PHBR1 - The Complete Fighter's Handbook

In the Barbarians a nd Ber- In the early stages of the cam· and style. Yes, they'll all be de-
serkers cam paign. by the way. paign. the ordlnarlly·happy voted to good; but they can have
m agi c u se Is almost a lways tribes men suddenly begin suf· different alignments, outlooks,
scorned . Magic Is cons id ered fering attacks at the hands of and personalities. One Cavalier
unclean and almost all wizards these enemies, They must de- can be a heavy·hearted Fated
are evil enemies of the heroes. fend their village from the first. Philosopher; another. though
Though It would not be Inappro· murderous assault, the n set up still devoted to doing good. may
prIate for one character to be patrols and reconnaissance mis· have been sufflciently embit-
some sort of shamanistic hero slons to probe into enemy terri- tered by hIs pre-campaign expe·
(fo r exa mple. a dual·class tory and find out what's going riences to be a Dangerous
Fighter/Mage). this sort of cam- on. UIUmately, they will have to Antagonist: st1ll another may
paign Is best s uited to worlds assemble a crack team of tribes- have been cursed and Is now a
with Uule or no magiC. me n (the player-characters and Doomed Champion.
their immediate friends) to pen·
Beast-Riders etrate enemy territory, sneak CavalIer Campaigns are usu·
Into the citadel of the enemy. ally run to showcase epic strug-
T he Beast· and destroy him . gles between pure good (the
Riders campaign Is very similar player·characters) and pure
to th e Barbaria ns and Ber· Additionally. all the campaign evil. The fat e of the nation or the
serkers campaign. But there are types appropriate for the Bar· entire world may be at stake.
signifi cant differe nces In the barlans a nd Berserkers cam· for example, at some time in
playe r·cha racte rs' goals and paign work just as well with the the past. the world's greatest
m o ti v a tio n s. Beast·Rlders campaign. king has discovered that a great
menace threatens 10 overwhelm
Ln the Beast· Riders campaign. In this sort of campaign. since all the world , so he has assem-
it's the tribe's association with everyone has the same Warrior bled his bravest new knights to
its totem animal that provides Kit and might seem very simi· find out what It Is and deal with
much of the flavor of the cam· lar. each warrior should choose It. In th eir early adventures,
palgn , The villains a nd threats a very different Personality in these Cavaliers are gaining ex-
of th e campaign don 't Jus t men· order to distinguish himself
ace the humans; they also en· from his fellows. perience. rising up from the low·
da nger the animals on whom est levels. and assembling clues
the tribe is so depende nt , This campaign may have no as to what son of menace the
interaction at all with the world faces. As they learn more.
For exam ple, in such a cam· world 's civilized nations; or. the and begin to have more and
palgn, an evU wizard deeper in tribe's enemy might be a power· more direct confrontations with
the wilderness has allied him· fullord from lhe civilized lands,
self with an a nimal that is a nat· and the heroes' mission to de· the minions of the menace. they
ural (or unnatural) enemy of the stroy him will be doubly peril· realize that the threat is indeed
trlbe's tote m. Now. he's sending ous because they don't know real . , , and that they're not yet
his own wa rriors after the tribe's what they 'll be facing In those
anlmals. trying to destroy them strange lands. adequate to save the day. They
a nd conquer the tribe. If the must continually quest to be·
player·charac ter tribesme n ride Ca\lallen come better warriors, to nnd
dire wolves, the sorcerer's min· specific magical items which
ions. fewer in number than the In the Cava· are supposed to be useful
tribesmen. wUl be ogres riding liers campaign. the player· against the menace, and to
smllodons (sabre·tooth tigers). If characters are all noble knights gather allies and raise armies
the pes ride pegasl. the more· questing for goodness and glory. ... until the nnal hour is upon
nume rous e nem ies might be them, and it's time for these
goblins ridin g giant bats. This can be one of the great much more experienced heroes
weaknesses of such a campaign. to face the battle of their lives,
Pe rh aps this eviJ sorcerer Who wants to be clean-
wants the tribe's land : perhaps s crubbed , dedicated to good- Since all Cavaliers are good·
he wants the tribe's princess; ness, and holier than thou all aligned, the campaign attitude
perha ps his god Is an enemy of the lime? Is not going to promote rude PC
the god representing the tribe's behavior: Theft. robbery. as·
a nimal totem. Whatever the So when running such a cam· sault. Insults, and betrayals are
cause, he's evil and m ust be palgn, the OM and players must all actions that wUl get the PCs
dealt with. be careful to distinguish the In trouble with each other (and
Ca valiers from one another in with the OM).
personality, motivations, dress

4.

Rol e- Pla y i n g

There a re 1WO th ey lose consid e rab le a udio gladiators and ex-gladiators go-
ence popularity and political Ingou t lmothe world and right-
IntereSting ap proaches to hav- clo u t. in g wrongs . When a city is
being bled dry by a tyrannical
ing a gladiator-based ca m· In another adve mure. a popu· ru le r, the gladia tors s how up
palgn . lar sla ve-gladiator leads a re be l· and cast him down . When the
lion: do our heroes. if they 're Empe ror 's da ug hter is k id-
You could have a campaign free gladiators. help (he rebel· napped and ransomed, the Em-
lion or he lp repress It? peror doesn't call on his c rack
cen tered around th e gladiato- guardsmen : he asks the gladla·
In another a dventure. the en· tors to rescue the princess.
rial arena. Each character Is a emy patron manages (0 fra me
one or more of the heroes fo r an Such adventures often have a
different type of gladiator: One Insult they did not perform . and lot of broad comedy In them.
novice . one square-jawed hero they a re c ha lle nged to are na- Gladiators usually have fier ce
baule to the death by a group of unarmed-combat abilities so
ad ept at everything. sc \'e ra l noble heroes they do not wish t hal they don ' t have to kill
glad iators each spec ializing In 1.0 fi ght ... and so o n. common-gru nt gua rdsm e n In
every tavern brawl.
one int eresting wea pons com- However. though many ad-
ventu res ea n be ge nerated Myr mid o n s
bination . The campaign dea ls around the coliseum life. s ueh a
with the hero-gladia tors In the ir campaign is inheremly limited, In the Myrmi-
efforts to survive not only the dons campaign , the pla yer-
arena but the plotting a nd and wlll either cnd fairly soon characters are all heroes with
trickery of gladiators belonging or branch oulln lOother adven- the Myrmidon Warrior Kj t.
to a rival patron. lures. T hey're either part of an elite
unit in a regula r army or gua rd.
In one ad ve nture. the e ne· If you're familiar with Italian or they're a small . emclent mer·
sword·and -sandal movies, you
mi es mi ght drug OUf heroes' know of one way such a cam-
food before the heroes a re d ue paign cou ld bran ch out. In s uc h
film s. you ofte n have groups of
to nght some particu la rly fie rce
monSler on the sands: If the he-
roes fight. w ey are In extra dan-
ger because of the drug's
effects, and If t hey do not fight.

49

cenary team who've worked to- Noble W.rrlors and even completely overthrow
gether for years (before the cam- that land 's system of rulership. In
paign began . that is). Th is Is a ca m- a Noble Warriors cam paign. the
paign of knights and chivalric PCs will Instead help put down
This cam paign Is best suited doings. Some of the characters the rebellion ... a nd then the
to providing the characters with a re trad iti ona l medie val
Interesting m ili tary and tactlcaJ knights. some arc thelr squires: good ones among them wUl In·
si t u a t i o ns . others may be warriors or mer-
cena ries accompanying their vesugate the cause of the rebel-
For example, in one adve n- party. or other types of charac- lion. and perhaps depose the evil
ture. their superiors/employers te rs being escorted by them (no· lords on their own. At that point.
Instruct them to rescue a kid· b lem e n a nd nob lewom e n . tlley'd eleva te the nex t person in
napped ambassador fro m a n priests. etc. ). line for the throne or lordship . ..
old . abandoned fan tha l is now as long as he was a noble enough
occu pied by banditlkidnappers. This lype of campaign differs character.
The heroes are given a map of greatJy from the Cavaliers cam -
the place_ a certa in a mount of In Noble Wa rrior campa igns.
paign in thatlhe Noble Warriors If the PCS aJ l agree to it, they can
gold for equipment. and a dead- don't havc to be staunch s up- all be unc hlva lric boors . Pe r-
line (never more than a few porters of goodness a nd IIghl. haps they a ll prefer to be robber-
days). They have to work out all Some will be true heroes: some ba ron s a nd il l-te m pered
will be self-centered boors. But knighls. U lhat's the case. and
the plans of th e assault and res- they share the common tics of the DM has no problem with It.
c ue, then go In. retrieve the kid- knighthood and nobility. so they that's fine.
napee, and escape with him usually get along with one an-
unhanned If they're to get their other. Peasant Heroes
money or the commendation of
theJr s uperiors. For an Idea of what sorts of ad· In a campaign
ve ntures arc appropria te to a dedicated to Peasa nt Heroes.
In other adve ntures. the char- Noble Warriors campaign. you you have muc h the same si tua-
acters' unit might be part of a need only read the books a nd tion as wi th Barbaria ns and Be r·
see the movies. available in the se rkers. Th ree good approac hes
much larger military force fig ht- hu ndreds or thousands. a ppro- for campaigns are the lbwn Dc·
ing a long-standing war: some priate (osuc h c ha racters. In par- fenders. Peasant Heroes Om in
adventures will be s land-up t.he World. and Peasant He roes
combats wi th enemy troops. ticular. the novels of Sir WaJ ler Aiming for the Crown . much as
some wi ll be recon na issance Seal( a nd the chronicles of the the Barbarian campaigns were
doi ngs of Camelot are very a p- stru ctured.
missions behind enemy lines. propriate source material (and.
some wUl be rest and recreation no. not all the knights of Came- There a re differences between
binges in nearby civil ian towns. lot were Cavaliers: some were the Pcasan! Heroes and Barbari-
brutes ). ans campaigns. though. In the
In most cases. lhe players Barba ri a ns campaign. th e
s hould bave the opportuni ty to In Noble Warriors campaigns. player-characlers a rc outsiders
plan out their own military oper- the heroes wand er th e la nd in this civilization . and civiliza-
a tions. Th is gives the m a tion Itself Is bad-decadent.
g reater sense of sa tisfac tion righting wrongs by sword or cru mbling. not a t aJl admirable.
when the plans succeed ... and lance: they fight dragons wh ich In a Peasam Heroes campaJgn .
a beuer understandin g of how lair in menacing caverns In the the player-characters belong to
things work in the game-world deepest woods: they defend tJle th is Civ iliza tion : they are , in
when the plans fail. la nd aga in st infide ls a nd in· facL s ma ll-lown folk who are
vaders: they compete with one much admired . Civi lization Is
Obviously. this is a very pro- an othe r In friendl y touroa- not bad or ruinous. though the
mili tary campaign setting. and rnents a nd unfriendly clas hes nation may be ru led by dissl·
the PCs and their NPC frie nds between rival kings or barons; pa ted nob les who have to be
won 't tole ra te di ffering out - and they raise and lead grea t overthrown or eliminated (lea v-
looks. Minor villains in this cam · armies on overseas crusades. ing the throne open. of course.
paign Include officers who know for one of the Peasa nt Heroes to
less abou t military operations They also defend the preroga- take) .
than the PCs. or officers who de· tives of their class. For Instancc.
lIberately sacrifice subordinates In a CavaJiers cam paign. the PC One very appropriate Peasant
in order to gain success and pro- heroes might join a peasant's re- He roes mini-seri es to play
motions: so are civilians wbo bellion against the land's rightful
rabidly oppose th e ongoing con·
flict. those who are disrespectful (but greedy and abusive) ruJers.

of soldiers. etc.

