Dice-Neutral Combat Table

I’ve tinkered with simplifying the combat tables as much as possible. Here’s something I’ve considered before: a dice-neutral table.

Defense	Normal	Hero	Champion
No Armor	N	N+	N++
Light	L	N	N+
Medium	M	L	N
Heavy	H	M	L
V Heavy	V	H	M

Rather than carry on the debate about descending vs. ascending AC, this table focuses on armor descriptions. Similarly, rather than using numeric levels, it uses level titles. You only need to know two numbers to use this table: the value of N (target number to hit No Armor) and the shift modifier appropriate for the dice used. Shifting down a row applies a penalty. Shifting up a row adds a bonus. The same applies to shifting left or right one column.

The letters in the body of the table are abbreviations for the armor types in the leftmost column: a Hero attacking a Medium armor opponent has the same chance of hitting as a normal man attacking a Light armor opponent.

For standard 1d20 OD&D combat, N is 10+. The penalty or bonus for one row or column shift is +/-2 points.

For 1d6 roll high combat, N is 3+. The shift modifier is +/-1 point. This can be used for a crude mass combat system, for example.

For 2d6 roll high, N is 6+, with a shift modifier of +/-1 point.

The main armor types are Light (Leather or Padded armor, or other “soft” armors,) Medium (Chain and other metal/“hard” armors,) and Heavy (Plate and better quality “hard” armors.) Very Heavy is an extra category, useful for higher-tech plate armors, for example. It’s also useful for aimed blows at small targets (stabbing someone in the eye.) Most other aimed blows are treated as an attack against Medium armor, unless the target is wearing a better armor type.

I’m considering adding one other column, for Untrained. This would mainly be for attacks with improvised or out-of-class weapons, or when the attacker is crippled or otherwise seriously penalized.

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D6-Only Weapons: Size and Mass

It would seem at first that the mere mass of a weapon would be a great reason to vary damage by weapon type. After all, if bigger weapons don't do more damage, why would anyone buy them? They weigh more than light weapons and are thus more encumbering. But thing again about the foundations of D&D combat: an ordinary man-at-arms has 1d6 hit points, and a short sword does 1d6 damage. An ordinary short sword has a chance to kill an ordinary man. Should a heftier sword kill an ordinary man even more? Or should it have a better chance of scoring that potentially deadly hit?

This is the rationale behind giving more massive weapons a bonus to hit instead of a bonus to damage. We can treat mass as an intrinsic quality that provides a bonus where appropriate: figure that basic one-handed weapons like the short sword as the default weapon mass, give a +1 advantage to two-handed weapons and another +1 if the weapon is too heavy for a person of normal strength to wield effectively, but the fighter has high Strength. Also give the advantage to the side with the more massive weapon or shield, if parrying or blocking.

You can, of course, allow users of two-handed weapons to roll two dice and pick the highest. That's a common LBB houserule. I'm reluctant to do so only because I plan on letting everyone roll two dice and picking one for speed and the other for damage, but perhaps I'll work around that.

Random Melee Targets

The alternative combat system in Men & Magic has few details, so most of us OD&D GMs assume that players pick a target, make an attack roll, and (if successful) roll for damage to that target. And that's the way many of us handled combat in AD&D, too, when we started playing a thousand weird amalgams of AD&D and other D&D versions. But AD&D says something different about attacks:

Who Attacks Whom:

As with missile fire, it is generally not possible to select a specific opponent in a mass melee. If this is the case, simply use some random number generation to find out which attacks are upon which opponents, remembering that only a certain number of attacks can usually be made upon one opponent.

(DMG, p. 71)

This is important because the Delving Deeper errata that has just been released adds a new fighter ability:

Starting at 4th level [the fighter] adds +1 to morale rolls of any troops he leads in combat, and is no longer subject to randomized missile or melee hits while there are other targets available.

(DD Adventurer's Handbook, p. 10)

Heroes basically can't be harmed by random combat effects; those who are less than heroic are targetted first, unless an attacker is able to specifically aim at the hero. This implies that in at least some cases, melee targets are randomized, just like AD&D.

I think a simple way to handle these situations is to roll damage for the attack, then have all possible random targets roll a d6; whichever die roll matches the damage roll is struck. Ties go to the quickest.

Spell Study Series: Levitate

I hadn't planned on doing a post on the Levitate spell all by itself, but it doesn't really group with other 2nd level spells, and it has some unique features, so perhaps it's for the best.

Levitate: This spell lifts the caster, all motion being in the vertical plane; however, the user could, for example, levitate to the ceiling, and move horizontally by use of his hands. Duration: 6 turns + the level of the user. Range (of levitation): 2"/level of Magic-User, with upwards motion at 6"/turn.

