move up to join the fight and engage Pascal. The players state their actions:

Pascal: "I'll stand my ground and attack."

Lyssa: "I'm going to move into the room to find a place to cast my next spell."

Damiar: "I'll try and shoot at the bugbear hiding around the corner. Maybe I'll get lucky."

Dain: "You guys are doing okay without me. I'll keep covering this hallway."

DM: "Roll initiative, everybody."

The players win initiative again, rolling a 1. This accelerates their actions by a phase. In the very fast phase, Lyssa moves into the room. This time, Pascal's average sword attack becomes a fast action, as does Damiar's bow shot. Pascal misses her bugbear, but Damiar rolls another 20!

This time, Damiar's 20 is not a critical hit. The DM rules that the bugbear is under 75% cover, so it has a 7-point bonus to its Armor Class, making it effectively AC –2. Since Damiar's adjusted THAC0 is a 16, he only hit by 2, and he needed to hit by 5 to get another critical hit. The bugbear is wounded but still has some fight left in it.

In the average phase, Damiar fires his second arrow but misses. Finally, the bugbears can begin to move. The bugbear that is threatened by Pascal backs away, provoking an attack of opportunity. Pascal rolls her free attack but misses. The last bugbear closes to within two spaces. Since the bugbears are Large creatures armed with weapons, they can still reach Pascal.

DM: "We're up to slow actions, and the two bugbears fighting Pascal get to make their attacks." (Rolls two attacks.) "You're lucky, they both missed. At the end of the round, nobody has to retreat. Everybody keep track of how many fatigue points you've used. Pascal, you used up two again this turn, due to your attack of opportunity."

Pascal: "Don't the bugbears have to make another morale check?"

DM: "No, nothing's changed since the last one."

At this point, Pascal has 6 fatigue points left, Damiar 2, and Lyssa 3, while Dain is still at his full amount, since he hasn't moved or fought. The bugbears attacking Pascal have 7 and 9, respectively, while the two taking cover still have 10 each.

Round Three

The DM smiles to himself—the bugbears have maneuvered the heroes right where they want them. The two bugbears fighting Pascal can guard, getting the first attack against the paladin because of their longer range. The two bugbears hiding behind the room's corners will move forward to engage Pascal's flank and Lyssa. The DM asks the players to state their actions for the round:

Pascal: "I'll move up and attack again."

Lyssa: "Cast acid arrow at the bugbear hiding in the corner there."

Damiar: "Keep firing!"

Dain: "I'll move and take a shot at a bugbear. Nothing's coming down this hallway."

The initiative roll is won by the players again, beating the bugbears with a 2. There are no very fast actions this round.

In the fast phase, Pascal moves up to threaten the bugbears facing her, but they both get attacks since they were guarding and out-ranged her. One bugbear misses, but the other hits for 5 points of damage and a roll for a knockdown. A morningstar is rated as a d10 for knockdowns, and since the bugbear is a Large creature, that is stepped up to a d12. It takes a 7 to knock down a Man-sized creature, and the Bugbear rolls a 9. Success! Pascal rolls a saving throw vs. paralyzation and fails. She is on the ground and has to use this round to stand up again.

Lyssa's spell is again fast. She throws Melf's acid arrow at the bugbear previously wounded by Damiar and hits it for 8 points of damage. Dain takes a half-move and steps into the doorway beside Damiar.

On the average phase, Damiar fires his first arrow of the round and misses. Pascal would have attacked this round, but decides to stand up again. The bugbears hiding around the corners move up to threaten Pascal and Lyssa.

Pascal: "Sure, now they break cover since I got knocked down."

DM: "You didn't think those two bugbears were going to stay out of the way forever, did you?"

Lyssa: "We're in trouble."

DM: "We're up to slow actions now. Dain and Damiar have shots, if they want to take them. You'll be shooting into a melee now, since there aren't any bugbears clear of the fight."

Damiar: "I'll take my chances."

Dain: "Me, too!"

Lyssa: "Hey, you could hit us!"

Dain (shrugging): "So? You can take it."

There are three bugbears who are threatening Pascal. Using the Firing into a Melee rules, the DM determines that a d8 roll should be used to resolve who becomes the target. (The three bugbears are Large and count for 2 each, and Pascal counts for 1 target. An 8 result will be rerolled.) Damiar and Dain are lucky—the target rolls end up being bugbears. Unfortunately, both characters miss with their attacks.

The two bugbears who moved in this round get to attack in their half of the slow phase. One attacks Pascal, and the other attacks Lyssa. Pascal is hit again for 5 more points of damage, but this time she isn't knocked down. Lyssa gets clobbered for 6 points of damage and begins to consider a strategic withdrawal.

At the end of the round, everyone marks off their fatigue points. Pascal loses two more, as do Dain and Damiar, but Lyssa cast a spell and loses none. The bugbears who broke cover and attacked Lyssa and Pascal lose two, but the others who were already engaged only lose one each.

Since Pascal was hit without hitting her opponents, the bugbears can force her to retreat. She is driven back one square, but the bugbears hold their ground to keep their reach advantage. The continuing damage from the Melf's acid arrow spell doesn't begin until next round, since Lyssa just cast the spell this round.

Round Four

In the next round, the heroes get a little lucky. Pascal downs one of her attackers with a critical hit, and Dain covers Lyssa's withdrawal and inflicts serious damage against the bugbear who had injured the mage. Another bugbear falls when the Melf's acid arrow finishes it off at the end of the round. With two more down, the DM rules that the survivors choose a fighting withdrawal, and the heroes let the bugbears retreat.

Chapter Two:

Combat Options

Even the greenest recruits have more options in combat than to stand in one place and swing at opponents over and over again. This chapter covers tactics, options, and styles of fighting that are available to anyone on a battlefield. Battles aren't just a matter of who gets the lucky rolls now; smart characters can make their own luck by using sound tactics and common sense in the thick of the fight.

There are five parts to this chapter. The first is Battle Tactics; it covers common tactics for fighting a battle, including shield walls, pike hedges, and mounted charges. Attack Options discusses different ways to use a character's attack to achieve specific results. Fighting Styles, Dueling, and Heroic Frays discuss the various tactics of personal combat and how characters can employ them to their advantage.

Does This Belong in My Campaign? Battle Tactics relies heavily on the Player's Option combat system, presented in Chapter One. Although the basic concepts are still sound, you won't see much game benefit to these strategies unless you are resolving battles with the combat system.

The other four parts of this chapter—Attack Options, Fighting Styles, Dueling, and Brawling—can all be incorporated into existing campaigns together or independently. They do not require the combat system to be used in your campaign. The information in this chapter replaces the related topics in The Complete Fighter's Handbook.

Battle Tactics Over thousands of years, the tactics of battle have changed many times. Innovations of equipment and maneuver often gave armies domination of their world. Alexander's phalanxes of spearmen were nearly unstoppable. Pikes and bows brought about the end of the knight's battlefield supremacy long before firearms were effective weapons.

Some of these same tactics can be used to good effect by player characters and their opponents. Even the most foolhardy barbarian should think twice before charging a band of orcs who have formed a spear-hedge to receive his attack.

Shield Wall

In Chapter One, we described how figures can crowd together in close order, placing two Man-sized creatures in a single space. If the creatures stay along an even line in close order, they can form a shield wall by overlapping their shields. The shields must be medium or kite shields. Fighting with a shield wall has several benefits.

Versus Missiles

All members of the shield wall and any allies behind it are considered to be behind 50% cover (–4 AC bonus) versus missile fire. Shield walls block lines of fire indoors or underground, so in dungeon settings any allies behind the wall can't be targeted by hostile missile fire. The creatures actually forming the shield wall can still be struck, however.

Versus Melee

Since the members of the wall are in close order, shield walls allow them to concentrate their fighting power. They are also good for controling enemy movement, especially in narrow areas such as dungeon corridors. Because the shields overlap, all members of the wall gain a –1 bonus to their Armor Class.

Creatures forming a shield wall must be of the same size or the wall won't work. In addition, they have to move together if they want to stay linked. A shield wall can only take a half-move without breaking apart.

Creatures in a shield wall are slightly limited in their choice of armament. They can fight only with one-handed weapons since they're using a shield in the other hand. If they use a slashing or bludgeoning (Type S or B) weapon, they suffer a –2 penalty to attack rolls unless the weapon is a smaller size category than they are, because the close order interferes with the weapon's swing. Piercing (Type P) weapons aren't affected by close order.

As an example, a human barbarian (size M) forms a shield wall with his companions. He can use his short sword (Type S, size S) or spear (Type P, size M) without penalty, but if he fights with his battle axe (Type S, size M) he suffers a –2 penalty to his attack rolls because he's so close to his allies.

Another excellent tactic for shield walls is to place long-range polearm wielders immediately behind the shield wall. Since the polearms can reach over the shield line, enemies can be exposed to several attacks at once when they close to melee range. Using a polearm over a friend creates a –2 penalty to attack rolls, however.

Spear Hedges

Spear or pike hedges are extremely effective against creatures trying to close in for melee. Swiss pike formations could defeat the most powerful mounted charges and could cut through many foot troops as well. Hedges don't have to be formed in close order, but they're more effective if they are. Hedges can be made doubly dangerous by adding an extra rank of spearmen or pikemen to create a defense in depth against an enemy's approach.

To form a spear hedge, characters need to stand side-by-side in an even line. A second rank can form up behind the first rank and attack over the front rank with a –2 penalty to attack rolls. If the polearm is a range-only weapon, such as a pike, then the penalty does not apply. If the troops are equipped with range 3 weapons, a third rank can be added behind the second rank.

Spear hedges are most effective when all characters choose the guard action, since any foe foolish enough to approach could be subjected to as many as 6 attacks before he could strike back. Spear hedges can only make half-moves and still remain together.

Like shield walls, spear hedges can be extremely effective in limited areas where opponents can't flank them.

Mounted Charge

One of the most spectacular battle maneuvers is a cavalry charge. There are no special considerations or formations necessary for a mounted charge; a single knight on horseback can use this tactic.

The mounted charge against foot troops gives the charging character a +2 bonus on his attack for charging and a +1 bonus for being mounted. If he's armed with a lance, he inflicts double damage if he hits. In addition, the lance's superior range may allow him to strike before the defender has a chance to attack.

The charging character can also use his mount to move through enemy figures, possibly knocking them down or trampling them. A line of armored knights can literally ride down infantrymen, although they'll provoke attacks of opportunity once they get into the press. Still, the initial shock of such a charge can decimate most infantry formations.

A great defense against the mounted charge is missile fire at the mounts. Usually, the horses are easier to hit than the riders. Any time a mount is injured, the rider must make a riding check (or roll a successful saving throw vs. paralyzation) to keep control of the animal. The riders of any animals following the injured mount must also make riding checks or be stopped by the downed animal.

Archery from Horseback

Archers on horseback are very effective against foot troops without missile weapons. (If the character on foot has a weapon to reply to the horse archer's fire, it's a different story.) Weapons suitable for use while mounted include short bows, composite short bows, hand crossbows, light crossbows, and size S firearms.

If the archer remains still (takes a no-move action), his rate of fire and range modifiers are unaffected by his mount. If he rides a half-move, his rate of fire is reduced by one category and he suffers a –2 penalty to his attack rolls. If his mount takes a full move, his rate of fire is reduced as above, and he suffers a –4 penalty to his attack rolls. These penalties can be reduced by expertise in mounted archery; refer to Chapter Four for more information.

The best way to exploit the archer's mobility is to gallop in for a round of fire and then retreat when the foot troops try to respond. This tactical system was one of the most successful ever devised, and for a time rendered infantry nearly obsolete.

Attack Options Heroic swordsmen don't just stand still and hack at their opponents; they dash back and forth, trading parries and ripostes with skill and agility. A great way to add excitement and flavor to your battles is to allow PCs the chance to try flashy maneuvers or special tactics against their dastardly foes.

In a melee, characters can choose any number of tactics instead of a simple strike or thrust. The following attack options are available to any character proficient with the weapon he is using:

Block Pull/trip

Called shot Sap

Disarm Shield-punch

Grab Shield-rush

Overbear Unarmed attack

Pin Unhorse

Special weapon maneuver

The Opposed Roll

Many of the attack options described below use a game mechanic known as an opposed roll. In an opposed roll, whoever comes closest to their success number without going past it wins the contest.

For example, two characters wrestling for control of one sword could be required to make opposed Strength checks to see who gets the weapon. The character with the highest d20 roll that doesn't exceed his Strength score wins the contest.

Because the goal of an opposed roll is to come as close to missing as possible without doing it, attack rolls are won by the character with the lowest roll that doesn't go under their required to-hit number, and ability checks are won by the character with the highest roll that doesn't exceed his ability score. Ties extend the contest one round, unless stated otherwise.

Block

A character can declare that she is using one of her attacks to block an opponent's strike. Blocking is a hard parry with a weapon that deflects an opponent's attack. Any weapon except rope-like things such as nets, lassoes, or slings can be used to block.

When a character tries to block an attack, she makes a normal attack roll against AC 4. Her opponent makes a normal attack roll against her Armor Class. The strike is blocked if the character succeeds with a lower roll than her enemy succeeded with. If the attacker failed anyway, it's a miss no matter what the blocking character rolled. If the blocking character failed but her attacker succeeded, it's a hit despite the block attempt.

For example, Arweth is a 5th-level fighter with an adjusted THAC0 of 14 with her long sword. She is fighting a hill giant with a THAC0 of 9. Arweth decides to use an attack to block the hill giant's next strike. She rolls a 15 and succeeds with her roll. The hill giant rolls a 12; Arweth is AC 1, so the giant succeeds, too. His roll of 12 is lower than her 15, so Arweth's block fails.

If the character announces her block before initiative is rolled, she can block an attack even if it beats her action phase. If she decides to wait, she can only block attacks in her action phase or later.

Blocking is an excellent tactic for characters with multiple attacks to use against characters or monsters with only one attack. A rapier specialist with a main-gauche in her off hand can use her off-hand weapon or one of the rapier attacks to block while using the rest of her attacks offensively.

Called Shot

A called shot is an attack at a specific location on the target. For example, a called shot can be used to attack the head of an enemy who isn't wearing a helm, the unarmored legs of a character wearing only a breastplate, or the special weakness of a monster with an Achilles' heel.

Called shots have to be announced before the attack roll is made. When the called shot is announced, the character's action phase is delayed by one category; a bowshot that would normally be in the average phase becomes a slow action if the archer decides to make a called shot. If you're not playing with the initiative system described in Chapter One, assume called shots receive a +1 initiative penalty.

Called shots normally present the attacker with a –4 penalty on his attack roll, but the DM can modify this for the circumstances. If the target is surprised or not expecting the attack, the called shot modifier may not apply at all. On the other hand, a particularly difficult called shot (stabbing an enemy through the eyeslit of his visor, for example) may inflict a –6 or even a –8 penalty to the attack roll. Called shots are disrupted if the character attempting it suffers a knockdown.

Although called shots are normally most useful for special combat effects, like breaking a beaker of acid in an evil wizard's hand, they can also be useful against partially unarmored opponents. An enemy in full plate mail with no helmet has an AC 10 head; it's easier to make the called shot with a –4 penalty against that AC 10 than to swing at the enemy's normal AC of 1. If a called shot is used to strike a specific body area and results in a critical hit, ignore the location die of the critical hit roll and just roll the effect for the area struck. (See Chapter Six for more information on critical hits.)

Called shots can also be used to fire missile weapons into a melee without the risk of hitting an ally. If the called shot misses, no one else is in danger of being hit by the missile.

As an optional rule, the DM may allow called shots to be used to force an automatic retreat or knockdown effect, rather than inflict damage.

Disarm

There are two types of disarming maneuvers, offensive and defensive, and they both work essentially the same way. A character who wishes to use either type of disarm must allocate one of his attacks for the round to the feat. If the disarm is a defensive one, it is resolved before the attacker rolls to hit. A disarm works very much like a block, but the character attempting the disarm must roll against AC 0, while the intended victim of the disarm still rolls against an AC 4.

Anyone involved in a disarm that is using a two-handed weapon receives a 4-point bonus to the target Armor Class for the purposes of the opposed roll. It's impossible to disarm a weapon two sizes larger than your own, so a fighter with a dagger can't try to disarm a mage with a quarterstaff. Disarming can occur using a missile weapon, but the missile's size is the factor used to determine whether or not the attempt can succeed, not the weapon firing the missile.

For example, Dain the dwarf warrior is fighting a human sellsword named Torath. Dain announces before initiative that he will use one of his attacks for a defensive disarm on Torath's attack that round. Before Torath attacks, he makes an opposed roll against AC 4 while Dain rolls against AC 0. Torath's THAC0 is 17 and Dain's is 13. Torath rolls a 15, good enough to hit AC 4, while Dain rolls a 12, not quite enough to hit AC 0. Torath avoids Dain's disarm attempt and proceeds normally with his attack roll.

If Dain had been wielding a two-handed axe, his roll would also have been against AC 4 (the 4-point bonus to AC 0), and his 12 would have been good enough to hit. Since his 12 was lower than Torath's 15, Dain would have won the opposed roll and disarmed Torath.

Defensive disarms work just like blocks for initiative; if announced before the roll, they can be attempted against attacks that beat the character's action phase. Otherwise, they can only be used on the character's action phase or later in the round. Offensive disarms work like called shots; when announced, they delay the character's action phase by one step. The intent to disarm has to be announced before any rolls are made.

When a weapon is disarmed, it falls 1–10 feet away (1d3–1 squares) in a random direction. Recovering a disarmed weapon requires a half-move. A disarmed character can be immediately covered if the attacker has an attack remaining in the round.

Disarms work best against low-level opponents who don't have good THAC0s, since it's difficult for them to make their opposed rolls.

Grab

Characters can grab weapons or important items away from their opponents. If the character wants to grab his opponent directly, he should consider it a wrestling attack and resolve it as unarmed combat; see Chapter Five. A character has to have a hand free to grab; if both hands are full, he's got to drop something in order to attempt the grab. (Two-handed weapons can be held in just one hand, but the character can't attack this way.) The attacker must announce the grab attempt before he makes his attack roll.

Trying to grab an enemy's possessions while he threatens you is a bad idea; the defender receives an immediate attack of opportunity against the grabber.

Generally, the grab attempt works the same way a disarm attempt does. The character attempting to grab an item must make an opposed roll against AC 0 while the intended victim rolls against AC 4. The DM may assign certain penalties to the character attempting the grab, depending on circumstances; grabbing a tiny ring on someone's finger might incur a –8 penalty to the target Armor Class for the grabbing character. If the opposed roll results in a tie, the item may be dropped or broken at the DM's discretion.

For example, Euserio the Bold is behind the evil wizard Warjo and decides to grab Warjo's wand of lightning. There's no attack of opportunity, since the hero wasn't threatened by Warjo. The DM rules that there is no penalty to Euserio's attempt, since Warjo has the wand in his hand and isn't paying Euserio any attention. Euserio and Warjo make the opposed roll, Euserio against AC 0, Warjo against AC 4. Euserio's THAC0 is a 16, while poor Warjo's is still a 20. Euserio scores a hit with a roll of 18, while Warjo rolls a 12 and misses, so Euserio gets his hands on the wand.

Once the grabbing character succeeds in grasping the item, the opponents must wrestle for control of it using opposed Strength checks. If a character only grabs (or was originally holding) the item with one hand, then his Strength is reduced by 3 points.

Continuing our example, Euserio and Warjo now struggle for control of the wand, making opposing Strength checks. Euserio's 17 Strength is reduced to an effective 14 because he only got one hand on the wand, and Warjo's 13 becomes a 10. Euserio makes his Strength check with a 6, but Warjo rolls a 9 and wins, jerking the wand away! Wonder what he'll do with it next round?

Overbear

The best attack against a warrior of heroic prowess is often a simple rush. Overbearing is a common tactic when several creatures are confronting a lone enemy who can cut them to pieces one at a time. Overbearing attackers throw themselves at their opponent, using whatever holds they can find to get him on the ground and restrain him.

Overbearing is hazardous; the defender gets an attack of opportunity against any attacker he threatens (up to the limits imposed in Chapter One). It can take a concerted rush of a dozen or more to get through a high-level fighter's guard. Overbearing is treated as an unarmed attack, and is resolved on the base initiative of the slowest attacker in the pile.

The overbearing force resolves the attack by making a single attack roll at the THAC0 of their best member. The attackers get a +1 bonus to hit for each additional attacker. The attack is made against the defender's natural Armor Class (AC 10 for most PCs), only counting magical and Dexterity adjustments—a man in plate mail is just as vulnerable to being pulled down as a man in leather armor.

If the attackers hit, they must make an opposed Strength check against the defender to see if they drag him down or not. Use the Strength of the largest attacker, and apply the following modifiers:

4-point bonus or penalty per size difference of the largest attacker versus the defender;
+1 per additional attacker;
–4 if defender has more than two legs.

Monsters can be assumed to have a Strength of 31/2 points per size category (3 for Tiny, 7 for Small, 10 for Man-sized, 14 for Large, etc.) plus their Hit Dice. If the defender wins the Strength check, he keeps his feet and shrugs off the attack. If the attackers win, the defender is knocked down. The defender can be pinned and restrained if he is successfully overborne again in the next round.

For example, six kobolds are fighting Alvoth, a human knight. The monsters decide to use their numbers against Alvoth and overbear him. Alvoth kills one of the kobolds in an attack of opportunity as the monsters close, but the other five try to overbear anyway. Alvoth is normally AC 0, but his chain mail and shield don't help him here, only his Dexterity of 18. The kobolds attack against an AC of 6, with a +1 bonus to hit since they outnumber him.

