Saturday, February 19, 2011

Fight!

Looking for a way to demonstrate my combat system in a way that would capture people's attention, I hit upon the idea of this post.  Rather that babbling out a description of the system, I'm going to try something a little more 'hands on.'

To begin with, allow me to present a visual situation:


The gentle reader will take note that there seem to be five individuals in the well lit-portion of the map, centering on the bright yellow light that is over the center person's right shoulder (that's her torch).  It will also be noticed that to the left and to the right, there are some nasties designated 'Goblin' 1 through 10.  But let's ignore them.

Below are the five characters, simplified down to the pertinent details needed for combat:

These characters have been created using my own ideosyncracies.  The larger number of hit points for the fighter and the cleric are a result of their mass.  Englund the bard, despite being human, rolled a 1 on his mass roll.  Everyone has the maximum possible hit points from their class.

In the situation above, the party has not been surprised and they have won initiative.  The goblins are running, so they are moving towards the party at a speed of six hexes per round.  Therefore, whatever the party does for the first round of their action, before they are able to move again, the goblins will be six hexes closer.  They are, for all intents and purposes, charging.

Soon after I post this, I will be adding five polls to the right side of the blog, above the followers list.  You may vote on the polls to indicate what each member of the party will do this round.  I'm setting to polls to close on Friday night ... and on the weekend, probably on Sunday, I will sit down and have everyone move.  If there are any ties, I will judge the best action myself.  I will then show the updated map, the updated characters (if needed) and set up new polls for the second round.

A few things.  You might want to check out these pages on the Same Universe wiki, especially the combat actions table.  Additional rules I haven't written out yet include the fact that spells taking one round to cast do not take effect until the beginning of the following round.  Oh, and crossbows can be kept partly taut, so that it takes only one expended round to finish the loading process.

I may have forgotten something, but I'll add it in this space as soon as someone points it out.

3 comments:

  1. According to my copy of the PH Burning Hands does 1 point of damage per level, so I'd like to know what the level for the mage is, as that will affect the tactics. By the way, how can s/he cast Shocking Grasp and remain in place when the goblins aren't within range?

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  2. C'nor,

    All the characters are first level.

    Your assessment of Burning Hands is correct; but the mage can do 1 hp to multiple people who are in range when the spell is applied.

    It does not say so in the Player's Handbook, but once the charge of the shocking grasp is created, it remains in the mage until the mage bestows it upon someone touched.

    An important distinction to make is the difference between casting a spell and discharging a spell. Some spells, once cast, must be concentrated on before they are discharged. Burning Hands is of this variety - the mage must concentrate to hold onto the spell's power before sending it out of the body at the enemy. However, since a component of the shocking grasp is for the mage to touch the opponent, the mage does not need to concentrate on this spell once cast. However, since the charge will release on the first thing the mage touches, it is important that no friendly person touches the mage until the charge is delivered.

    This is how I play it.

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