Levitate is unusual in that it's the only 1st or 2nd level in the 3LBBs that causes a physical action (except maybe one other spell...) A couple spells (Light, Continual Light, Hold Portal, Wizard Lock) produce physical effects, but these count as a change of state; Levitate feels more physical.
Levitate uses the Light spell as a pattern for its duration: 6 turns + 10 feet/caster level. We might have the start of a simple pattern here, similar to the one for range:

• Instant: open-ended change of state
• Brief: 2 turns, preferred for combat effects
• Standard: 6 turns
  • plus caster level, if physical
  • or 2d6 turns, if combat-related

There may be some later variation of Brief and Standard durations, and it may be worth it to work that 2d6 outlier from Hold Portal in better. Would it hurt much if Brief were changed to 2d6, or perhaps 1d6+1? We'll look into this as we go along.

Levitate lists a range, but this is not the range of the caster to the target. In fact, the spell description says it only affects the caster; the "attack" version of this is Telekinesis, a 5th level spell. The range listed is actually the range of motion, and it is 10 feet per spell level x caster level. This is one of the spells which prompted my idea of a "Limit" stat for spells, in addition to Duration, Range, and Area.

There is a little leeway in the spell description. The second half of teh first sentence says "user" instead of "caster", leaving open the possibility of casting the spell on others. I think I'll stick with the caster-only interpretation, though, perhaps on the grounds that other targets might not have the training to control their rate of ascent. This means that there could be a higher-level Mass Levitate spell that allows the caster to take others up at the same rate. Mass Levitate could even be useful as an attack spell: levitate yourself and your enemies, hand-walk across the ceiling to a ledge, release the spell.

Monsters in Large Numbers

Delta asked on the OD&D Forums What dice do you use to roll large numbers of creatures? Which got me thinking about some things...

For those not clicking the link, we're talking about monsters listed in Monsters & Treasure as appearing in numbers like 10-100, 20-200, 30-300, and so on, the immediate example being bandits. Delta's asking about what dice most GMs use (he's been asking a lot of survey questions lately, to get a better idea of how many techniques are out there in the wild.)

But I'm thinking more about what that number is for. As many people will tell you, the numbers listed on the Monsters & Treasure table are meant more for wilderness hex stocking than for dungeon stocking or random encounters. I'm pretty sure neither Gary Gygax nor Dave Arneson ever did something like:

Gary/Dave: "As you enter the forest, ahead you see..."

[Stops to roll dice]

Gary/Dave: "300 bandits."

I mean, first of all, why would they wait until the last minute to work out an encounter of that size? Why would they pit that many opponents against 1 to 6 PCs, an equal number of retainers, and a handful of miscellaneous hirelings? Why wouldn't the PCs detect what is basically a military camp until they were almost in the camp itself?

Aside from obvious references in the rules themselves that contradict the above hypothetical example, and people who actually played with Gary or Dave reporting that they didn't roll for monster numbers at the table, but picked a reasonable number from the listed range, we have to take into account what you would even need this number for. Wandering monsters are typically in multiples of 1d6, modified for party size and monster level, so we don't need it for that. What we need it for is:

• Approximate encampment or lair size (30 bandits have a couple tents, 300 bandits probably have a small fort and a couple buildings.)
• Guide to encounter size (patrols follow wandering monster rules, deliberate response to threats will be up to a third of the full force, major expeditions will leave at least a fifth of the force behind to guard home base. Also useful for mass combat encounter designs.)
• Total pool of available monsters (PCs should stop encountered bandits when the bandits have been wiped out.)
• (For bandits, goblins, orcs, and other structured groups:) Calculating leader types present.

So really, it doesn't matter how you get to that total number of monsters in the group, or if every possible number within that range can be rolled, or has a probability that fits into a linear or bell curve distribution. You just need a number beforehand so that you can make broad decisions like "What's the camp/lair look like?", "How far away can it be detected?", or "Have they run out of cannon fodder yet?"

What that means to me is that we don't need to figure out what die roll best fits the listed range. Instead, look at the maximum. Is it one significant digit? Rounded to the nearest ten or hundred? Roll one die to determine that first digit. For a range of 20 to 80, roll a d8, treat a 1 as a 2, and multiply by 10. For 30 to 300, roll d6/2 and round down, multiply by 100, and treat a 0 as the minimum. If you really don't want a round number, roll d10 or d100 for the last one or two digits, if the number isn't already at the maximum.