The kobolds score a hit, so Alvoth engages in a Strength contest to keep his feet. Kobolds should have a Strength score of 7 based on the formula above (31/2¥2 for Small). However, their effective Strength is increased to an 11 due to their numbers (4 extra kobolds). Alvoth has a Strength of 17 and rolls a 9, making his Strength check. The kobolds roll an 11, just making their check with a higher roll and winning the contest. Alvoth goes down beneath the brutes' rush.

As an option, a saving throw vs. paralyzation can be substituted for the opposed Strength checks. This works a little faster, but it's not as accurate as the system described above.

Pull/Trip

A good tactic against moving enemies or characters who aren't paying attention is a trip or tangling maneuver. To pull or trip an opponent, the character must be armed with a weapon that has the ability to snare someone's legs. The following weapons all qualify: bill, bola, bow, light or heavy crossbow, horseman's flail, harpoon, javelin, khopesh, lasso, mancatcher, net, footman's or horseman's pick, any polearm, quarterstaff, scourge, spear, staff sling, and whip. These weapons feature long, staff-like pieces, chains or ropes, or heads that can catch and pull an enemy's legs out from under him.

To pull or trip an enemy, the character makes a normal attack roll. If he hits, he makes an opposed roll of his Strength against the defender's Dexterity or Strength, whichever is better. If the attacker wins, the defender is knocked down. If the defender wins or if both fail, the attack fails. If the roll is a tie, they both fall down.

For purposes of this maneuver, a monster's normal movement rate can be considered its Dexterity score. Its Strength is equal to 31/2 points per size plus its Hit Dice. There are several modifiers that apply to the attacker's Strength, however:

4-point bonus or penalty per size difference of the attacker versus the defender;
–2 to attacker's Strength if the target has four legs or more;
+3 if the defender was unaware of the pull or trip attack;
–6 if the defender was stationary.

For example, Alvoth is waiting in ambush for the king's messenger to come galloping down a wooded lane. He decides to use his halberd to trip the horse when it comes by. If he hits, he'll use his Strength against the horse's move of 18. Alvoth's Strength is modified by –4 for the size difference and –2 for the horse's extra legs, but +3 because he is hiding, so his 17 Strength is an effective 14 for purposes of tripping the horse.

Optionally, the opposed roll can be replaced by a simple saving throw vs. paralyzation. It's not as accurate, but it may be more convenient for the DM and players to remember.

Sap

Sapping is an attempt to knock out an opponent by striking with the flat of the blade or slugging him from behind with a sturdy sword-hilt. It doesn't work very well against characters or monsters that are expecting it; any character attempting to sap a creature that threatens her provokes an attack of opportunity for the defender. Hand-held weapons and thrown weapons may be used in sap attempts.

A sap is a type of called shot; it has a one-phase initiative penalty, and the attacker has a –4 penalty to hit. The penalty increases to –8 if the defender is wearing some kind of helmet. Only Small or Medium creatures can be sapped; Large monsters can't be knocked out like this.

If the attacker scores a hit, she may knock out her opponent. There is a 5% chance per point of damage of knocking out the victim, up to a maximum of 40%. Thus, if the sapper inflicts 5 points of damage, she has a 25% chance of knocking out her opponent. Sapping damage is like unarmed combat damage; 25% is real and the rest is temporary. Naturally, if her damage roll exceeds the victim's hit points, he's knocked out anyway.

The knockout chance increases to 10% per point of damage (max 80%) if the victim is surprised, asleep, restrained, or magically held in some way. Sapped characters remain unconcious for 3d10 full rounds.

Shield-Punch

Any character equipped with a shield can choose to forego its protection and gain an extra attack known as a shield-punch. The shield-punch is treated as a normal, secondary weapon attack; the primary weapon suffers a –2 penalty to attack rolls that round and the shield-punch attack is rolled with a –4 penalty. A character may use his reaction adjustment due to a high Dexterity score to offset these penalties. Alternatively, the character can substitute his normal attack for a shield punch, with no penalties.

The exact characteristics (i.e., damage and speed) of each type of shield are noted on page 51. If the character is trying a shield-punch, he must announce his intention while declaring his combat action and forfeits the defensive benefit of the shield for the round. The character moves into the square of his opponent on his base initiative, then executes the shield punch and backs out into his own square again on the following initiative phase.

Shield-Rush

The shield-rush is an attempt to knock someone down by running into them with your shield. The character must have 10 feet (2 spaces) of running room to make an effective shield-rush. Making a shield-rush is treated as a charge attack for purposes of guarding characters with set spears.

When the character makes a shield-rush, he makes a normal attack against his enemy's AC. Some shields may provide modifiers or bonuses to the rush; refer to Chapter Seven. After a shield has been used for a rush, it provides no AC bonus for the rest of the round for its bearer. Making a shield-rush also costs the character a normal attack, but it isn't considered an off-hand weapon like a shield-punch.

If the shield-bearer hits with his attack, he makes an opposed Strength roll against his opponent to see if he knocks him down. The loser of the opposed roll falls down; if both characters fail their Strength rolls, they both fall down. The following modifiers apply to the attacker's Strength score:

4-point bonus or penalty for each size difference of the attacker versus the defender;
+3 if the defender was unaware of the shield-rush;
–2 if the defender has four legs or more.

As noted before, monsters can be assumed to have a Strength of 31/2 per size category plus their Hit Dice. Instead of an opposed roll, the DM can substitute a saving throw vs. paralyzation for the defender to save time.

If the shield-rusher misses with his attack roll, he must roll a successful Dexterity check to stay on his feet as he rushes past his target. If he fails, he falls down.

Shield Punch

Shield Type Size Speed Reach Damage Knockdown

Small S Fa (2) 1 1d3 d6

Medium M Av (6) 1 1d4 d8

Large L Sl (8) 1 1d6 d10

Shield Rush

Shield Type Size Speed Reach Damage Knockdown**

Small S Base* 1 1d3 0

Medium M Base* 1 1d4 +1

Large L Base* 1 1d6 +3

* A Shield Rush is performed in the attacker's base initiative phase.

** The knockdown bonus is used during the opposed Strength check that takes place if the attack hits (see Chapter Two, page 46). If the character's Strength check succeeds, add the listed number to the roll before the two rolls are compared.

Special Weapon Maneuver

Several weapons have special properties that can be used to great effect by a skilled wielder. The bolas, chain, harpoon, lasso, mancatcher, and net all have special effects that can be used against opponents. The exact nature of each weapon's special maneuver is discussed in Chapter Seven.

Generally, using a special weapon maneuver requires a called shot that delays the wielder's action phase by one step and gives him a –4 penalty on his attack roll.

Trap

It's possible to use your weapon or shield to pin your enemy's weapon against his body or to trap the weapon on your own sword-hilt or weapon haft. This maneuver is known as a trap. Traps are much like blocks; the character can get a chance to trap an attack that comes before his action phase by declaring the trap before initiative is rolled, or he can trap any attack that comes in his action phase or later without declaring his action beforehand.

Like with a disarm, the trap is resolved before the normal attack roll is made. A character attempts to trap an enemy's attack by rolling an opposed attack roll versus AC 0 while his opponent rolls against AC 4. If the trapping character wins the opposed roll, the weapon is successfully pinned. Otherwise, the pin fails and the normal attack roll is made.

Once an enemy's weapon is trapped, he loses any additional attacks he could have made with that weapon in the current round. At the end of the round, the trapping character and his victim make opposed Strength rolls to see if the victim can free his weapon. In each subsequent round, one Strength check is made on the fastest character's base initiative, and a second one at the end of the round.

A character with a trapped weapon can always attack with a secondary weapon or simply abandon the weapon that's been caught. The character who performs the trap cannot use the weapon or shield he's pinning the opponent's weapon with.

Trapping is an excellent tactic to use against an opponent with fewer attacks. It is also a good tactic for a two-weapon fighter to use against a single-weapon fighter; by sacrificing one weapon's attacks, he completely stops his opponent's offense. Another sneaky trick is to have an ally trap a tough opponent's weapon to free up unanswered flank or rear attacks for a second character. Trapping is tougher than a simple block, but worth the effort.

Trap and Break

Some weapons, such as the sai or the swordbreaker, are suited for breaking a trapped enemy weapon. When a weapon of this type is used to trap an enemy weapon, the trapping character can declare an attempt to break the weapon. The trapped character must roll a successful item saving throw vs. crushing blow for his weapon or it breaks; for metal weapons, this is a 7 or better on 1d20. The weapon's magical bonus applies.

If the break attempt fails, the trapped blade is automatically freed. Otherwise, the weapon is broken. Only swords, knives, or weapons with sword-like components (such as a halberd's spike or a glaive) can be broken.

Unarmed Attack

Throwing a punch or trying to get a wrestling hold on the enemy is always a legitimate attack. As noted in Chapter One, trying to engage an armed opponent in unarmed combat is risky; if the armed character threatens the attacker, he gets an immediate attack of opportunity.

There are several types of unarmed attacks that can be employed by a character, including punching, wrestling, martial arts, and overbearing. The various types of unarmed combat are described in great detail in Chapter Five. Note that a character has to have a hand free to punch or wrestle someone.

Unhorse

A mounted enemy can be knocked off his steed by a number of methods. Whenever a character is in danger of falling off his horse, he must roll a successful riding proficiency check (or a saving throw vs. paralyzation if he doesn't have the riding proficiency) to remain in the saddle. If he fails, he's considered to be knocked down and is lying prone on the ground.

Some ways to unhorse a mounted character include:

Knockdown: Striking a mounted character or the mount hard enough to create a knockdown chance;
Damage: Striking a mounted character for 10 or more hit points of damage;
Pull/Trip: Hitting a mounted character or the mount itself with a pull/trip attack;
Overbearing: Successfully grappling a mounted character with an overbearing attack (he may also be pulled down by losing the opposed Strength check to fight off the overbearing attempt);
Damage to the Mount: Wounding a mount during the battle (killing the steed always unhorses a character, no questions asked).

Fighting Styles There are almost as many different ways of fighting as there are fights. Every character and monster has his or her favorite weapon and preferred means of attack. Fighting styles are general ways in which a character can equip himself for a fight and execute his attacks during the battle.

If a character doesn't know a fighting style, he can learn it at the cost of a proficiency slot. Warriors can actually specialize in fighting styles to gain bonus attacks or defenses; this is covered in Chapter Four.

Single Weapon

In single-weapon style, the character wields a one-handed weapon and leaves his off-hand empty. There are some disadvantages to this style, in that the character is shorting himself the protection of a shield or the extra offense of a secondary weapon. However, single-weapon style does leave the character with a hand free for using magical items, grabbing, or punching an opponent.

If the single-weapon character makes an off-hand attack, such as a punch or grab, he's considered to be fighting with two weapons. His primary weapon suffers a –2 penalty to attack rolls and his secondary attacks suffer a –4 penalty to hit. These penalties are offset by the character's reaction adjustment for his Dexterity score.

All player characters, regardless of class, know the single-weapon fighting style.

Two-handed Weapon

The largest and most damaging weapons available to PCs are usually two-handed weapons. Obviously, a character with a two-handed weapon is not going to be able to use a shield or a secondary weapon, but he does have a lot of offensive capability.

Many two-handed weapons are polearms and extended-range weapons that provide the wielder with special tactical benefits in addition to their raw damage potential. Note that a character doesn't have to use both hands just to hold a two-handed weapon; he can hang on to it with one hand to free up the other for another activity, but he can't attack until he gets both hands on the weapon again.

Size and Two-handed Weapons

Generally, a character can use a weapon equal to his own size in one hand, and a weapon one size larger in two hands. For example, a halfling (size S) can use a short sword or hand axe in one hand, since they're size S weapons, but if he used a broadsword (size M) he'd have to use it two-handed, and there's no way he could use a longbow or halberd.

One- or Two-handed Weapons

Several weapons can be used as one-handed or two-handed weapons. These include the bastard sword, harpoon, javelin, spear, long spear, and trident. These weapons' characteristics change when used two-handed; refer to Chapter Seven.

One-handed Weapons used Two-handed

Several other weapons are normally one-handed weapons that can be used two-handed if the wielder so desires. There's no particular reason to do this, unless the character's too small to wield the weapon any other way. These weapons include the battleaxe, club, footman's flail, horseman's flail, long sword, footman's mace, horseman's mace, morning star, footman's pick, horseman's pick, and warhammer.

Warriors, priests, and mages normally know the two-handed weapon fighting style.

Weapon and Shield

One of the most common fighting styles in the AD&D game, this style provides the character with the defensive benefits of a shield and still allows a decent offense. In addition to the AC benefit of the shield, this style also gives the character the attack options of shield-punch and shield-rush.

There are two disadvantages to this style: first, the character is limited to using a single one-handed weapon, since his other hand has the shield; secondly, if he wants to quickly empty a hand, he has to drop his weapon. Most shields are strapped to the character's arm and take a full round to remove.

Warriors and priests normally know the weapon and shield fighting style.

Two Weapon

Not to be confused with the two-handed weapon style, two weapon style uses a weapon in each of the character's hands. The advantage of this is clear: the character either has more attack power or can use the secondary weapon defensively to block incoming blows. Another benefit lies in the fact that even if the character loses a weapon, he's still armed.

The character can use any one-handed weapon in his primary hand, but his secondary weapon must be a size smaller than his primary weapon. Knives and daggers can always be used, regardless of the primary weapon's size. The character suffers a –2 penalty to attacks with the primary weapon, and a –4 to attacks with the secondary weapon. This penalty is offset by the character's reaction adjustment for high Dexterity.

Important Note: While the character receives his normal number of attacks for class, level, and specialization with his primary weapon, he only receives one additional attack with his secondary weapon.

Warriors and rogues know two weapon fighting style.

Unarmed

Some characters prefer to fight with their fists and feet instead of weapons and shields. Generally, a character can make one wrestling or overbearing attack or two punching attacks per round. If a character is using a weapon in one hand, he can use his second hand for an additional attack, just like fighting in two-weapon style. However, the bare-handed attack creates an attack of opportunity for the defender if he threatens the attacker.

All characters can punch or wrestle; it doesn't even require a weapon proficiency. It's possible to specialize in unarmed combat and become better at hand-to-hand fighting—refer to Chapter Five for more information.

Missile or Thrown Weapon

Fighting with missiles or thrown weapons is an excellent option, as long as you can keep your target at a range where you can hit him without being hit. Once an enemy threatens an archer or slinger, it's a good idea to either withdraw or change weapons.

Regardless of a character's size, using a bow, crossbow, sling, blowgun, or firearm at its normal rate of fire requires both hands. Crossbows and firearms can be loaded with both hands and then aimed and fired in one hand, if the attacker's size is equal to the weapon's size or larger. However, heavy crossbows, arquebuses, calivers, and muskets suffer a –2 penalty to the attack roll if aimed one-handed.

Multiple Loaded Weapons

If a character is able to cock and load several crossbows or ready several firearms for firing, he can get several shots off very quickly. As long as the character has loaded weapons close at hand, he can triple his normal rate of fire. When he runs out of loaded weapons, he'll have to resume firing at the normal rate.

Thrown Weapons

Most thrown weapons only require one hand to use; there's no reason why a character couldn't carry a shield or a second weapon in his off-hand. A character can't throw weapons and make a melee attack in the same round—he has to choose one or the other.

Size M or larger thrown weapons can be used in conjunction with a charge attack. The character performs his charge as normal, but he pulls up short of his target by 10 to 20 feet and uses his momentum to add to the javelin or axe throw. This attack confers the movement and +2 attack bonus of a charge, but the attacker suffers the charge penalties, too.

Weapon-Specific Styles

Many specialized fighting styles and weapon combinations have developed over the history of personal combat. Some examples of these special cases include the net and trident, matched sai, nunchaku or fighting sticks, and the rapier and main-gauche.

The exact benefits of each weapon-specific style are described in Chapter Four. Generally, these efficient weapon pairings tend to offset the penalties of fighting in two-weapon style or provide extra defense when used together.

Dueling When two skilled fighters meet in personal combat, their contest runs far deeper than simple attacks, blocks, or traps. If a boxer dodges to his left when his opponent throws a right jab, or ducks when his opponent throws a body punch, he's at a distinct disadvantage. The same thing can happen in a melee between two armed combatants.

The subtle patterns of attack and defense create temporary advantages or disadvantages for characters involved in a duel. Leaping over a low axe sweep is a great way to avoid getting hit . . . but what if you guessed wrong and your opponent aimed high? This section presents an optional set of rules for resolving duels between skilled warriors.

What's A Duel?

For our purposes, a duel is any fight that takes place between a PC and one humanoid enemy armed with a weapon of some kind. It doesn't begin, though, until the two combatants have actually engaged in melee. Don't begin using these rules, including the special initiative system below, until this happens.

Generally, it's not worth the extra time and effort to use the dueling rules unless the enemy is close to the PC's own skill level; if the hero can clean the villain's clock within a round or two, don't bother to use these rules.

Duels are best saved for confrontations with major NPC villains. If more than one character or creature is engaged on either side, the fight doesn't count as a duel anymore; the subtleties of attack and defense are quickly lost when several combatants become involved. The DM has the authority to declare that a duel has turned into a normal melee whenever he sees fit.

Initiative

In a duel, initiative works differently than it does in a normal melee. Roll initiative normally at the beginning of the fight, but disregard any critical events—this is a contest of skill, not luck. The character that wins initiative is called the attacker, and his opponent becomes the defender.

After the first round, duels don't have initiative rolls. Instead, the attacker retains the initiative until one of the following events occurs:

He chooses a combat action that does not require an attack roll in a round;
The defender disarms or traps the attacker's primary weapon;
The attacker is knocked down or forced to retreat by the defender;
The defender overbears, trips, or otherwise grapples the attacker.

When the initiative shifts, the effects are immediate—if an attacker loses the initiative in the fast phase, his opponent is considered to have the iniative in the average, slow, and very slow phases of that same round, as well as the following round (or at least until the new attacker loses the initiative.)

The Dueling Plot

Before a duel begins, both of the participants should have a copy of the dueling plot (provided on the opposite page for you to photocopy). There are two basic parts to the diagram: the positioning symbols and the attack and defense lists.

At the beginning of each round of a duel, the attacker and defender both secretly choose their strategies of attack, defense, and position. The attack and defense forms are represented by numbers on a concealed die; the attack form uses a d12 and the defense a d6. The lists on the dueling plot indicate which forms are available and what effects and adjustments apply. The position symbols are used to indicate how the duelist moves defensively in the round.

To set up a maneuver, each player first takes the defensive die (the d6) and chooses a defense form, then positions it in the space desired. Next, an attack form is selected on the attack die (the d12). Note that not all attack forms are allowed with every defensive maneuver. The numbers in the position spaces indicate which attack choices are valid with that kind of defensive movement. After all, it's pretty hard to perform a close attack on someone when you're leaping back. Finally, the attack die is positioned where the duelist anticipates his opponent will go.

Attacking in the Right Spot

Anticipating where your opponent will go is an important part of the duel. If you apply your attack to the exact point that your opponent is moving defensively, your duelist gains a +2 bonus to the attack roll. For every direction (stationary, forward or backward, left or right) and every level (low, middle, high) that you are off, a 2-point penalty is applied.

For example, Eusebio is involved in a duel with his archnemesis, Darius the Dastardly. Eusebio's player secretly chooses to step to the left and perform a defensive block maneuver. At the same time, Eusebio will perform a normal attack, anticipating that Darius will leap back.

Darius, however, decides to tumble forward, making a normal defense and a normal attack. Since Eusebio guessed incorrectly two direction places (from back to stationary, stationary to forward) and two levels (high to medium, medium to low), he will suffer a –6 penalty to his attack roll (he starts with a +2 bonus, but loses four 2-point penalties for the four displacements).

Reading an Opponent's Move

After both characters have set their attack pattern, but before they are revealed, one duelist can attempt to "read" the other's moves. The duelists make an opposed Intelligence check. Whichever duelist wins has picked up on some telegraphed move by his opponent. If neither duelist makes a successful check, no pattern reading occurs. Alternatively, the duelist who holds initiative automatically gets to make a "read."

In either case, the winner gets to ask about one aspect of his opponent's pattern. He may choose to ask what kind of attack is coming, what kind of defense is being used, or the position of his opponent's defense. Once this is done, the duelist who has made the read may adjust one aspect of his own pattern accordingly. If he chooses to change the position of his attack, then he may only adjust it by one space, either directionally or by one level.

Continuing our example, Eusebio wins an opposed Intelligence check and questions Darius's player on the direction Darius intends to move defensively. Upon seeing how badly he miscalculated, Eusebio decides to adjust his attack from a leap back to a backpedal, reducing his penalty from a –6 to a –4. Alternatively, he could have chosen to change his attack style to a wild swing, gaining a +1 bonus to hit, but his final penalty would have been at –5.

Moving the Figures

After the patterns are established and read, combat is conducted as per the combat system in Chapter One. If a figure must close to make an attack, the figures are moved accordingly. At the end of the round, the players must move their figures on the board one space in the direction they chose as their defensive positioning. In other words, if a duelist tumbled forward, that figure moves forward one space.

If for some reason the two figures end up in the same square, an opposed Strength check is made to see who gains the square and who is pushed back a square. The combatant who wins the square always pushes his foe in the opposite direction from where the winner came in.

Choice of Defense

There are six different defenses that a dueling character can choose from when building his attack pattern for the round. The defenses are:

1 None: The character chooses to use a standard defense, not utilizing any unusual

maneuvers.

2 Weapon Block: The character allocates an attack for the block maneuver, using a

weapon to catch one of his opponent's attacks.

3 Defensive Trap: The character allocates an attack to perform the trap maneuver.

The trap itself can be performed with a primary or secondary weapon or even a

shield.

