Considering that modern rpg came from wargaming, it is no surprise
that combat is normally the most complex part of most rpg systems.
And that is specially true in D&D, where combat is one of the
most important and exciting parts of the game.
But the 'exciting' part is not always true, for it is well known
that combat encounters in D&D tend to take a lot of time.
Normally, the higher the level of an encounter, the longer the fight
will be. And, in new school D&D (3, 4 and 5e), fights may take
entire sessions of play by virtue of the many dice being rolled, the
exhaustive bookkeeping of hp and the various creatures engaged in the
fight. That basically makes a combat scene that should be wild and
exciting halt to a crawl, dwelving into a slug-fest of failed attack
rolls and resources management.
So, it is with such problems in mind that I come here today to talk
about a few options to give haste to your combat encounters. You may
use just a few of them, or you may use all. They are designed to make
the combat faster without breaking the balance of the game. Now, with
no further ado, here are the options:
Direct Attack Rolls: With this option, failed attack rolls
still cause half damage instead of no damage.
- .Example: Four goblins attack a warrior with short-swords (1d6). Only one goblin manages to hit, while the other 3 miss. So, the warrior will take 1d6 full damage + 3d3 (or 3d6/2) damage.
The idea is that this way Attack rolls act similar to saving throws, and will speed up games. A failed attack roll might be narrated as a tiring blow, that consumes the opponent stamina to be parried or dodged. If you use this option, it is highly recommended that you use also the 'after-combat heal' rule below.
After-combat heal: When a combat is finished, all surviving
combatents may regain some HP, as they have some time to rest and
recuperate from fatigue. Roll 1d3 x the character level (1d4 if the
character is a single class warrior). That is the number of
recuperated hps. A successful first aid check gives +1 to the roll
(each character may give only 1 first aid check per encounter). Also,
a character may not recover more hp than the damage it has received
during combat.
- .Example: After a combat encounter, a lvl 3 thief has received 6 damage and a lvl 2 warrior received 10 damage. They then roll for after-combat heal: the thief rolls 1d3, rolling a 3 and recovering 9 hp, and the warrior rolls 1d4, rolling also a 2 and recovering 4 hp. However, since the thief received only 6 damage, it may only recovers a maximum of 6 hp.
The logic behind this rule option is that hit points represent not only 'sturdiness', but also the stamina of a charcter and, after the combat is over, they may rest and recover some of their lost hit points.
Fixed damage option: Instead of rolling damage, you may just
assume a fixed damage per die, following the chart below:
Die size
|
Fixed damage per die
|
Half damage per die (rounded up)
|
d4
|
2
|
1
|
d6
|
3
|
2
|
d8
|
4
|
2
|
d10
|
5
|
3
|
d12
|
6
|
3
|
This option might take away some of the emotion of a game, when
damage rolls are not random. So, if you want to give it at least some
random factor, you may roll just a single die and multiply by the
dice quantity. So, if your fireball does 12d6 damage, roll 1d6 and
multiply by 12.
So, what do you think of these options? Would you use them in your
game? I believe they make things faster while also maintaining
simplicity. I hope you enjoy them.
Until next time,
Valete
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