Combat Prowess and Critical Hits

I have this idea. It involves modelling an increasing fighting capacity beyond the improvements on the "to hit" matrix and improving hit points. I am calling it Combat Prowess. It also goes fist-in-glove with a basic critical hit system. In a nutshell, a critical hit is basically scored on a to-hit roll of a natural "20'. In this case the attack does maximum damage. The Combat Prowess options to follow improve on this.

Combat Prowess
Essentially, Combat Prowess is a pool of points that may be spent to modify attacks in various ways. The options available are limited by level, as is the number of times they may be used in a given turn. The options are:

Most of them are pretty self-explanatory. It is worth noting that any points used apply to only one attack in a given round. That is not to say that points may not be spent on more than one attack, however. So, if you spend 1 point for an additional attack, giving you 2 attacks, you may spend one point on each attack for a +1 to-hit on each. In this case, you would be using a total Prowess of 3 points.

Effect C,  -1 enemy "to hit", applies to a single enemy, but it does apply to all attacks from that enemy.

Effect D, +1 to critical range, improves the critical range. +1 improves the critical range to 19-20, etc. A critical hit will be indicated by any natural roll within the range.

Effect E, Additional attack, grants the combatant an additional attack. Additional attacks are not modified by Prowess unless points are allocated specifically for them.

Effect F, +1d6 on a critical hit, allows an additional d6 to be rolled and added to the damage total in the event of a critical hit. Note that Prowess must be allocated for this effect before the attack is rolled, so it is a bit of a gamble, though the bet may be hedged by also allocating Prowess to Effect D.

Effect G, +1 Initiative, is added as a general bonus in group initiatives. That is, all bonuses from all characters are added together, then divided by the number of characters to arrive at an average Initiative bonus. Of course, in an Individual Initiative situation, it is added directly and unmodified.

Prowess is gained differently for each class. The following table illustrates when each class gains points, which effects they are eligible to employ, and how many points may be allocated to a given effect each turn.

* The number of times a letter appears indicates the number of points that may be allocated to that effect in a given turn. For example, a 7th level fighter has 4 Prowess points, and access to effects B, C, and E. In any given turn he may spend 2 points on A, 4 points on B, 2 points on C, 2 points on D, or any combination not exceeding the total of 4 points.

I hope this isn't too confusing. It is one of those things where I know what I mean by all of it, but it isn't that easy to communicate. My goals here are twofold:

• Higher level fighters should be rightly feared. When a party goes into a brawl with a creature with 6 HD and a d4/d4/2d6 attack routine they are rightly fearful. So, too, should someone be when facing a 6th level fighter.
• I want players of fighter types to have some tactical options during combat. Even though fighters are my favorite class to play, it can turn to drudgery when a drawn out combat turns into a monotonous succession of nothing but "to hit" and damage rolls. To sit quietly waiting for the DM to shift his attention to you and your "turn" is over in all of three seconds is not very satisfying. It often leaves me feeling a bit powerless and at the mercy of the dice.

Lastly, I want to reiterate that I have no group, so these ideas are untested. I'm not a number-cruncher, I eye-ball these sorts of things and just do what "feels" right to me. As always, I welcome comments and feedback, especially from the mathematically inclined, who may have some insights into how these bonuses feather in with the "to hit" matrices and anticipated damage outputs, in the RAW.

Combat Prowess for Fighters

This will be quick, before I head out to work. It is intended for any sort of OD&D fighter, whether it is LBB, B/X, or any of the retroclones.

Fighter receive points, which I am calling Combat Prowess. They gain one point at each odd-numbered level, including 1st. Each round they may allocate these points to any of the following, in any combination:

• +1 to-hit, to a single attack
• +1 damage, to a single attack
• +1 initiative
• -1 AC

That's it. If you've read this blog for any length of time, you've surely noted my near manic desire to keep the "lowly" fighter relevant into higher levels. I still like some of my earlier ideas, while my fondness for others has waned. I like this approach because it is simple, it doesn't give away the farm, and it allows (forces?) the player to make tactical decisions each round.

As an aside, I would suggest having the player work out a "standard" use of his CP points, to help keep things moving during quick combat encounters.

More on the Fighting-Man

Joshua raised some good points in his comment to my earlier post (Horns of a Dilemma). At first I was going to comment back, but the comment was getting involved, so I decided to make it a full-on post.