4 Defensive Disarm: The character allocates an attack to perform a defensive

disarm.

5 Shield Block: The character allocates an attack for the block maneuver, using a

shield to catch one of his opponent's attacks.

6 Parry: The character chooses the combat action parry, making no attacks this

round. Parrying provides the character with a bonus to his AC equal to 1/2 his

level, or 1/2 his level plus one if he is a warrior.

Choice of Attack

Duelists can also choose one of twelve types of attack:

1 Normal Attack: The duelist uses no unusual maneuvers, simply attempting to

land a normal blow with her weapon.

2 Shield Punch: The duelist allocates one of her attacks to performing a shield

punch.

3 Sap: The duelist attempts to use her attack to knock her opponent unconscious.

4 Pull/trip: The duelist tries to use her weapon to hook or snare her opponent's legs

and pull him off his feet. She must allocate an attack for this option.

6 Offensive Disarm: The character allocates an attack to the offensive disarm

option.

7 Feint: The character tries to draw out her opponent by faking an attack in one

location and then attacking somewhere else. The feint is particularly effective

against ripostes and disarms, and therefore provides a +1 bonus against those types

of attacks.

8 Outside Attack: The character tries to attack around her opponent's guard, striking

to the side of a shield or at a sliding opponent. This maneuver offers a +1 bonus

against a shield block or a slide position. Flails are also very good for this and get a

+1 attack bonus above and beyond any other bonuses for this maneuver.

9 Riposte: The character waits for her opponent to launch an attack and expose a

weakness, and then she strikes in return. A character who ripostes must wait until

after her opponent has attacked before she can make her own attack in that round.

However, the riposte maneuver offers a +1 bonus to hit against smashes, wild

swings, and outside attacks.

10 Smash: It's not elegant, but beating down a weaker character's defenses is a

legitimate tactic in a fight. This type of maneuver offers a +1 bonus to hit versus

blocks and parrys.

11 Close Attack: The duelist tries to get inside her opponent's guard and attack at

close range. This maneuver provides a +1 bonus against opponents with larger

weapons, but it cannot be used if the character's own weapon size is larger than her

opponent's.

12 Wild Swing: Foregoing all thought of defense, the character tries to make as many

attacks as possible by raining a fusillade of blows on her opponent. Wild swings

gain a +1 bonus to attacks against normal defenses.

Ending a Duel

Duels don't have to be fought to the death; in fact, there are lots of villains and monsters that would rather not get killed if it's possible to surrender and live. Some other common conditions for duels include fighting to first blood, fighting until someone is wounded (usually 25% or 50% loss of hit points), fighting until disarmed or knocked down, and any number of other alternatives. In social confrontations, the area's culture may have dueling traditions that define the normal forms of combat and victory.

For example, in Norse cultures, duels might be resolved in a holmgang, or island-going; the two parties involved meet on a small island, with no seconds or bystanders, and only one is permitted to return. Other duels may be considered over when the blood of one of the fighters stains a white sheet on which they fight, or when an impartial judge rules that one character or the other has been defeated.

Heroic Frays The most heroic and inspirational stories of battle are about the stand of the few against the many. The legend of Roland holding the pass of Roncesvalles, or Davy Crockett at the Alamo, or Tolkien's tale of the Fellowship standing against the orcs of Moria in Balin's tomb—these stories live forever in the imaginations of people everywhere.

In a heroic fray, the PCs are fighting against hordes of individually weak monsters such as goblins, kobolds, or giant rats. Warriors facing adversaries far less skillful than themselves can double their normal rate of attack. This only applies to their primary weapon; if the character is fighting with a weapon in each hand, the secondary weapon still adds only one additional attack per round. Any attacks of opportunity the heroic warrior receives must be counted off against these additional attacks, however.

In addition, warriors gain one extra attack per round which may be used to perform a shield-punch, shield-rush, unarmed punch or kick, or grab maneuver against any opponent that they threaten when they begin resolving their attacks for the round. The normal penalties for these attacks don't apply, so the shield maneuvers don't cost the warrior his AC bonus, and the unarmed maneuvers don't provoke attacks of opportunity.

Characters can only engage in a heroic fray against creatures of 1–1 Hit Dice or less, or creatures whose Hit Dice or levels are 10 less than the hero's. A 12th-level fighter can declare a heroic fray against monsters of up to 2 HD, a 13th-level fighter can stand against 3-HD monsters, and so on.

The other requirement of a heroic fray is numbers. The hero's side must be outnumbered by the enemy for the warrior to gain his extra attacks. If there are fewer monsters left than attacks available, the excess attacks are lost.

Chapter Three:

The Battlefield

For thousands of years, climate and terrain have played critical roles in the development of military tactics and the evolution of the battle. In flat, open lands, cavalry became the dominant force on the battlefield because the terrain favored mobility. But even the best horsemen lose most of their mobility in heavy forest, swamp, or rugged mountains. The commander who learns to use the terrain to his advantage becomes a formidable enemy.

In many AD&D games, the battlefield itself is often ignored or portrayed in a colorless, abstract manner. This chapter explores the various types of battlefields and their characteristics, with two goals in mind: creating more scenic and visual sites for your PCs' heroic encounters, and providing players and Dungeon Masters with another level of battlefield detail to reward quick thinking and sound tactics.

The first section of this chapter, Battlefields, discusses sites common to adventurers in role-playing situations and defines battlefield characteristics and terrain. Settings ranging from ice plains to tropical jungles are all included. The second part of this chapter, the Battlefield Generation System, provides the DM with an easy way to quickly create a complete battlefield for any encounter. The last part of this chapter is Combat Under Unusual Conditions and deals with a variety of strange situations.

Does This Belong in My Campaign? Even if you are not using the Player's Option combat system presented in Chapter One, you'll still find that most of the material in this chapter can be useful in any AD&D campaign. The information on movement, cover, and encounter ranges can go a long way toward making your battles more visual and exciting. Your players will also enjoy the new tactical opportunities (and problems) this chapter presents.

Battlefields Every fight the player characters participate in has to happen somewhere. Defining the setting for an encounter may provide players with ideas for ways to use the terrain against their enemies, or present the DM with an opportunity to make an encounter tougher by giving the monsters the same opportunities.

The Four Basic Battlefields

In most fantasy role-playing games, battles tend to take place in one of four environments: a dungeon or cave, a town or building, a castle or fortification, or outside. There are exceptions, of course, but most battles occur in one of these environments.

The DM can prepare four basic battle maps to represent each one of these areas, and then modify the map for the particular details of each new battle. For example, TSR's Dragon Strike® game includes maps of a town, a meadow, a dungeon, and a cave—with a little work, the DM could use these generic maps to handle almost any fight.

Dungeons or Caves

There are three basic problems with fighting in a dungeon or cave: first, the fight usually takes place in a confined area; second, lighting may be a critical issue for characters who don't have infravision; and last but not least, the monsters usually know their own homes well. Unfortunately, most PCs end up going into dungeons or caves to confront monsters in their lairs.

Overall, dungeons or caves may be the most dangerous places to have a fight. The lighting is poor, the footing is questionable, and there are all kinds of possibilities for traps and ambushes. The cramped quarters eliminate all but the most rudimentary choices of tactics and strategy.

When preparing a dungeon battle for the PCs, the DM should note the characteristics of the area in advance. Just about anything can live in a dungeon, and almost any kind of furniture or obstacles can be found there.

Town or Building

Fighting inside buildings or in the streets of a town is almost as risky as fighting inside a dungeon. Ambush lurks around every corner, and at times it may be hard to distinguish between enemies and bystanders. Many town fights involve thieves or cutthroats who know their turf far better than the PCs, who are often visitors.

The biggest consideration in a fight in a civilized area is the possibility of help or interference from the local watch or nosy bystanders. Unless the PCs are willing to accept a price on their heads, they'll want to cooperate with the local constabulary. The DM should make a point of preparing for the arrival of the watch, since it's likely that someone will call for help before too long.

Outside

Battlefields in the great outdoors range from featureless to impassable, depending on the terrain and ground cover. From the DM's point of view, an outside battle is a difficult one to run, since there aren't many maps of forests or hillsides around. A second consideration is the possibility of long-range combat that becomes a melee, forcing a change of scale.

The battlefield generation system in the next section of this chapter deals with battlefields in all kinds of terrain. Using this system, the DM can randomly create a detailed battlefield in no time at all.

Castles or Fortifications

It doesn't take a genius to realize that storming a castle or fort of some kind is dangerous and bloody work. The defenders have the advantage of full cover and deadly traps or devices to make short work of attackers. Even high-level characters should think twice before entering the killing zones of a well-designed gatehouse or keep.

As with dungeons or buildings, the DM should prepare accurate and detailed maps, with notes about cover and trap locations, before the gaming session. This will save a lot of time during the game and eliminate the half-hour pauses in the game while the DM sets up the fight.

Battlefield Characteristics

The characteristics of a battlefield can often change the nature of an encounter by limiting movement, visibility, or missile fire. For example, charging is impossible in waist-deep water, and archery is ineffective in dense forest. Battlefields are described with six general characteristics: encounter range, lines of fire, cover, footing, obstacles, and materials or hazards that can be found there.

Encounter Range

This is the distance at which one group sights another group. The encounter range is governed by the ground cover and terrain; obviously, it's much harder to sneak up on someone on a flat plain than it is in heavy forest. Tactical encounter ranges are found in Chapter One under Opening the Battle.

These ranges may seem very short, but keep in mind the fact that these distances assume that both parties are trying to avoid being spotted. If one side or the other doesn't care about being seen, it's fair to double or triple the listed encounter ranges.

Note that encounter range is always the shortest of two ranges: the visibility from the surrounding terrain, and the visibility from the ambient light. A character may be able to see for miles on an open plain in daylight, but on a moonless night that open land is fairly well hidden. On a dark night in the forest, people can pass within five feet of a patient enemy without knowing that he's there.

Lines of Fire

This is related to encounter range, since terrain types that limit visibility also restrict missile fire. A battlefield's lines of fire are described as clear, impaired, or severely impaired. Clear lines of fire are easy: the battlefield has no effects on missile fire.

Impaired lines of fire have no effect on missile fire within the terrain's minimum encounter distance; for example, light forest has an encounter range of 4d6 squares, so the first 4 squares of any missile fire are unaffected. After this minimum distance, targets are treated as if they had one step of hard cover more than they actually do; a target in the open actually has 25% cover, 25% covered targets are bumped up to 50%, and so on. This is because low branches or trees are obscuring the line of fire.

Severely impaired lines of fire have no effect on fire within the terrain's minimum encounter range, similar to impaired lines of fire, above. In severely impaired lines of fire, the maximum range of any missile fire is reduced to three times the minimum encounter range, and all targets in this area gain two levels of cover.

Cover and Concealment

Most battlefields offer a fair amount of cover or concealment. This tends to be related to encounter range and lines of fire. Cover is simply described as available or unavailable; if there is cover present, its range from the character looking for cover is noted.

Footing

The ground's movement characteristics can have a drastic effect on the course of a battle. This is referred to as footing. Footing is briefly described in Chapter One; the terrain descriptions that follow this section go into more detail on the footing for each type of battlefield.

The principal effect of poor footing is to limit movement to a fraction of normal. A character with a normal movement rate of 9 who is in heavy brush is limited to a MV of 3. The character's full-move and half-move combat actions are all affected by this limitation.

Obstacles

Assuming that the basic battlefield is a flat, barren plain, obstacles are anything that interrupt a character's movement or provide cover against missile fire. They include streams, ponds, bogs, trees, thickets, dunes or drifts, slopes or bluffs, boulders, buildings, or walls.

As noted above, obstacles have two basic effects: limiting movement and providing cover. For example, most characters have to go around a tree trunk and can stand behind it to use it for cover. If an obstacle just limits movement instead of blocking it completely, it can usually be crossed or climbed at the cost of a half-move for the character.

Unusual Materials or Hazards

This last category is a catch-all for items that just can't be described above. Some battlefields may have the makings for spears, lassoes, or slings just lying around. Other battlefields may have special hazards such as fires, quicksand, or water deep enough to drown in.

Terrain Types The following list of terrain types is not meant to be exhaustive; a book this size could be filled with descriptions of topography and ground cover for every conceivable battlefield. If you don't see something to match what you want, pick something close and approximate.

Badlands

Badlands are rocky wastes or broken terrain with jagged escarpments, deep gulches, and little plant cover. The Black Hills of South Dakota and parts of the western United States fall into this category. Rugged, knife-edged hills tend to limit vision and confine the fight to a small area.

Encounter Range: 10d8 squares (50–400 feet)

Lines of Fire: Clear

Cover: Random hard cover available within 1d6 squares of any character.

Footing: Rocky slopes reduce movement by 2/3; characters can move normally if they avoid climbing or descending hills.

Obstacles: Deep gulches and boulders.

Unusual: Rocks for slings are handy everywhere. Falling down a rocky slope is dangerous—if a character slips, is knocked down, or fails a Dexterity check while descending a slope, he rolls 10–40 feet (1d4¥10) and suffers 1d4 damage per 10 feet fallen.

Caves

Adventurers seem to find fights in caves all the time. A typical cave is small, twisted, and dark, with uneven floors and hanging stalactites and sharp stalagmites. If the battle is taking place in a colossal cavern, it's better to consider it an open field or hillside under total darkness.

Encounter Range: By range of visibility.

Lines of fire: Impaired.

Cover: Hard cover is available within 1d3 spaces of any character.

Footing: Some cave floors may be muddy or slick, but generally footing is okay.

Obstacles: Rock formations and crevasses.

Unusual: If the lights go out, caves are pitch black. Fighting in total darkness gives the attacker a –4 penalty on attack rolls and a random chance of attacking anyone engaged with him, including friends.

Stalagmites can skewer an unfortunate character who falls on one; any character who is tripped or knocked down has a 1 in 10 chance of falling on a stalagmite. The stalagmite "attacks" with a THAC0 of 15 and inflicts 2d10 points of damage if it hits. A successful saving throw vs. paralyzation for half damage applies.

Desert

This is the classic sandy desert of motion picture fame. Most deserts are actually dry, rocky areas that are more like badlands or plains. The great dunes of a sandy desert tend to restrict vision and slow movement.

Encounter Range: Longest missile range.

Lines of Fire: Clear.

Cover: Available by lying behind a dune crest, but none otherwise.

Footing: Climbing a dune face reduces a character to 1/3 movement.

Obstacles: Dunes block lines of sight and may shorten the encounter range. Dunes range from a couple of feet to several hundred feet in height and may stretch for miles.

Unusual: Nothing of note.

Fields or Farmland

Vast areas of civilized nations are farmland. Usually, cultivated fields indicate a settlement, homestead or village within a mile or two. In late summer and autumn, full-grown crops such as corn or wheat may be taller than a human and provide excellent concealment.

Encounter Range: Winter/spring: long missile range. Summer or wild fields: 10d6 squares (50–300 feet); autumn: 5d6 squares (25–150 feet).

Lines of Fire: Clear.

Cover: None. Concealment is available in summer or fall by lying down.

Footing: Excellent, no penalties.

Obstacles: None.

Unusual: Nothing of note.

Forest, Heavy or Jungle

This is dark, dense forest with heavy undergrowth and closely spaced trees. The thick growth severely limits visibility and it is very easy to blunder into an enemy without ever knowing he was there. The Appalachian forests and the Pacific Northwest are good examples of heavy forest.

Encounter Range: 2d6 squares (10–60 feet)

Lines of Fire: Severely impaired.

Cover: Hard cover within 1d3 squares of any character; concealment within 1d3–1 squares of any character.

Footing: Heavy undergrowth and close-set trees reduce all movement by 1/3.

Obstacles: Trees and thickets.

Unusual: A ready supply of branches can provide clubs or sharpened stakes in no time at all. In some forests, heavy vines can be used for snares or lassoes.

It's dangerous to ride at high speed in a forest; the rider of any mount moving at a run or gallop has a 1 in 6 chance per turn of being struck by a branch. The rider must roll a successful saving throw vs. paralyzation or be unhorsed, suffering 1d6 points of damage in the process.

Dense forests severely restrict flying creatures of Size L or bigger. Such monsters must land in a clear area and approach their prey on the ground, since there is not enough space between the trees to unfurl their wings.

Forest, Light

The principal difference between heavy forest and light forest is the amount of underbrush. Light forests have much less brush to obstruct movement on the ground, and tend to be much airier and brighter. Small stands of trees, copses, or orchards can all be considered light forest.

The ground level of a true rain forest can also be considered light forest, since there is little underbrush and the trees are spaced a fair distance apart. The canopy levels might be considered thickets or dense forest.

Encounter Range: 4d6 squares (20–120 feet)

Lines of Fire: Impaired.

Cover: Hard cover available within 1d6 squares of any character; concealment available within 1d4 squares.

Footing: Normal.

Obstacles: Trees.

Unusual: See heavy forest.

Hills

Most hills are considered to be part of another terrain. For example, gentle rolling hills are plains, forests, or farmlands—their ground cover is their most important characteristic. This category actually refers to rugged foothills or highlands with light or no forestation. Large areas of the Appalachian mountains, the Scottish Highlands, and the foothills of the Alps fall into this category.

Encounter Range: Determined by the level of forestation (heavy, light, or none.)

Lines of Fire: Determined by the level of forestation.

Cover: Determined by the forestation, but in hills with no trees, hard cover is still available within 2d10 spaces of any character.

Footing: Characters moving uphill are slowed to 2/3 or 1/3 movement, depending on the severity of the grade. The forestation may limit movement even if the grade isn't too bad. Characters who slip or fall while moving downhill must roll a successful saving throw vs. death or roll 10–40 feet (1d4x10), suffering 1d4 damage per 10 feet fallen.

Obstacles: Boulders, escarpments, and ravines or gulches.

Unusual: Characters fighting with a height advantage (i.e., attacking from uphill) gain a +1 bonus to their attack rolls. Most hills are good places to find rocks for slingstones.

Marsh

Marshes aren't swamps; marshes are bogs or wetlands without trees. The ground is treacherous, and careless adventurers can easily become lost or mired in mud. Marshes may be flat, but tall stands of reeds can serve as excellent concealment, and characters who don't mind getting wet can always go to ground to stay out of sight.

Encounter Range: 4d12 squares (20–240 feet)

Lines of Fire: Clear.

Cover: None. A character can find concealment within 2d6 squares behind reeds or in shallow ponds or creeks.

Footing: In knee-deep water, characters move at 2/3 their normal rate. In waist-deep water, they move at 1/2 their normal rate. In shoulder-deep water, movement is reduced to 1/3 normal.

Obstacles: Ponds, creeks, and streams.

Unusual: Characters grappling in water waist-deep or deeper can try to drown their opponent if they achieve a hold on him. The victim is considered to begin holding his breath on the round in which his attacker got his wrestling hold, and may begin to drown as described in the Player's Handbook, Chapter 14: Time and Movement, under Holding Your Breath.

Note that characters rendered unconscious by an attack may also be in danger of drowning if they fall into water of any depth.

Mountains

Battles on actual mountainsides are rare. This type of terrain represents high passes, canyon-walls, deep valleys, high snowfields, and windswept peaks. If the fight takes place below the treeline, consider the terrain to be hills, forest, or fields.

Encounter Range: Long missile range.

Lines of Fire: Clear.

Cover: Hard cover is usually available within 3d10 squares of a character, but it may take mountaineering skills to get to it.

Footing: Characters moving uphill or downhill are reduced to 1/3 normal movement or possibly stopped altogether, depending on the grade. If no normal movement is possible, characters may decide to climb instead.

Obstacles: Boulders, ice or snow, cliffs, dangerous slopes.

Unusual: Characters who slip or fall while climbing or moving downhill must roll a succcessful saving throw vs. death or fall 10–60 feet (1d6x10), suffering 1d6 points of damage per 10 feet fallen. Mountainsides usually have a plentiful supply of rocks of all sizes.

Plains

Open plains are a tactician's greatest challenge. Without any clear advantage to be gained from controling a terrain feature, battles become contests of maneuver and skill. Any commander can stand off a superior enemy force in rough terrain, but it takes a genius to defeat the same force on open ground. Plains include savannahs, dry steppes, and some grassy deserts as well as American Midwest-style prairie.

Encounter Range: Long missile range. A Man-sized creature can be spotted as far as 1,000 yards away on level plains.

Lines of Fire: Clear.

Cover: None.

Footing: Normal.

Obstacles: The random stream, gulch, or stand of trees.

Unusual: Nothing of note.

Ships

In many AD&D campaigns, ships and boats are the fastest way to travel long distances. Many kingdoms rely extensively on sea trade and are plagued by pirates or privateers. Naturally, adventurers tend to get involved in problems like this. Fighting on a ship first assumes that the attacker can catch and board his prey.

Encounter Range: Belowdecks, encounter range is limited by the range of vision. Abovedecks, everything is in range for an encounter. Ships can spot other ships as far as 10–15 miles away, depending on their size and the prevailing visibility.

Lines of Fire: Impaired.

Cover: Masts, deckhouses, water-kegs, and gunwhales can all function as hard cover. Abovedecks, any character is within 1d4 squares of hard cover.

Footing: Normal. Climbing around in rigging is a different matter, though.

Obstacles: Masts, sails, deck cargo, and open hatches can obstruct movement.

Unusual: The sails and masts of a ship are known as its rigging. Moving around in the rigging is treated like climbing, but there are always ropes or ladders handy. If a character in the rigging slips or is knocked down, he may fall to the deck or the sea.

Swamp

Swamps are like marshes, but have trees and thickets. Most of a swamp's trees can be found on islands of solid ground, but many others (such as cypresses) can thrive in the water. The Louisiana bayou, the Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia, and portions of the Everglades are good examples of swamps.