50

would Involve a Foreign Inva· h 's quite e n· they' re In a bad position.
sian. Troops rrom the neighbor· Joyable to have a whole cam· On the other hand . victims
ing enemy nation pour over the palgn where everyone Is a pirate
bordt=r and swann through !..he or outlaw. In pirate campaigns, who are th ei r tru e e ne m ies
pes' cou ntry. slaughtering or all the characters are raiders or (wicked representatives of the
e nslaving everyone in their the seas; In oUllaw campaigns. evil rulers, personal enemies.
pa!..h. One large unll or enemy everyone is a lawless warrior. In tax collecto rs. competin g pi-
soldiers approaches the PCs' vII· boLh campaigns. lhe bands of rates and outlaws with no SCru'
lage. The PCs and their allies characters prey on the weak pies. and self·centered
mUSt fight and keep the enemy (but wealthy) and may have im· money·grubbe rs of any sort)
at bay to give the vUlagers time portant goaJs to achieve other tend to be humlHated and em-
to escape. Artem'ard. hoperully. than Just taking money away barrassed while they are pris-
the PCs lhemsclves can escape from people who have 100 much oners of the pes. Unless they
inlO the nearby wilderness to of It. behave very stupidly and attack
figure out what to do next. the pes. th ey. too. are likely 10
The OM s hould determine be released u nharmed: If they
Their nalion has been caught and then make It clear from the do attack. they tend to be bat·
by surprise and oveN 'helmed oulSet whether thi s Is a "good tied In sin gle combat. and usu·
by this sudden auack: the capi· guy" or "bad guy" campaign. ally a re killed. Enemy prisoners.
tal is taken. the king imprisoned If released. also tend to reappear
or executed. The heroes have Good-Guy Outlaws and rlrates In the story down the line ...
the option or fleeing thei r land usually at a lime when they can
for some nalion not yet taken by Ir It's a "good do a lot of harm to the player·
the invaders .. . or arranging a guy" campaign. the player· characters.
resistance and revolt mo\'ement characters are heroes ... but
to take the naUon back from the misu nderstood. The main goaJ of this sort of
invaders. From episode to epi· campaign is restoring the old
sode. the heroes can make and They may have been framed status quo. If the characters
then execute thei r plans: Harry- for crimes they did not commit, used to be law·abidlng ciUzens
ing the enemy troops. building and were forced to nee t:le au· and are now wanted by the law
the resista nce army up to thoriUes lit's hard to prove you r for the wrong reasons. their
greater strength. going on sabo- Innocence when you're swing· eventual goal is to prove thell' In·
tage missions 1010 dangerous ing from a gibbet). They may be nocence. If the land used to be
invader· held territory. raiding enemies of the new ruling power ruled by a wIse ruler who Is now
a rmories, kidnappi ng impor· (If a wise old ruler dlcs and is reo Imprisoned or dead. the charac-
tan t invaders. antiCipating a nd placed by a n oppressive and un · ters' goal Is to release him from
thwarting invader repercus· fair new rul er. that's ample prison or nnd and crown his
slons. and event ually throwing justlncation to embark on a life wise true heir,
of ou tlawry ... In the game and
off the yoke of the enemy alto· the movies. a nyway). Often. the heroes' force of men
gether.
In such a campaign . the char· (pirate ship or outlaw band) will
Such a campaign could go on acters are wanted by the law. prove uscrulto someone in a po.
for years. and when it was done. but It's th e law that's wrong.
and the enemy was In retreat. a nd the heroes treat their cap· sltlon of power (like the rescued
could change In lo an altogether tlvcs a nd victims with golden· ruler or a nother powerful no·
different son of campaign. The rule ethics. ble). and that personage will Is·
surviving PC heroes could be sue them pardons and
knighted. and comme nce a No- In other words. they'U capmre commissions Into his army or
ble Warriors campaign: or. now Innocents and take their money navy Just before the slam-bang
thal their work Is done. they and goods ... but they' U offer climax of the campaign or mini-
could find Lhemse lves unable to no insult to victims who deserve
return to their normal. worka· none. will tend to release such series.
day lives a nd decide to become prisoners unharm ed. IneVitably.
raiders of the high seas (I.e .. some or these form er prisoners a.d·Guy O utl.aws .and Plroltes
pirates). will be re·l ntroduced In the
s tory in an upper·hand position. Ir lI's a "bad
and m ay be able or willIng to
help the unlawful heroes when guy" campaIgn. the DM and
players will have to define the
cam paign goal. It may be noth·
ing more than the acquisition of
treasure over years of outlawry,
It may be conSiderably more

51

specific, such as the finding of a tentlon of remOVing and civilized world than the barbar·
treasure burled by a famous re placing him lateran) ; the cam· ian character. They 're not as
long-dead pirate, or the execu· palgn might Instead deal with likely to want to become rulers
tion of a brilliant robbery plan, expedItions in to unknown lands in the ou tside world , because
(such as the usual player· they don't like it as much.
The bad·guy campaign is character setting. which ere·
mostJy suitable to characters of a tes, Just like In the Amazons Jungle Kings: You could have
neutral or evil orientaUon. and deSCription above. the opportu· the campaign revolve around a
to players who Just want to play nity for a "clash of cultures" Jungle King: A powerful savage
In a nasty fashion for a while. mini·series). warrior who may have been
Their characters don't have the reared by or spirit·bonded with
dainty ethics of the good·guy pi· If the characters are ron in. some sort of noble a nima l (apes,
rates and outlaws. No. they rob their usual adventures could be wolves. lions, etc.). The Jungle
everyone. from other villa ins to mercenary actions as they play King character Is often the
virtuous maidens to pious cler· a pan in warfare In their land :or friend of one savage tribe (In-
gymen. Prisoners in thelt hands the campaign could be an exer· cluding the other player·
won't know what to expect; clse in outlawry. as with the pl· characters). and can lead them
they may get not·too·uncom· rates and outlaws description on all sorts of fantastic adven·
fortable Imprisonm ent for ran· above. These ronln character tures. Treas ure·hunting trips
somlng purposes, or brutal mls· could be noble samurai driven into eerie valleys (populated by
treaunent. or death, or worse into a lawless and lordless state. lost tribes. monslers out of an·
than death, however the player· or cou ld be honorless bad·guy cien t legend , or dangerous and
characters feel. Further, the ronln with no Interests beyond alien wizards), and elaborate
PCS' feelings, and their treat· s urvi val. wea lth , a nd killing raiding mIssions against the en·
ment of prisoners, may change people. croachments of civilization. are
from day to day.
Either way. if you Intend to two good examples. Also. the
This Is a dangerous e nviron· run a samurai campaign, you Jungle King seems always to
ment and campaign. Since the ought to buy the Oriental Ad· fall In love wilh a woman from
pes are as scummy as their ventures game supplement, an
worst e nemies, there probably extensive AD&D~ game treat· the outer·world civilization. and
won't be any DM sympathy to ment of the world of oriental she. In turn , has a tendency to
help keep them alive In bad situ· role·playlng. You won't have to be kidnapped out of her new
ations. The pes w!l1 be compet· adapt everything In It to your Jungle haven: other adventures
ing on equal terms with the AD&D 2nd EdWon campaign. can Involve missions to rescu e
nastiest of villains, and you can but you 'll find useful material her. (Naturally. a Jungle Queen
expect a high body count there anyway. character could find herself a
among pes and NPCs alike . civilized mate with the same in·
Sa-vagrs clinatlons toward being kjd·
On the other hand. when napped .)
you 're In a destructive mood. it There are a lot
can be a lot of fun. of ways to run a Savages cam· Savages In t.he Big City: If
palgn . Here are only a few of you're Interested in playing a
Sc\ mu rc\1 them : comedy adventure. try running

In the samurru Just Like Barbarians and Ber· a scenario where a group of sav·
campaign. obviousl y enough . serkers: A cam paign fea turing age player-characters must en·
the characters are samurai or savages as the player-char· ler a huge civilized city (for any
ronin, and here you have the acters could be run practically of the noble reasons discussed
same sort of division as you had Ide nticall y to the campaigns earlier. such as a rescue). but
In t he pirates/outlaws cam· give n for the Barbarians and play the adventu re for laughs.
Berserkers descriptions above. The savages will probably be as
palgn. The main difference is that Sav· sneaky and clever as ever at
age characters are conSiderably
If the characters are samurai. more distanced from civillza· creeping across rooftops In the
their usual adventures are Hkely tion than barbarians are. They moonLIght. but try confronting
to be missions for their lord, An don't understand it nearly as them wi th obj ecls and situa-
ongoing campaign mIght deal well and are likely to be tions more likely 10 get a laugh
with the lord's campaign to be· alarmed, scared. offended or put than a combat response. Sav·
come ruler of all the land (while ofTby many more features of the ages from the unspoiled wilder·
the pe s maneuver for power be· ness will not know how to cope
neath him , possibly with the in· with elemental·powe red se lf·
driving chariots, bureaucracy.

52

distilled liquors. wizards. famll· knowing too much). In an Arctic Warriors cam·
lars . pa rades. magica lly -ani · The heroes are In a constant paign. the local seal or whale
mated street-sweeper machln· population migh t have
ery. da ncing brooms cleaning competition to oUl·style the disappeared-been hunted to
out the mage's tower. talking other. In combat. each tries to be extinction . or just left for myste·
swords, da nce·halls for the u n· the flashiest. In romance. each rious reasons. In the campaign ,
dead . or any s uch thing. tries to be the most Witty, most the PC heroes ha ve to wander
courteous. most gallant. Also. over unexplored regions to find
SWolshbucklers they' re in similar compeUUon a new place capable of sustain·
with rivai NPC swashbuckJers, ing the tribe : thcy'lI encounter
The Swash- who are often members of a yeU . ice golems controlled by
bucklers cam paign Is for play· competing military force or frozen tiches, avalanches. frost
ers who wam characters with a fen cing academy. giants. a nd other arctic perils
lot of s ty le adventuring in a so· before they find their promised
phlsUCated sctUng . The Muske· In aU . It's a ca mpaign of great land .
teers novels of Al exandre sty le and showmanship.
Dumas are a perfect source for The .MlUt.uy Campaign
c harac ter ty pes. adventure Wilderness Warriors
Ideas, and sc ttlngs fo r such a Finally. yo u
campaign . In the Wilder· can run an a ll·mllitary cam·
n ess Warriors campaign . the paign without it necessarily be·
In the Swashbucklers cam· player-characters are members Ing a n a ll ·Myrmidons ca m -
paign. the player-characters are of tribes or clans living in harsh paign.
elegant heroes. experts with the wilderness environments. Such
rapier. making their way In a campaigns are. again. very simi- Possibly the most Interesting
huge clly. They lend to \lve hand- lar to the choices for Barbarians way to do this is to gradual ly
to-mouth, gaining large treasures and Berserkers campaigns. but move Lhe campaign setting to-
one day and spending through one of the differences and at· ward a major war. Early In the
them In a very s hort time. so they tractions of the Wilderness War· regul ar campaign . estab lish
may be rich and generous one rlors campaign is the setling. th at the player·c haracters '
day and stealing their food the country often has problems and
next. This is not a campaign de· In such a campaign. the OM frictions with a neighboring
voted to honest a nd hard· must go out of his way to spot- country: s howcase the dispu tes
working heroes. The PCs may be light the wonder and danger of between thc nations by having
as honora ble as their players the setting. These are true wil· NPCs from the other nation be
want. but they're sUII channing derness adventures, where na- rude or abusive to the Pes (and,
rcl.kes who like to get by on as lit· lure and monsters are the to be fair, have NPCs from the
lie effort as necessary. characters' enemies much more player-characters' country be
fre quently than enemy men or equally vulgar to foreign NPCs
However. when danger looms. demlhumans. wh o don't deserve s uch treat-
they' ll gladly throw themselves ment: the PCS may find them·
Into a n ad venture, one which And because wildernesses are selves in the uncomfortable
may lead them on a desperate so big and unexplored , the char· poslUon of being honor-bound
horseback race across the land acters. In their wanderings. may to defend the "enemy" from
or in to the dark catacombs un· encounter many unusual clUes their own dlshonorablecollntry'
der the city. wh ere monsters and soclelles. ruins and trea· men!) .
dwell. Adv cntures m ay lead s u res .
them from the court of their As the campaign progresses
king, to the barracks of the na· For example, in a Desert No- and the player-characters gain
lion 's army (as they briefly be· mads campaign. the characters experience levels. increase the
come soldiers or commissioned might be fi ghting a rival nomad frlcLion between the nalions.
officers), to the front lines of the tribe when a vast sandstonn . Occasionally. the pes wtll run
ongOin g war wit h a neighboring lasting hours or days . forces into foreign s py-nests and spy·
power. to desperate m issions be- them all to seek shelter. When plans.
hind enemy lines. to secret for- Lhe storm blows over. It has un·
ays into the capital city's prison covered a long·burled city. The Ultimately, when the PCs
(so that th ey might rescue the two forces conti nue their war have achieved high experience
klng's secret twin or their fri end through thc streets. buildings. levels and are importan t charac·
wh o's been Impris oned for and catacombs of the cllY .. . ters tn the nalion. they should
while the ancient evil that was be in on the events that spark
burled with the city s lowly
awakens ...