Clone Project: Command Control

I should be doing galley-specific rules next, but I'm feeling low on energy, so I thought I'd skip to the much easier topic of command control. The big question on command control is: why is this in the naval combat section and not considered a more general part of combat?

The rules are pretty simple: you can give orders to your hirelings or underlings if they are within a range determined by your Charisma, 1" per point, halved if you are in melee yourself, shouting orders between cutlass thrusts. If the hirelings can see you better (standing on a higher deck,) you add +1 per 10' of height above the fray. For land combat, you could allow a similar +1 if you have a battle standard.

If you have lieutenants who are within range, they can relay your orders to those outside your range. Their range is one less than yours. I'd argue that the lieutenants can in turn use sergeants to relay orders even further; this would mainly be of use in mass land battles. On the other hand, maybe sergeants exist primarily as a loophole to avoid the Charisma limit on number of hirelings; each sergeant leads a group of warriors who are personally loyal to their sergeant, but only the sergeant counts as a loyal hireling.

Hirelings within range who do not break morale will follow orders as soon as they hear/notice the orders. Make an Avoid Accident roll each round until they receive the command. For medium to large groups, I'd probably do this in sub-groups of 20%, rolling 5d6; every 5 or 6 rolled means 20% of the hirelings were too involved in melee to notice. Obviously, this doesn't apply if the forces are not involved in melee yet, so a command to charge doesn't require a roll.

Build-a-Beast

I made a vague reference at the end of last Friday's post about not always using the hit dice listing in the rulebooks when creating monsters. When making the monsters I've posted here or included in one-page dungeons, I've used a vague system for assigning hit dice based on monster description. I haven't formalized the system yet, so the hit dice are not necessarily consistent, but here's what I've got so far: each descriptor that directly affects combat translates into a +1 for the "adds" portion of the HD+adds statistic. Every +4 is converted into a full hit die. So, a canine (1 HD) with exceptionally sharp teeth would be 1+1 HD.

A human is a base of 1 HD. Herbivore herd animals of roughly human mass are likewise 1 HD. Slightly larger size (cow, horse) adds a die, as does making the beast a pack predator. Animals that habitually travel in smaller groups do so because they're more dangerous: traveling in small family units adds 1 HD, and solitary creatures add 2 HD.

Conversely, every reduction in size by half or increase in community size to swarm/flock subtracts 1 HD. A 0 HD base creature is translated to 1-2 HD, and negative HD base creatures instead subtract from the 1-2 base. For very small creatures that always appear in swarms, you can ignore the HD of individual creatures and treat them more like a communal creature with HD based on the size of the group and successful attacks splitting the creature into smaller groups until completely dispersed.

For much larger creatures, instead of adding a hit die for every doubling of size, I work in terms of scales. I haven't thoroughly worked out this part yet, but I'm figuring double human height/eight times human mass should be a base of 8 HD instead of 1 HD, triple human height is base 12 HD, and higher multiples are multiplied by 4 HD to get the base HD.

Mildly supernatural creatures add 1 HD, but demons or the equivalent should add 5 HD for human-size beings.

Size Matters

In a comment on yesterday's post about using the same damage range for every weapon, Coldstream raised the issue of the size of weapons versus the size of the creature struck. 'Does a dagger really do the same "damage" to a dragon, or even a cow, that a two-handed sword does or halberd?' He also raises the side issue of fighters dumping two-handed weapons in favor of weapon and shield combos.

I've already expressed my opinion on how to handle weapon size/mass against human-sized opponents: give a to-hit bonus to fighters using bigger weapons. I only distinguished one-handed from two-handed weapons in that post, but I could use the same basic principal to differentiate finer differences:

• against a human-sized opponent, one-handed weapons of short sword size or higher have the default "to hit" roll;
• smaller weapons are at a 1-point disadvantage on the combat roll;
• two-handed weapons are at a 1-point advantage on the combat roll;
• any weapon that is at least 3/4ths the size of an opponent has a further +1 advantage;
• any weapon that is bigger than an opponent has a +2 advantage;
• any opponent who is twice human size has a +1 defensive advantage, +1 for every further doubling.

This breaks down this way for a human fighter:

• dagger versus giant = +2 defense bonus for giant
• sword versus giant = +1 defense bonus for giant
• great sword versus giant = standard roll
• great sword versus goblin = +3 attack bonus for fighter

You can also allow fighters (only) to try sweeping blows with two-handed weapons, knocking back opponents instead of damaging them. This plus the benefits of weapon length give players of fighter characters a reason to sacrifice a shield to use a two-handed weapon in some cases.