Encounter Range: 2d6 squares (10–60 feet)

Lines of Fire: Impaired.

Cover: Hard cover is available within 1d6 squares of any character. Concealment is available anywhere, by going to ground.

Footing: In knee-deep water, characters move at 2/3 their normal rate. In waist-deep water, they move at 1/2 their normal rate. In shoulder-deep water, movement is reduced to 1/3 normal.

Obstacles: Trees, thickets, bogs, creeks, ponds, quicksand.

Unusual: See Marshes. In addition, swamps usually have wood or vines handy, which can be used to make improvised weapons.

Taverns

It seems to be the fate of adventurers everywhere to get into brawls and scrapes of the nastiest sort in alehouses and common rooms. The typical indoors fight is a dangerous and bloody affair, complicated by the presence of bystanders and the possible intervention of the town watch.

Encounter Range: By limit of visibility. Naturally, you can't fight with someone who isn't in the room.

Lines of Fire: Usually impaired.

Cover: Tables, benches, and furniture can all be used for hard cover.

Footing: Normal.

Obstacles: Furniture.

Unusual: Chairs, mugs, bottles, and other tavern accessories can all be used as clubs or other weapons.

Town Streets

If the PCs aren't getting into barroom brawls, they're probably fighting in the alleys or streets right outside. Most medieval towns had very close-spaced buildings with dark, winding streets.

Encounter Range: 2d6 squares (10–60 feet)

Lines of Fire: Usually clear.

Cover: Hard cover is available within 1d6 squares of any character.

Footing: Normal.

Obstacles: Carts, wagons, vendor's stalls, passers-by, buildings.

Unusual: Walls and gatehouses often limited movement between sections of a town. These areas could be used as strongpoints by a defending force. Almost any kind of weapon materials may be close at hand in a typical town street.

Generating a Battlefield Since the Player's Option combat system relies on a figure's positioning and facing, any battlefield the DM creates should show obstacles and terrain features in the exact squares they occupy. The following section describes a quick battlefield generation system that the DM can use when he doesn't have the time or forewarning to prepare a detailed battlefield before the player characters get into a fight.

This system should not replace old-fashioned preparation for an adventure. If you know that the players are likely to encounter a troll ambush in a mountain pass, make some notes about the setting of the battle before the adventure begins. Any staged encounters in buildings should be described, too. If you take the time to draw a good dungeon map, the map can be copied to a larger size for use with the Player's Option combat system without too much trouble.

The only times you should have to create a battlefield from scratch are when you don't expect a fight to occur, such as when the PCs run into a random encounter while traveling cross-country or pick a fight with someone they were just supposed to talk to. Save yourself the trouble of creating a battlefield if it is fairly obvious that the encounter won't lead to a fight or if it seems likely that the actual fight will be very short.

Step One: Scale

Here's a tip for saving time: don't make a battlefield bigger than it has to be. There's no point in mapping every street of a town if you're confident that you can contain the battle in one dark alleyway. Refer to the encounter ranges listed for the various terrain types in the previous section; you probably don't need to make the battlefield bigger than about 125% to 150% of the maximum encounter range. For example, in light forest, the encounter range is 4d6 squares. The maximum encounter range is 24 squares, so you'll want a battlefield about 30 to 35 squares across. If the encounter is taking place indoors, it's not necessary to map out more than the room the PCs are fighting in.

Step Two: Topography

Take your battlefield and divide it into nine sections, like a tic-tac-toe board. The lay of the land may place some parts of the battlefield higher than the other parts. Each of these nine sections is assigned a height relative to the others; from these different heights, you'll derive the slopes of your battlefield. (If this is an indoors fight, ignore this step.)

First, determine the base topography for your battlefield: flat, hilly, or broken. Marshes, swamps, plains, and some fields and forests are flat; hills, deserts, and most other fields and forests are hilly; and badlands, caves, some deserts, and mountains are broken.

Flat

No slopes or elevations worth noting. You're done with this step.

Hilly

Roll a d6 for each section of the battlefield; on a 1, that section is elevated 20 feet above the rest of the battlefield, and all adjacent sections are elevated 10 feet above the base height. On a roll of 2, that section is elevated 10 feet above the base height.

Broken

Roll a d6 for each section of the battlefield; on a 1, that section is elevated 20 feet, but adjacent areas aren't elevated as they are in hilly terrain. On a 2 or 3, that section is elevated 10 feet.

Slopes and Escarpments

Hills are surrounded by slopes. Each 10 feet of elevation requires a slope of two to four squares to surround it. Draw a hilltop of three to ten squares at the midpoint of each elevated area, and then circle the hilltop with a ring of sloping squares.

Broken areas may be surrounded by slopes or escarpments. Any side of an elevated area has a 50% chance of being either a slope or an escarpment. If it is a slope, draw it as described above. If it is an escarpment, consider it to be one square wide.

Step Three: Ground Cover and Water

Now, take each section of the map and determine how dense the ground cover is in that area. The categories are clear (C), thickets or brambles (T), light woods (L), and heavy woods (H). Roll a d6 for each area and consult the chart below:

1 2 3 4 5 6

Light Woods C C T L L H

Heavy Woods C T L H H H

Swamp C C T T L L

Hills C C C C T L

Plains C C C C C T

Clear

No ground cover in that section of the battlefield.

Thickets

Brambles or thickets cover that section of the battlefield. Thickets tend to be in clumps; take about two-thirds of the squares in that area and mark a couple of bramble patches.

Light Woods

Light forest is prevalent in that area of the battlefield. Trees are about three squares away from each other; mark trees in about one-quarter of the squares in that section.

Heavy Woods

Heavy woods are like light woods, but the trees are closer together. Mark trees in about one-third to one-half of the squares in that area, about one to two squares away from each other.

Standing water or bogs can be handled in much the same way as ground cover. Each section of a marsh, swamp, field, or plain may be clear (C), or it may have a pond (P), bog (B), or stream (S) in it. Roll 1d6 for each ninth of the map:

1 2 3 4 5 6

Marsh C S B B P P

Swamp C S B B B P

Field C C C C S P

Plain C C C C C S

Clear

No water in that region.

Bog

About one-half of the area in question is a soft, muddy bog. Bogs are usually knee-deep to shoulder-deep water, with lots of vegetation, mud, and debris. Bogs tend to be one large bog, and not many smaller bogs, so mark only one or two distinct bogs per area of the map. If two adjacent areas have a bog, they might be one larger bog. Consider connecting them together.

Stream

Most streams are only one or two squares wide, and range from knee-deep to shoulder-deep. Streams don't usually appear and disappear without a body of water to flow into or out of, so make sure that the stream squares form a continuous line and go somewhere if at all possible.

Pond

About three-quarters to all of the area is under water. Ponds are usually knee-deep or waist-deep near the edges, but can be 10 or 15 feet deep in the middle.

Step Four: Obstacles

Battlefields are often littered with obstacles and obstructions. They provide cover, limit movement, and occasionally endanger the people fighting around them. The DM should arbitrarily scatter a handful of obstacles of his choice over the map. Obstacles include:

Gulches, ravines, or ditches (any terrain except marsh or swamp)
Boulders (hills, mountains, badlands)
Rockfalls (hills, mountains, badlands)
Deadfalls (forests, swamp)
Fences, earthworks, or buildings (any civilized area)

Step Five: Putting It All Together

Your battlefield should now be complete. Chances are, you have some defensible terrain and some open areas that invite attack. Now, the DM should decide where each force starts. If one side surprises the other, the surprised fellows have to set up first, and the surprising force gets to set up around them. If one side was stationary or defending, they set up along one randomly-determined map edge, and the attackers set up opposite them.

If both forces were moving, roll randomly to see which edge of the mapboard each force was coming from. They can enter the encounter area from adjacent sides of the battle map, but not from the same side. If the players have a set marching order, the DM can insist that they set up their figures accordingly. Or, if the circumstances dictate, he can allow them to place their figures wherever they see fit.

Please note that the simple creation of a battlefield does not guarantee a more exciting and interesting encounter—the DM has to reward characters who use their heads by making use of the terrain, and present the party with enemies who do the same. Even a grizzled party of adventurers should think twice before going up a rocky hillside against a band of orcs who can see them coming.

Fighting in Unusual Conditions Since adventures are notoriously unpredictable, a surprising number of battles take place in the most inconvenient places. Player characters tend to get into fights while hanging on the side of a cliff, swimming in subterranean lakes, or while venturing into fantastic planes of existence. Last but not least, many magical spells can create strange effects. This next section addresses the most common of these unusual conditions.

Limited Visibility

Fighting at night or in dark settings is difficult—especially if your foe can see better than you can. As noted in the DMG, characters fighting in darkness or heavy fog suffer penalties to their attack rolls, damage bonuses, and Armor Classes.

Moonlight or Moderate Fog or Rain

Characters suffer a –1 penalty to attack rolls and saving throws. Since nothing can be seen more than 100 yards (60 squares) away, spell and missile ranges are limited; no missile scale combat can take place in an encounter.

Starlight or Dense Fog or Heavy Rain

Characters suffer a –3 to attack rolls and saving throws, a –2 penalty to AC, and only get 1/2 their normal damage bonus for exceptional Strength. Nothing can be seen more than 50 yards away (10 yards for dense fog or cloudy moonless nights), so spell and missile ranges are very limited.

Total Darkness

Characters suffer a –4 penalty to attacks, saves, and AC and receive no damage bonus for exceptional strength. No special attacks such as disarms, backstabs, or traps are allowed—the character can't see his own weapon, let alone his target.

Water

Underwater combat is described in some detail in the DMG. Here's a quick reminder of some of the difficulties of underwater combat.

Weapon Restrictions

Only type P weapons can be used effectively underwater; the water offers too much resistance to use any other kind of weapon except nets.

Vision

Under the best of circumstances, characters can see no more than 100 feet underwater (50 feet in fresh water.) For each 10 feet they descend, this range of vision is reduced by 10 feet; if a character is 30 feet underneath the surface of a lake, he can only see 20 feet. If it is dark outside or the water is muddy, this could be reduced even more.

Movement

Characters moving about underwater have to swim. See Swimming under Chapter 14: Time and Movement in the Player's Handbook.

Characters who are only wading are much less affected. Wading in knee-deep water reduces movement by 1/3. Wading in waist-deep water reduces movement by 1/2 and adds a one-phase initiative penalty to any action the character takes. Wading in shoulder-deep water reduces movement by 2/3, adds a two-phase penalty, and causes the character to lose any Dexterity adjustment to his Armor Class (although it does provide cover against someone firing missiles at the character).

Fighting Underwater Monsters From the Surface

It's always great fun when a wading character gets attacked by some aquatic horror. When a character fights against something that uses water for cover, slashing and bludgeoning weapons are useless. Only type P weapons can be used to attack underwater creatures, and there is a –2 penalty to hit. The wading character also loses any Dexterity adjustment to AC when attacked from beneath the surface.

Climbing

Cliffs and mountaintops are another awkward place for a fight. Adventurers seem to be drawn to the worst locations imaginable for their heroic battles and often find themselves under attack while they're clinging to a vertical wall of rock.

Movement

Climbing characters normally move 1 foot per round for each point of normal movement. A dwarf with an adjusted movement rate of 5 can climb 5 feet per round in good conditions. Refer to Climbing under Chapter 14: Time and Movement in the Player's Handbook.

Fighting

Climbing characters lose all AC bonuses for Dexterity and shield, and may have rear attack modifiers applied against them. They have a –2 penalty to attack, damage, and saving throw rolls. If a character is above his enemy, he gains a +2 bonus on his attack rolls; if he is beneath his enemy, he suffers an additional –2 penalty.

Any time a character is struck while climbing, she must make a climbing check, detailed in Chapter 14: Time and Movement in the PHB. Note: you can use a default check of 30% in good conditions.

Fighting Flying Creatures

Encountering angry giant eagles while clinging to a cliff is usually no fun at all. Unless they can hover, flying monsters can only make one pass every other round to attack climbing characters. If the PCs are facing the cliff (most climbers have to), the flying creatures get the benefit of rear attacks. Intelligent flyers may try to use their talons to drag a climber off the cliff; treat this as a grab attack. This forces a climbing check, and even if the character succeeds, he still must win the Strength contest to stay on the cliff side.

Aerial Combat

Aerial combat is described at length in Chapter 9: Combat under the optional rule Aerial Combat in the Dungeon Master Guide. Here's the gist of how these rules work in the Player's Option combat system.

Initiative

The more maneuverable flyer gains a –1 bonus to its initiative roll for each level of difference in Maneuverability Class between itself and its opponent. Creatures at home in the air have an easier time fighting while airborne.

Threatening

No aerial combatant threatens any adjacent creatures. Combat in the air just doesn't work that way; battles tend to take the form of joust-like passes at each other.

Movement

All fliers with a MC of B or worse must declare a half-move action every round just to stay in the air. Class B fliers can hover in position, but fliers with a MC of C or worse must move forward in this half-move to stay aloft. This requirement to keep moving means that a class C flier can make an attack against a stationary target once per two rounds, a class D flier once per three rounds, and a class E flier once per six rounds.

Gaining a point of altitude costs an additional movement point; a flier with a move of 18 could move 9 squares forward and 9 squares up with a full-move action. Diving allows the flier to add one point of free movement for each point of altitude it drops, so the flier with the 18 movement could move 36 squares in a full-move dive. Of course, it also has to drop 18 points of altitude (90 feet) to do this.

Attacks from Below

Creatures attacking from beneath an opponent cannot charge, but they may be in a blind spot. The defender can reply with an attack only if it has natural weapons or its rider is equipped with a size L weapon, such as a lance.

Attacks from Above

Creatures attacking from above may declare a charge by diving at their victims. Lances, spears, and a flier's natural talons or claws inflict double damage in a dive attack. In addition, the defender may not be able to reply to the attack if its only natural weapons are talons or hooves.

Unseating a Rider

Characters riding a flying mount can be "unhorsed," just like characters on the ground. If the character is strapped into his saddle (a wise precaution), he is simply knocked off-balance in his seat and suffers the same penalties as if he had actually been knocked down on the ground—he is easier to hit and has to spend an action getting back in his seat.

Naturally, if a character is not strapped in, he risks the damage of a fall if he is unseated by any means.

Combat on Other Planes

Almost any conditions imaginable may be encountered in the various planes of existence. The Planescape™ campaign setting describes the general conditions of the various Outer and Inner Planes, but fights are also likely to occur in two other settings: the Astral and the Ethereal Planes.

Astral Combat

On the Astral Plane, a creature's tactical movement is based on its Intelligence score. Its move becomes 30 feet (6 squares) per point of Intelligence. In addition, Intelligence replaces Stength for purposes of determining attack and damage adjustments, and Wisdom replaces Dexterity for AC adjustments and missile fire. All missile ranges are doubled, but non-native characters suffer a –2 penalty to hit with missile attacks.

There are very few obstructions in the Astral Plane, and the encounter range is normally twice the longest missile range. Since this is most likely a great distance, astral combat should be run in missile scale. Fighting in the Astral is like aerial combat; creatures do not threaten each other, and can move in three dimensions.

If a character's astral self is killed, she immediately returns to her physical body with only 1 hit point. If the character is killed while physically on the plane, she is dead.

Ethereal Combat

Ethereal creatures move at their normal unencumbered rate, regardless of their equipment and armor. Unlike the Astral Plane, the Ethereal is a swirling mass of misty proto-matter that obscures vision; the Encounter Range is 10–40 squares (50–200 feet). Missiles tend to be slowed by the misty matter, and shots of medium range or longer just stop and hang in the air.

If a character is in the Border Ethereal, she can still perceive the shadowy outlines of the plane she just left. She can move through any objects or creatures without impediment. Of course, she is unable to affect things on the plane she is viewing, but she can only be affected by the magical gazes of a very limited number of monsters.

The Effects of Magic on the Battlefield Needless to say, the one thing that breaks all the rules on a battlefield is magic. Spells and magical items can create almost any condition imaginable, ranging from the merely annoying to the truly catastrophic. We could spend most of this book describing the exact effect of each and every spell and magical item in the game system, but this wouldn't be very practical. Instead, we'll discuss the most common effects that may give DMs trouble.

Wizard Spells

The most powerful and effective spells in the AD&D game are found in the hands of wizards. In fantasy role-playing, wizards often dominate battlefields like heavy artillery or airstrikes in modern warfare. Entire battles often hinge on one character's choice of spells and the enemy's attempts to down the wizard before he wreaks havoc on them.

Blink

The spell blink works slightly differently in the Player's Option combat system. Roll 1d6; on a 1, the wizard blinks in the very fast phase, on a 2, fast, on a 3 or 4, average, on a 5, slow, and on a 6, very slow. The wizard's blink always occurs first in the phase, before any other actions are resolved.

Darkness, 15' Radius

Creatures outside the area of darkness cannot trace a line of fire through the darkness to a target on the other side. Creatures moving in total darkness are reduced to 1/3 their normal move unless they wish to risk stumbling

Enlarge

A character who grows to eight feet in height becomes size Large; a character who grows to 12 feet in height becomes size Huge. This affects reach, threatening, and moving through smaller figures; see Chapter One. Very large monsters can be made smaller by applying the reverse of this spell.

Fog Cloud

As with darkness, magical fog blocks any lines of fire. Creatures blundering through the fog can easily be ambushed by enemies waiting for them to come into the open; the DM can insist on surprise checks if he deems it appropriate.

Hallucinatory Terrain

This spell is very dangerous when used to conceal hazardous areas. If the victims do not perceive the illusion, they fall prey to whatever hazards the terrain holds. For example, creatures who run down a hillside believing it to be level ground receive no Dexterity check or saving throw to keep their balance; they automatically fall and roll or slide to the bottom of the hill.

Haste

Creatures under the influence of a haste spell increase their base initiative and weapon speeds by two phases and always win initiative. Their movement rates are doubled, and they gain a second set of attacks in the very slow phase.

Invisibility

The best thing to do with an invisble character or monster in a fight is to secretly note its location each round and physically remove the figure from the board. Do yourself a favor and don't run combats with invisble figures on both sides.

Jump

The creature empowered by this spell can actually leap over Man-sized targets without provoking an attack of opportunity. In addition, if the jumper wins initiative, he can make a half-move action to leap away after he attacks an adjacent figure, whether or not he is threatened by his enemy.

Pyrotechnics

The smoke effect of this spell blocks lines of sight and hinders missile fire just like magical mists or fogs.

Shocking Grasp

At the DM's option, creatures in metal armor may be considered AC 10 versus the wizard's touch. Only Dexterity and magical adjustments apply.

Slow

Creatures affected by a slow spell automatically lose initiative and reduce their base initiative and weapon speeds by two phases. As noted in the spell description, their movement rates and attack rates are halved.

Priest Spells

Few priest spells in the Player's Handbook that do not duplicate wizard's spells actually affect the battlefield to any significant degree. However, the Tome of Magic includes a number of priest spells in the sphere of war designed for the battlefield.

Air Walk

Creatures affected by an air walk spell move and fight as if they were on solid ground as opposed to engaging in true aerial combat. They threaten squares in front of them and can guard against the attacks of other flying creatures, gaining the advantages of that combat action.

Obscurement

Like magical fog, obscurement blocks lines of sight through the affected area, screening creatures in or behind the mists from most missile attacks.

Magical Items

There are hundreds of magical items that can create various effects on the battlefield. The exact results of a magical item's use are left to the DM's discretion, but here are some general guidelines on some specific items. In cases where a magical item duplicates a spell effect, refer the spell sections.

Potion of Growth

Characters may easily change size by imbibing a potion of growth; they gain the advantages of extended reach and size bonuses in overbearing or overruns as normal for monsters of that size.

Potion of Invulnerability

The imbiber can still be knocked down, grappled, or overborne by creatures he is otherwise immune to.

Apparatus of Kwalish

The mechanical claw attacks of the apparatus act in the slow phase of initiative.

Boots of Speed

The Armor Class bonus applies when the character chooses a half-move or full-move combat action. Going toe-to-toe in a melee doesn't allow the wearer of the boots to take advantage of their defensive properties, although he can always use the extra movement.

Boots of Striding and Springing

If the wearer strikes before his enemy because of a better action speed or because he won initiative, he may spring away as described in the DMG without provoking an attack of opportunity. The +1 AC bonus applies all the time, even when the user is mired in a stationary slugging match.

Crossbow of Accuracy

Although the weapon treats all shots as short range, it still has medium and long ranges for purposes of armor penetration. See crossbows in Chapter Seven: Weapons and Armor.

Scimitar of Speed

The scimitar of speed is very fast, and its wielder always wins initiative if he declares a combat action that involves an attack with the weapon.

Short Sword of Quickness

See scimitar of speed, above. If two such weapons are involved in a single battle, their strikes are considered to be simultaneous.

Sword of Sharpness

The magical properties of sharpness override the normal critical hit procedure. It is still possible to achieve a normal critical hit by rolling an 18 or 19, even if it doesn't quite activate the sharpness properties. If a limb is severed, consider the injury to be a critical one of the appropriate sort—Chapter Six details the unpleasant effects of losing limbs.

Vorpal Sword

As with the sword of sharpness, the properties of a vorpal blade override the critical hit procedure. If the wielder rolls an 18 or higher that meets the criteria for a critical hit without invoking the vorpal power, a normal critical hit results.

Chapter Four:

Weapon Specialization & Mastery

In a desperate battle, the only thing that stands between a brave hero and a grisly end is his skill with blade or shield. Skill at personal combat is a valuable commodity in a fantasy setting; it's hard to imagine Conan meeting his better at swordplay, or the Gray Mouser encountering a foe swifter and more agile than himself.