53

the eventuaJ war. For example , now a ge neral in his own right). slowly. over time, and so pes are
and the nna l ba ttle with the a lmost always crea ted at low
their king may ask them to ac· fresh forces of the evil enemy level. usually 1s t levcl.
com pany him to the peace con- ruler is sull to come . . .
fere nce where he and his old As the pes develop. their play-
enemy are supposed to patch up In s uch a way. you can sustain ers sometimes become very at·
their differences, m arry their an all·mili tary campai gn for tached to them. so much so that
child ren to one another, and many mOlllhs of gam e-tim e. when a character dies (in s uch a
and rcsolve importa nt conflicts fas h ion tha t h e cann ot be
s ign mutual nonaggression and storylines in your campa ign raised. It ls very u psetting to the
pacts. But when they're there. world . pl a y e r.
something goes drastically
C"mpalgn vs. M lnl · Serles
wrong: Perhaps dopplegangers
pretending to be the pes assas - Mlnl·Serles The mini·
sinate the foreign king, while series. on the Olher hand . typi-
dopplegangers prete nding to be Though you ca ll y cove rs on e ext ended
the greatest heroes of the other can take a ny of the above cam· slory-the acquisition of one
naUo n assassi nate t he pes' paign Ideas and make It Into a treasure, the dcfeat of one spe·
king. (Th e dopplegangers , of formal campaign. one which is clfic m aster villain. the ex plora ·
course, are under the contTol of s upposed to con tin ue episode tion of a newly·discovered
the evil king of a third nation, after episode until the OM and island. the resolu tion of a war
who intends to move in . pick u p players grow tired of it. you can between nation s. It may be
the pieces. a nd conquer every· aJse run any of them as a mini· played in a single session or go
one when these two na ti ons on for a dozen , but the OM a nd
have beate n each ot her to series. a campaign which Is de· players know tha t it's s upposed
pieces.) to be limited in scope.
Iiberately ru n only for enough
At this point. war is in evlta· episodes to com plete one full· Its characters are rolled up
ble. and the pes are pu t In com· length story. In a sense. the reg· and can be played quite diffe r·
Oland of an e ntire army. For the ul ar campaign Is like a T V emly. Since they are "tem po·
remainder of th is exte nded series. while the mlnl·serles Is rary" characters. they can be
storyline. the pes have to lead like a novel or movie. created at a level best s uited to
their m en in combat again s t en· lhe plot of the s tory. If the sce·
em y forces. defendi ng their own Ca m paign s nario is supposed to Involve a
nation or penetrating Into the crack squad of cavalry men on a
en emy territory: m ea nwhil e. The cam paign speCial mission. everyone could
goes on over a long period of be crea ted a t 5th level. If It's to
th ey'lt be doing thei r own ad- time and encompasses ma ny be powerful. ex pcrl e nced
ventures and Investigations. s m alle r stories a nd goa ls: It knights on a quest. everyone
trying to come up wi th proof sometimes goes through cast could be created a t 9th level. If
that the two rulers were assassi- cha nges as the principal heroes It's to be legendary heroes trans·
nated by a third party. not by die, leave. or retire. ported from the pas t at the peak
the heroes of the two nations. of their powers. they could be
Th e brig ht promi se of th e created a l 20th level or h igher.
Once the two armies are get· campaign Is that. so long as the
tingserlously (ired and hurt , th e OM and players remain together In som e regular campaigns.
pes s hould be able to come up and Imercsted. it can go on for a pes die regularly. If the OM of
with the proof they need. They long. long time : the characters s uch a ca mpaign runs a mini·
can participate In advemure af· series. the players can expect
convince the new ru lers of both ter adventure. story after story. the same , but probably won 't
nations of the Identity of their The campaign ca n chronicle m ind so much because the cha r·
true e nemy. At this point. It's ge nerations of thc adventurers' acters were "tem porary" a ny-
fam ilies. as the original adven· way.
time for the two armies to Join turers sire children who them·
forces (and swallowing down selves grow up to be th e In some regular campaigns.
playe r · c h a r a c tc r s. the DM tends to protect t.he pes
their many yea rs of m utual dis· a little bit. covering over for IIlUe
trust. especially after the last In a campaign. PCS are de· crrors wh ich could be falal. es·
several months of fighting , will signed to be played practically peclally when they take place In
be partiCularly hard. leading to foreve r. You figure on th e char· Incidents which are not im por·
eve n morc plot opportu nities). acter growing and developing
Now, the twO battered armies
march into the third nation . the
PCs still in charge of their own
army (or perhaps each PC Is

54

tant to the campaign or current mini-series can band togcther For mosi peop le. the cam·
storyli ne. In a mj nl-sertes. on agaln to meet a new challenge. paign Is the most satisfying for-
the other hand. the OM is likely Joined by new heroes (replace- mal. Bul. a lso for most people,
to be more deadly (because no ments for those who fell In the the campalgn gets a bit Uresomc
one is quite so involved with his last story). The DM can fidd le aft er a while, a n d th e grou p
character), meaning that the with experience leve ls as he breaks from It fo r a time. In that
setling and situation are more c hooses, ru nni ng one mini - time. It's ve ry appropriate to run
dangerous: the players will have series (for example) at fifth level. a short-term mini-series (or sev-
a greater sense of the danger to thesequel at ninth level. the sec- eral), aJ lowlng the OMand play-
their characters In this type of ond sequel at 13th. and so on. ers to explore ncw settings and
setting. characters unUlthey're ready 1.0
Switching Between Them pick up the regular cam paign
One last optJon with the mini- again.
series: Though It is a very lim- Because cam-
Ited campajgn. deliberate ly paigns a nd m ini-series a re very T his is the ideal forum for you
created so thai It will soon end. differenl bu t equa ll y com pel- to tryout some of thc more unu-
the DM can always run mini- ling. OMs should think abou t sual or outrageous campaign
series "sequels:' In the sequel. switchin g between them from Ideas described earlier in this
the survivors of the original time to time. c h a ple r.

55



XCombat Rules
•

The Warrior Is a c harac ter Kneeling and Sitting stlnctlve reaction on the part of
whose prlmary fu nction is com· the mlssllers In the group. While
A charac ter t.he~· re firing . mages and priests
bat. and com bat is what this who is kneelingorsit Ung (for ex· can t cast spells. other charac·
chapler Is all a bou l. Though the a mple, because he 's been ters can' t ready wea pons. A
knocked down or InJuredlls at a knife expert can 't draw a knife
AD&D'" game com bat system Is disadva nt age in comba t. He and throw it In this split second:
sufficient to most of your com- can' t move around as effecUvely he can only throw It If he already
bat needs. this chapter will give and so can not dodge incomIng has It in ha nd. In this s pIlt·
a ttacks. For that reason . when- second. characters can take no
you optional rules and advice evcr someone aHac ks a vlcUm action other than, perhaps. to
which can add navor to your who Is knee ling, the attacker talk or shout some thing brief to
gets a + I to hit: whe n someone one another.
game. a ttacks a vlc lim who Is sitting,
h 's important to remember the attacker gets a +2 to hit: and Once that free shot is taken ,
when someone attac ks a vlcUm on the first full combat round of
thai everythin g In this c hapler who Is nat on h is back (but
Is an optJonaJ rule: nothing rec- aware of the attack and trying to th e fight. roll initiative n or·
ommended here can be Im ple- avoid Itl. the attacker gets a +4 mally. The party that was fired
memed In your campaign to hit . u pon gelS a +2 modifier for be·
without the DM 's permission. Ing slightly disadvantaged by
Attacking a character who Is the e ne my's missile superiority.
New Combat Rules held {by magic}or asleep Is auto-
matically s uccessful . ca using Remember that this option
Here are some normal damage. can only be taken when one
optional rules you can add to . When a character Is kneeling, side, a nd not the other. has
combat in your campaign. SItting, or on his bac k, he can ready miss ile weapons (1.e .,
gello his feet one of two ways. If bows or crossbows in hand with
Off-Hand Wupons Use he sUII has an attack left to per· arrows and quarre ls alread y
form this round . he can give It nocked, or throwing weapons
All characters up. not make an attack, and such as spears. javelins. axes
arc presumed to be bcLter with stand up instead. Or. he can a nd knives already In ha nd).
one hand than th e other-In real waH until afte r Initiative Is Also. the party whic h can take
life. most people ar e rlght- rolled for the next round : When this option doesn't have to: the
h anded . quite a few a re left- it comes time for him to describe group does not have to fire upon
handed. and only a very few aTC hlsacUon. he can stand up then. an othe r person . group or mono
truly ambidextrous. withou t losing a ny of his attacks ster the Instant It sees Its target.
for that round . If the group chooses not to, the
When a cha racter is first cre· opportunity is lost and the char·
ated, the player should specify Range And Initiative acters have the usual options to
his handedness (right or left), If talk to the other group: If they
he does not specify one, the OM Here's a rule to c hoose to fight. Initiative Is
shou ld assum e the character Is give some advantage to those rolled norma lly. T he side with·
rlg ht·handed . characters and parties (and out the missile weapons doesn't
monsters) which a lways have get the +2 modifier this time.
If a c harac te r, for whatever ranged attac ks ready.
reason, nghts with his off-hand If the party Is wande ring
instead of his good ha nd. he suf· Whe n twO groups first come around in conditions of poor vis·
fers a - 2 penalty to hit ~'ilh all within sight of one anot.her a t ibility (suc h as a dungeon). the
aHacks. For example, should a distances of 20 feet or less (here OM can rule that the target is
character nnd himself with his a "group" can consist of only barely vis ible a nd that the party
right hand chained to a wall. one person or creature. or can cannot recognize many details
a nd yet he needs to draw and ha,'e more), and only one group about the target: " Ah ead of you
throw a dagger and must use his has mIssile capabillly already In In the corridor. about 60 feet up.
off-hand, he'll the n s uffer the hand. tha t group gets a "free you see a group of human·slzed
- 2 penalty to hit. s hot" with Its ranged weapons. silhouettes moving your way.

