Advanced Combat Actions

Let’s take a look at advanced combat actions in AD&D, and find out why it is the best version of Dungeons & Dragons in this How to Play Advanced Dungeons & Dragons series. Buy the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/17004/dungeon-master-s-guide-1e?affiliate_id=50797

Time Stamps:

0:00 Intro
0:44 Combat Order Reminder
1:32 Closing to Strike
2:09 Charge
3:09 Strike Blows
5:17 Special Attacks
6:38 Non-Lethal and Weaponless Combat
7:18 Pummeling
8:26 Grappling
9:38 Overbearing
11:32 Outro

Transcript

Cold Open

Let’s take a look at some advanced actions for combat.

Intro

Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today I am going to talk about advanced combat actions in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. I would like to take a moment and thank the DLSaga members, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate links. I am referencing the Dungeon Masters Guide for this information. If I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below!

Discussion

Overview

Just as a bit of a reminder, in case you didn’t watch the original combat video, the steps for encounters and combat are as follows: 1. Determine surprise, 2. Determine distance, 3. Declare actions, 4. roll initiative, 5. Take your actions, then rinse and repeat number 3 through 5 until the encounter or combat ends. Encounter and combat order via surprise and initiative is done by rolling a d6 for each party, with the highest roll having initiative, and combat is engaged with a d20 roll, match or exceed the armor class to hit. It’s that simple. We have already discussed the basics of combat including ranged attacks into melee, so in this episode we will discuss more advanced combat maneuvers. These are actions most anyone may take during your round of combat.

Closing to Strike

Closing to strike means moving your base distance to engage the opponent. Your base speed is noted in inches, but while in combat it is an indication of tens of feet. So if your base speed is 12”, you have 120’ of movement in an encounter or combat situation while in a dungeon or indoors, but it is tens of yards when outdoors. So 12” would be 360’ outdoors. All normal activity and bonuses are permitted when doing so. Melee, however, is not possible as you are taking your full movement in the round.

Charge

You may charge into combat with the following restrictions: The movement rate bonus outdoors is 33 ⅓% for the bipedal creatures. The movement rate bonus indoors is double your base speed, so long as you are not encumbered. The opponent must be within 10’ at the end of the charge in order to attack. You lose your dexterity bonus when charging, if you have no dexterity bonus, your armor class is penalized by 1, making you easier to hit. The opponent at the end of a charge with the longest weapon or reach attacks first! While the charging creature gains a +2 on their ‘to hit’ dice if they survive. And finally you can only take one charge per turn, there must be 9 rounds between each charge.

You may set your weapons against a charging opponent by bracing an end against an unyielding source like a wall or the ground. If you strike the charging opponent, they take double damage, as they are impaled on your weapon.

Strike Blows

Let’s make a few notes about striking blows. Initiative is the key factor in which side attacks first each round, but this is modified with multiple attack routines and weapon length in the case of a charge. But if the opponents are tied in melee, meaning they both rolled the same initiative on a d6, the blows occur simultaneously unless weapons are used. The weapon’s speed factor will then dictate order. The lowest speed factor, meaning the fastest weapon wielder strikes first. So a punch will land before a dagger, and a dagger before a short sword for example. This may also mean that depending on the weapon used by an opponent, you may get multiple attacks off before they can get one off, again, depending on the weapon speed of the weapons used. This is determined if the difference between speed factors is half, you get two attacks, and this grows exponentially, as some weapons are more difficult to wield than others. This is not considered during a charge.

We must also note that weapon speed factors determine when a weapon strikes during the round with respect to non striking actions. Like casting spells for example as spells have casting times. To determine who would act first, compare the casting time to the weapon speed minus the initiative roll. Negative results are noted as positive. So a long sword with a speed factor of 5 had his party initiative roll as a 1. So his speed would then be 4. If the spell casting time is anything under 4, it would go off first. Of course the time may end up simultaneous, in which case they both occur in the exact same segment.

Finally you may actually strike an opponent in order to subdue them! You would use the flat, haft, butt, pommel or other non-lethal part of the weapon. If you successfully strike them, they take 75% of the damage as temporary, and 25% of the damage as regular. Temporary hit points return at a rate of 1 per round. This is only possible against some monsters and creatures of humanoid size and type, not player characters!

Special Attacks

There are some special attacks worth noting. Flank attacks negate any shield bonus. Rear flank attacks negate dexterity bonuses as well. Rear attacks give the attacker +2 to hit, while also negating shield and dexterity bonuses. If an opponent is stunned, prone, or motionless, they are attacked with a +4 to hit, also negating any shield or dexterity bonuses. If the opponent is magically sleeping or held, they are automatically hit and suffer maximum possible damage, with twice the number of attacks as normal. You may choose to automatically kill them as well. Invisible opponents, if detected, cause the attacker to have a -4 on their to hit rolls. They can never be flanked or attacked from the rear, as you cannot see them for positioning. All to hit modifiers are applied to the armor class of the target, not the die roll number. Otherwise it may make some opponents hit proof. Natural 20’s will always hit.