This chapter describes a revised weapon proficiency system that includes several grades of specialization as well as new uses for a weapon proficiency. This material is completely compatible with the character point proficiency system described in the Skills & Powers book; the point system allows characters to purchase proficiency, expertise, specialization, or mastery in the same way that an AD&D character can spend proficiency slots to gain these benefits.

A number of new uses for weapon proficiencies are also included in this chapter. Weapon groups, fighting styles, attack maneuvers, shield use, armor use, special talents, and dirty tricks can all be learned by spending weapon proficiency slots.

Weapon Proficiencies Anybody can pick up a sword and swing it in a menacing manner, but without proper training and technique it's impossible to use a weapon correctly. A character's weapon proficiencies represent weapons in which he has some degree of training. Usually, he can wield them without embarrassing himself.

Intelligence and Proficiencies

Fighters, paladins, and rangers may apply their bonus language slots for high Intelligence scores to any kind of weapon proficiency. Characters of any other type can only use these extra proficiency slots to learn nonweapon proficiencies. This rewards fighters who chose brains over brawn by allowing them to compensate for shortcomings in physical attributes with the benefits of skill and training.

Under this rule, the character's number of allowed languages simply represents the most languages she can ever learn. The character isn't assumed to begin play knowing any extra languages; instead, she must use nonweapon proficiency slots to learn any extra languages she wants to speak. Characters can always speak their native tongue without spending any proficiency slots.

Demihuman characters who are allowed to learn extra languages still have to spend slots learning these tongues. Their advantage lies in the fact that they can begin play with knowledge of these languages, because they had access to people who spoke them when they were growing up.

Proficiencies and the

Skills & Powers Book

The Player's Option character point system replaces the normal acquisition of proficiency slots. Characters may decide to learn a lot of skills by devoting their character points to a variety of proficiencies, or they may choose to specialize in a few areas. Regardless of how they elect to spend their character points, the end results are the same: either they have a proficiency in something or they don't.

Weapon Groups

Many weapons are very similar in construction and techniques of use; for example, using a bastard sword with one hand is not too much different from using a long sword. Both weapons are heavy, two-edged blades that rely on slashing or chopping strokes to cut through armor. All weapons are categorized in tight groups, which are further organized into broad groups. The particular group a weapon belongs to is noted under the weapon characteristics in Chapter Seven.

Tight groups serve two functions in game play. First of all, all weapons in a tight group are considered to be related to each other. A character who is proficient in one weapon belonging to a tight group is automatically familiar with the other weapons of that tight group and has a reduced penalty for nonproficiency when using them.

Second, characters can learn to use all weapons in a tight group with a weapon group proficiency. Weapon group proficiencies cost two slots, but may include a number of weapons. For example, a character could use a weapon group proficiency to gain proficiency in crossbows; by spending two slots, he actually gains proficiency in six different weapons.

Some tight weapon groups are further organized into broad groups. For example, the tight groups of axes, picks, hammers, and maces are all part of the hafted weapon broad group. Proficiency in all of the weapons of a broad weapon group can be learned for three proficiency slots.

A number of weapons are completely unrelated to anything else. For example, lassoes just don't work like any other type of weapon. The same applies for nets, whips, bolas, and mancatchers. These weapons must be learned one at a time.

Specialization and Weapon Groups

Having a weapon group proficiency counts as the first slot of specialization for one weapon in that group. When the character chooses to specialize, he need only spend one additional proficiency slot and select any weapon of that group as his specialty. For example, a character with the crossbow tight group proficiency could spend one additional slot to specialize in the medium crossbow. He's spent a total of three slots but has proficiency with six types of crossbows and specialization with his preferred weapon, the medium crossbow.

Character Classes and

Weapon Proficiencies

Most character classes are limited in their selection of weapons. However, in the Skills & Powers book, a character may choose to be proficient in a weapon she normally would not be allowed to use. This is reflected by requiring the character to spend more character points than normal to become proficient.

As an optional rule, characters may learn to use barred weapons by paying extra proficiency slots. A rogue or priest may learn a weapon normally reserved for warriors by suffering a one-slot penalty, and wizards may learn weapons normally reserved for priests or rogues with a one-slot penalty. If a wizard wishes to learn the use of a weapon normally reserved for warriors only, she must pay a two-slot penalty. For example, a wizard who wants to use a long sword could do so by paying two weapon proficiencies for it, since long swords are available for rogues—but she would have to pay three slots to become proficienct in the two-handed sword.

Note that the limited number of weapon proficiencies available for nonwarrior characters will tend to control character abuse of this rule. Priests may be capable of learning any weapons under these rules, but priests who use barred weapons do so at the risk of angering their superiors or deity.

Kits and Barred Weapons

Some kits may allow characters to use barred weapons; for example, militant wizards may select a sword as one of their weapon proficiencies. Generally, the bonuses and perks of a kit are considered to negate any out-of-class penalties. However, priests may still be limited by their priesthood weapon restrictions.

New Weapons

A number of new weapons are introduced in Chapter Seven: Weapons and Armor. Many of these are similar to weapons that were restricted in the Player's Handbook. The Weapon Table in Chapter Seven lists any classes that cannot use a particular weapon under normal circumstances.

Shield Proficiency

By spending a weapon proficiency, characters can become more skilled in the use of their shield. Modern re-enactments of medieval tournaments have demonstrated that the shield is a very important part of a warrior's protection. The extra protection conferred by the shield varies by the exact type the character becomes proficient in:

Shield Normal Proficient Number of

Type AC bonus AC bonus Attackers

Buckler +1 +1 1

Small +1 +2 2

Medium +1 +3 3

Body +1/+2 vs. +3/+4 vs. 4

missiles missiles

The number of attackers is the maximum number of times the shield bonus can be used in a single round by the character. Normally, shields can only be used against enemies in the character's front spaces or in the flank spaces on the character's shield side.

Armor Proficiency

Similarly, characters can spend time and effort learning how to use their armor more efficiently. While this doesn't provide a bonus to Armor Class, it can help to offset the hefty encumbrance penalties of heavy armor. A character who spends a weapon proficiency slot becoming acquainted with a type of armor gains the special benefit of only suffering one-half the normal encumbrance of that armor.

For example, chain mail normally weighs 40 pounds, but a character with a proficiency in chain mail only has to count 20 of this towards his encumbrance level. This represents the character's training in wearing the armor just the right way and his practice in moving around while wearing 30 or 40 pounds of ironmongery.

Weapon Mastery It's fairly obvious that there is a huge difference in the attack potential of an unskilled novice and a trained swordsman. The level of skill with which a character fights is divided into six general categories: nonproficiency, familiarity, proficiency, expertise, specialization, and mastery.

Skills & Powers uses character points to acquire each level of mastery, but this system is also compatible with AD&D weapon proficiencies. Nonproficiency and familiarity have no cost in proficiency slots, normal proficiency costs one slot, expertise and specialization cost two slots, and mastery costs three or more slots.

Nonproficiency

If a character has never had any training or practice with a weapon, he is nonproficient. He can only guess at the proper way to hold the weapon or attack his opponent. Anything fancier than a simple hack, slash, or bash is beyond his abilities—the character cannot attempt any attack options such as disarming, blocking, or sapping.

In addition to his inability to make special attacks, the character also suffers an attack roll penalty based on his character class. Warriors tend to figure out weapons of any kind relatively quickly and have a small penalty for attacking with weapons they're not familiar with. Other characters don't have the warrior's affinity for weapons and are more severely penalized. These penalties are:

Class Nonprof. Familiarity

Warrior –2 –1

Wizard –5 –3

Priest –3 –2

Rogue –3 –2

Psionicist –4 –2

Nonclassed

NPCs –4 –2

Any weapon wielded by a nonproficient character is considered one initiative phase slower than it really is, and missile weapons have their rate of fire halved. An untrained character wielding a long sword has an initiative phase of slow, not average, and an unskilled character wielding a long bow would only fire once per round instead of twice.

Familiarity

All characters are automatically familiar with any weapon that is related to a weapon they are proficient in. Weapons are considered to be related if they are part of the same tight group. For example, a character who is proficient in the use of the light crossbow is automatically familiar with all other types of crossbow because they're part of the same tight weapon group.

Familiarity is not as good as proficiency, but it beats not knowing anything about a weapon at all. Characters only suffer one-half the normal nonproficiency penalty when attacking with weapons they are familiar with. They may attempt any normal attack maneuvers possible (the familiarity penalty still applies, of course), and suffer no initiative or rate of fire penalties.

Familiarity does not allow the user to make use of any special weapon attack modes that require proficiency in the weapon.

Proficiency

This is the basic level of competence most characters achieve with their weapons training. Proficiency allows the character to use a weapon with no penalties and employ all attack options and special weapon properties to their fullest extent.

As noted previously, warriors can spend two proficiency slots to become proficient in a tight weapon group, or three slots to become proficient in a broad group. Otherwise, characters have to spend one slot per weapon they wish to be proficient with.

Expertise

Weapon expertise is a form of specialization that is available to nonfighters. Regular weapon specialization (described below) is only available to single-classed fighters, but weapon expertise can be learned by paladins, rangers, and multi-classed fighters. There's no reason a single-classed fighter couldn't learn expertise instead of specialization, but expertise is just as expensive as specialization and isn't as good.

Weapon expertise allows a character to gain extra attacks as if he or she were a weapon specialist. At 1st level, an expert with the long sword gets to attack three times per two rounds. Weapon expertise also allows the use of any unusual weapon properties reserved for specialist use. Weapon expertise does not grant the character extra attack or damage bonuses, as weapon specialization does.

Note that Skills & Powers allows a character to "customize" his class and receive abilities he normally could not attain. Under these rules, paladins, rangers, and multi-classed fighters can specialize at the cost of sacrificing other abilities or advantages. Similarly, priests and rogues may be able to gain weapon expertise. If you aren't using the Skills & Powers book, we recommend that you limit specialization and mastery to single-class fighters only, and limit expertise to paladins, rangers, and multi-class fighters.

Specialization

By spending an extra proficiency slot on a weapon, a single-class fighter character can become a specialist. A fighter may only specialize in one weapon at a time. If she wishes to change her specialization to a different weapon, she must spend two extra proficiency slots to become a specialist in the new weapon, and loses all benefits of specializing in the previous one (although she is still proficient with it and always will be). Any more changes cost three slots each, so it's a good idea to pick one weapon and stick with it.

The exact benefits of weapon specialization vary with the particular weapon involved. Generally, the types of benefits fall into one of five categories: melee weapons, missile weapons, bows, crossbows, and firearms.

Melee Weapons

Specializing in a melee weapon provides a character with two main benefits: first of all, he gains a +1 bonus to attack rolls and a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon; secondly, he gains an extra attack once per two rounds. A 1st-level fighter normally attacks once per round, but a 1st-level long sword specialist attacks three times per two rounds.

Missile Weapons

This category includes slings and thrown weapons. Generally, specialists gain an increased rate of fire with these weapons and a +1 bonus to attack rolls. If a character specializes in a weapon that can be used either for melee or as a missile weapon (spears, daggers, hand axes, etc.), he gains the melee benefit described above when using the weapon for hand-to-hand combat and the increased rate of fire for using the weapon for ranged attacks.

Refer to the table below for the exact number of attacks available to the specialist for the various types of missile weapons.

Bows

Characters who specialize in the bow gain a +1 bonus to hit at any range (normal range penalties still apply, of course), an increased rate of fire, and a new range category: point-blank. Point-blank is any shot of 30 feet or less. At point-blank range, the character gains a +2 to damage. In addition, bow specialists can automatically fire first as a very fast action if they have their target covered. This supercedes the specialization rules found in the Player's Handbook.

Crossbows

Specialists with crossbows gain a +1 bonus to hit at any range, an increased rate of fire, and a point-blank range category, just like archers. For crossbows, point-blank range extends out to 60 feet. Crossbow specialists have a +2 bonus to damage rolls against any target at point-blank range. In addition, they share the archer's quick-shot benefit when covering an enemy.

Firearms

Firearms specialists are often referred to as marksmen or sharpshooters. Specializing in a firearm provides a character with three benefits: first of all, he has a better rate of fire than a nonspecialist; second, he gains a +1 bonus to hit at any range; and last, there is a 50% chance that any misfire he rolls while attacking with the firearm is simply a miss instead.

Specialist Attacks per Round

Level of Specialist

Weapon 1–6 7–12 13+

Melee Weapons 3/2 2/1 5/2

Blowgun 2/1 5/2 3/1

Bolas 1/1 3/2 2/1

Bows 2/1 3/1 4/1

Hand Crossbow 1/1 3/2 2/1

Light Crossbow 1/1 3/2 2/1

Heavy Crossbow 1/2 1/1 3/2

Stonebow 1/1 3/2 2/1

Repeating Crossbow 2/1 5/2 3/1

Thrown Dagger/Knife 3/1 4/1 5/1

Thrown Dart 4/1 5/1 6/1

Firearms

Arquebus 1/3 1/2 1/1

Matchlocks 1/2 1/1 3/2

Snaplocks 1/1 3/2 2/1

Wheelock Belt Pistol 1/1 3/2 2/1

Wheelock Horse Pistol 1/2 1/1 3/2

Javelin 3/2 2/1 5/2

Sling 3/2 2/1 5/2

Staff Sling 1/1 3/2 2/1

Shuriken 3/1 4/1 5/1

Other Thrown Weapons 1/1 3/2 2/1

Weapon Mastery

There are swordsmen, and then there are swordsmen. A warrior who devotes his life to the study of martial combat and the characteristics of a single type of weapon can become a weapon master—a fighter whose precision, quickness, and skill are virtually unequaled anywhere.

Weapon masters are rare characters. Only single-classed fighters can ever achieve weapon mastery, and even then they do so with time, study, and sacrifice. To achieve mastery in a weapon, a character must first specialize in the use of that weapon. Then, at any time after he reaches 5th level, he can spend another proficiency slot to become a weapon master. He can continue to devote proficiency slots to the study of his chosen weapon, but can't progress faster than the rate at which he gains new weapon proficiency slots. So, a character who becomes a master at 5th level couldn't acquire his second slot of mastery until 6th level, his third until 9th level, and so on.

Generally, only weapons that require some skill to handle or that have a history of cultural identification are chosen by weapon masters. Swords of any kind are the most common weapons mastered, followed by bows and then axes or spears. Polearms, crossbows, and firearms are the subject of weapon mastery only in rare cases. The DM can decide that a weapon isn't appropriate for mastery at his discretion, but he should do so before a character chooses to specialize in it.

Effects of Mastery

If a fighter spends another proficiency slot on a melee weapon he already specializes in, his attack and damage bonuses increase to +3 and +3, respectively. For bows and crossbows, his point-blank bonuses increase to +3/+3 as with melee weapons, and he gains an additional +1 to hit at all other range categories, for a total of +2. (Remember, this bonus doesn't take range modifiers into account, so the archer has a total of +2 at short, +0 at medium, and –3 at long range, if the penalties are factored in.)

A marksman who chooses to master a firearm gains an additional +1 bonus to hit, cumulative with the effects of specialization for a total bonus of +2 to hit. As with bows and crossbows, this is still reduced by range penalties. In addition, the marksman ignores heavy armor at all ranges as if he were firing at a short-range target. See Firearms in Chapter Seven for more information.

High Mastery

By spending a second slot on mastery, a character can become a high master. By this time, the character has spent four slots on a single weapon and is at least 6th level. High masters increase the speed factor of their chosen weapon by one category; for example, a slow weapon in the hands of a high master is automatically considered to be of average speed. High masters also score critical hits on rolls of 16 or higher rather than 18 (if the optional critical hit system is used) that hit their opponent by a margin of 5 or more.

High masters who specialize in bows, crossbows, slings, or firearms gain a new range category: extreme range. For all weapons, extreme range is 1/3 farther than long range. For example, if a weapon has a normal maximum range of 18 squares, in the hands of a master it can shoot 24 (1/3x18=6, 18+6=24) squares. Extreme range shots have a –10 penalty to hit before adjustments are made for the effects of mastery.

Grand Mastery

High masters who spend one more slot on learning their weapon of choice can become grand masters. Grand masters are capable of feats of swordplay that border on the fantastic. Grand masters gain one additional attack per round above and beyond a specialist's rate of attacks for their level, so a 12th-level melee weapon grand master would attack 3 times per round with his weapon of choice.

Grand masters also increase the amount of damage and the chance of a knockdown when they employ their chosen weapon. The weapon's base damage die and knockdown die are increased to the next greater die size against all opponents. A long sword thus inflicts 1d10/1d20 points of damage in the hands of a grand master, and its knockdown die is increased to a d10. If the weapon causes multiple dice of damage, all of them are increased. Thus, a two-handed sword in the hands of a grand master inflicts 3d8 points of damage on large targets. Needless to say, grand masters are extremely dangerous opponents.

Special DM Note

Weapon mastery is hard to come by, and even harder to perfect. It's not too rare for a character to become a master, but the quest to become a high master or grand master could take years. Unlike the previous levels of specialization, which can simply be selected as an advancement choice, high mastery and grand mastery should require a great deal of time and personal sacrifice on the part of the character. It's not unreasonable to require the candidate to locate someone who can teach her and spend several months of campaign time in training—possibly "sitting out" an adventure or two while she hones her skills.

While the higher levels of weapon mastery are a great goal for a character to set her eyes on, they can unbalance a game very quickly. Exercise tight control over the acquisition of weapon mastery in your campaign, and make certain that the players realize just how rare and special their weapon master characters really are.

Fighting Style Specialization Knowing how to use a particular fighting style is almost as important as being proficient with a weapon. The various fighting styles are introduced in Chapter Two; warriors automatically know every style, while the other character types are limited in their knowledge of fighting styles. If a nonwarrior wishes to learn a style he doesn't know, he can do so at the cost of a weapon proficiency.

In addition to simply knowing a style, warriors, priests, and rogues can specialize in that method of fighting by spending a weapon proficiency slot. The exact effects of style specialization vary from style to style. Note that warriors can specialize in a weapon, and then specialize in an appropriate style. In fact, warriors can specialize in as many styles as they like, as long as they have the proficiency slots (or character points) available. Priests and rogues can only specialize in one style.

Weapon and Shield Style

Normally, a character employing a shield in his off hand can shield-rush, shield-punch, block, or trap as if it were a secondary weapon, with the normal penalties for attacking with two weapons. The disadvantage is that the shield's AC bonus is forfeited for any round in which it is used this way.

However, characters who specialize in weapon and shield style can choose to make one of these secondary attacks every round without losing the AC benefit for carrying a shield. If the heroic fray rules from Chapter Two are in use, the character only gets one secondary attack, not two, but his primary weapon attacks are still doubled, of course.

One-handed Weapon Style

The character is always free to treat his empty hand as a "secondary weapon" and punch, grab, or otherwise annoy anyone he is fighting. The normal penalties for using two weapons apply. If the character is also familiar with the two-handed weapon style and his weapon can be used either one- or two-handed, he can switch back and forth between the two styles at the beginning of every round of combat.

Characters who specialize in this style gain a special AC bonus of +1 while fighting with a one-handed weapon and no shield or off-hand weapon. By spending an additional proficiency slot, the character can increase his AC bonus to +2, but that's the maximum benefit for style specialization.

Two-handed Weapon Style

Many weapons are so large that a character is required to use both hands to wield them. The rule of thumb is simple: a character can use a weapon with a size equal to or less than her own in one hand and can use a weapon one size larger than herself if she wields it two-handed.

If a character specializes in two-handed weapon style, she increases the speed of her weapon by one category (slow to average, average to fast) when she fights using a two-handed weapon. If you're not using the new initiative rules presented in Chapter One, the weapon's speed factor drops by 3.

There are a few weapons that can normally be employed one-handed or two-handed; these are noted in the weapons list of Chapter Seven. There are also a variety of weapons that are normally used one-handed but that can be used two-handed. This would allow a specialist in this style to gain the speed benefit mentioned above. In addition, the two-handed style specialist gains a +1 to damage rolls when using a one-handed weapon in two hands.

Two-Weapon Style

This is a difficult style to master, since it requires exceptional coordination and skill. Normally, characters who fight with a weapon in each hand suffer a –2 penalty to attacks with their primary hand and a –4 penalty to attacks with the off-hand weapon. This can be partially or completely negated by the character's reaction adjustment for Dexterity (or Dex/Aim if you're also using Skills & Powers). Characters who specialize in this style reduce their penalty to 0 and –2, respectively. Ambidextrous characters who specialize in this style suffer no penalty with either attack.

The character's secondary weapon must be one size smaller than his primary weapon—but knives and daggers can always be used as secondary weapons, regardless of the size of the primary weapon. Note that this means that for Man-sized characters, the secondary weapon has to be size S. However, if a character spends a second proficiency slot on two-weapon style specialization, he gains the ability to use two weapons of equal size, as long as he can use each one as a one-handed weapon. Rangers are considered to have the first slot of this style specialization for free as a character ability.

Missile or Thrown Weapon Style

Some heroes specialize in fighting with ranged weapons; Robin Hood and William Tell spring to mind as good examples. Characters who choose to specialize in missile or thrown weapon style gain two benefits. First, they can move up to half their normal movement rate and still attack with their full rate of fire, or make a full move and attack at half their rate of fire. Second, they gain a bonus of –1 to their AC against enemy missile fire while attacking with a ranged weapon.

Horse Archers

A proficient archer and rider who specializes in missile style gains a special benefit when mounted: any penalties he suffers for shooting while riding are reduced by 2. Normally, a character suffers a –2 penalty to missile attacks if his mount is moving at up to half its normal speed, and a –4 penalty if his mount is moving at full speed. Horse archers suffer no penalty for half-speed firing, and only a –2 penalty for firing at full speed.