If you wish a character to be This Is n 't a full combat round. As you spot them. they spot
ambidextrous, consult "Ambi- not a bonus round from s ur· you, too, and slow down. You
de xterit y," below , under prise: It's a split second of In- can' t tell what they are .. ." At
"Weapon ProficIency Slots." this point. If the PCs have mls·
sUe weapon s and the NPCs

51

X Combat Rules

don 't. the pes can take this fr ee ber of extra languages the char- one when he Is firs t created. but
s h ot. b ut a r c faced w ith th e a cter gets fro m high Intelligence may spec ialize in mo re wcapons
prospect of a ttacking a n u n- (see Thble 4, page 16. Player s as hc gains new s lots.
k nown quantify. They could be Handbook), T hese extra profi -
nnng u pon the High King a nd c lenc ies may be divided as the With that in mind . let's elabo·
his adventuring retinue. for all player chooses be tween Weapon ra lCon the use of weapon profi -
they know. Proflc lencles a nd Nonweapon clencles ...
Proficlencles .
When tw o g roups both ha ve Weapon·Group rrofldency
ready missile weapons. neither Single-Weapon 'rofld~ncy,
geLS this option . RoH Initiative However, lers
normally. (If two groups both Weapon Spedallutlon look realistically at weapon profi-
have ready m issile weapons. ciency. Currently, If a character
and one group spots the other In the Players has Weapon Proficiency with
without the oilier group realiz- Handbook. the only th ings you DaggerlDlrk , he doesn' t have it
ing It, tha t group wins Initiative. can do wilh Weapon Pronclen- with Knife. He certain ly doesn 't
but doesn 't gel the "free shot:' des a re take Single-wea pon pro- have it with Short Sword, Of
Picture It th is way: When the ficle nc ies a nd s pec ia lize In course, the OM can a lways decide
firs t group looses iLS volley. the particular weapons, that such weapons are reJalctt to
missilers of the second group one another. If he does, then the
immedia tely t urn arou nd and To briefl y review the informa- warrior would sutTer a - I to hit
loose theirs. So wc' re pu t in a po- tion from thal section: with the unknown we.'lpon in-
si tion ofnofmal com baL) stead of the - 2. (See page 52 of
A characte r mus t have a Pron- the Player's HandbookJ,
Fina lly. fo r this optio n , re - c lency with a weapon to use It
mem ber that spell-type missile no rma lly. To become profiCient. Still. to be proficient in a ll
abilities don't count, bu t "natu- the character "spends" one of sorLSof blades, fro m the Player's
ral" ones do. A dragon 's breath the Weapon ProfiCiency Slots he Handbook a nd ad dllio na l
acts as a ready m issile weapon. has on that weapon, Each s lot blades from this rulebook. you'd
as do a mantlcore's taU-spikes . can buy profiCiency wi th one have to spend arou nd 14
However. a gold dragon's s pells weapo n. IF he uses a weapon weapon profiCie ncy slots, a nd
don't count. nor does a vam- he's n Ot proficient In, he s uffers that's too ma ny.
pire 's charm ing, fo r example, a n a ttack pena lty: -2 ror wcap-
o ns which a re completely unra· So. we're maki ng it possib le to
Weapon Proficiency mUla r, o r - I for wea pons take weapon profic lenclcs wit.h
similar to those wi th which he whole weapon groups.
Slots already has proficiency. (Tha t
pe na lty is worse fo r non· For our purposes. Lhcre are
Yo u kn ow Warri o rs.) two types of groups: Tigh t
abou t Weapo n Proficle nc ies Groups and Broad Groups.
From pages 5 1-52 of the Player's To specialize in a particular
Han dbook. Here , we' ll ta lk weapon. the character must de- Tight Groups
abou t some additional. special vote a n ex tra wea po n profi-
things you can do In a campaign ciency s ia l to it. (In the case of A Tigh t Wea,p-
with Weapon Proficiencies. bows or crossbows. it takes two ons Group consists of a set or
extra s lots. )When using his spe- weapons that are very sl mlla r) n
Intelligence and r rofldendes c ia l weapon, th e character gets lhe way they are wielded. .
a + I to hit a nd + 2 to damage.
We 're going to {With bows a nd crossbows. he It costs two Weapon Profi -
be showi ng you a lot of interest- lns tead gelS a new range cate· c iency Slots to become profl·
ing things you can do with the gory. point-blank: 6·30 feC I for cien t In an e ntire iJgh L group .
Weapon Profi c lencies rules, crossbows. 6-60 feet fo r bows. After paying those two slots, lhe
Therefore. you need to use lhe Within that range. he Is at +2 La character will know how to usc
rule for extra Proficlcncies given hit. Also. if his weapon Is ready eve ry weapo n in th al g roup
on page 5 1 of the Player's Han d- a nd there's a target in s ight. he wllhout the us ual - 2 penal ty
book. There. It says Ulat you can firc In the combat round be· for unfamiliarity (t.ha t - 2 Is for
may. with the DM's permission , fo re initiative is rolled.} Warriors: with other c la sses, the
take eX lfa profi clencles when penal ty Is more severe. as de·
first created equal to the num- Only si ngle-class warriors scribed on page 52 of the Play·
(fighters. pa ladins. a nd ra ngers) er's Handbook) .
can take weapon speCia lties.
S uc h a character can on ly take f ollowing a re seve ral exam·
pies of T igh t Groups, Any

58

XCombat Rules

weapon marked with an aster- Fa ucha rd . In the campaign- the n the char·
isk ( 4) ls a weapon dcscn bed In Fa ucha rd-fork . a cter with the g roup profi ciency
GlaNe. will be able 1.0 usc It a t no pen-
Th e Complete Fig hter s Han d - Gl al ve-g u is ar m e. a ltv. whUe the c haracter with
book. In the Equlpmcm cha pter. G u ls ar m e. profic ie ncy In Just the two e xist-
Guisa rme-vou lgc. ing axes wi ll s uffe r the attack
Axes: Ha lberd. pe naJlY·
Hook fa uc bard .
Batlle axe , Lucem hammer. T hese categories are very
Ha ndlthro wing axe. Man ca t c h e r. close to t he re lated weapon
Mili tary fo rk . g roups from page 52 of the Play·
Bows: Naglnata - . er 's Handbook. a nd your OM
Com pos ite long bow. ca n. If he wishes . use these cate·
Composi te short bow. Partisan. gorlcs as related gro ups . This
Dalky u · , Ran se u r. helps dete rm ine whether or not
Spelum. a wa rrior ge ts th e full a ttack
Long bow, Te ls ubo - . penalty when he uses a weapon
Vo u lge. u nfa miliar to him . or wheLher
Short bow. he receives only ha lf the penalty
Clubbing Weapo ns : Short Blades: fo r u s ing o ne s imUa r to a
OaggerfD lrk . wca pon with which he has pron·
Belaying pin · . Knlfc/SUletlo ' . c ic ncy.
Club. Main -gauc he ' .
Footman 's mace. S hort swordlDrus us · . Broa d Groups
Horseman's mace,
Morni ng smr, Sickles: A Broad Weap·
Sic k le. o n Group co ns ists of a set of
Warhammer. Scythe_ weapons that are somewha t
Cr ossbows : s im ila r in th e way th ey a re
Slings : wielded .
Hand crossbow, S lin g.
Heavy crossbow. Staff Sling. It costs three Weapon Pron·
Light crossbow. c le ncy Slo ts to becom e pron·
Spears: clem in an enUre broad group.
Fencing Blades: Ha r poo n . After paying th ose three slots.
Oa g g c r l D i r k. Javelin . the charac te r wHi know how to
Knlfe/Stile llo · . Long Spear ' . use every weapon In tha t group
Maln -gau ch e - . Spear. THdenl. Without the us ua l pena lty for
Ra pier -. u n famili a rity.
Sabre - . Whips:
Scou r ge . Following a re severa l exam-
Flails: W h ip. ples of Broad Groups. As before.
Foouna n 's flail. a ny weapon marked with an as·
Horsem an 's nail . You 'lI notice there's a lIuJe over· terisk (. ) Is a wea pon described
la p between the Fencing Blades 1n Th e Complete Ffgh ler's
Lances: a nd Short Blades group: some Handbook, in the Equipment
wea pons are common to both
Hea vy horse la nce. groups. c hapter.
Light horse lance.
J ousting lance. You' lI a lso noUce tha t some Blades:
Medi um horse lance. g roups don'tlook like they save Bas tard s word .
you a ny weapon proficiency Cutlass - .
Long Blades: s lots. The A.xes. Flails. Picks. OaggerIDlrk .
Bastard sword , Sic kles. Slin gs. a nd Whi ps Katana -.
Katana - . g ro u p al1 ha \'c two weapons Khopesh .
Lo ng sword . ea c h In the m . Si nce a tigh t Knlfe/SUletlo ' .
Scimi ta r, g ro u p costs twO profici e ncy Long s word .
n OJo-han ded sword . s lots . It a ppears that th cre's no Maln-gauche - .
savings. Which Is true ... un· Rapier- .
Medium Blades: less. in your campaign . othe r Sabre - .
weapons related to those grou ps Scimitar.
Cutlass · . a re deve loped or Introd uced . If
Khopesh . they a re - If. fo r Instance . a
medlum·slzed wa r-axe appears
Waktzashl · .
Picks :

Footma n 's pick.
Horseman's pick.

Polea rms:
Awl pike.
Bardlch e.
Bee de corbin .
BiII · gul s ar m e.

X Combat Rules

Shan swordlOrusus· . for detcrmining whether a c har- ually for DaggerlDlrk. Knife/
lWo-handed sword, acter receivC$ the full or parlia l Stiletto. Main-gauche. Rapie r.
attack penalty fo r using an unfa- and Sabre.
Waklzashj - . milia r wcapon.
Let's say a character wants to
Cleaving/Crushing Non-Groups know how to use every type of
Weapons: bla de ever made ... but he
Batlle axe, Finally, the fol- wants to be especial ly good with
Belaying Pin-_ lowing weapons do not belong lhe Long Sword. As a nrst·level
in a ny sort of group whatsoever. Warrior. be receives four
Club. 1b learn any of these weapons. Weapon Proficie ncy S lots to
Footman's mace. the character must spend a s tart with . He spends three to
weapon proficiency slot on It. take Proficiency with the entire
Footman 's pick . and none of these Is sim ilar In Blades broad group. and spends
Handlthrowing axe, use to any other weapon . When his fourth to specia lize in Long
Horseman's mace. a character picks one up and Sword. Hc has his wish : He can
uses it withou t being proficient pick up and use a ny blade
Horseman's pick. in It already, he suffers the full weapon without penally. but Is
Morning star. penalty. particularly adept with the Long
War h a m m er. Sword.
Weapons Not Belonging To
Pole Weapons: Any Group: Similarly, a character might
Arquebus. wish to be profic ient with all
Awl pike. Blowgun. bows. and especia lly good wllh
Bardlche. Bola - . the Composite Long Bow. He
Bee de corbin . Chain - . spends two weapon proficiency
BIII-guisarmc. Gaff/hook · . slots to be proficient with lheen-
Fauchard. Lasso. lire Bows tight group, and
Fauchard-fork. Net. spends two more slots (because
Glaivc. QuarterstafffBo slick - . bows are trickier to specia lize
Glalve-gulsarme. Nun chaku · . In-see me Player's Handbook.
Gulsarme. Sal'_ page 52) to specialize in Com -
Gulsarme·YQulge. posite Long Bow. Thjs character
Hal berd, Special Note: The Cestus · Is at a disadvantage with any
Harpoon. doesn-t req uire any Proficiency. sort of weapon other than bows.
Hook fauchard. It enhances pu nching damage. but can use a ll bows. a nd Is es-
Javelin, and everyone knows how to pecially good with the Compos-
Lu cero hammer. pu nc h . Ite Long Bow.
Long Spear- .
Mancatc her. Weapon Specialization and Note
MUitary fork.
Naglnata· , Weapon Groups That's all you
Partisan. need to know now about the use
Ranseur, Although it is of Weapon Profieiencles ... as
Sickle. possible to become proficient In lhey're used to buy proficiency
Scythe. an entire grou p of weapons . this and specialization with weap-
Spear. doesn't mean a character can ons. But there are more things
Spetum. specialize in an entire group of to use these pronclencies on. as
Thtsuboa • weapons. you'll see as you proceed
Tridcnl. through the chapter.
As before, each weapon spe-
Voulge. cialization costs one Weapon Ambidexterity
Proficiency Slot In a weapon the
Small Throwing Weapons: characte r Is already profiCient If a playe r
OaggerlDirk. In . A charac ter call't pay two wants h is cha racter to be ambi-
Dart. points to be proficient In the dextrous. as described above
Handlthrowlng axe. Fe ncing Blades group and then under "OfT-Hand Weapons Use,"
Knife/stiletto· . a nother two to specialize In the he must devote one weapon pro-
5.:'tme group: He'd have to take fi cie ncy to Ambidexterity.
Shuriken &. one-slot Specializations indivld-