A point I failed to make clear is that the additional attacks I proposed at 4th and 8th levels in no way combine with the F-M's ability to make one attack per opponent if all opponents are 1HD or less. That ability, at first glance, seems to scale quite well as the F-M's levels increase. On closer inspection, and in a more realistic light, I don't think it really does.

My proposal is to increase  F-M's number of attacks at 4th level. Well, by 4th level most Fighting-Men have "outgrown" 1HD monsters. Their adventures and foes have gone beyond 1HD creatures, by and large. The treasure they carry is paltry compared to what 4th level adventurers can expect, and the XP for defeating them is only 1/4 listed value. So, not only are the 1HD creatures simply not encountered very often, they are undesirable as opponents when they are encountered. That is an "ability" that will see less and less use as the F-M rises in levels. That is a far cry from an ability that scales with level.

As the F-M goes up in level, I believe his ability to slay stronger foes should rise as well. By 4th level he will begin encountering creatures that deal more than just d6 damage, either with a bonus to damage, or with 2d6 damage. There aren't a lot of such creatures, but they are out there, and F-M need to be able to stand up to them. This ability needs to be represented by more than just an improvement in the attack tables. Since creature AC generally improves as the creatures get tougher, that's a wash anyway.

Another thing that I feel somewhat balances this issue is that the F-M is having to make two separate to-hit rolls, whereas the monsters that deal 2d6 do so with a single roll.

There was one other ability I would give Fighting-Men, that I forgot to mention in the other post. At 4th level they are able to hit opponents that require a +1 weapon to hit, and at 8th level they are able to hit opponents requiring +2 weapons. That comes from Chainmail, as well.

The Horns of a Dilemma

Well, my friends, the fickle winds of my ADD are shifting yet again. I hate this. I've been in a serious LBB mood and groove (and who knows, it may yet prevail), but I've heard the siren-song of S&W WhiteBox again. I love that game, with one exception: fighters. I know, I know, you've been down this path with me before. My apologies if this post seems like so much old news. In truth, I'm just trying to write my feelings as a way of resolving this dilemma.

I'm definitely committed to the original three classes. My mood hasn't swung so wildly as to embrace the nth classes. My main bone of contention is the fact that in the LBBs the Fighting-Man's main class ability is being able to employ magic swords. They are, bar none, the uber-weapon of LBB D&D, and it is a real boon to be able to take full advantage of them. However, it is a class benefit that is dependent on possessing the item in question. Two 9th level Magic-Users are pretty much equal, because their class ability, magic use, is tied directly to level. Two 9th level Fighting-Men, one with an uber-blade and one with a lesser, unintelligent, blade are much less fairly matched.

I suppose there could be an argument that the M-U relies on his spellbooks and should he lose them, he is in the same boat as the F-M who has no enchanted sword. But, the M-U can make copies of his spellbooks, and by the time he reaches 5th or 6th level, he should definitely have done so. Fighting-Men can't make copies of their swords. Also, spells to add to a spellbook are much easier to come by, in the form of scrolls, than magic blades. 

I like the intelligent sword rules, though. What I'm considering is reducing the frequency of swords with powers. In Monsters & Treasure there is a 50% chance that any sword will have enough intelligence to have powers. Here's what I'm thinking:

• Cut that back to a pretty small base percentage
• Modify by each "plus"
• Change the alignment roll to make most swords Neutral
• Determine powers pretty much as written
• Determine if sword has a Purpose (if Lawful or Chaotic)
• Determine Ego of sword, based on Intelligence, Alignment, Powers, and Purpose

 Intelligent swords and their bearers must arrive at some sort of "understanding" if the Powers of the sword are to be utilized. 

Now, with the role of intelligent swords somewhat more limited, I want to give the Fighting-Man some true class abilities. I came up with some a while back, but I think it's too much, really. So, let me think this through.

D&D combat, and by extension, S&W:WB, models results. It isn't concerned with the blow-by-blow. It grew out of wargaming rules, where the important questions to be answered from combat are: 

1. Who's still standing?
2. Who's still effective?

Chainmail's method for representing more capable troop types was to give them the relative ability to render more enemies ineffective at the end of a combat. It did this by allowing so-called "Hero" types to roll more HD in combat, which represented their chance at causing an injury, which would reduce an enemy's effectiveness.

Now, if we accept that D&D combat is abstract and that a to-hit roll does not represent a single swing of the weapon, we can understand what it does represent. The to-hit roll represents the chance, during a given round, of a combatant to have an impact on his enemy's effectiveness, or more importantly, his ability to continue to prosecute the fight. So, I think it should follow naturally from that understanding that a more seasoned and capable combatant would have more opportunities to adversely effect his foe.