MU Spell List, Level 4

The analysis for build-a-spell continues. 4th level is where we see the first physical transformation and creation spells in the LBB. Also, notably at 4th level, we see a couple references to affecting 4 HD creatures, implying that there may be a "target HD" variable, at least for some categories of spells.

Polymorph Self and Polymorph Others are two variants of the same basic concept, with the difference being that the first can only target the caster and has variable duration, while the second can be involuntary (with a saving throw,) includes combat abilities of the new form, and is basically permanent. "Change form" + "any form" seems like two features. Add "combat abilities" and a duration feature to get Polymorph Others, with the duration feature being something that lessens the immense power of "permanent until dispelled"; maybe the victim gets a new save every time the new form grows or heals (in other words, changes form in a lesser way.) But Polymorph Self would be 2 Features + 1 Variable, which seems like a 3rd level spell; either it's 4th level because MU transformation spells can't be a lower level, or we should add another feature.

Remove Curse is a permanent dispel effect on an item normally immune to Dispel Magic, so that's 3 Features + 1 Variable = 4th level spell.

Wall of Fire creates damaging flame that lasts so long as the caster concentrates (3 Features.) I'm torn over whether to add the double damage against undead as a separate feature, or just the nature of flame attacks on the undead. Wall of Ice is pretty much identical, except for the base material.

Confusion is a lot more confusing than it needs to be. There's the basic effect (random confused behavior,) plus variable quantity (targets,) range, and duration. 1 Feature + 3 Variables.

Charm Monster is a Charm Person spell that affects non-people (creatures that it would normally be difficult to negotiate with.) It also potentially affects multiple targets; add variable range and we have a 4th level spell.

Growth of Plants causes nearly-instant plant growth, has permanent duration, and variable area and range. I'd want to limit the permanency to a duration feature, requiring a save every change of seasons.

Dimension Door has impossible transportation with no obstacles, certainly worth 2 Features. Distance should probably be set as another feature, but what's the fourth feature? Perhaps we can add variable capacity (extra mass carried besides the traveler.)

Wizard Eye is vision at a distance from an invisible, mobile eye. That's worth at least two features, plus we can add range and duration variables. 2 Features + 2 Variables = 4th level spell.

Massmorph is actually more like a highly-specific illusion (Phantasmal Force,) without the "dispelled by contact" restriction of illusions. It also affects a large number of targets. 4 Features = 4th level spell.

Hallucinatory Terrain is a specific illusion that targets a larger area, but restricted to terrain features, plus variable range. 3 Features + 1 Variable = 4th level spell.

I'm noticing that spells are becoming harder to fit into the framework at higher levels. There are a lot of questions I'm leaving unanswered, such as the limits of things like the duration, range, or size features.

Build-a-Spell III: Analysis Follow-Up

What lessons did I learn from the multi-part spell analysis series? It confirmed something I was thinking of doing anyway: tying specific base spell effects to minimum spell levels. Each spell level of the original MU spell lists introduces specific types of spells at specific levels:

• Level 1: mind, senses, obstacles
• Level 2: movement
• Level 3: cause damage
• Level 4: physical transformation, creation
• Level 5: conjuration/summoning, souls
• Level 6: large-scale physical changes, death

Later spells broke this pattern (Magic Missile, the Monster Summoning spells.)

Most spells have "static effects" (duration, area of effect, damage, quantity, hit dice affected, movement rate, mass, or range) that do not change with the caster's level, but is always a fixed number or range of numbers. In some cases, the measurement was actually related to the spell level (6th level area spell that affects a 6" x 6" area, 4th level spells that blocks creatures of 4 HD or less.) In contrast, variable effects vary with the caster's level. In some cases, variable effects like damage seem to add to base spell level, but in other cases, I changed a static effect to a variable effect and counted that as a +1 level offset to a base spell.

For either static or variable effects, the units of measure (rounds, turns, hours, days for time, feet, tens of feet, miles for length/distance) is set by the type of spell, although units can be scaled up if a restriction is added (Hallucinatory Terrain covers a wider area than Phantasmal Forces, but can only create illusory terrain.)

The lowest level spells tended to be based on a natural ability that the caster could perform without the aid of magic, but with one restriction removed or altered in a magical way. For example, befriending a person without having to say something persuasive (Charm Person.) These tend to last longer or otherwise be better than spells that are unnatural versions of natural abilities, like Read Languages or Detect Magic. In the terminology I was using in the analysis posts, the latter spells have a "unnatural" Feature, while the former had either one Variable effect or a static effect with the units of measure upgraded as a Feature.