Again. you' ll see some overlap
between the Small T hrowing
Weapons group and other

groups.
T hese groups may not be used

to calculate weapon similarity

60

If he does so, he'll be able to Fighting Styles the Weapons c ha rt), the weapon
fight normally with both hands. In the character's olT·hand must
a nd will be equally adept at non· It gives a cam· be lighter in weight than hIs pri·
combat tasks with both hands. paign more color when the war· mary weapon. This c haracter
riors fight with different styles. can vary from a street·thief
This doesn't give him two at· A huge warnor·knlght wielding wielding two identical daggers.
tacks per round. It Just means a greatsword looks and fights a to a re nccr using a rapier In one
that If he loses the use of one lot differently from a s lender hand and a maJn-gauche In an·
hand, or drops the weapon In fencer carrying a rapier and other, to a heavUy·armored war·
that hand, he'U be equally adept maln·gauche. rior with a long sword in one
with the other. hand and a short sword in the
Below. we'll describe several other. Note: Read the Player's
Style Spe <I"Uutlon common combat sty les ... and Handbook. page 96, for the rules
the Interesting things you can on Allacklng With 1\vo Weap·
You can use do with them by taking a Style ons.
Weapon Proficiencles to special· Specialization.
Ize In certain styles of fighting. All Warnors start play know·
such as two swords, two· All these Fighting Styles refer Ing how to use all four styles.
to fighting with melee weapons Priests start play knowing how
handed weapon, and so on. We only. None of them applies to to use Single·Weapon, TWo·
missile weapons. Hander. and Weapon and Shield
describe how to do this below, sty les. Rogues start play know·
under "Fighting Styles." The Four Fighting Styles ing how to use Single·Weapon,
ThlO·Hander, and lWo·Weapon
Pun'c.hlng a.nd Wrestling There are four styles. Wizards start play know-
common Fighting Styles em· ing how lO use Single·Weapon
S p e c.lallza.tl o n played by anyone USing a melee and 1Wo·Hander styles. Charac·
weapon. They are: lers cannot learn new styles af·
As you can ler they ' re created: these are the
specialize in certain weapons, Single·Weapon Style: The styles they are limited to by
you can a lso specialize In character wields a weapon In their c hoice of character class.
Punching and Wrestling, You al· one hand and carries nothing In
ready know about Punching the other hand.The weapon can A character can use a weapon
and Wrestling from the Player's be as short as a Dagger or as style he knows with a weapon
Handbook, pages 97·98: here, long as a Baswd Sword or Long he does not know how to use.
you' ll learn how to improve a Spear. For example. wizards know
character's Punching and Wres· Th'o·Hander style ... so they
tling abili ties. You 'll find this in- Two-Hander Style: The char· can learn to use a quarterstaff. If
formation be low, under acter wields a weapon which reo a wizard who doesn't have Profi·
"Pu nching, Wrestling, and Mar· quires (or at least ciency with a quarterstaff picks
tial Arts ." accommodates) the use of two one up. he can stili use the
hands. Such weapons Include weapon in two hands. However.
Mart.lal A.rts those which require two hands he suffers the -5 attack penalty
('!\vo·Handed Sword. Polearms, reqUired by his unfamtllarlty
Additionally, and Quarterstaff. for instance) and his character class.
you 'll learn how make your and those which can be used
character proficient (or even a one·and two·handed (Bastard Each style confers some basic
specialIst) In eastern·style mar· Sword and Spear, for example). advantages and disadvantages
tial arts. These rules work like when used. These are described
the existing Punching and Weapon and Shield Style: In the descriptions of each indl·
Wrestling rules, but constitute a The character wields a weapon vidual style. below. Addition·
whole new set of maneuvers and In his good hand and carries a ally, c haracters can specialize In
tac tics a skilled fighter charac· s hield on his off· hand. This these styles. Single-ciass war·
ter can use In combat. These combination can vary from a rlors can eventually specialize
rules, too. you'll find below un· street·bravo·s choice of dagger In all of them: other classes can
der "Punching. Wrestling. and and small buckler to the classic only specialize In one style. ever.
Martial Arts." knight's c hoice of long sword
and body s hield.

Two-Weapon Style: The char·
acter wields one weapon In each
hand. Unless both wcapons are
Srnall (S on the Size column on

61

X Combat Rules

Specializing In the Styles Weapon S ry Je Spec lal/zaUon. going a lit, and one pins the oth-
Th'o-Hander Style SpeclaJlza- er 's weapon (see Pin, below, un ·
You take a tion. Weapon and Shield Style der " Melee Maneuvers" ). the
Style Specialization by devoting SpeciaJizalion. and 'nvo·Weap· Single-weapon fighter can use
o ne weapon proficiency sial to a on Style Speclalizarion with il. his free hand to perform punch·
fighting style. Belween fights. or even in [he ing ma neuvers: and he can try
cou rse of che fight. he could to perfonn barehanded maneu·
.Guldell ne s change the way he uses his Vers (below, under " Punc hing,
weapon in order LO gain differ- Wrestling. a nd Ma rtial Arts").
To use a Style ent advantages In rhe course ofa
Speclallzat10n with a specific comba !. Dlsad v.l ntolges
wea pon. you must have weapon
proficie ncy with that weapon. Limitations on Style The main dis·
For example. a character might Spedollizatio n advan tage to this style is that
have bought Sty le Specializa- the character docs not gain the
tion with 1\\IQ·Hander Style. If A character benefit of a shield's AC bonus.
he has Weapon Proficicllcies may begi n play with only one
with polcarms. he can use the Style Specialization. lr he is a Style Specl,Uzatlc;m
benefHs of Sty le Specialization slngle·class Warrior, may learn
wheneve r he uses polearms. But others as he gains new Weapon If the charac-
if he doesn't also ha\fc profi· Proficlencies throug h expert· ter devotes a weapon profi-
cle ncy with 1\vQ-handed Sword. ence. ciency to Style Specialization
a nd picks one up to use it, he with Single-Weapon Style, he
doesn 'f get the benefits of 1\VQ- Only Warriors. Rogues and
Hand e r Sty le Specialization Priests can buy Style Specializa· , gelS a + 1 AC bonus whe n u sing
with tha t weapon. tions. Only Warriors a nd Rogues
can buy the 'IWo·Weapon Sty le anyon e-handed weapon (for
You can have both a Weapon Specialization. Only slngle-class which he has profiCiency) in
Specialization and a Style Spe- Warriors can ever learn more Si ngle· Weapon Style. He
cialization In the sam e weapon. £h811 one Style Specialization. doesn't get the bonus if he car-
but neither is depe nde nt on the ries a shield or weapon in his off-
oilier;you can have one without Below are descriptions of the hand.
the other. For example. a char· (our Fighting Styles.
acter could have Proficie ncy AddlUonally. he can devote an
with Sabre. Specialization with Single-We",p.c;m S~yle ex tra proficie ncy to Single-
Sabre. a nd then Style Speciali- Weapon Style and have a total
zation In Single·Weapon style: Single-Weap-
he'd be a master rencer with the on style means thal the charac- +2 AC when fighting in this
sabre. Or, he could have just ter wields a one-handed weapon
Proficiency and Specialization In one hand and nothing in the style. That's the limit. though:
in Sabre. or jus t Proficiency in other. Though in real life this He cannot devote more than two
Sabre and Style Specialization type of weapon use Is ofien a l a
In Single-Weapon style. di sadvamage co mpared to proficiencies (for a total of +2
many of the others, Irs very
Multiple Style Specializations popular In fil m and fiction . . . AC) with Single-Weapon Style.
and so it has some virtue in th e
A single·class game. -two- H ande~ Style
Warrior ca n take marc lhan one
Style SpeCialization. Weapons Ad vol ntolges Two-Hander
such as Bastard Sword. Javelin. S tyle invo lves carryi n g a nd
a nd Spear. which can be used The advan· wielding a weapon with both
on e-hand ed or two·han ded . tage of single·weapon style In hands. Naturally, many weap·
with or wlthoUl a shield, can the AD&D~ gam e is that the ons (including poleanns. the
ha ve u p to rour differe nt Style character keeps a hand fre e Cor great axe, the two· hand ed
S pecializations taken for lhem. grappling, for switching weap· sword. and others) require (wo-
ons. ror surprise ma neuvers, for ha nded lechnique. Other weap-
Example: A single-class War- whatever comes along in the ons (suc h as bastard sword.
rior has Proficienc), with Bas· course of combat. javelin, an d spear) have It as a
tard Sword. He could listed option. (1\vo·handed op·
rh eorelicaJly ra ke Sing/e- f or instance, two fi ghters are tions fo r Ha rpoon , Javelin , Long
Spear. Spear, and Trident are
given In the EqUipment sec tion
of this ruJebook. not In the Play·

er s Handbook.)

6'

