Get your own Free Home PageYes you read that right, the combat round is now 5 seconds long. This does affect the combat system in some pretty drastic ways, but it is still the basic AD&D system you all know and love.
The first question you may have is "Aaron, we know that the one minute combat round of AD&D is hopelessly inadequeate, but why 5 seconds? Is this some type of calculated figure? Does the entire system fall apart if the round is 4 or 6 seconds?" Well actually that was three questions, but here is the justification for 5 seconds. 5 seconds is the exact time it takes a character to do absolutely nothing. It is however very near the time it takes for a character to do a lot of different things, so most of these can be said to take 5 seconds without requireing too much suspention of disbelief (like only being able to fire an arrow once every 30 seconds). For example: An average Joe can draw an arrow and fire an aimed shot with it from a bow in about 5 seconds. Someone who is not increadibly skilled, and is interested in not getting killed can make one attack with a sword in around 5 seconds. 5 seconds also is the absolute minimum amount of time which it should take a spell to be cast, as justified by the background of the magic system I am using. 5 seconds also allows a character about the smallest possible amount of time to talk, move or observe with any kind of effect.
And most importantly, it seemed like a good number. So without further ado, the rules.
Sequence:
1) Declare Actions:
Melee- Chose weapons and style, but not specific attacks
Missile-chose weapons and ammunition, but not targets
Spell- Initiate or continue
Movement- charge or walk
Other- draw weapon/reload/talk/dodge/watch
2) Roll init: Include all basic modifiers, dex and armor modifiers and weapon speed factors.
The dex modifier is the same as your reaction adjustment, but subtract it from the init role instead of adding it. The armor modifier is added to the init role and depends on the type of armor worn.
| Armor | Mod |
| Leather | +1 |
| Plate | +3 |
| Everything Else | +2 |
If though the various modifiers, a character has an init below 1, it counts as 1, other than effects that "always happen first", which go on init 0, nothing can happen before init 1. However a character with an init below 0 may gain additional attacks, as described in the melee section.
3) Determine how many sequences of attacts are in this round. If the character with the most actions is a fighter who attacks twice, then there are two sequences. All spellcasting counts as one sequence, regardless of weather it ends this round or not. Character act in the last sequences possible. So if there are 3 seqences, the fighter with three attacks, may fight in each sequence, the fighter with two attacks acts only in the last two sequences, and the fighter with one attack and the wizard finishing a spell both act in the last sequence. (note this is the Shadowrun method of additional actions, with fast characters getting their attacks in the beginning rather than the end of the round)
4) Resolve Physical attacks in initiative order (both melee and missile), and spells which finish during this round and that take place in the first seqeunce.
5)Resolve 2nd attacks in initiative order.
6)etc.
Unless otherwise noted the THAC0 and AC system is unchanged from the basic procedure.
Attack types no longer need to be declared before initiative, If a character's initiative comes up and he has attacks, he may use any or all of them to attack, parry or take other called shots. When a character is attacked, he can parry the attack if he has an attack left. There is one restriction, all 1st attacks must be used up before any 2nd attacks can be used, and a single weapon can not attack twice in the same sequence, barring pretty potent magic. A character has the same number of attacks that he did under the basic system, determined by class, level and specialization.