Horse archers are rare in a typical Western European fantasy setting. Historically, most horse archers came from central Asia. At the DM's discretion, a character may not qualify for this special benefit unless he has a suitable origin or makes an effort to locate someone from that culture who can teach him.

Local Fighting Styles

Many specialized forms of combat evolved throughout the world in various locations. Some Roman gladiators were trained to fight with net and trident; Western Europe developed the joust; and martial arts evolved throughout southern and eastern Asia. If a character comes from an area where a unique form of combat has evolved, she may spend a weapon proficiency slot to specialize in that form of fighting.

Some examples of specialized fighting styles include: rapier and main-gauche, sabre, fighting sticks or nunchuks, katana and wakizashi, and so on. If a character spends a proficiency slot to specialize in one of these local styles, she can choose one of the following benefits:

A –1 bonus to Armor Class;
A +1 bonus to attack rolls;
The ability to make a free block or trap maneuver without spending an attack to do so;
The negation of penalties for fighting with two weapons;
A free unarmed punch or kick.

For example, specialization in fighting with matched sticks or nunchuks may confer the negation of the normal –2/–4 attack penalty for fighting with two weapons. Rapier and main-gauche specialization may provide the character with an extra block or trap maneuver with his main-gauche. The DM is the final judge of what bonus a particular style provides and whether or not a character can specialize in it.

Special Talents

Weapon proficiencies can also be used to acquire a variety of special perks, traits, and characteristics useful for a fighter. Some of these talents were originally presented as nonweapon proficiencies and are noted with an asterisk; they can be purchased with either type of proficiency slot.

As always, the DM is the final arbiter of whether or not a particular option or ability is permitted in his campaign. If he decides that an ability doesn't fit, he can require the players to choose another talent.

Alertness* (1 slot/6 CP) Wisdom/Intuition, +1

Groups: All

Some characters are unnaturally alert and instinctively note signs of trouble that other characters may miss. A character with this proficiency reduces his chance of being surprised by 1 in 10 if he makes a successful proficiency check. In situations where surprise is automatic, the character may still attempt a proficiency check. If he passes, he is surprised at the normal chance instead of automatically.

Ambidexterity (1 slot/4 CP) Dexterity/Aim

Groups: Warrior, Rogue

Ambidextrous characters are able to use either hand with equal coordination and skill. They are neither right-handed nor left-handed. When fighting in two-weapon style, an ambidextrous character has two "primary" hands, and suffers a –2 penalty to hit with either weapon. If the ambidextrous character spends a slot to specialize in two-weapon fighting style, he suffers no penalty to attacks with either weapon.

Ambush (1 slot/4 CP) Intelligence/Reason

Groups: Warrior, Rogue Initial rating: 5

A character with this proficiency is skilled at laying ambushes and setting up surprise attacks. Most characters can set up an adequate ambush when the terrain favors it and they know the enemy is coming, but a character who spends a slot on this skill is able to create ambushes where ambushes wouldn't normally be possible.

Ambushes are impossible if the attackers have already been spotted by the victims; there's no point in hiding then. If the ambushing party knows their quarry is coming to them, they can lay an ambush. If the attack is going to take place in difficult or unusual circumstances, a proficiency check may be called for; failure indicates that the victims have spotted the ambush before they walk into it. Otherwise, the ambush is guaranteed to achieve surprise.

Camouflage (1 slot/4 CP) Intelligence/Knowledge

Groups: Warrior, Rogue Initial rating: 5

Characters skilled in camouflage understand how to stay out of sight in natural surroundings. Unlike hiding in shadows, camouflage requires one of two things: good cover nearby or a lot of preparation. It's possible for a character to hide himself on a flat, rocky desert, but he'd need to have special clothes and time to ready a hiding spot. On the other hand, almost anyone can duck behind a tree on short notice.

If the character passes his camouflage check, he is considered to be effectively invisible as long as he doesn't move. He can avoid encounters if he chooses, or gain a –1 bonus on his chance to surprise someone who doesn't spot him. The character's check is modified as noted below:

Ground Cover: –4 penalty if no vegetation is nearby;
Terrain: +1 bonus if terrain is rocky, hilly, or broken, +2 if very rocky;
Preparation Time: –2 if character has only one round of warning, –4 if character has no warning.

Rangers and thieves gain a +40% to their chance to hide in shadows if they pass a camouflage check in conjunction with their attempt to hide in shadows.

Dirty Fighting (1 slot/3 CP) Intelligence/Knowledge

Group: Warriors, Rogues Initial rating: 5

Veteran brawlers and soldiers acquire a repertoire of feints, ruses, and various unsportsmanlike tactics that can come in handy in a fight. A character with this "skill" can attempt to use a dirty trick once per fight; if he succeeds, he gains a +1 bonus to his next attack roll. If there's some reason the enemy believes the character will fight honorably (hardly a wise assumption!) the bonus is +2.

Once a particular enemy has fallen prey to the character's dirty trick, he can never be caught off-guard again. In addition, if the character's opponent is skilled in dirty fighting himself, the attempt automatically fails.

Endurance* (2 slots/4 CP) Con/Fitness

Group: Warrior Initial rating: 3

This proficiency allows a character to perform strenuous physical activity twice as long as a normal character before fatigue and exhaustion set in. If the fatigue rules from Chapter One are in play, a character with this proficiency increases his fatigue points by 50%.

Fine Balance (2 slots/5 CP) Dex/Balance

Group: Warrior, Rogue Initial rating: 7

Characters with this talent are blessed with an innate sense of balance and have an uncanny knack for keeping their feet under them. With a successful proficiency check, the character gains a +2 bonus on any climbing checks, saving throws, or ability checks to avoid slipping or falling. In addition, the character reduces any penalties for fighting in off-balance or awkward situations by 2 points.

The fine balance talent is also very useful for tightrope walking, tumbling, and climbing walls. If the DM determines that a particular feat would be influenced by the character's exceptional balance, the character gains a +2 (on d20 rolls) or +10% (on d100 rolls) bonus to his rolls to resolve the action.

Iron Will (2 slots/6 CP) Wisdom/Willpower, –2

Group: Warrior, Priest Initial rating: 3

Some people are possessed of an amazing ability to drive themselves on despite injuries or exhaustion that would stop another person in his tracks. A character with the iron will talent gains a +1 bonus to saving throws vs. mind-affecting spells or effects, including charms, holds, hypnotism, fascination, suggestion, and other such spells.

In addition, characters with iron will have the unqiue ability to keep fighting even after being reduced to negative hit points. Each round that the character wishes to remain conscious, he must roll a successful saving throw vs. death with his negative hit point total as a modifier to the roll. For example, a character reduced to –5 hit points can try to stay on his feet and keep moving and fighting by succeeding on a saving throw roll with a –5 penalty. As long as the character remains conscious, his condition does not worsen—in other words, he doesn't begin to lose 1 additional hit point per round until he actually passes out.

Leadership (1 slot/3 CP) Charisma/Leadership, –1

Group: Warrior Initial rating: 5

Characters with the leadership talent understand how to motivate troops and get the most out of their men. In battlefield situations, a military unit led by the hero gains a +2 bonus to any morale checks they have to make. If you are playing with the mass combat rules in Chapter Eight, the character is treated as if he were three levels higher than he really is, so a 4th-level fighter can command troops as a 7th-level fighter if he possesses this talent.

Quickness (2 slots/6 CP) Dexterity/Aim

Group: Warrior, Rogue Initial rating: 3

A character with this talent is unusually fast. Her hand-eye coordination is excellent, and she can often get past her opponent's defenses before they realize how quick she really is. In combat, she gains a special –2 bonus to her initiative roll if she makes a proficiency check. She can use this bonus if she moves or makes an attack with a weapon of average speed or quicker, but her special bonus does not apply to attacks with slow weapons or stationary actions such as guarding or parrying.

Steady Hand (1 slot/5 CP) Dexterity/Aim

Group: Warrior, Rogue

Characters with this talent are excellent shots with bows or crossbows. They have an unusually good eye for distance, a knack for judging a tricky shot, and a smooth and easy aim and release. If the character takes a full round to aim his shot (i.e., voluntarily holds his action until last in the round) he suffers no penalty for a medium-range shot and only a –2 penalty for a long-range shot. If the character would normally receive multiple attacks with his weapon, he has to forfeit them in order to use this talent—he can make only one shot per round.

Trouble Sense (1 slot/4 CP) Wis./Int.

Group: General Initial rating: 3

Sometimes known as a danger sense, this talent gives the character a chance to detect otherwise undetectable threats by instinct. The character's trouble sense comes into play when the character is threatened by a danger he hasn't noticed yet.

The DM should make trouble sense checks in secret. If the character succeeds, he is only surprised on a roll of 1 by a sneak attack and treats any rear attacks as flank attacks instead. The DM can modify the proficiency check if the character is taking extra precautions or if the attacker would be particularly hard to notice before striking.

Chapter Five:

Unarmed Combat

Characters all too frequently find themselves weaponless while embroiled in a fight. Experienced players often prefer to have their characters voluntarily lay aside their weapons to engage in nonlethal combat, especially when attempting to capture an opponent who is more valuable to them alive than dead.

There are three parts to this chapter. The first is Brawling; it covers pummeling, wrestling, and overbearing, the three basic types of unarmed combat (though improvised weapons can be used in pummeling). Subduing is a type of armed combat that employs weapons in nonlethal ways. Martial Arts is a set of skills that can make an unarmed character as formidable and unpredictable as a swordsman.

Does This Beliong in My Campaign? The material in this chapter is an extension of the combat options in Chapter Two, and it is intended for use with the Player's Option combat system presented in Chapter One. This chapter can be used by itself, however.

Brawling, subduing, and martial arts can all be incorporated into a campaign separately or together.

Brawling No character is entirely helpless while still conscious and free to move. Improvised weapons such as iron spikes and chairs often lie within easy reach, and a blow from a fist often can be as telling as a dagger thrust.

Brawling is generally less deadly to the defender than armed combat, but it does, however, carry its own risks.

Brawling Attacks Against

Armed Opponents

Any brawling attack provokes an attack of opportunity from any and all opponents who are armed and threatening the assailant. The defender gets a +4 bonus to attack and damage rolls. If an attack of opportunity slays the attacker, there is no brawling attack. If an attack of opportunity creates a knockdown chance, the brawling attack automatically fails and is wasted, even if the attacker's saving throw succeeds and he is not knocked down—the defender's weapon keeps the attacker at bay. If an attack of opportunity results in a critical hit, the character who scored the hit can choose to roll for the critical hit (see Chapter Six) or force the brawling attack to automatically fail.

Temporary Damage

Only one quarter of any damage inflicted in brawling combat is normal. Divide the damage from each attack by four and round down. The result is the normal damage from the attack; all remaining damage is temporary. If a single attack inflicts less than four points of damage it is all temporary damage. (Two humans with average Strength scores pummeling each other with bare knuckles can inflict only temporary damage.)

Temporary damage automatically heals at the rate of one point per combat round (or standard round if the Player's Option combat system is not in use) no matter what the injured character does. It is helpful to keep track of temporary damage separately.

Characters reduced to –10 hit points by temporary damage (or a combination of temporary and normal damage) are still dead. Characters reduced to between 0 to –9 hit points recover one temporary damage point each combat round (instead of losing a point each round), but remain unconscious for 2d6 full turns or until healed. Normal damage takes precedence over temporary damage. If a character has suffered enough normal damage to reduce his hit points below zero, he loses one hit point each round (as described in Chapter One under Damage and Dying) and regains no temporary damage.

The attacker in an unarmed combat can opt not to inflict damage—this is called pulling the punch, though it applies to all forms of unarmed combat. The attack may still generate special effects such as knockouts, knockdowns, holds, locks, and pins, but it inflicts no damage at all.

Opposed Rolls

The brawling procedures make extensive use of opposed rolls. See Chapter Two for a discussion of how to use opposed rolls in combat. Note that in an opposed ability check a die roll of 20 is always a failure, even if the effective score is 20 or more. In an opposed attack roll, a die roll of 1 is always a failure, even if adjustments to the roll would allow for success.

Pummeling Pummeling includes most attacks made with hands, fists, elbows, and the like. Humanoid and partially humanoid creatures with racial intelligence of at least low can make pummeling attacks. Nonhumanoid creatures with racial intelligence of at least average and with manipulative appendages at least as large and strong as human hands and arms also can pummel. Humans, demihumans, orcs, ogres, giants, centaurs, and similar creatures can make pummeling attacks. Great cats, octopi, oozes, horses, and other creatures who lack intelligence or prehensile appendages cannot. Common sense must apply. For example, the DM might allow androsphinxes to make pummeling attacks if they retract their claws. Generally, however, creatures with natural attacks use them in preference to pummeling attacks.

Pummeling requires at least one free hand, although the attacker may wear a metal gauntlet or similar item. A character may also use a weapon pommel or an improvised weapon, such as a mug or bottle, in a pummeling attack. Attacks with improvised weapons provoke attacks of opportunity just as other brawling attacks do.

The target of a pummeling attack must be alive, non-vegetable, organic, and non-fluid. Undead, shambling mounds, golems, and jellies are among the many creatures that cannot be pummeled.

Pummeling is ineffective against creatures who can be harmed only by special or magical weapons unless the attacker functions as a magical weapon powerful enough to hurt the creature (see DMG, Table 46; note that character levels never apply to the table). Elementals, fiends, and most extraplanar creatures are immune to pummeling unless attacked by similar creatures or by characters using magical weapons.

Creatures immune to blunt (type B) weapons are immune to pummeling attacks.

No creature can pummel an opponent more than one size larger than itself unless the target is not standing up (prone, kneeling, or sitting) or the attacker has a height advantage or can fly. For example, a halfling usually cannot pummel a hill giant.

Pummeling Procedures

Most characters can make a single pummeling attack each round. Any character can gain an extra pummeling attack each round by punching with both hands (provided both hands are free). However, the character suffers the penalties for attacking with two weapons (see Chapter Two).

To make a pummeling attack, the character makes an attack roll vs. the defender's Armor Class. Pummeling damage and speed varies with the type of implement used to pummel:

Small, soft objects (bare hands) inflict 1d2 points of damage; base speed is fast.
Small, hard objects (mailed fists, mugs, weapon pommels) inflict 1d3 points of damage; base speed is fast.
Large, soft objects (saddles, unconscious characters) inflict 1d4 points of damage; base speed is slow.
Large, hard objects (chairs, small tables, sacks of coins) inflict 1d6 points of damage; base speed is slow.

To be used as an improvised weapon, an object must weigh no more than one third of the attacker's maximum press score (from PHB, Table 1) and its greatest dimension can be no larger than half the attacker's height. For example, a Man-sized creature could wield a tall stool in a pummeling attack, but not a stepladder or banquet table; common sense must apply.

A cestus (see Chapter Seven) is a special case. A character employing a cestus uses the pummeling procedure but inflicts normal damage.

Strength bonuses to attack and damage rolls apply to all pummeling attacks.

There is no knockdown die for pummeling attacks. Instead, there is an opposed Strength roll to see if the defender is knocked down. Modify the opposing Strength scores as follows:

2-point bonus or penalty per size difference of the attacker versus the defender;
+1 for attacking with a large object;
+1, +2, or +3 for a specialized, master, or grand master attacker.

The defender is knocked down if the attacker wins the opposed Strength roll. If both Strength rolls succeed, the character who succeeds with the highest roll is the winner. If the attacker fails her Strength roll, there is no knockdown no matter what the defender rolls. If the defender fails her Strength roll, there is no knockdown unless the attacker's roll succeeds.

If a pummeling attack scores a critical hit, do not use the procedures in Chapter Six. Instead, the defender must save vs. death or be knocked unconscious for 3d10 combat rounds. The attacker's hit probability adjustment (from Table 1 in the PHB) for Strength applies as a bonus or penalty to the saving throw. If the attacker does not have a Strength score, determine the attacker's effective Strength using the formula found in Chapter Two and apply the appropriate modifier from the PHB.

Pummeling Skill Levels

Nonproficient: Most characters have had some experience with pummeling since early childhood, and nonproficient characters are very rare. If the optional character point system from the Skills & Powers book is in use, a character who is nonproficient in pummeling may claim 3 extra character points. Such characters are very rare, however, and the DM and the player should agree on a reason why the character is nonproficient; perhaps the character had an isolated and nonviolent childhood, or comes from a culture where fistfighting is unknown. A nonproficient pummeler suffers the attack penalty listed for his class in Table 34 from the PHB and cannot score a knockdown or knockout with a pummeling attack.
Familiar: The vast majority of characters are assumed to be familiar with pummeling, and need not spend any character points or proficiency slots on the skill. Such characters can make one pummeling attack each combat round with no penalty.
Proficient: Any character can spend character points (or a weapon proficiency) to become proficient at pummeling. Nonwarriors gain no benefit from pummeling proficiency. Proficient warriors gain their full allotment of melee attacks when pummeling.
Expert: Any character can spend character points (or weapon proficiencies) to become expert at pummeling. Expert warriors who are entitled to more than one melee attack each round can make the same number of pummeling attacks each round, but gain no other benefits. Expert nonwarriors can make multiple pummeling attacks at the same rate as a nonspecialized warrior of the same level.
Specialized: Generally, only single-classed fighters can become pummeling specialists, though there are optional rules in the Skills & Powers book that allow other characters to specialize. Pummeling specialists gain the normal specialist attack and damage bonuses and extra attacks. Specialists' attack bonuses apply to their Strength scores when rolling for knockdowns.
Master: Only single-classed warriors can attain mastery in pummeling. Pummeling masters gain the normal master attack and damage bonuses and extra attacks. Masters' attack bonuses apply to their Strength scores when rolling for knockdowns, and apply as penalties to saving throws vs. knockouts. Grand master pummelers can use critical augmentation to score knockouts on attack rolls of 16 or better.

An Example of Pummeling

Anada, an 8th-level elf warrior, has just escaped from a cell inside a bugbear lair. He has no weapons but still wears his suit of chain mail +1. Anada surprises a pair of unwary bugbear guards and moves in to attack them from behind. The bugbears are Large creatures, but Anada is Man-sized, so his pummeling attacks can effect them. Anada is familiar with pummeling, and can make only one pummeling attack each round despite his warrior level (though he could make a second attack with his other fist and suffer the penalties for a two-handed attack).

Because he is not in a threatened square, his first punch does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Anada's attack roll must be good enough to hit AC 5, a bugbear's normal Armor Class. He hits with a roll of 18, good enough to score a critical hit. Anada's Strength is 17, so the bugbear suffers 2d2+1 points of damage from Anada's bare fists (the damage is doubled due to the critical hit). The blow inflicts 3 points of damage, all temporary. Next, Anada and the bugbear must make opposed Strength rolls. Anada receives a –2 penalty to his Strength score because he is one size class smaller than his opponent. The bugbear's effective Strength is 17, with a +2 bonus because it is larger than Anada. Anada rolls another 18 and the bugbear rolls a 10. The bugbear is not knocked down. (Because Anada failed his Strength roll, the bugbear would not be knocked down in any case.)

The critical hit makes the bugbear roll a saving throw vs. death at –1 (because of Anada's 17 Strength) to avoid being knocked out. It fails the roll and falls unconscious for 3d10 combat turns. The second bugbear takes no action, because Anada has surprise.

The next round, Anada wins initiative and moves in to pummel the second bugbear, who turns to face him. Anada's punch provokes an attack of opportunity, because the bugbear threatens him. The bugbear has +4 attack and damage bonuses and its racial damage bonus of +2. It hits Anada for 9 points of normal damage and scores a knockdown chance. Anada's pummeling attack automatically fails, but his saving throw is successful and he is not knocked down. The bugbear decides to use its regular attack to punch Anada with its free hand, in hopes of recapturing him alive. It must hit AC 3 (Anada has a 15 Dexterity in addition to his magical armor) and misses.

During the next round Anada tries to pick up the fallen bugbear's weapon. The second bugbear wins initiative, however, and tries to punch Anada again. Anada is not yet armed, so there is no attack of opportunity. This time the bugbear hits, inflicting 1d3+2 points of damage with its mailed fist. It scores 5 points of damage, 1 normal and 4 temporary. Anada has now suffered 14 points of damage, 10 normal and 4 temporary. Unfortunately, Anada only had 12 hit points at the start of this battle, having been wounded earlier. Because his current hit point total is –2, he falls unconscious for 2d6 full turns. The bugbears drag him back to his cell, and watch him more carefully this time.

Special Pummeling Maneuvers

The following are special attacks that can be attempted as a pummeling attack. They are typically attempted to cause a special situation, such as a knockout.

Sapping

The basic rules for sapping are found in Chapter Two. However, a character may attempt to make a ranged sap attempt with a thrown abject, subject to range, Strength, and Dexterity modifiers. Damage is determined by the object's size and hardness, as given above. There is a one-phase delay when making a ranged pummeling attack; small objects become average, large objects become very slow. Small objects have a maximum range of 15 yards. Short range is 5 yards or less, medium range is 5–10 yards, and long range is 10–15 yards. Large objects cannot be thrown unless they can be wielded as improvised weapons as described above; they have a maximum range of 5 yards and are always considered to be at medium range. Size Large and larger creatures might be able to hurl some large objects, such as sacks of coins, as though they were small objects.

Kicking

Characters attacking with a height advantage (or attacking a prone, kneeling, or sitting opponent) can pummel by kicking instead of punching. Humanoid characters tend to have stronger legs than arms, and inflict extra damage:

Bare feet: 1d3 points of damage;
Shoes, boots: 1d4 points of damage;
Heavy boots: 1d6 points of damage;
Iron-shod or hobnailed boots: 1d8 points of damage.