The Features I wound up using frequently were:

• removing or altering one additional restriction;
• expanding scope (allowing larger than normal targets + removing size limits altogether counts as two features;)
• adding or improving combat abilities;
• adding or improving control (including adding limited autonomy to otherwise mindless objects/entities;)
• counteracting one thing (each spell level counts as one thing;)
• narrowing a broad vulnerability (including replacing susceptibility to Dispel Magic with a specific counter-spell.)

There were also:

• duration features: terminating condition is based on type of spell (sensory spells terminate when a sensory condition changes, etc.)
• length features: tied to spell level
• area features: tied to spell level

My current idea: each general class of spell (like charm spells) would have a base spell, perhaps more than one, defined by a specific cluster of Features. Units of measurement for static effects would be defined for each spell type. There would be a list of Variable effects available to modify that spell ("You can turn this spell into a ranged spell, with range based on caster level.") Adding a Variable creates a new spell one level higher. If no Variable is specified for a static effect, the effect is determined by a multiple of spell level. You can also make substitutions within the same category, so that the base MU list might list Unnatural Breathing as a generic spell that can be turned into the individual spells Water Breathing or Smoke Breathing.

Re-thinking existing spells also led to some interesting new ideas for handling spells. For example, making Sleep accelerate the natural effects of fatigue in order to make it "fit the system" has the side effect of leaving victims tired even if they wake up quickly. Similarly, having Continual Light require a roll to maintain any time the surrounding lighting changes, and having Plant Growth require a reroll when the seasons change.

And sometimes just looking at the original wording suggests an entirely different way of handling the spell, as in the case of Clairvoyance and Clairaudience. On the whole, there's a lot of room to create a far more interesting spell system.

Potion of Holy Water

I've said that I don't allow clerics to make magic items, even potions, because it seems contrary to the spirit of the cleric and much more in keeping with the spirit of the magic-user. The exception would be holy water, if you want to call holy water a "magic item". But holy water doesn't work much like magic items do, at all, and its "manufacture" is immensely different; it's the only item you could claim is mass produced.

Holy water is just water that has been properly blessed by a priest. There are thus no ingredients, other than the most common ingredient of all, and there's not a lot of time or steps necessary to make it, which is why the price on equipment lists is pretty low; that's really the price for the vial, plus a donation to the church. (Holy water is generally free to the members of the congregation, but roving mercenary-adventurers are outsiders...)

The real requirements for holy water are some kind of shrine and a font or basin to contain the water while it is blessed. However big the font is, that's how much holy water a priest can produce each day. The steps involved are:

1. Get land for a shrine and sanctify it;
2. Build an altar at the shrine and sanctify it;
3. Sanctify a font or basin;
4. Put the basin on the altar, fill with pure water, and sanctify it. Repeat this step when desired.

There may be a cost to Step 1, if no free land is available. There's certainly a cost to building a church, temple, or chapel on the land, but theoretically that's not needed; it's for the protection of the sacred items and regalia kept at the shrine, and for the protection of the congregation from the weather during worship. There's possibly a cost to Step 2, in which case size matters, but if a carpenter and a woodcutter volunteer and the wood can be acquired for free, the altar is free, too. The same applies to Step 3, although it's certainly more likely to involve a cost. Step 4 is free to the priest involved, unless somehow water isn't free. Removing the water from the basin, however, requires a blessed container unless the holy water is used immediately.

For the sanctification process, I'd use the Turn Undead roll. Clerics get to add double their level to the first roll of the day, but additional attempts by the same cleric or at the same shrine do not get the bonus. On a Good result (9+,) the land or item is sanctified; on a 2, the land or item is cursed. The priest does not know the result, but must act on faith.

The first three sanctification rituals must be done, but as long as one of the three works and none of the items is cursed, a priest can properly sanctify holy water at that shrine. If any of the three items is cursed, or if the sanctification of the water produces a curse, the water will curse things it touches or strengthen demons and the undead.

The font for holy water can be incorporated into the altar, which allows for larger quantities of water to be sanctified. However, smaller, portable basins are often used instead so that the basin can be removed to make space for other items to be sanctified on the altar. For example, containers for holy water can be sanctified on the altar; the larger the altar, the more containers can be placed on it to receive a blessing. Holy water that is place in another, more profane container must be used before sunset or sunrise, whichever occurs first. Holy water in a sanctified container lasts forever.

The uses for holy water can be pretty varied. I would go with two primary uses: Turn Undead as a "zero-level" cleric and heal 1 point of damage on a Good reaction roll, if used immediately after combat. (If the wound was caused by a demon or undead creature, I'd allow a full 1d6 of healing, or 2d6 on a roll of 12.) A temporary circle of protection or Bless spell might be other possibilities; I'd handle these using the Cleric Without Spells approach.