Lets look at an example: Brett the Revengeful loves his longsword of life stealing, and through high level and specialization, he can attack with it twice a round. Realizing that in order to take revenge, you must survive the first combat, he uses an ordinary short sword in his off-hand, usually for parrying. He is fighting Dave the Unhittable Cleric, and his hired thug Bob. Bob has a club and only gets one attack per round. Dave, knowing of Brett's reputation for getting his but kicked in the first battle, but surviving to annoy his enemies another day, uses his staff of withering, with which he also gets one attack per round. All of the combatants are in melee with each other and have their weapons declared and drawn. They all role for initiative and Bob goes first, then Dave and then Brett. Since Bob and Dave each have only one attack, and Brett has two, there are two seqences in this round. Brett is the only one with an attack in the first sequence, so he goes first even though he did not win initiative. Ignoring the hired thug, he attacks Dave with his long sword. Although he would like very much to drain a life from him, he realizes that that would probably not kill him, and Dave the Unhittable probably got that name for a reason, so he instead tries to disarm him of his staff, which will take two hits to accomplish, but he feels confidant since he is attacking Vs Dave's THAC0 and not his AC. Unfortunately he roles like Aaron the Luckless and misses. Brett only attacks with the short sword once a round, so he must wait until the second attacks to use it. The first sequence ends and the second sequence begins, this time Bob goes first since he had the highest initiative of everyone who is participating in this round. Doing just what a hired thug is supposed to do he cleanly bashes his club into Brett, who decides he would rather not be bashed and parries it with his short sword. Dave attacks next and wonder of all wonders scores a hit with his staff. Brett decides that being withered might be a bad thing and decides to give up his second attack with the long sword and save his hide. Lucky for him he is successful. Next Brett's turn comes up but he has allready used both his second attack with the longsword and his only attack with the shortsword, so the round is over .
An attack may be held if the character doesn't wish to use it at that point. In this case, the attack is used during the next sequence of attacks, If that weapon was going to attack at that time normally it loses the next attack.
Simultaneous attacks are worked pretty much the same as normally, the second weapon gives one additional attack per round regardless of specialization. This attack always occurs in the last sequence of attacks, at the same time as the primary attack. Since the turn is so short, the attacks are more simultaneous than under standard rules (just go with me here), so penalties are applied to certain situations:
2 attacks, same target, same type: (i.e. two strikes, two called shots to the same area, or two parries) no penalty.
All combinations of attacks of differing types and or targets: -1 to both attacks, no penalty is applied to parries however or additional attacks that are taken in the same sequence of attacks as a parry, providing that the other attacks are all of the same type.
Weapon speeds are used but are changed from those in the PHB. Bare-hand and natural weapon attacks are at a speed factor of 0, no init modifier. The other weapons are listed at the end of this file. Weapon speeds and ranged attacks will be covered later. If a combattant is using two weapons with different speed factors, the higher of the two weapon speeds is used to modify her initiative.
If a combattant manages to get an initiative of -1 or less with the appropriate weapon speed factor, he can take an additional attack with one weapon, this attack is handeled in the same manner as other additional attacks. For every two points below -1 that his initiative score falls he gets a further additional attack. For instance, if a character has a -6 to his initiative roll and rolls a 1, he gets 3 extra attacks, which means he will be able to act on 4 of the combat seqences this round. Since weapon speed factors will generally make additional attacks of this type very difficult, most of these additional attacks will be taken by those useing bare hands. These additional attacks apply only to melee attacks, not to ranged attacks.
In previous rules it was pretty much impossible to kill someone by holding a knife to their neck, well now it isn't. In situations such as that one (DM's discretion) the attack is always made on initiative 1, of the first combat seqence, with a +4 to hit. The damage is rolled normally and then multiplied by the backstab damage multiplier of a thief of the same level as the attacker. Additionally the hit is a called shot to whatever portion of the body the weapon was held at. Since the critical body areas from the fighter's handbook will be used, this will cause most of these attacks to be incapacitating, if not fatal.
If an attack needs only to hit an opponent (whip, lasso, net, some touch spells), and not do damage through contact with skin, they are considered AC 10, regardless of what type of armor is worn. Only Dex, magic, and possibly shields (depending on attack type) are effective in lowering the target's AC. Certain attack methods, such as shield rush would also only need to hit AC 10. Any attack that hits AC 10 (modified by Dex) but not the actual AC of the target, is assumed to hit their armor or hit and not penetrate, if it matters.
Since Armor has no effect on how well a parry or disarm attack does, the target for these attacks is the target's modified THAC0 -10.