Wrestling Wrestling includes all attacks aimed at grasping and holding an opponent. Any creature with racial intelligence of at least semi- can make wrestling attacks if it also has grasping appendages that it could use to restrain an opponent. Incorporeal and amorphous creatures cannot make wrestling attacks and cannot be wrestled. Limbless creatures, such as worms, snakes, and the like, generally cannot wrestle, though constrictor snakes can be assumed to be using a form of wrestling.

Wormlike and snakelike creatures are resistant to wrestling damage, but can be held or locked so they cannot attack until they win free of the hold. Creatures immune to normal weapons have a natural resistance to wrestling attacks, so they can be grappled or pinned but take no damage from a hold unless the attacker functions as a magical weapon. Immunity to normal weapons, however, does not protect a creature from the effects of a lock, including damage.

Wrestling requires both hands free. Shields, which are normally worn strapped to the forearm, interfere with the character's grip and prevent wrestling.

Wrestling combat always takes place between two opponents; multiple attackers cannot make a wrestling attack as a group. Damage from wrestling holds and locks is mostly temporary, just like other types of brawling damage.

Wrestling Procedures

Most characters can make one wrestling attack each round. Wrestling attacks take place on the attacker's base initiative phase.

A wrestler makes an attack roll vs. Armor Class 10, regardless of the defender's actual Armor Class. Bonuses for the defender's Dexterity and magical protections apply. Effects that provide a flat Armor Class, such as magical bracers or shield spells, count as a +1 bonus regardless of how strong their enchantments are. If the attacker misses, his action phase ends. If the attacker scores a critical hit, the defender is automatically held. The attacker enters the defender's square and inflicts 1d2 points of damage. The attacker can immediately try for a lock (see Previously Established Holds, below). If there is no critical hit, the attacker enters the defender's square and immediately checks for a hold.

Holds

To check for a hold, the combatants make an opposed attack roll vs. AC 10 (Dexterity and magical bonuses apply). Strength bonuses apply, along with the following modifiers:

4-point bonus or penalty per size difference of the attacker versus the defender;
–1 for a defender normally immune to the attack;
–2 for defenders with unusually supple bodies (snakes, eels, worms, etc.).

The attacker must win the opposed roll to achieve a hold. If the defender wins, if there is a tie, or if both rolls fail, the attacker is driven back to his original square and the grapple is broken. Both characters retain their original facings.

If the attacker wins the opposed roll, the attacker achieves a hold. The defender suffers 1d2 points of damage unless immune to the attack, and the attacker can try for a lock during his next attack. A hold lasts until the attacker frees the defender, or the defender breaks free. Grappled characters cannot move until they free themselves, and they cannot make attacks of opportunity. Checking for a hold ends the attacker's action phase; the character cannot attack again until he would normally be eligible for a melee attack (usually the next combat round); however, the character can counter the defender's attempts to get free (by making opposed rolls).

Strength bonuses to attack and damage rolls apply to all wrestling attacks, holds, and locks.

Previously Established Holds and Locks

When a character is eligible to make an attack and begins the action phase with a character in his grasp, the attacker can release the opponent, try to improve his grip, or just hold on.

If the attacker releases his opponent he can immediately attempt another unarmed attack, draw a weapon and attack (this counts as a half-move action), or attempt some other action normally available to the character, such as movement.

If the attacker tries to improve his grip, make another opposed attack roll as described above. If both attack rolls fail, there is no change in the combatants' status—they remain grappled and no damage is inflicted. If the defender wins, the attacker suffers 1d2 points of damage (plus Strength bonus) and the defender's position improves one place. Locked defenders become held, held defenders break free. If the defender wins with a roll good enough to score a critical hit, the defender immediately scores a lock on the attacker, and can choose a lock result from the table below. The defender now controls the wrestling sequence and is treated as the attacker in subsequent action phases. If the attacker wins the opposed roll, the defender suffers 1d2 points of damage and the attacker's position improves one place; held characters become locked.

If the attacker just tries to hold on, conduct another opposed roll. Unless the defender wins, his status does not change; held characters remain held and suffer 1d2 points of damage, and locked characters remain locked and suffer a lock result of the attacker's choice. If the defender wins, his status improves one place, as noted above. There is no chance for the defender to roll a critical hit and achieve a lock on the attacker. If both attacks fail, or if there is a tie, the defender's status remains unchanged, but the defender takes no damage and cannot suffer a lock result (though an established lock is not broken). The advantage of holding on is that there is also no chance for a critical hit to reverse the attacker's fortunes.

A character who decides to hold on after he has achieved a lock can only repeat the previous lock effect. If the character wishes to change effects, he must win another opposed roll.

Breaking Free

A defender who begins an action phase in another character's grasp cannot move. The only combat actions he can take is an attack with a size S or natural weapon, pummeling, or wrestling. These attacks must be directed at the opponent grappling the character. Attacks with size S weapons and pummeling attacks suffer a –2 attack penalty. Natural and armed attacks are not possible if the character's original facing would not allow them. For example, a fighter who makes a wrestling attack from one of a lion's rear squares could not be subjected to the lion's claw attacks, though the lion could turn its head to bite.

If the defender scores a critical hit with a weapon or natural attack, he can opt to inflict double damage (and perhaps roll for a special effect according to the rules presented in Chapter Six) or force the attacker to release him. If the defender scores a knockdown with a pummeling or weapon attack, he breaks free.

If the defender makes a wrestling attack, conduct an opposed attack roll as described above. If both attacks fail, there is no change in the combatants' status—they remain grappled or locked and no damage is inflicted. If the defender wins, the attacker suffers 1d2 points of damage (plus Strength bonus) and the defender's position improves one place. Locked defenders become grappled, and grappled characters break free. If the defender wins with a roll good enough to score a critical hit, the defender immediately scores a lock on the attacker and can choose a lock result from the table below. The defender now controls the wrestling sequence and is treated as the attacker in subsequent action phases. If the attacker wins the opposed roll, there is no change in the defender's status. If the attacker wins with a roll good enough to score a critical hit, the attacker automatically achieves a lock.

Assistance

Wrestling involves seizing and controling the defender's body; multiple attackers tend to hinder each other more than the defender. Even Very Large creatures that occupy more than one space on the map cannot be wrestled en masse because it is impossible to coordinate their actions as the defender thrashes about. The attacker's companions, however, can make melee, pummeling, and overbearing attacks against the defender. (A character involved in wrestling combat does not count as part of the pile if his companions try to overbear the defender).

It is equally difficult to involve multiple defenders in wrestling combat. A single character can try to grapple the attacking wrestler and pry him loose from the defender. If the rescuer achieves a hold (or a lock) on the attacker, the original defender breaks free and the original attacker is pulled into the rescuer's square.

A hold or lock also can be broken by scoring a knockdown or critical hit with a weapon or pummeling attack, as described above, or by overbearing the attacker. Additional defenders who threaten the attacker can make attacks of opportunity every time the attacker initiates an opposed roll.

Missile attacks directed at wrestlers have a chance to hit either characters as described in Chapter One.

Locks

Characters who become locked suffer one of the following effects, chosen by the character who achieved the lock:

Throw: The attacker literally throws the defender through the air. The defender lands, prone, 1 or 2 squares away in any direction the attacker chooses. The defender suffers 1d4 points of damage unless he lands on a soft, yielding surface, but is freed from the attacker's grasp. Defenders thrown onto particularly hard and unyielding surfaces, such as solid stone floors or walls, take 1d4+1 points of damage. If the defender is thrown into another creature, immediately conduct an overbearing attack against the creature struck using the attacker's Strength score and the thrown creature's size. If the defender is thrown into a hazardous area, such as a pool of burning oil or a set of sharp spikes, he takes additional damage from the hazard, just as though he has stepped or fallen into it. Hazards usually inflict normal (not temporary) damage. Defenders at least two size classes larger than their attackers cannot be thrown. Treat the throw as a takedown. If the defender is the same size or smaller than the attacker, the attacker can make a half move before throwing his opponent.
Takedown: The attacker makes the defender fall to the ground in the combat square. The defender suffers 1d3 points of damage and remains in the attacker's grasp.
Slam: The attacker hurls the defender violently to the ground in the combat square. The lock automatically becomes a hold and the victim breaks free if he rolls a successful saving throw vs. breath weapon. The defender suffers 1d8 points of damage in any case. The defender suffers 1d8+1 points of damage if slammed into solid ground, and the appropriate amount of damage is inflicted if the defender is slammed into hazardous ground. Defenders at least two size classes larger than their attackers cannot be slammed. Treat the slam as a takedown.
Press: The attacker squeezes or twists some part of the victim's body, inflicting damage. The victim remains in the attacker's grasp and suffers 1d6+1 points of damage. If the attacker repeats the press on his next action phase, the damage bonus increase to +2 and continues to increase if the attacker can repeat the press without interruption. A press repeated through five consecutive attacks would inflict 1d6+5 points of damage during the fifth attack.
Hammer: The attacker pummels the defender or pounds his body against something. The defender suffers 1d2 points of damage and must roll a successful saving throw vs. death or be knocked unconscious for 3d10 combat rounds. There is no adjustment to the roll as there is in a pummeling attack and no damage adjustment for items the attacker holds or wears on his hands.
Manipulate: The attacker takes control over the defender's body. The attacker can pry items out of the defender's grasp, remove exposed equipment from the defender's body, bind the defender's limbs, negate one of the defender's natural attacks, or inhibit the defender's actions in other ways at the DM's discretion. The defender suffers 1d2 points of damage from the attacker's manhandling.

The attacker can remove one item or bind one limb with a manacle in one attack phase. It takes two attack phases to tie a limb with rope. If in doubt about the attacker's ability to remove an item, allow the attacker to make an open doors or bend bars roll to perform the action. For example, removing a helmet from a struggling hobgoblin would require an open doors roll. Removing a helmet from a struggling storm giant would require a bend bars roll.

It is often possible to maintain a manipulation while performing a press or takedown. If the defender wins an opposed roll while multiple locks are established, all of them are broken.

Carry: The attacker lifts the defender into the air and makes a normal move. The defender's weight (and the weight of the defender's equipment) is added to the attacker's encumbrance rating. The attacker cannot choose this lock if the defender's total weight (with equipment) equals or exceeds the attacker's maximum press values (see PHB, Chapter 1).

Wrestler Versus Wrestler

If two characters have declared wrestling attacks against each other, they automatically grasp each other. Skip the initial attack roll and make an opposed roll on the fastest character's action phase to see who has the advantage. The winner establishes a hold, or a lock if his roll was good enough to score a critical hit.

Wrestling Skill Levels

Nonproficient: All characters have had some experience with wrestling since early childhood; the only nonproficient wrestlers are creatures that cannot make wrestling attacks at all. In most cases, creatures that cannot make wrestling attacks also cannot be wrestled. If a nonproficient creature can be wrestled, it can make opposed rolls with no penalties, but it cannot score critical hits or achieve holds or locks; the creature can merely wiggle out of the attacker's grasp (or make natural attacks). A character cannot choose to be nonproficient in wrestling and gain extra character points under the optional character point system from the Skills & Powers book.
Familiar: Creatures that can make wrestling attacks are automatically familiar with wrestling, and need not spend any character points or proficiency slots on the skill. Such characters can make one wrestling attack each combat round with no penalty.
Proficient: Any character can spend character points (or a weapon proficiency) to become proficient at wrestling. Nonwarriors gain no benefit from wrestling proficiency. Proficient warriors gain their full allotment of melee attacks when wresting. High-level warriors can initiate multiple wrestling attacks each round and can try to improve holds or switch locks in any action phase when they are eligible to make attacks.
Expert: Any character can spend character points (or weapon proficiencies) to become expert at wrestling. Expert warriors who are entitled to more than one melee attack each round can make the same number of wrestling attacks each round, but gain no other benefits. Expert nonwarriors can make multiple wrestling attacks at the same rate as a nonspecialized warrior of the same level.
Specialized: Generally, only single-classed fighters can become wrestling specialists, though there are optional rules in the Skills & Powers book that allow other characters to specialize. Wrestling specialists gain the normal specialist attack and damage bonuses and extra attacks.
Master: Only single-classed warriors can attain mastery in wrestling. Wrestling masters gain the normal master attack and damage bonuses and extra attacks. Grand master wrestlers can use critical augmentation to score quick locks on attack rolls of 16 or better.

An Example of Wrestling

Anada, the elf warrior from the previous example, lures one of his bugbear guards into his cell in another bid to escape. The guard is wary of trouble, so the DM rules there is no chance for surprise, but also gives Anada the first attack as he lunges from behind the door and grapples with the bugbear.

The bugbear is armed, and turns toward Anada as he attacks. Because Anada is threatened, the bugbear gets an attack of opportunity before Anada makes his wrestling attack. Anada gets lucky and the bugbear misses. Anada makes an attack roll vs. Armor Class 10 and rolls a 7, good enough to hit.

Now Anada checks to see if he achieves a hold. Anada and the bugbear make opposed attack rolls. Anada is attacking Armor Class 10 because the bugbear has no magical or Dexterity bonuses; Anada suffers a –4 penalty for being a size class smaller than the bugbear but gains a +1 bonus from his Strength. The bugbear is attacking Armor Class 8 because of Anada's chain mail +1 and 15 Dexterity. Anada rolls a 10, good enough to hit. The bugbear rolls an 18, also good enough to hit; however, Anada wins the opposed attack roll because he succeeded with a lower number. Anada has a hold on the bugbear and inflicts 1d2+1 points of damage (because of a successful hold and Anada's 17 Strength). Anada inflicts 2 points of damage, both temporary.

During its attack phase, the bugbear drops its weapon, which is too big to use while grappled, and tries to break free. Anada and the bugbear conduct another opposed attack roll, this time with the bugbear gaining a +4 bonus to its roll for the size difference, since it is the attacker. The bugbear rolls a 20, normally good enough to score a critical hit against Anada's effective Armor Class of 8. Anada, however, rolls an 11, good enough to hit the bugbear's effective Armor Class of 10 and win the opposed roll (because it is successful and lower than the bugbear's roll). Because the bugbear didn't win the opposed roll, the critical roll is disregarded; the bugbear does not achieve a lock on Anada.

Now that both combatants have taken an attack phase, the combat proceeds to the next combat round. Anada wins initiative and tries to achieve a lock on the bugbear. There is another opposed roll, and Anada wins with a roll of 12 versus the bugbear's 2 (the bugbear lost because its attack failed and Anada's succeeded). Anada achieves a lock and decides to hold the bugbear's mouth shut to keep it from calling for help. The DM decides this is a manipulation, and the bugbear suffers another 1d2+1 points of damage. Anada inflicts 3 points of damage, all temporary.

The bugbear tries to free itself once again during its attack phase, but loses the opposed roll. The combat round ends.

During the next round, the bugbear wins initiative, but loses the opposed roll again. Now that the bugbear's mouth is clamped shut, Anada decides to twist the bugbear's head a little, which qualifies as a press. The DM decides Anada can keep hold of the bugbear's mouth while wrenching at its head, but Anada still must make another opposed roll to establish the press. Anada wins again and inflicts 1d6+2 points of damage (1d6+1 for the press, plus one for Anada's Strength). Anada rolls a 4 and inflicts 6 points of damage, 1 normal and 5 temporary. The bugbear has now suffered 9 points of damage, 8 temporary and one normal. The bugbear started with 14 hit points, is now at 5, and struggles on.

Anada loses initiative the next round and the bugbear tries to free itself again. There is another opposed roll, which the bugbear loses. If the bugbear had won, both the press (head twist) and manipulation (mouth clamp) would have been broken and Anada would only have had a simple hold.

Anada decides to press again on his attack phase. There is another opposed roll, which Anada wins; because Anada was just holding on, the bugbear could not have achieved a lock by winning the roll with a critical hit. Anada has maintained his press through two attack phases, so he inflicts an extra point of damage, for a total of 1d6+3 points. Anada inflicts 7 more points of damage, 1 normal and 6 temporary. The bugbear's hit point total is now below zero, and it falls unconscious for 2d6 full turns. Anada picks up the bugbear's weapon and slips out of the cell.

Overbearing This version of overbearing is an expanded version of the one appearing in Chapter Two, but it also assumes that no combatants involved are fighting with weapons. Overbearing includes most attacks aimed at simply overpowering the target. If the attackers are seeking to overwhelm the defender through brute strength or sheer weight of numbers, it's an overbearing attack. Overbearing is a tactic available to any creature and can be used against almost any other creature. Creatures with multiple legs are difficult to overbear. Creatures with no legs at all are nearly impossible to overbear (because they can't be knocked down) but attackers with sufficient strength sometimes can pin them in place. Creatures with no solid form (immaterial, gaseous, or liquid) cannot be overborne.

Characters need not have their hands free to make overbearing attacks, but they might not be able to take full advantage of pins if they do not (see below).

Overbearing Procedures

Virtually all creatures can make one overbearing attack each round. As explained in Chapter Two, overbearing requires an attack roll vs. Armor Class 10. Adjustments for Dexterity and magic apply to the defender's Armor Class.

If the attack hits, there is an opposed Strength roll to determine if the defender keeps her feet. A list of modifiers (expanded from Chapter Two) is included below:

4-point bonus or penalty per size difference of the largest attacker versus the defender;
+1 bonus per additional attacker;
–4 penalty if defender has more than two legs;
–4 penalty if the defender is legless (snake, worm, slug);
–4 penalty if the defender is generally amorphous (ooze, slime, jelly).*

*Creatures that qualify for this modifier also get the modifier for having no legs, for a total penalty of –8.

If the defender wins the opposed Strength roll, she stays on her feet and the attackers remain in their squares. The defender remains clear and can finish the round normally. If the attackers win, they (or as many as will fit) enter the defender's square and everyone falls in a heap with the attackers on top. The overborne character takes no damage. Note that attackers in squares adjacent to the defender can contribute to overbearing attacks even if they can't enter the defender's square.

If defender is overborne, she loses all actions for the remainder of the round and her actions are severely limited the next round; the character is grappled and cannot move or make any attacks (including attacks of opportunity) until she gets free.

A defender who has been knocked down by an overbearing attack can be pinned if she is successfully overborne again in the following round. Overborne defenders can do nothing until the pin is resolved.

Pins

Attackers who have made successful overbearing attacks have an advantage over the defender in the following round. The attackers can release the opponent or try for a pin.

If the attackers release the opponent, they can immediately attempt another unarmed attack, draw a weapon and attack (this counts as a half-move action), or attempt some other action normally available to characters, such as movement.

If the attackers try for a pin, conduct another opposed Strength roll. If the attackers win, the opponent is pinned (see below). If the defender wins, the attackers must leave the defender's square and the defender can spend a half move or an attack to stand up, just as if she had suffered a knockdown.

Effects of Pins

A pin lasts for an entire combat round. A pinned character is considered prone and grappled. The attackers can immobilize a pinned character's limbs if their hands are free. If the attackers are the same size or larger than the defender, one of the defender's limbs is immobilized and useless for every attacker with free hands in the pile. If the attackers are smaller, it takes one extra creature per size class difference to immobilize a limb. For example, it takes one human to hold down an orc's arm, two humans to hold down an ogre's arm, and three humans to hold down a hill giant's arm. If the attackers are larger, they can pin two limbs for every two size classes difference. For example, a single ogre can pin one limb of a dwarf or two of a halfling's limbs.

If all the defender's limbs are immobilized for two consecutive rounds, the attackers have the upper hand and can choose any wrestling lock effect. (Damage from locks achieved through an overbearing pin is mostly temporary, as in all other forms of brawling combat.) A group that achieves a lock inflicts damage only once per round, but uses its effective group Strength score when determining damage.

Maintaining and Breaking Pins

A pinned creature can make unarmed or natural attacks with its free limbs or can attack with a size S weapon. The pinned character's original facing does not affect these attacks; all the characters involved are entangled in a random dogpile and the defender is assumed to be facing all the attackers simultaneously—this is one disadvantage to overbearing attacks. If the defender inflicts a critical hit with a weapon or natural attack, he can opt to inflict double damage (or roll for a special effect according to the rules presented in Chapter Six) or force the attacker who is struck to release her. If the defender scores a knockdown with a pummeling or weapon attack, the attacker who is struck must release the defender.

The attacker cannot directly counter the pin, she must wait until the attackers try to maintain the pin.

Attackers who have pinned a defender must make an opposed Strength roll each round to maintain the pin. If a pinned defender wins the opposed Strength roll, she breaks the pin and can spend a half move or an attack to stand up. She is still grappled, however. If the defender wins the next opposed Strength roll, she breaks free. If the defender wins initiative, she can force the roll herself on her attack phase; this is the only time a defender can initiate the opposed roll, which can be either an attack or a Strength roll, at the defender's option. If the defender loses or there is a tie, the defender remains grappled and the attackers can skip the attack roll and go directly to the opposed Strength roll on their next action phase. If the defender wins, she breaks free and can finish the round normally.

Assistance

Overbearing involves brute force and is the natural attack form for groups of creatures confronting a lone target. In the case of multiple defenders, the attackers can divide themselves among their opponents or concentrate on a single defender, provided that the attackers occupy squares adjacent to the defender.

The defender's allies, if clear, can remove attackers from the pile by making overbearing or wrestling attacks against them. An ally who threatens the attackers can make attacks of opportunity each time the attackers initiate an opposed roll—the arrival of an armed ally usually breaks up a massed overbearing attack. A critical hit or knockdown can force an attacker to release a defender, as described above.

Missile attacks directed at a pile have a chance to hit any character in the pile as described in Chapter One.