So, here is where all this has led me: Fighting-Men get an extra attack each turn at 4th level and again at 8th. I know there are those old-school players who don't hold with multiple attacks per round, and I used to be one of them. However, in keeping with the abstract nature of combat as a whole, I don't necessarily consider this as additional, discrete, attacks, anymore than the one attack is a single swing of the weapon. To me it merely represents greater competence and a heightened ability to force your opponent from the fight. These "attacks" are nothing more than opportunities to injure your opponent, whether that comes in the form of one "attack", two, or three.

What do you guys think? Does that make sense when it is reasoned out like this?

The Fighting-Man

Ah, the Fighting-Man. If you've read much of my ramblings, you've no doubt discovered my long-standing love of the Fighting-Man. Far and away my favorite class to play, regardless of edition. If you've picked up on my love of the F-M, you've also been exposed to my lamentations on the shortcomings of the class, compared to his peers. But, was I mistaken? Is the Fighter a poor cousin to the other classes?

Yes. The Fighter is far and away one of the weakest, least interesting, and enjoys the least niche protection of any class, bar none. Pity the poor Fighter.

The Fighting-Man on the other hand, stands shoulder-to-shoulder with his LBB peers. After a more thorough reading of Men and Magic, I propose that the Fighting-Man actually stands taller than the Magic-User and Cleric. Allow me to support my contention.

Hit Points
Three characters, each with 120,000 XP. The Fighting-Man and Cleric will be 8th level, while the Magic-User will be 9th. Assuming none of the three have a CON bonus, the Cleric will have 24.5 HP. The Magic-User will have 22. The Fighting-Man will have 30. Maybe 5.5 or 8 doesn't sound like much, but remember most creatures and all weapons deal d6 damage, so the F-M can definitely stand in for at least one more round of punishment than the other two.

Gear
Fighters can wear any armor, but so can the cleric (and elf, if the armor is magical he can cast while wearing it). So, maybe that one's a little soft, as class perks go. But in the arena of weapons, the Fighting-Man is unmatched. Sure, the dwarf, elf, and halfling hobbit (who are we trying to kid) can use any weapon, but they have level caps, which means their progression up the attack tables is short-lived. Only the F-M can use any weapon AND get good at it.

And lest we forget, Magic Swords. Magic swords in OD&D were a huge boon to the F-M. Fully 50% of all magic swords have Intelligence and at least one Power. Most of the Primary Powers are Detections of some kind. Virtually all of them are very useful, and should come into play often. Several of them outright hijack another class' niche. See Invisible, Detect Magic, Detect Traps, and Locate Secret Doors leap to mind right away. That gives the F-M a real edge, and there is a 50% of a magical blade having one of them. There is a whopping 25% chance the sword will have three Primary Abilities.

Attack Tables
I'm not going to crunch numbers into percentages of superiority. All I want to say is that the F-M progresses noticeably faster, and the separation becomes more pronounced the higher the level.

The real reason I bring this up is that the F-M does his thing every single round. Sure, a M-U can wreak havoc with a 6-die Fireball, but then what? And what if the bad guys save? The F-M wades in and counts coup. Nothing to memorize, nothing to cast, nothing that can be saved against. It's where the metal meets the meat. Yeah, the cleric and demi-humans do it, too, but they're not the masters of it that the F-M is.

The final thing that bears out my contention that the Fighting-Man is the most powerful class in the game is:

Experience Points
Clerics reach name level at level 8, which occurs at 100,000 XP. Each additional level after that is 50,000 XP. Magic-Users reach name level at level 11,  which is 300,000 XP. Additional levels for the Magic-User occur every 100,000 XP.The Fighting-Man reaches name level at level 9, which doesn't occur until 240,000 XP. It costs him 120,000 XP per level to advance beyond that. So, if we can assume that XP requirements are the primary means of balancing the relative power of different characters, the Fighting-Man must have been considered quite powerful, indeed.

Final Thoughts
It isn't until supplements start coming in (beginning with Greyhawk) that the Fighting-Man begins to lose his luster. The Thief's ability to use magic swords, the Ranger's favored enemy thing, and so on. When this fringe classes are as capable in combat as the Fighting-Man, why play one? Isn't it better to play one of the others, after all, they can fight just as good and do some other cool shit.

Well, maybe they can. But they never will in my D&D, where the Fighting-Man stands supreme.