If a combatant has been charging for the past round and will make it to melee with an opponent this round he may conduct a charge attack. He receives a +2 to hit, and any piercing weapon will do double damage. However he receives a -1 to his AC, as well as losing any dex bonus. A creature normally needs to move at his normal movement rate for a round before he can charge, which is double his normal movement rate. A creature can charge for his CON score in rounds, after that he has to make a CON check each round to continue moving at that speed. Charge attacks always occur in the last sequence of attacks, and a charging character may only be attacked by his target with melee weapons on the last seqence.
Piercing Pole weapons always go on the init before charging opponents, unless those charging have lances or other weapons of length equal to the pikemen's.
Surprised combatants lose all actions the first 5 sec round, and loose their dex bonus to AC as well.
In many cases there is the chance that a blow will knock an opponent back, or even to the ground. This is possible even if the attack did not do damage, since it is due to the power of the blow and not the accuracy. If it is possible for an attack to make the threshold, damage should be rolled anyway, though not applied to the target. If the attack did hit, the actual damage rolled is used. Compare this value to the threshold for the target's size, if the damage is equal to or greater than the threshold, then the target must make a DEX check, with the amount the damage role exceeded the threshold by applied as a penalty, failure means the target has been knocked prone, usually on his back, success means he kept his balance, but was forced to take a step or two back. The DM will rule what happens in cases where this is not possible (a wall or cliff prevents movement, etc.). Bludgeoning weapons use the normal threshold values, but because of their lighter weight, slashing weapons use double the thresholds. Piercing weapons can only cause knockdown if their wielder's were charging, in which case they also use double the thresholds (not too bad since they also do double damage). Ranged and parried attacks will never cause knockdown.
| Target's Size Category | Damage Threashold |
| T | 2 |
| S | 3 |
| M | 6 |
| L | 12 |
| H | 24 |
| G | 48 |
There is such a thing as melee range, due to their different lengths, different weapons can strike at varying distances. The first range is close combat, this includes fists, daggers and knives. the second range is normal and most one-handed weapons are used here, such as long swords and battle axes. Extended range refers to pole weapons. There are also a few melee weapons such as the whip and lasso that have even greater ranges, these are the fourth category. The following rules will apply to the first three categories, the last category is really weapons that allow melee attack outside of melee, and only combatants with similar or ranged weapons may return attacks without moving for at least a round. When opponents having weapons of greater range close, the one with the longer weapon always strikes first. Even if this means that he must attack in an earlier sequence, in this case he looses his first attack. After the first round of combat the two combatants each try to gain advantage, with the one who gets the advantage determining the range. Combatants with longer weapons will try to keep their shorter ranged opponents at bay, making it difficult for them to reach, while the short range attackers will try to slip inside the range of the longer weapons and attack close up, where the longer weapon is clumsy and difficult to use. The opponent who attacks in the earliest sequence, or wins initiative if both start attacks in the same sequence, will normally be able to declare range, though both players will declare the range they will attempt to fight at when actions are declared at the beginning of the round, but only the one who goes first will have any effect on what the range actually is. If the opponent with the shorter range was not at that range the previous round, then he receives a +2 init penalty, since he has to move a bit to get in range. The combatant who is at his preferred range, receives a +2 to hit, while his opponent receives a -2 to hit. Additionally when the longer range opponent has a thrust weapon, he is unable to gain advantage (A spear just can't keep a knife wielder at bay, unless it is used as a staff...). If the longer weapon is in the third category, and the shorter one is in the first, the longer weapon suffers a -4 to hit when he does not have advantage, not the -2. A combatant using weapons of different range categories must chose to fight in one of the ranges. Parries do not suffer any penalties or bonuses to hit due to advantage. However since the parry is vs. the opponents THAC0, which is modified by advantage, the parry is indirectly affected by advantage.