Overbearing Skill Levels

Any creature or character who can be overborne is automatically familiar with overbearing combat. A character cannot choose to be nonproficient in overbearing and gain extra character points under the optional character point system from the Skills & Powers book.

Overbearing is a crude form of combat that emphasizes brute force over finesse. It is not possible to develop overbearing expertise, specialization, or mastery.

An Example of Overbearing

Anada, the elf warrior from the two previous examples, is sneaking through the bugbear lair with a morning star in hand. He still wears his chain mail +1. The bugbears are quick to note escape and three of them corner him in an unused chamber. The trio decides to rush Anada and take his weapon away.

The three bugbears make a combined overbearing attack against Anada. Because he is armed, Anada can make attacks of opportunity against the bugbears. As an 8th-level fighter, Anada is entitled to up to four attacks of opportunity, but he only gets three since there are only three bugbears. Anada gets lucky and hits all three times. No hits kill any bugbears, but he scores a knockdown chance against one of them. The bugbear fails its saving throw roll vs. death and is knocked down. It cannot participate in the overbearing attack. Even if the save was successful, the bugbear could not participate in the attack because it suffered a knockdown chance.

The two remaining bugbears must hit AC 8 (because of Anada's magical chain mail and 15 Dexterity). They hit, and there is an opposed Strength roll to see if Anada is overborne. The bugbears receive a +4 bonus because they are larger than Anada and an additional +1 because there are two of them; their effective Strength score for this attack is 19. Anada rolls a 16, higher than his adjusted Strength score. The bugbears roll a 13, easily a success. Anada goes down, with the bugbears on top, in the square where he stood. Anada can do nothing except await the bugbears' pin attempt.

The next round, the bugbears attempt a pin. The third bugbear jumps on the pile, increasing the bugbears' bonus to +6. Anada rolls a 15, exactly what he needs to succeed with his Strength score. The bugbears roll a 10, a success, but Anada succeeded with a higher roll, so he wins. Because he was not pinned Anada can spend a half move regaining his feet and attack with his morning star. His blows do not slay any bugbears, and another bugbear enters the chamber and joins the fray.

All four bugbears attempt to overbear Anada during the next round. Anada gets an attack of opportunity against each of them and slays one. The three survivors make a combined attack and hit AC 8, forcing another opposed Strength roll. The bugbears win, and Anada goes down again. Once again, Anada can do nothing but await the pin attempt.

The three bugbears win the next opposed roll, pinning Anada. Both of Anada's arms and one of his legs are pinned. The DM decides that the bugbear holding Anada's leg is prone, and allows the elf to kick (pummel) that bugbear. Anada hits and scores a knockdown against the bugbear, making it let go of his leg.

The two remaining bugbears try to maintain the pin during the next round, and the bugbear who was knocked loose joins the pile. Anada wins the opposed roll. Because he was pinned, Anada can only regain his feet, he cannot break free or launch any other attacks.

Anada wins initiative, however, and can attack before the bugbears can do anything. His morning star is too large to use while grappled, so Anada decides to break free with an opposed attack roll (taking advantage of his superior THAC0). Unfortunately, he rolls a 1 and fails. He will remain grappled no matter what the bugbears roll.

The bugbears try to overbear again; because Anada is grappled, he gets no attacks of opportunity and the bugbears do not have to make an attack roll. The bugbears win the opposed Strength roll, knocking Anada to the floor again.

By this time, two more bugbears arrive on the scene. The bugbears attempt to pin Anada during the next round and the new bugbears join the pile. They have a +8 bonus and handily win the opposed Strength roll. All of Anada's limbs are pinned.

The next round, they attempt to maintain the pin and succeed again. All of Anada's limbs have been pinned for two consecutive rounds, and the bugbears have him under control. Four bugbears pull Anada's arms and lock them behind his back while the fifth bugbear ties them together (a manipulation). Anada suffers 1d2+10 points of damage from the manhandling (because the bugbears' effective Strength score is 22).

The five bugbears quickly haul their bound captive back to his cell, where they bind him even more securely.

Attack Options and Unarmed Attacks

Several attack options from Chapter Two are also available to unarmed characters, as follows:

Block: A character can allocate one pummeling attack to block an incoming attack. Blocks vs. other unarmed attacks are resolved normally. Unarmed blocks against weapons, including creatures with natural weapons, receive a –4 penalty.
Called Shot: A called shot to an opponent's head during unarmed combat is a sap attack and should be resolved according to the rules given in Chapter Two. Sapping requires a small, hard object. Bare-handed sapping attacks are treated as normal pummeling attacks.

Most other called shots made during unarmed combat should be resolved as special attacks. Attempts to knock items out of opponents' hands, for example, should be treated as an offensive disarms.

Disarm: An unarmed character can attempt both offensive and defensive disarms at a –4 penalty to his attack roll if he is eligible to make pummeling attacks. If an unarmed character attempts to disarm a two-handed weapon the attack penalty is –8. An unarmed offensive disarm always provokes an attack of opportunity.
Pull/Trip: Most unarmed pull/trip attacks should be resolved as wrestling attacks. An unarmed pull/trip can be resolved as a pummeling attack if directed at an opponent who is moving and unaware of the attack. Use the pull/trip rules from Chapter Two to resolve this maneuver.
Unhorse: Treat unarmed unhorse attempts as overbearing attacks if the attacker could conceivably get her body onto the mount while attacking (as might be the case if the attacker were jumping down on the mounted character from a height); otherwise, resolve them as wrestling attacks.
Duels: Two unarmed characters can conduct a duel if they are not involved in a wrestling sequence (the opposed rolls in a wrestling combat already reflect a contest of skill). If a successful grapple during any duel results in a hold, the duel is suspended until the resulting wrestling sequence ends. See Dueling in Chapter Two for procedures.

Subdual Attacks It is possible to employ most common weapons in a generally nonlethal manner by striking only with the haft or flat of the blade. For some weapons, it is possible for the attacker to reverse his grip and use the weapon's butt or pommel as a club.

To make a subdual attack, a character makes an attack roll vs. the opponent's normal Armor Class. There is –4 attack penalty and the weapon's damage is reduced by half; round fractions up. Subdual attacks are treated as armed melee attacks in all other ways.

Characters who are entitled to multiple melee attacks can make multiple subdual attacks. All bonuses for Strength, expertise, specialization, and mastery apply to subdual attacks. Any damage inflicted is three quarters temporary, just as in brawling attacks. Creatures reduced to zero hit points or less fall unconscious just as in brawling combat. If you don't want to bother with dividing subdual damage in half, then dividing by four, roll a smaller die for damage instead. For example, roll 1d4 for a long sword, 1d3+1 for a footman's mace, and 1d4 for a morning star. A critical hit with a subdual attack causes a blunt critical effect (see Chapter Six) or forces the target to roll a successful saving throw vs. death to avoid being knocked out for 3d10 combat rounds. There is no saving throw adjustment for the attacker's Strength as there is in pummeling attacks.

An Example of Subduing

The hapless Anada finds himself forced into a gladiatorial combat by his bugbear captors. His opponent is Barzun, a 7th-level dwarf fighter. Anada decides he doesn't wish to kill his fellow prisoner and decides to attack to subdue instead. Barzun wears plate mail and carries a shield, giving her an Armor Class of 2. Anada wins initiative and rolls a 12. Anada's THAC0 is 13, so his roll is good enough to hit even before adding the +1 attack bonus Anada gets for his 17 Strength, but not good enough for a critical hit. The DM decides Anada should roll 1d4 to determine the morning star's subdual damage (but the DM could have decided to roll 2d4 and divide the result by two). Anada rolls a 3; Barzun suffers 4 points of damage (+1 for Anada's Strength). Three points are temporary and 1 point is normal.

Barzun decides to reply with a subdual attack as well. Anada's Dexterity and chain mail +1 give him an Armor Class of 3. Barzun rolls a 10. Her THAC0 is 14, making her roll barely good enough to hit after adding the +1 attack bonus from her 18/21 Strength. Barzun rolls a 2 for damage; she adds +3 for her Strength and inflicts 5 points on Anada, 4 temporary and 1 normal.

Anada wins initiative again and declares a no-move attack. He attacks once with his morning star in the average phase and again in the slow phase (because he is 8th level and entitled to an extra melee attack this round). Barzun also declares a no move attack and gets attacks in the average and slow phases. Because she lost initiative, Barzun strikes last in each phase. Anada's first attack hits with a 15. There is no chance for a critical hit, and he inflicts 4 points of damage again (3 temporary and 1 normal). Barzun misses her attack, and combat proceeds to the next phase.

Anada hits again and inflicts 5 points of damage. Barzun has now suffered 13 points of damage (10 temporary and 3 normal). Barzun's final attack hits with a 20. She only needed to roll a 10, so the 20 is good enough for a critical hit. Anada suffers 2d4+3 points of damage (the morning star's 1d4 subdual damage is doubled to 2d4 and Barzun's +3 damage bonus is added). Barzun rolls a 6, inflicting 9 points of damage, 7 of which are temporary and two that are normal. Anada has now suffered 14 points of damage, 11 temporary and 3 normal. Barzun opts to knock out Anada rather than rolling for a critical hit. Anada rolls a 2, failing his saving throw vs. death; he will be unconscious for 3d10 combat rounds and the gladiatorial fight ends, much to the bugbears' disappointment.

Martial Arts Martial arts is a specialized form of pummeling that uses the body as a weapon. A creature must be able to make pummeling attacks to employ a martial art. Martial arts are difficult to learn and not commonly known. Generally, only creatures with at least average intelligence and from mediative, nonmaterialistic cultures can learn martial arts.

Martial arts requires at least one free hand. Unlike a character making normal pummeling attacks, a martial artist must be bare-handed or wearing only normal gloves and shoes. A martial art is a discipline of the mind and body and most implements are avoided. Improvised weapons cannot be used in martial arts attacks.

Martial arts attacks inflict mostly temporary damage, just as normal pummeling attacks do. Marital arts attacks are ineffective against creatures normally immune to pummeling attacks.

Martial Arts Procedures

Except where noted below, martial arts attacks are resolved as pummeling attacks. A martial artist enjoys some advantages while pummeling, depending on the style of martial arts he is using:

Style A: The style emphasizes striking with the hands or fists. The character's bare or gloved hands are treated as small, hard objects (1d3 points of damage), and the character can strike and damage creatures of any size. If the character is unarmed and unarmored, he can make an extra attack each round with his other hand (provided that it is free) without the usual penalties for attacking with two weapons.
Style B: The style emphasizes striking with the feet. The character's bare or shod feet are treated as large, hard objects (1d6 points of damage), and the character can kick opponents even when they are not prone, sitting, or kneeling. If unarmed and unarmored, the character can make an extra attack each round with one of his free hands. Note that the ability to pummel creatures of any size is not part of this style.
Style C: The style emphasizes throws and escapes. The character can choose the pull/trip combat option when making pummeling attacks. If the attack hits, the martial artist can use either his Strength or Dexterity score for the opposed roll. The martial artist also can make an opposed attack roll to escape any hold, grapple, lock, or pin. The escape roll counts as an attack, but if it succeeds the martial artist is considered clear and can finish the round normally.
Style D: The style emphasizes dodges and blocks. The character can make one free block each round in addition to any attacks he makes. If unarmed and unarmored, the character receives a –2 Armor Class bonus.

Martial Arts Skill Levels

Nonproficient: Any character who has not been trained in one of the four martial arts styles automatically falls into this category. Nonproficient martial artists can make normal pummeling attacks, but cannot claim any martial arts benefits.
Familiar: Familiarity has no effect on the martial arts; a character is proficient in a martial art or he is not.
Proficient: Martial arts styles are unknown in most AD&D game lands. To spend character points (or a weapon proficiency) to become proficient in a martial arts style, a character must be native to (or have paid an extended visit to) a culture where martial arts has developed. Such cultures are usually nonwestern, philosophical, and nonmaterialistic. They usually stress the power of nature or of the inner self over the power of tools, weapons, and technology. Such cultures often do not allow commoners to own weapons or armor.

Proficient nonwarriors can make one martial arts attack each round. Proficient warriors gain their full allotment of melee attacks when making martial arts attacks. If a character has sufficient character points (or proficiency slots) available, he can become proficient in more than one martial arts style. All benefits are cumulative; for example, a character proficient in styles A and B could kick or punch creatures of any size, inflicting 1d3 points of damage with a punch and 1d6 points of damage with a kick. If unarmored, the character could make one extra punch each round with no penalties. Note that the four martial arts styles do not constitute a weapon group; each much be learned separately.

Expert: Any character who knows a martial arts style can spend character points (or weapon proficiencies) to become expert in the style. (Characters proficient in multiple martial arts styles can become experts in only one style.) Expert warriors who are entitled to more than one melee attack each round can make the same number of martial arts attacks each round, but gain no other benefits. Expert nonwarriors can make multiple martial arts attacks at the same rate as a nonspecialized warrior of the same level.
Specialized: Generally, only single-classed fighters can become martial arts specialists, though there are optional rules in the Skills & Powers book that allow other characters to specialize. Martial arts specialists gain the normal specialist attack and damage bonuses and extra attacks. Specialists' attack bonuses apply to their Strength scores when rolling for knockdowns. Characters proficient in multiple martial arts styles can become specialists in only one style. Martial arts specialists can make martial arts attacks against armed opponents without provoking attacks of opportunity. Specialists can attempt blocks and disarms against armed opponents without the –4 penalty to the opposed roll; martial arts disarms against two-handed weapons receive a –4 penalty instead of the normal –8 penalty for unarmed disarms.
Master: Only single-classed fighters can attain mastery in martial arts. Martial arts masters gain the normal master attack and damage bonuses and extra attacks. Masters' attack bonuses due to their Strength scores apply when rolling for knockdowns, and apply to opponents as penalties to saving throw rolls vs. knockouts. Grand master martial artists can use critical augmentation to score knockouts on attack rolls of 16 or better.

A martial arts master threatens his front squares and is entitled to make attacks of opportunity just as if he were armed with a weapon. A martial arts master can choose to inflict normal damage instead of mostly temporary damage. If the master rolls a critical hit while inflicting normal damage, he scores a bludgeoning critical instead of a knockout chance. When determining severity, compare the master's size class with the target's. Reduce the master's size class by one category if the attack is a punch.

Martial Arts Weapons

There are a few weapons specifically designed for use in the martial arts. Most of these weapons were originally improvised from common tools, but have been refined to function as extensions of a martial artist's body. Chapter Seven includes a list of these weapons.

A martial arts weapon functions normally in most respects. A character chooses it and learns to use it as he would any other weapon. A martial artist armed with a martial arts weapon can use his style's special abilities even if they normally require him to be unarmed. The martial artist can employ the weapon in combat to avoid provoking attacks of opportunity and other penalties associated with being unarmed. For example, a character proficient in style A martial arts could use a nunchaku in each hand, inflict 1d6 points of normal damage with each hit, and avoid attacks of opportunity. A character proficient in style B could use a nunchaku and still claim his Armor Class bonus if he is unarmored; the character could use the nunchaku to perform his free block without the –4 penalty for being unarmed.

Martial artists are still subject to the normal nonproficiency penalties when using martial arts weapons. Nonspecialist martial artists still provoke attacks of opportunity if they make unarmed attacks while armed with a weapon, even a martial arts weapon. For example, a kick from a character proficient in style B could provoke an attack of opportunity even if the martial artist was holding a nunchaku at the time.

An Example of Martial Arts Combat

Anada, the elf fighter from previous examples in this chapter, is finally rescued from the clutches of his bugbear captors. His next adventure takes him to a distant land he has never visited before. Anada returns to his campsite one morning to discover a motley trio of humans helping themselves to his rations. He shouts and charges, waving his sword high. To Anada's surprise, the unarmed brigands stand their ground.

Anada wins initiative and attacks first; he rolls a 15 and easily hits his unarmored opponent (though there is no critical hit). The brigands are proficient in type B martial arts. They are hungry and decide to kick and punch. The kicks provoke attacks of opportunity from Anada, but the punches do not because a single character can make only one attack of opportunity against a given opponent in one combat round. All of Anada's attacks hit. The brigand wounded earlier by Anada drops to the ground, reduced to less than 0 hit points. Anada rolls an 18 against the second brigand, more than enough for a critical hit. Anada inflicts 2d8+1 points of damage and decides to foil the brigand's attack rather than rolling for a slashing critical. Anada merely wounds the third brigand, who can complete his attack. The brigands are 2nd-level fighters (THAC0 19). The brigand rolls a 17, good enough to hit Anada's Armor Class of 4. (Anada still has his 15 Dexterity and chain mail +1, and he has picked up a shield, which improves his Armor Class to 2. However, he suffers a +2 Armor Class penalty for charging.) The kick inflicts 4 points of damage, 3 temporary and 1 normal. To see if there is a knockdown, Anada and the brigand must make an opposed Strength check. The brigand's Strength is 14 and he gets a +1 for attacking with a large object (his foot is treated as one because he is using style B). Anada's Strength of 17 is unmodified. Anada wins the opposed roll and is not knocked down. Now the two brigands make their punching attacks, and both miss.

The next round, the wounded brigand retreats, leaving his comrade to face Anada alone. The brigand decides to block and Anada declares an attack. Anada wins initiative, but the brigand still can block because the block was declared before the initiative roll. The brigand announces that he's blocking the sword with his arm. There is an opposed roll; the brigand makes an attack vs. Armor Class 4, with a –4 penalty for an unarmed block vs. a weapon. Anada makes an attack roll vs. the brigand's Armor Class of 10. The brigand rolls a 19 and Anada rolls a 20. The brigand succeeds in spite of the penalty. Anada has succeeded, too, but the attack is blocked because the brigand succeeded with a lower roll (just Anada's luck). Because the brigand is entitled to two attacks (a kick and a punch), he could attack with a kick now (because he's already used his punch to block Anada's sword). The brigand decides he doesn't want to suffer another attack of opportunity and doesn't attack.

Anada is entitled to two attacks as well (because he is an 8th-level fighter), and he swings his sword on the next action phase. The brigand decides to allocate his second attack as another block. The DM considers the situation for a moment, since he's not sure it's possible to block a sword with a kick. The DM decides to allow the block because the brigand is trained in a martial art. There is another opposed roll, which the brigand loses. The damage is enough to put the brigand under 0 hit points. The brigand who retreated earlier flees, and Anada has won the confrontation.

Martial Arts Talents

Once a character is proficient in at least one martial arts style, she can acquire, with the DM's approval, a variety of additional skills that reflect her advanced mental and physical training. Only a martial artist can learn the skills presented here. They can be purchased with either weapon or nonweapon proficiency slots.

Flying Kick (1 slot/3 CP) Strength/Muscle

Groups: Warrior Initial rating: 5

The character can leap high into the air, leading with a powerful kick that can strike opponents up to three squares away. The character can land in any square adjacent to the target, as long as it is within two squares of the attacker's starting position. If the character is not proficient in style B, this maneuver is the only attack she can make in the round, and the kick inflicts 2d4 points of damage. Strength bonuses to the attack and damage rolls apply, but specialization and mastery bonuses from another marital arts style do not.

If the character is proficient in style B, this maneuver can replace one kick attack each round, and the kick inflicts 2d6 points of damage. Strength bonuses apply to the attack and damage rolls. If the character is a style B specialist or master, the appropriate bonuses also apply.

If the character has at least one square of running room and declares a half move action, no ability check is required. If the character has no running room or declares a no move action, a Strength/Muscle check is required. If the ability check fails, the attack automatically misses as the character falls down in her landing square.

Backward Kick (1 slot/ 3 CP) N/A

Groups: Warrior, Priest, Rogue

The character can attack an opponent standing in one of her rear squares either by lashing backward or kicking over her own head. This maneuver does not provoke attacks of opportunity (but deliberately turning one's back on an opponent does). This maneuver works best for characters proficient in style B, similar to the flying kick described above.

Spring (1 slot/3 CP) Dexterity/Balance

Groups: Warrior, Rogue Initial rating: 5

The character can make astonishing jumps and leaps with blinding speed. At the cost of a half move or an attack, the character can spring into the air, attaining a height of five feet and landing up to two squares away in any direction. The character can flip and twist while airborne to achieve any facing when he lands. If the character has a 2-square running start, he can double his springing distance, landing up to four squares away and leaping 10 feet in the air, but the running start is a half-move action. For every additional slot spent on this skill, the character can add five feet and one square to the distance achieved.

For example, a character who as spent two slots on this skill could leap 10 feet into the air and land up to three squares away from a standing start. If the character's Dexterity/Balance roll fails, the character falls down in his landing square; he can get up during his next action phase, but can take no other actions until the following round. If the ability check succeeds, the character can finish the round normally after landing.

Crushing Blow (1 slot/3 CP) N/A

Groups: Warrior, Priest, Rogue

The character can break hard objects with her hands (or feet if she uses style B). Under ideal conditions, the character can break a wooden board 1/2" thick per level or 1/4" slab of stone or brick per level. Objects that are exceptionally strong, reinforced, supported by other objects (such as bricks in a wall), or not shaped like boards receive a saving throw roll vs. crushing blow to avoid breakage. When used against a creature, the crushing blow does normal damage plus 1 point per level. A crushing blow requires intense concentration. It is a no-move action, and the character can take no other actions during the round when she uses the crushing blow.

Instant Stand (1 slot/3 CP) Dexterity/Balance

Groups: Warrior, Priest, Rogue Initial rating: 7

The character can instantly regain his feet after falling down. If the ability check succeeds, the character can ignore the effects of knockdowns or failed spring attempts. If the ability check fails, the character can get up during his next action phase, but cannot take any further actions until the next round. Characters cannot use this skill while pinned,