XCombat Rules

The main ad- someone Wilh l\,'o·Hander Slyle Adv.ut.J.ges
Speciali zation. It has a Speed
vantage of two-handed weapon Factor of (8·3) 5. The principal
techn ique Is that It allows the advan tage of Weapon and
c haracte r to wield large two- This is because when a fighter Shield Style Is lha t you get the
wields such a weapon with both AC bonus of a shield : this Is es-
handed weapons which can do hands on the hilt. he has more pecially good whe n you can find
leverage on the blade and can a magical shield whIch eonfersa
substanllal amounts ofdamage. move It faster. That's what Style better AC bonus.
A second advantage is that If Speclali zaLion In Th:o- Hander
Sty le will do fo r the character: It A second advantage is that
you are using a two-h anded teaches him how to use the th e characte r ca n use the
weapon much fastcr and more ShIeld-Rush ma ne uver (below.
weapon. the Disann maneuver aggressively lha n someone Wllh under "Melee Maneuvers").
(see " Melee Maneuvers:' below) is less specia lized training In th e
only of partial use against you. weapon . The disadvan·
tage to Weapon a nd Shield Style
A single successful Disarm One· H..nded We..pons Is that the left arm (right ann,
against a Iwo-handed wcapon for left-h and ed c haracters) Is
Used Two· H....ded dedicated to the sh ield and is
user won' t knock the weapon not much use for anything else,
out or t he wielder's hands: It will Some players don't realize tha t If the c harac ter is disarmed . a ll
many olher one·handed weap- he has to wIeld offenslvelv Is his
m erely knock his weapon askew ons ca n a lso be used two· shield, unlil he can gel back to
ha nded . Since lhese wea pons his weapon . If he Is pinned In
a nd make him take some lime to don 't do any more damage two· combat. he can't use his s hield
reco\'cr. so he a ut omatically ha nded, there usually Isn 't hand for grappling.
loses initiative on his next muc h reason to use them this
way : however. with Style Spe- Style Specl....lutlon
round. claUzatlon in 1\,'o·Hander Style.
If you devote a
However. two Disarm maneu- now there's a reason. weapon proficiency slot to spe-
vers successfully made against cialization in Weapon and
the character In the same round If you s pecia li ze in 1\vo- Shield Style. you receIve one e x-
wllJ knock th e weapon loose. Hander Style an d then use a tra attack per round ... only
onc·handed weapon In two when us ing a s hield on th e
As wi th single- hands. you also get a bonus of shield-hand . that Is. You can use
weapon use, ("wo-handed + itodamage, Thus. If you take tha t extra attack only for the
w ea pon tec hni qu e has th e a l\vo-Hander Style Speciallza· Shleld·Punch and Parry maneu·
tlon , whe n using a long sword vers (see under "Melee Maneu-
drawback thaI the user cannot tw o- ha n ded . you do IdS + I vers," below).
wear or use a shield. or gai n the damage Instcad of the base Id8
shield 's AC bon us. (or 1d 12 + I vs. large targets, In· As wllh the normal "Attack-
stead of the base ld 12). ing with 1\1.'0 Weapons" rules
Style Spetl.lJution (see the Player's Handbook,
The one·handed weapons page 96), when strlklng with
You can, by de- which can be used two·handed both hands in a sin gle combat
In this fashion incl ude : Battle round. the character s uffers a
vollng a weapon proficiency to axe . Club. Footma n's nail, Foot- -2 to hit with his weapon and a
man 's pick, Horseman 's nail . -4 La hit wilh the Shield-Punch
it. take a Style Spectalizallon Horsema n 's mace. Horseman 's or Parry. (If you're ambidex-
with Th..o- Hander Style. pick . Morning star, Long sword, trous. as described above under
Wa r h a m m e r. "Orr-Ha nd Weapons Use: ' tha t 's
Style Specialization wllh 1\1:0- a -2 with weapon and -2 with
Hander Style gives you a very Weap~n a nd Shie ld s hield .) II you devote a second
specific benefit: When you're weapon proficiency slot to
using a weapon two-handed. Style Weapon and Shield Style Spe-
lhat weapon's Speed Factor is cializa tion, that penalty drops to
reduced by 3. This is th e
classic technique of us ing a one·
For example. a fig hter with handed weapon and carrying a
TWo·Hander Style Specializa- shield on the other arm.
tion and Wielding a Bastard
Sword can wield his wea pon
faster in (wo·handed s tyle than
in one·handed s tyle. Used in one
hand, the Bastard Sword has a
Speed Fac tor of 6. In twO hands
(normally), It has a Speed Factor
of 8. But used In two hands by

63

X Combat Rules

o with the weapon and - 2 with your secondary, bUI with Spe- don. he receives a + 1 to hit and
cialization In l\IlO·Weapon Slyle +2 to damage whenever using a
t he shield. (If you' r e ambidex- it becomes 0 with your primary
trous. that penalty Is 0 with weapon a nd a - 2 with your sec- Bastard Sword. regardl ess ofthe
weapon and 0 with shield.) ondary weapon. {I f you ' re a l-
rcady ambidextrous, as per tecllnique he uses.
On any round when you per· "Off-Hand Weapo ns Use." Wh en using llle weapon in
form two maneuvers. you do not above, rnat pena lly is 0 with pri-
gel the AC bonus for the s hield mary weapon a nd 0 with sec- Single-Weapon Style, one·
fo r the fest of the rou nd . If you ondary weapon.) Seco nd . you're
swing your sword and perform a a llowed to use weapons of the handed. he gelS a + 1 to AC.
Shie ld-Pun ch in the sa me sam e length In each ha nd . so
you can . for exa mple . wield two When using the weapon In
round. you do 11 01 ge l your long swords.
shield's AC bonus if anyone at· 'Thro·Hander Sty le, his weaJX)n's
tacks you laler In the round . Whe n fighting with two-
weapon teC hn ique . you ca n speed t.1clor drops from an 8
Two-Weapon St yle c hoose for both wcapons to try (nomla) two-handed speed fac -
the same maneu\'cr (for exa m- cor for the Bastard Sword) 10 a 5.
With this pop- ple. lwostrikes. or two disarms). making It a vcry quick weapon
u lar sty le. the figh ter has a or ca n have each try a diffcre nt in his hands.
weapon in each hand-usually a maneu..,er (one strike and one
longer weapon In h is good hand parry. one pin a nd onc strike). If Style Specl.llzatlon and the
the twO maneuvers a re to be dlf·
and a shorter onc in his orr· fere nt. each receives a -I at· ChMuter Sheet
tac k pena lt y.
hand . Unless the ch aracter has Since sty le
Style Specialization in Ihl s Though rangers don't suffe r speclallzaUons give the charac-
style. th e second (ofr·hand ) the oIT-ha nd pena lties for IwO- ter certain bene fi ts In combat.
weapon mus t be s horter tha n weapons use. Illey do not get a these benefits need to be written
the primary weapon. bonus to hit If they devote a down on your character sheet.
weapon proficiency s lot to 1\..,0-
Advolnt.tges Weapon S(yle. They do get the The character sheet has
other benefit. of bei ng able to blanks for all pertinent nolcs.
One great ad· use weapons of equa l le ngth . For exam pl e. with the Berris
van tage to this style Is that you character mentioned Just
a lways have another wcapon In Sample St yle above. the c haracter s h eet
hand If you drop or lose one. A would Include blanks with the
single Disarm maneuver cannOI Sp.eclallzatlon following information:
rid you of your weapons.
Here's a n ex- Special Abilities and Restric-
The principal ample of how a character can
disadvamage 10 this s tyle. as use the weapon proficienc lcs. t ions:
wi th some other sty lcs. is that weapon specializa tion. a nd + I to hi t
you don 't gain lhe AC benefi t of s tyle specia lization rules to be· +2 da mage Bastard Sword.
a shield. come very dangerous and vcry
versatile indeed. + I AC used Single-Hand.
Style Specl.llutlon Speed Factor 5 used 'IWo-
Berris is a 1st level flglH cr. but
Please read lle's already vcry accomplished Ha nded
the "Attac king with Th'o Wea p- willi h is weapon of choice. the
ons" secLion from t.he Player's Bastard Sword. He has tak en Weapon Proficiency Slot s
Hand book. page 96, before con· Weapon Specializa tion \YUh tile
tl nu lng. Bastard Sword (IWO slots). 7\" 0- Available: 4
Hander Slylc Spec/allzarfon Prof w!Bastard Swd: I
If you devote a weapon profi- with th e Bastard Sword (o lle Spec wlBastard Swd: I
ciency slol to style specializa- SIOl). and Single-Weapon Style Single-Weapon S ty le: 1
tion with l\..,o-Weapon St yle, Specializar /on \l'llh 1IlC Bastard 1\vo-Hander SlyIe: I
you gel two important benefits. Sword (onc slot ).
First. your a ttack penalty drops: Melee Maneuvers
before, It was a -2 with your From his wcapon speclaUza-
primary weapon and -4 with Strike a nd
coun te r·strike. str ike and
coumer-strike: Thal 's the for-
mula for dull. mec hanical COIll-
bat. and It's no way to run the
sort of swashbuc kling. actlon-
packed combat which should be
the bac kbone of your AD&oe
game adventures.

64

So here, wc' ll be describing aJl Disarming a weapon warrants holds It up to throw: With one
sorts of different combat ma- i1sown maneU\'er. so you 'll find blow. you've protected your
neuvers which your characters "Disarm" below. friends and Immolated a n ev il
can perform In combat.
Striking A Spe dfJ.c Body Part enemy. If a demonic foe has n·
These maneu vers aren 't lIm-
il ed to warrior-classes alo ne. As It m en! ions nally gon en his hands on th e
Anyone ca n per form an V of In the DMG. again under "Hit· Cu rsed Wand of Anti·Llfe, it's
these nWlleU l'ers. prov ided he ting a Specific Thrgel," the nor· more than appropriate to fire a n
has the right weapon or equip· mal AD&D~ game is not geared arrow or quarrel and smash illn
mcnt. Any priest with a shield toward a hit-location system the demon's hands,
can perform a Shield-Punch or which chronicles where every
Shield-Rus h; any rogue or mage blow lands and wbl eh body Again . the OM decides how
with a good a tt ack can Disarm a parts ge l Injured , We' ll be pre- many poi nts it takes to smash
foe. But warriors wtll be pe r- Senting some options for lhal such things. In the case of a vial
formin g these maneuvers most sort of thing later in this chap- of liqUid . It 's not mu ch-one or
often. ter, but t.his section concerns two at mos l.
some thing slightly diITerent.
Eac h of these mane u ve rs, Bypuslng Armor
when used In combat. consti- Monsters often have body
tutes one Attack. Characters parts or features wilh extraordi- This oplion Is
with multiple a llacks per round nary or magical effects: exam· not present to let hcroes bypass
can mix and match their ma- pies include the eyes of th e or Ignore the AC value of normal
neuve rs. A character with two beholder. tentacles of the car· armor. If that were allowed, all
attacks per round could perform rlon crawler. Individua l heads of PCS and aU monsters would be
one Strike an d one Parry. for ex- the chimera. and so on . Ma ny using the Called Shots maneu·
ample. one Called Shot and one anima ted statues are molivated ver almost exclUSively. wh ich
Disarm. one Pin and one Grab, by a medaHion . inscripUon , or would be very annoyi ng.
two Strikes. two Parries. or im bedded gem.
wha tever combination he No. the Bypassing Armor op·
wanted , A hero can lake a caJ led s hot tion Is used when Ih e OM has in-
to attack those very specia lized troduced a monster or enemy
Caned Shots locaUons: this Is a very heroic which ca n't be beaten any way
thing 10 do. It's up to the OM to except through the discovery
Thke a look at determine how much damage a nd exploitaLion of its " wea k
th e Dungeon Master 's Guide, such body parts can take; some spot." Like Thlos. lh e invulnera·
page 58. There, you' ll nnd the will take as IitUe as I poin t of ble bronze man or Greek myth.
rules [or Called Shots. under damage before being destroyed , these monslers are impossible
"Hllting a Specific Thrget." while others may be expressed to damage (this is us ually ex-
In fractions of the creature's nor- pressed as a monslrous AC a nd
As you' lI see In those rules, ma l hil poi nt LOtal. a n invulnerability to an y but the
when you wish to make a Called most powerful of magica l
Sh ot. you a nnounce this before Smoashln g ,S o m e t h l n g weapons- + 4 or better): how·
initiative Is rolled . and you reo evcr, each one has a weak spot.
celve a + I penalty to your inltia· Bel.ng HeJd
Liv e. Th e n, when your turn These weak spots are aJways
comes up in combat. you suffer Often . an e nemy will be holding visible to the eye, If the hero
a -4 penalty to you r attack roll . something and a hero will nOI thinks to look fo r it and can see
Nawrally. you ca n take Called wish h im LO hold on to it. If the the body part where it is. (For
ShoLS wit.h melee. thrown . and attacking character wishes to example. a dragon might not
missile weapons, and even with knock it out of his hand . that's wanl lo fly : this is SO that It can
weapon-like s pells such as the Di sa rm ma neuver: if he keep its wings folded down over
magic missile. wis hes to destroy It in th e oppo· its unannored spots.) A clever
nenL's hand. that's Sm ashing warrior will realize that it 's cov ·
Called ShOLS can be used fo r a Somelhing Be ing Held . erlng up for something a nd try
variety of purposes. The most to trick It Into mov ing Its wings.
im portant of these a re: Disarm- If an alchemis t is holding a
ing a weapon; striking a specific boule of flammab le liquid to If a hero Is bright enough to
body part: smashing something hurl al the party, it's very heroic look for the wea k spot. and per·
being held : bypassing armor; to swing a sword or throw a haps trick a monster into show-
and specia l results, knife and smash Il whil e he ing the weak s pot. lhe warrior
can then ta ke a Called Shot and
hit ilo He' ll do the monster great