Weapon Speeds for missile weapons work the same as for melee weapons but are dependent on both the range to the target and weather or not the weapon is ready to be fired immediately (the normal status of a crossbow, or dagger in hand) or must be loaded first (knocking an arrow or pulling out the knife)
A specialized character with a ready weapon may take a shot on inititive 0 of the first seqence, in addition to any other attacks he recieves that round. Other characters may do this if and only if the weapon is trained on a target, in which case they may take the shot on initiative 0, but only at that target, and may only use a called shot if the wepon was trained for the called shot.
Additional attacks occur just as with the melee rules,and take up the last possible seqences, but may result from factors other than specialization. All weapons allow one aimed attack in a 5 second round, but the missiler may attempt to fire faster, though less accurately.
Crossbows are never fired more than once a round and take 2 or more rounds to reload (2 for hand, 3 for light and 6 for heavy). While reloading the archer can not move or evade attacks. Heavy and light crossbows must usually be reloaded while standing. Even specialization cannot increase the crossbow's rate of fire. They can be held in ready position for an indefinite amount of time, unlike bows.
Thrown weapons that are shafted may not be thrown faster than one shot per round unless the hurler is specialized. they are simply to large to be used any faster.
However smaller thrown weapons such as darts and daggers may be hurled at greater speeds by anyone who is proficient, provided that all of the missiles to be fired in the round are being held in the off-hand or some other extremely handy location. The first attack is at a -2 to hit. The second attack is also at a -2 to hit if it is the same shot as the previous attack (same target, same aim point). If the missiler changes either his aim point or his target, the shot is at -4 to hit. These attacks would all count as ready attacks, since the missile must be in the hand. Specialization could allow a third attack which is handled in the same manner as the second.
A normal sling can fire once per round if the ammo is handy, i.e. in the off-hand, otherwise a round must be spent reloading, specialization can increase the number of attacks, if there are additional attacks in the same round, they are handled as additional thrown attacks. A staff sling can be fired once every other round, though specialization may increase this to once a round.
All bows can fire once a round. This assumes the arrows are reasonably easy to get to, such as in a standard quiver. If the arrows are easier to get a hold of, such as stuck in the ground in front of the archer, then a second attack such as with thrown weapons is allowed. If the arrow is knocked and drawn before the beginning of the round the first attack may count as a ready missile attack. A arrow may be held in a knocked and drawn position for a number of rounds equal to the strength of the archer, after that the bow mush be relaxed for half the time it was held.
Specialization with most ranged weapons is handeled in the same way as in the basic rules, +1 to hit, +2 to damage, and extra attacks. These extra attacks are at no pennalty to hit unless additional attacks above this are taken in the round through quick-fire. The rules for specialization of bows and crossbows has changed. Specialization in any of these weapons costs 1 slot like everything else. The archer gains the point blank range and gets a +2 to hit in it, also he gets a +1 to hit in all other ranges besides point blank. No additional attacks are gained.
Missile fire is continued from one round to another, so the first attack in a round that continues the previous round's quick-fire shots is at -4 (or -2 if the same target) not -2 to hit.
For example: Robin Hood is trying to hold off a large number of charging barbarians. He runs into the open, crouches down and sticks 6 arrows into the ground in front of him. The next round he fires his first shot, confidant of his skill, and desperate to get as many kills as possible he fires quickly with a -2 to hit., the unfortunate barbarian is hit but not killed. During second attacks Robin fires again at the same target, so he still has only a -2 to hit. He hits again, this time dropping his foe. The next round comes and the enemy still have not reached him, he changes targets and fires at another foe, he now has a -4 to hit due to his change of aim. He misses this foe, and fires again in the 2nd attacks. this shot is at the same foe that he missed in the first attacks, so it is only -2 to hit. He nails the unlucky barbarian, killing him. After one more round Robin will be forced to stop quick firing, even if the barbarians don't reach him, since he will have no more arrows left in the ground, only the ones in his quiver which he must fire normally.
The rules for held, called, and critical hit attacks with missile weapons are the same as those for melee. Rules for cover, and firing into a melee are the same as in standard rules. Finally a combatant with a ready missile weapon always wins initiative over a charging melee attacker.