A quick note about choosing your target, it’s generally not possible to select a specific opponent in mass melee, similar to missile fire. There’s simply too much going on for you to be picky, think the battle scenes in Braveheart for example. In these cases, roll a random die to determine the target of an attack.

Pummeling

There are three modes of non-lethal and weaponless combat. Pummeling is to batter an opponent unconscious, grappling is to hold an opponent and render them helpless, and overbearing is to take an opponent into a prone position. In all of the three cases there is a variable that must be rolled. The attacker secretly rolls a d6, and the defender secretly rolls a d4. The result may be used as a bonus to the base score or to the score rolled by the attacker, and as a penalty to the base chance, or to the attack roll of a successful hit by the defender. This must be declared prior to the attack, and unconscious parties do not participate.

As pummeling is aimed at battering an opponent unconscious, this may be done with fists or weapons with a pommel. 25% of the damage is permanent and 75% is temporary, again returning at 1 point per round. When the opponent reaches 0 they are unconscious. It lasts for 1 round plus 1 round per point beyond 0 hit points. So a -3 hit points means a total of 4 rounds unconscious. To determine initiative, you go by surprise, charging to attack, higher dexterity or higher die roll, in that order! This means a pummeling attack will probably occur first. For non-lethal combat you use percentiles, or 2d10 to determine success and you always want to roll under the given value for success. The base score to hit is the opponent’s armor class times 10. So an armor class of 9 means you have a 90% chance of hitting them. There are modifiers which may apply as noted, in addition to the aforementioned variable die rolled at the very beginning. D6 or d4 respectively. In each round there are two pummeling attacks and possibly several blows per attack.

Grappling

Grappling is all about holding on to and rendering an opponent helpless. It shares the same damage considerations of pummeling with 25% of damage being real, and 75% being temporary, recovering 1 hit point per round. If the target falls to zero hit points, they are unconscious for 1 round plus one for every point in the negative. First attack is determined the same as well with surprise, charging to attack, higher dexterity, then higher initiative roll–in that order. The base score of grappling is the target’s armor class times 10, ignoring magical devices, but adding 1 for each +1 of magical armor. There are further modifications to the target number in addition to the variable die rolled. Each round has an attack and counter attack with the existing hold going first until broken. When a grapple attack succeeds, you roll the percentile dice to determine the type of hold with additional possible modifiers. The opponent must score a higher percentage hold on the attacker. This breaks the attackers first hold. Damage is accrued by the hold until broken every round. If stunned, a second attack may immediately be made and there can be no counter attack for one round.

Overbearing

The final form of non-lethal or weaponless combat is overbearing. This is intended to take the target into the prone position. If successful it will inflict damage and allow a pummel or grapple follow up attack. In this case 50% of all damage is real with the other 50% returning at a rate of 1 per round. Once an opponent is overborne, some other combat must take place! First attack is structured the same with surprise, charge to attack, higher dexterity, or higher initiative roll–in that order. Determine the base score like grappling, multiplying their armor class by ten, but ignoring magical protection except armor which adds 1 point per +1. Apply modifiers as outlined, then roll percentiles again to determine the outcome of a successful attack and damage. Again, once a successful overbearing attack occurs, another form of attack must occur by the attacker.

There are some general notes worth mentioning here as well. It is possible for as many opponents physically able to attack a single adversary to engage in pummeling, grappling or overbearing attack modes. Just determine order with all combatants and attack in order. Creatures will always attack in overbear if they don’t have weapons except for bears and similar monsters who seek to grapple. If the opponent of a pummel, grapple, or overbearing attack has a weapon, they will always attack first, unless they are surprised. The weapon hit does no damage but it prevents the intended attack for the round. Their opponent may then attack for real if they choose.

So in summary, any non-lethal or weaponless attack is done with percentile dice, rolling low, with some of the damage inflicted being temporary, recovered at a rate of one per round. This is simply one more way to overcome an opponent or put yourself in an advantageous position. There are of course other modifiers that the DM may add to any given situation, so always refer to them while in game.

Outro

But that is all the time I have to talk about advanced combat actions in AD&D. What do you think of the different attack options presented? Have you ever engaged in non-lethal or weaponless combat? And finally would you ever consider using it in your home game? Leave a comment below.

I would like to take a moment and remind you to subscribe to this YouTube channel, ring the bell to get notified about upcoming videos and click the like button. This all goes to help other Dragonlance fans learn about this channel and its content. Thank you for watching, this has been Adam with DragonLance Saga and until next time, remember:

The secret we should never let the gamemaster know is that they don’t need any rules.