65

damage (or perha ps kill it oul- higher level or Influence, It will during one round (see the Grab
righ t: that's for the OM 10 deter- mane uver. below). he may use a
m ln e)_ be consid ered s uc h a n insu lt Called S hot on his next round to
that this ene my will not rest un- put his dagger to the hostage 's
Examples: A dragon which til you are dead. Thus. It is best throat. This does no damage to
has Invulnerable hide (but performed against enemy min- the hostage. but the attacker
which_ suspicio usly , never can then. al any lime. drive the
opens its mouth to brea the ions 10 impress and scare them. knife ho me for twice norma l
flame . .. because Its inner to persuade them to run away or damage (which he will probably
help you. Performed against c n- do If the hosLBge does not sur·
mouth is nOf armored): a me· render. or if someone else he is
chanical man with a small, emies who are your equa l In threa tening does not surrender.)
nearly·invisible slot used by {he ability or status. this maneuver
invenLor to open it up (bu/ merely ea rns you a foe for life. Dlsann
which a hero wilh a knife can
use to damage lls Internal ma- Cutting Buttons Off. Each The Disarm is
chinery): a warrior wH.h ar- successful CaUed Shot will en· a specific variation on Called
mored skin but an unarmored able a c haracter to snip off o ne Shots. Wi th th e Disarm . the at-
ankle: a mummy wh lell keeps bulton. brooch. gem or other tacker takes a Called Shot a t the
one arm crossed o\'er its chest to sartorial element from a n e ne- weapon his target Is currently
protect its otherwise unde- my's outfit. It can a lso be used to using.
fended heart: a 9 ' high golem nip a necklaee off someo ne's
D.lsu m:vs. ·Slngle ·.Ha nded
wh ose weak spot is [he Ullseen head. spring the catch on a
bracele t. etc . This has the same Weapons
cop of if5 head. good effects as carving Initials
Again . this only works when Into someone, bu t will not earn With lhe bas ic
you the enmity of a n opponen t Disann maneuver. the attacker
the OM has created a monster who is your equal. fo llows th e no rm a l rules for
whic h can (or must) be defeated CaJlcd Shots (ann ouncing his
in this very way. If a figh t is n' t Stapling. This classic ma neu- intention before initiative and
going the characters' way but ver Is bes t performed wilh a receiving a + I mod.Lner to initia-
the characters are gradually do· thrown knife or with an arrow or tive. a nd the n suffering a -4 at-
ing damage to the mons ter. then qua rrel. thoug h It can be per- lack pe na ltyl; if h is allack is
the monster probably Isn't one formed with sharp melee weap' successful. he wm (norma lly)
of these Invulne rab le-beasts- o ns. The targe t must be near cause his enemy's weapon to go
with-weak-spots. and it's pOial- some piece of fumiture or wall. nylng from his e ne my's hand.
less to take lots of cal led s hots a t
random body parts "J ust In a nd that furniture or wall Ro1l2d6. The number rolled is
case: ' shou ld be wood. plaster. or any the number of feet the weapon
other mate ria l t ha t suc h a n ics. Roll IdS . The number
Special Results weapon will penetrate. With a rolled determines whic h direc·
successful Called Shot. you sta- tlon lhe weapon goes. (This Is
Fina lly. the pic some item of the target's described In te rms of the atlack·
Called S hot can be used for a vari- cloth ing (your choice) to that er's facing. StraIght Ah ead
ety of speciaJ results. especially nea rby s urface. The target mus t means straight ahead fro m the
neat and interesting results such spend a comba t rou nd getting a llacker: Behind m ean s behind
as the ones you see In movies and himself free. (Th is does not re· the a ttacker.
nClIon . Examples: quire any sort of roli : II Just
takes a few mome nts to pulll.he I .. Straight Ahead
Carving Initials Into Some- knife free. tea r the cloth of his 2 = Ahead. Right
one. Each su ccessful Called garment. whatever it takes.) If 3 = Behind. Right
S hot will e nab le a character someoneaHacks him while he is 4 "" Straight Behind
with a sharp blade to slice onc pinned. he suffers a -2 penalty 5 = Behind, Left
letter or IniUaJ into a tabletop. a to AC (I.e., a 3 becomes a 5) and 6 "" Ahead. Left
wall . . . or the nesh of an oppo· attacks. If the target is s ta pled
nent . T hlsdoesonly one poin t of a nd must defe nd him self while
damage, and has o ne of two reo trying to tear him self free. he
s uits: Against an enemy of equal suffers those ACand attack pen-
or lower leve l or iniluence,lt can alties but will be able to tear
cause the enemy to lose morale himself (ree after a total of three
or surrende r (DM choice):
against an enemy of equal or rounds.
Hostage-Taking. If a chara.c·

te r successfully grabs a victim

66

T his Disarm can aJso be used Naturally. the IWODisarm rna· sword will sr.1II be out of line. or
on magic wands. crystal balls. neuvers don ' t have to com e he can recover from the Disarm.
and any other sort of magical from the same cha racter. Th'o He ch ooses to r ecover . H e
apparatus whic h is he ld in one c haracters can work together to swings the weapon back imo
ha nd . II the Hem is worn (like disarm the two·ha nded wie lder: line and ;s r eady for the n ext ex·
Jewelry). it cannot be Disarmcd. or. one charac ter with mu ltiple change. He suffers no InWa rive
(Note : Weapo ns. w he n used . a ttacks in a round ca n do the Job penal ly on r.he nex l l urn.
can not be worn like Jewelry.) h l m s e lf.
Dls.um vs. Shields
Dlwrm vs. Two-H.nded If a c haracter nnds his two·
ha nd ed weapon partially dis· Disarm Is only
Wea pons a rmed. and he s tili has a t least of pa r lia! useful ness whe n
one a ttac k to pe rform th is s truc k against a s hield. It won 't
Disarm does tear the s hield loose fro m the
round . he can elect to forget wlelder's arm . However. it will
not work nearly so well against about his next attack and may draw It out (knock Il Ou t ofalign-
use tha t a ttack to recover his me nl. so tha t the wielder is not
two·ha nded weapo ns. If you wea pon instead. prolected by It). For the rest of
pe rform a Disa rm agains t a the round. the shield-wielder
wie lder of a two-handed weapon Exam p le: Torreth and Am - loses the AC bonus of the s hield
(Including magical staves). it Slard are figh l.ing . Thrreth WjtJl (a nd a ny magica l bene fi ts. too).
merely knocks the weapon out long sword and shield. Amstard At the s ta rt of the next combat
of allgnme m brleny: the weap· with [wo·handed sword. Both round . even before inlUaUve is
on's wielder automatically loses rolled . the character regains his
In iti ative on the nex t rou nd . charac lers have tlVO al tacks per shleld 's AC bonus .
However. two Disa rms ma de ro und. Thrre fh has In Illative. He
a gains t [he wielder in the same If a shield has other ,proper·
round will knock the weapon successfully Disa rms Amstard. ties. those s tay in effect. even
free: roll ani \' Id6 to see how when the shield Is Disarmed out
ma ny fee t it nles. and Id6to see drawing his weapon oul of line.
which direction It goes. Ams ta rd now has his first attack
of the ro un d. He ca n cUher
p unch 1brre th wUh his gaun r·
i c i ed nst. In which case h is

67

X Combat Rules

of alignment. For exam ple. let 's Thrown·weapon and missile begin as with a Called Shot (an-
say a shield radiates a protec- Disarms may only be perfo rmed nounce before IniUative. + 1 to
lion (rom evil spell. If It's Dis- against single·hand weapons, ini[ia live. - 4 to hit).
a rm ed . and dra wn out of They automatically fa ll vs, two-
a li gnm en t. Its wielder still gels hand weapons and sh ields. If you hit, you've golten your
the benefits of that prolcelion ha nd on whatever It was you
fr om c\' iI spell. Only when he Expert Disarms we re U')'lng to grab: It could be
drops the shield or has It forc- a n enemy's weapon. an impor·
ibly wrested away from him {fyou'rea very la nt Ite m you're trying to re-
does he lose that benefit . experienced fighter. and are
willing to s uffer a serious pen- trieve. or any such thing.
As with the Disarming of (WO- alty in order to impress your en- However, Just because you've
emy. you can perform an
handed weapons. if a character "expert disarm" against s ingle- gra bbed hold of the obj ec t
hand weapons only. This sulTers doesn't mean that you' re In con-
finds his shield disarmed. and the penalty of lwO Called Shots; trol of It. Ifsome other person al-
he still has at least one anack to Announce intent before Initia- ready has hold oflhe object, he's
perform this round. he can elect tive. then s uITer a +2 to Initia- going to struggle with you for
to forgel about his next attack tive and a - 8 to hit .
and may use that alla ck to re- control.
cover h is weapon Instead. Bu t If It does hit. when you In the same round tha t you
Disarm the weapon. you can
Example: At the start of the send It preny much where you performed the grab, roll Id 20.
next round. Amslard's ally J e- want it to. within 12 fe et of the Your opponent will do the same.
ter. carrying a halberd. joins the target. If. for instance. one of
ffght . Thrrerh win s initia tive your a llies has los t his sword. Compare t he number you
again. He cakes an ordinary a nd your e nemy is wieldin g a rolled to your Strength a bility
strike at Amstard and misses. compa ra ble sword, you might score. Whic hever one of you
J eter chooses co Disarm 1Or- wish to Expe rtly Disarm your rolled better agai nst his score
re l h's s h ield +4 . He success- enemy's sword to la nd right In won the tug·of-war contest.
f ully Disanns il. Now. Am stard front of your fri e nd, Or. Ifyou're
fighting with a dagger and your For purposes of the Grab. al l
lakes his ShOl. his cha n ces enemy has a sword you want. 18 scores (01-50. 51-75, e tc.) a re
g reatly Improved because 7br- you might Expertly Disarm his Just 18. However, in case of a tie.
bla de to fl y up into the air; you a higher-perce ntile 18 beats a
rerh 's sh ield bonus fO AC drop your knife a nd th e sword lowe r-percent ile 18. (For in-
docsn 'l come imo play. He drops right into your han d , sta nce ,an 18/'10 beats an 18/30. a n
sm il es 7brrcth with a mighly l tj/oo beats an 18199, etc. )
blow. 1brreth has another a/- Th is is an a lmost preposter-
lack this round : Realizing that ously heroic sort of thing to do Example: Rallmar the Bar-
h e's going to gel hurl if he (It only happens In the most
doesn ', have his shield up, he swashbuckling fiction and mov, barian lrles co grab the Ruby
forgets abou t a second atfack les. after all) so the OM may not Orb of 8 lassendom from the
and uses i hat time /0 bring his wish to allow this option In a hands ofhis enemy. He success-
shield back up. more gritty or realistic cam- fuJ/.v ro lls co hH and gees his free
paign, On the other hand. he
Thrown-Weapon and may grant bonus XP to charac- hand on the Orb.
ters wi th the temerity to try it
Missile Dlsarms Rarhnar Is Strength 17, His
.. and succeed!
You ca n per- enemy is SfIength 15. Both ro ll
form the Disarm maneuver with Grab
lhrown weapons and missUe Id20.
weapons. Th e Grab Is
another type of Called Shot. 1b Ralhnar rolls a 10. He's m ade
Whe n throw in g small (S) perform It , you must have at his roll by 7. His enemy rolls a 9.
weapons, you suffe r a n addi- least one hand rree; two hands He's made his roll by 6. Ral_hnar
tional - 2 attack penally be- are better if you're grabbing a nd sna lchcs rhe Orb away.
cause these weapons don't have U'ying to hold a person.
a lot of weight ; It 's harder for If you grab some thing a nd
th em to knock the weapon out When performing the Grab. then fail your Strength ability
of som eone's ha nds . Medium roll. then vou 've lost: Your en-
(M) or larger weapons don't suf- emy has snatched the objec t
fer this penal ty. nor do arrows, back out of your hand .
qua rrels . or s ling stones.
A tic (for Instance, If both of
you made your roll by 5, or both
missed It by 2. or came up with
a ny other ide ntical a ns wer )
means that you re-roll . during
the same round. n eat this sec-
ond roll as if it were a second a t-
tack In th e same round for