The procedure for spell resolution is the same as the version currently in use in Aaron Paradys campaigns, with respect to spell success and effect. The only changes are with casting times and durations.
All spells with casting times given as a unitless number have a casting time of that many 5 second rounds. Spells with casting times measured in rounds have casting times of that many minutes. Casting measured in turns are measured in 10 minutes (the same). This means that unless you are within 12 feet of the wizard, you can not interrupt his casting time 1 spell with a melee attack (not necessarily a bad thing). But a casting time of 3 or higher spell is probably not going to go off if there is anyone who wants to attack the wizard.
When his initiative comes up, a wizard casting a spell may elect to do one of 3 things. He can cast the spell if the number of rounds he has spent casting this spell (including the current round) equals or exceeds the casting time of the spell. He may continue casting the spell into the next round, usually done if the spell isn't finished yet, but may be done even if the spell is finished. Or the wizard may attempt to drop the spell without causing any effect. The chance for this is the same for casting it, but this may be done regardless of how long the caster has been working on the spell. This is usually used when the caster finds himself at the end of a round with one or more combatants going to attack him on the following round, and the spell not to be completed for a couple of rounds. The dropped spell does count against the maximum castable per day, and a failure on the spell success role will lead to a percentage roll on the aftermath table. However if successful, the spell has no effect at all.
The targeting section of casting a spell is picked on the final round of casting, unless the spellcasting procedure requires that it be determined earlier.
Obviously the duration of certain spells must be changed, or Evnard's black tentacles will do damage every round, for 12 rounds/level, a bit hefty for a 4th level spell. A primarily combat spell has its duration changed from 1 minute combat rounds to 5 secent combat rounds. This includes spells such as Improved Invisibility, Flame Blade, Bless, Confusion, Melf's Acid Arrow, and Bigby's Imposing Hand. This will obviously not work for non-combat spells. A change self spell measured in 5 sec rounds is not very helpful. These spells will be measured in minutes. Examples here are invisibility, alter self and feather fall. There are a number of spells which although non-combat spells, are used in combat by crafty players, most of these will probably have durations measured in minutes, but it is DM's discretion. Enlarge is the primary example here. Spells with durations measured in turns, hours, days, etc. are unaffected, as are instant spells. Finally whatever the DMs decision for the duration of a spell, it will always be the same, and never be dependent on whether the spell is cast in combat or not (What do you mean my Enlarge spell has a differnt range when cast indoors, how does it know that I'm not outside?).
Priests have a few additional rules concerning their spellcasting. First of all their spells can not be interrupted in combat, nor can they hold on to a spell for a longer period of time than is normally required. They can stop casting a spell at any time without any effect. When the casting of the prayer is finished, the amount of damage the priest has taken since starting to cast the spell is added to his percentage chance of failure, since he may have missed some section while he was groaning in pain.
Psionics are resolved similar to spellcasting. The entire round is spent initiating the power, and it is resolved at the end of the round (after all physical and magical activities) in order of initiative if it is of instant duration, otherwise it will start to effect the next round, provided the maintenance cost is paid during action declaration.
All upkeep costs listed as x/turn or x/hour are the same. All upkeep costs listed as x/round are now x/30 seconds. The power may be used in that 30 seconds the same as it was previously used in 1 minute. Some combat oriented and telepathic powers have duration in x/5 sec round. They function normally in combat, but much less outside of it. These powers are:
Adrenaline Control, Animal Affinity, Animate Object, Biofeedback, Body Weaponry, Chemical Simulation, Combat Mind, Control Body, Control Flames, Dimention Door, Displacement, Enhanced Strength, Expansion, Flesh Armor, Graft Weapon, Inertial Barrier, Intensify, Magnify, Molecular Agitation, Molecular Manipulation, Reduction, Split Personality, Stasis Field, Telekinesis, Wrench. Also all telepathic powers except for the following: Awe, Conceal Thoughts, Contact, Daydream, Incarnation Awareness, Life Detection, Mindlink, Probe, Psychic Messenger, Send Thoughts, Telempathic Projection, Truthear.
A character making attacks has negligible movement, he might move a foot or two to dodge attacks, but will not really get any closer or farther away from others. A character can move up to his movement rate in feet per round, this is a medium jog. He can double this by charging, but must move in a straight line. A character must move at his normal movement rate for one round before he can charge. He must also spend one round moving at normal rate after he charges before he can stop, unless he runs into something, which may stop him much faster. To figure how far a character moves in a round with more than one sequence, divide his movement rate by the number of seqences. When his initiative comes up in each seqence, he has moved this distance. If the character gets an initiative score of -1 or less, he may move up to half of his movement score extra for each additional attack he would have recieved.
A round is also the time it takes to rise from a prone position. A character may become prone at the end of any round during which he moved, either charge, or normal.
It takes an entire round to draw and ready one weapon which is concealed or not particularly easy to get to. This includes any type of slung bow, daggers in boots, a sword under a cloak or held in a belt rather than a scabbard. Weapons worn for easy drawing may be used on the round they are drawn, on the 2nd attack seqence, unless there is only one attack seqence in which case they are resolved as normal (no additional attacks are received regardless of specialization). This attack is at -2 to hit and the character recieves a +4 to init. Weapons stored in this way are sheafed swords and daggers worn on a bandoleer.
A character may spend the entire round parrying form the PHB. In this case all characters, including fighters get their level divided by 2, rounded down as a bonus to their AC against all frontal melee attacks.
Whenever an attacker roles a 20, it is considered a critical hit. This doesn't mean that the attack did more damage than it should be able to, or that it lets the attacker attack again in the exact same instant (makes even less sense in a 5 sec round), it simply means the attack was very well aimed, hitting as well as possible. The bulls eye so to speak. Therefore the attacker may immediately declare the attack a called shot of his choice, other than a disarm (a disarm attack may be made into an expert disarm though, but an expert disarm gets no bonus, but face it, you aren't going to get it unless you role a 20 anyway). This allows the attack which does no extra damage to be a bit more lethal, since there is the chance of additional effects happening through the numbed and useless numbers (see fighter's handbook). Unlike other methods this works for any physical attack: melee, missile, and spell attack (only spells that normally require an attack role).
This area is more of an impromptu decision by the DM, since this is the only way that every situation could be covered. Whatever happens is bad for the attacker, but usually won't effect him beyond the next round. Some possible examples include: getting your weapon stuck in the door behind your opponent, letting your shield drop to the ground, your friend you are fighting back to back with is stepping on your cloak pinning you to your current position... etc.
Weapon Speed Factor Ready Speed Factor
Battle Ax 4
Bow 3/4/5 0/1/2
Club 3
Crossbow (any) 0/1/2
Dagger 1
Footman's flail 5
Footman's Mace 5
Footman's Pick 3
Hand Ax 3
Harpoon 7
Horseman's Flail 4
Horseman's Mace 4
Horseman's Pick 2
Knife 0
Lance 8
Main Gauche 2
Morning Star 5
Polearm, Thirsted 8
Polearm, Swung 7
Staff 5
Scourge 5
Sickle 2
Sling 4/5/6 3/4/5
Sling, Staff 5/6/7 4/5/6
Swords: Bastard 1-H 4
Bastard 2-H 5
Katanna 1-H 4
Katanna 2-H 5
Khopesh 5
Longsword 3
Rapier 2
Saber 4
Scimitar 3
Shortsword 2
2-H Sword 6
Wakizashi 2
Spear 1-H 6
Spear 2-H 7
Spear, Long 1-H 7
Spear, Long 2-H 8
Thrown, Grenade 3/4/5 2/3/4
Thrown, Shafted 2/3/4 1/2/3
Thrown, Small 2/3/4 1/2/3
Warhammer 5
Whip 5
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