68

determining when in the round Determ ine the resulLS of your at· (Yes. th ere will be many exam·
It ta kes place {In other words. it tack as a Wrestling attack.
will take place arrer a ll o the r pies whic h don ' t adh ere well to
characters have performed their II your opponent has any a t·
firs t maneuvers for the round} . tacks left this combat round. he that ru le of thum b . But it's
can respond with a Wrestling.
However, all these Strength Punching. or other a ttack (such someplace to start.)
roll s resultin g from a single as stabbing you with a short
Grab maneuver are coumed as wcapon. fo r ins ta nce). If your Example: Tile Nightmare has
one "attack:" if a c harac ter can Wrestling a ttack roll result ed in
make two attacks In a round . a hold of some sort lany result a rr8cks of2·8/4· 10/4 · 10. Irs largo
and his first a ttack Is a Grab. on the "Punching and Wrcstling
a nd the grab leads to two or est possible aunck is 10 (o ur
three Strengt h rolls due to Results" c hart with a .. *,. beside
struggling. that's a ll sun only starting num ber): U has tlVO ex.-
one attack. The character s till ill. he has a -4 penalty to hit
gets his sccond attack later In with any attack but another l"r<l aftacks per round (for a + 2
the rou nd . Wrestling a ttack. However. he
can use his attack to try to break fO that starfing number): Irs a
Gr.tbblng A Person your hold {using the Strength
roll lactic described abO\!e. un· horse·like animal (for a + 8). Fi·
If you ' re Grab· der the description for Grabl .
bing so meone to hold him nal Streng th score: 20.
agaJnst his will . you need to con· Gr~bb'l ng ~ Monster
sult the Wrestling rules from the Size Difference. Also. the re i·
P/ayer's Handbook. pages 97· The same
98 . Al so. see be lo w und er rules apply to grabbing ma n· a tlve s ize of lhe two eombalanlS
" Punc hing. Wrcsl.Hng. and Mar· slers .. . but there a re a couple
tla l Ans." of other things to conside r. is impOrta nt. HUllla ns are

if you're Grabbin g someone No Strength Ability Score. medium ·slzed (loll "monsters:'
and you use only one hand. you Most monstersare n't listed with
have two strikes against you. a Strength ability score. This They have an advantage when
First. the attack is treated as a makes comparisons a little diffi-
Called Shot. with the usual pen· c ult . In ge neral. if the situation grabbing small monsters (such
a ltles: second , you ' re treated as ever comes up. the DM should
If your Stre ngth a bility score dec ide fo r h imse lf what as goblins. Imps. and children.
were 3 less. If you have a Strength a specific monster has.
Strength of 15 and gra b some· for instanCe) a nd a disadvamage
one one·handed. you make your Here's one rough rule of
Strength ro U as If you had a t humb to app roximate a when grabbing la rge o nes (drag·
Slrcngth of 12. S trength score: Determine how
muc h damage the monster can ons. golems and hippopotamI.
(Strengths of 18 a ren ' t auto· do with Its si ngle largest attack.
matically dropped to a 15: IL de· That's your starting number. (In for e.xample).
pe nd s o n th e 18 S tre ngth 's Olher words. if it docs 1·8 dam·
percenUle bonus. An 18/00 drops age with its worst a ttack. you Treat a cha racter's Stre ng th
toan 18f5 1. An L ~hH·"'Il99 dropsto start wit.h the number 8.)
an 1810.. An ' tlho· 18foodrops to a as 3 higher when he Is grabbing
plai n 18. An 18f~",.1t¥75 drops toa If the monster has multiple at-
17 . An ' 8/01 drops to a 16. And tacks. add I to the slaning num· a nd struggling with a smaller
the plain 18 d rops to a I5.) ber per extra attack the monster
has. monster. a nd 6 lower when
If vou usc both hands . you
do n 't have to use 1.he Called Add 8 to the num ber if the grabbing and struggling with a
Shot rules: you can make a mo nster is an animal known for
Wrestling attack without a n· its ability to carry weigh t larger one. (This bonus or pen-
nounclng It fa r in advance. and (horses. pegasl. camels) or con-
tains parts of such a monster {as alty is halved wi th play er-
don't suffer the + 1 Initiative or the hippogrlff docs}.
cha racter races a nd
-4 to hit penalt y. Also, you ge l The OM may further adjust
to uSC your full Strength score. thiS number as he desires. dem ihuma n NPCs. T hus. half·

T he result Is a rough measure li ngs. goblins , kobolds a nd
of the monster's Strength.
gnomesareat a -3 when wres-

tling with Medium ·sized oppo·

nents s uch as huma ns:

Dwarves. because they a re so

close to human ·sized . are not.

Humansareata mere + I bonus

to Stre ngth when wrestling with

ha lflings. goblins, kobolds a nd

gno mes. )

Grabbing is performed with

ha nds only. The charac ter may

be wearing gloves o r even the

CCSluS dcscrlbed In the EqUip·

ment chapter of this book. but

may not be hold ing a ny o ther

weapon In his Grabbing hand.

Hold Attuk

Thisisason of
non-attack maneuver.

The Hold Attaek maneuver is
a way for a cha racter to de lay
making his attack until la ter in

69

X Combat Rules

the comba t r ound . It 's usually It"s lim e for the monSlers to reo shield at a ?2 to your chance to
perform ed when lhc character spond : (he ju ngle warrior a t · h il (plus any magical bonus the
Is h opi ng tha t battle circum- tacks Drusilla with his own shie ld confers). If you hit. his a t-
tack is parried and does you no
stances will change 50 thai he spear, and the jaguar·m onslcr damage.
can get a shot In somewhere jumps on Raumar and uscs one
that Is c u rrc mly tOO we ll - You can Parry thrown weap·
defended. Archers use this ma- ofits two paw hirs. o ns , bur no t mi ss il e attac ks
neuver a lot. so that t.hey can It"s lime for secondary ma o (quarrels. a rrows. sling stones.
snipe more effectively_ magic missiles, etc.).
ne u vers. Drusilla misses her
1b perform the Hold Maneu- second strike. Ralhnar has no Choice of r.\frles
ver, the chara c lcl". whe n II 's
second st:rlke. Ir :'i time for Lack- You don ' t nec-
time for h im to announce his In- sley to ac r. H e .1sks the OM If essarily have to Parry the very
tcnllon. says ''I'm holding my Orus lJla has moved ou r of pos/· first attack made against you
maneuver:' Comba t proceeds to lion yet. an d til e OM ru les that . .. though that is the Simplest
w e next c haracter. she has. H e fires, scoring a hH wa y to d o things. If you prefer.
on u lejagua r monster. Th ejun· you ca n choose whic h a ttacker
Then , once everyone has gone g /e warrior Slabs Drusilla again you're going to Parry.

in the round . as secondan' at· wilh his second strike. and the Example: Amslard is fighting
tacks are being delermined~ the an ogre and Its Idiotic goblin
OM agai n asks the character jaguar larches hold of Rathnar
w ith h is second pa w strike, jesler. Before fnWa rNe is rolled.
what he's going to do: he can h e an nounces that h e'll be using
It 's lime for l erl /My maneu· one of his (11'0 attacks !O Parry.
take his action then . If he does I'Crs. Lack s/ey. beca use of 11ls
not. he forfe its tha t attac k. Hold A uack maneuver, IlOW Th e NPCs win in ft/arNe an d
takes wha t would have been his attack . The jester auacks first.
Chan.den W ith secondary m aneUl ·er. He shoots Amslard announces thar hc's
not Parryin g tills arrack. Thc
Multiple Attacb the jaguar again. killing if: It jcs ter hils him. doing min usc ule
damage. Then thc ogr e at tacks .
If a characte r rolls offRathnar before It can In· Amstard announces that h e Is
fiicr ils th ird attack. a deadly
already has multiple a ttacks in bile or an e ven more d eadly Parrying uJis arrack. The ogre
a round . he can sll ll perform the rolls lO h/l, and s ucceeds: Am ·
Hold Attack man eu ver with any r ake. slard rolls to /lit , and succeeds
or a ll of hiS atlac ks. This can in Parrying the attack.
make things a little com p li· rarry
cated, but it"s not a lot of trou- Th en. It ·s t.h e player·
b le . Thke a look a t chara cters' turn. Amslard sHII
the Dungeon Mas ter 's Guide, has an attack left. and SO swings
Example: I n this ngh£. page 61. a t the "Parryi ng" op-
tional rule. at the ogrc.
Rathnar (h e Barbarian (who has If a c haracter Holds his Parry,
Tha t 's o ne way to si mulate a
o ne attack per ro und). Drusllla fighter going on the defensive: antic ipating tha t some other at·
the optional Parry maneuver tacker w ill swing a t h im. but
the Spear·Maiden (WilD has ovo presented here is done a differ· that a tta ck never mater ia lizes
per r ou nd). and Lacksley the ent way. Ifor example. because that spe·
cific opponent wem somewhere
Archer (who has three per two, Th perfo rm l hls Parry. you e lse). and he 's still s uffering at·
and has t wo t his round) are must a nnounce before initiative tacks this round, he can use that
fighling a j ungJe warrior (two at· Is rolled lha t you 're going to Parry against one of these other
tack s per r ound) and his mono Parry. (If you have morc than a llac ks. He may not, however.
strous Jaguar ally Ithree attacks one attack per round, you must apply It agains t a n allack that
announce how many of them has already taken place.
per round). arc gOing to be Parries.)
This r oun d , Lacksley wants to Polearm r .rrles
Then. during the round, the
ShOOl the jaguar : but h e's still firs l time an a n acker strikes at If you're wlcld·
caughr in a spring·loaded an i· you (eve n If It 's before you r lurn ing a polcarm . you can parry a n
rna/ trap . and Drusi1la is be· to strike). you ro ll your Parry. atlack from another character
Ro ll to hit your a ttac ke r, a nd roll
(ween him and lhejaguar. vs. his AC UncludlngaJl bonuses
for s hield . m agical ite ms. ctc.l.
The player·characters win inf· You ean use your weapon at i tS
darJve. Drusilla uses h er firs t at· normal chance to hit. or your
tack to spear thejungJe warrior.
Rathnar uses his sole attack fO

swing his axe acthejag uar m on-
Sler. LacksJey announces UJac
he's holding his maneuver. Now

70

XCombat Rules

wielding a polearm . even If thaI rolled. that he is performing the PuUITri p
c haracter Is attacking someone Parrying maneuver for the AC
else. 1b do lhls. you m ust be bo n u s . This maneu-
wilhln range either of thaI a t· ver Is designed 10 knock oppo-
tacker or his inlcnded victim. Pin nents down.

Example: Amslard is wielding Wllh th e Pi n When using the PullrI'rlp rna·
a halberd from behind lhe maneuver. you move close to neuver, the a ttacke r a nnounces
your e nemy (right up In his face ) his inte ntion when It's his tum
shield· wall his friends are ho/d- and use eUhe r a weapon or your La allack , He describes how he's
Ing. Ams(ard announces. before s hi eld to pin , or trap, his performing the ma neuver to the
weapon- usua lly by pressing It OM , who may rule that It's Im-
inItla l/ve. that he'll use one of agai ns t him so that he can't pos s ibl e.
m ove,
his aHacks for a Parry and lhe If It Is possible. though. the at·
ocher for an aHack. Afler fnlUa- This Is like a Called Shot, ex- ta cker rolls vs, the target 's AC as
five, an NPC with a g laive rakes cept that you don'r have fa an- with any normal attack.
a swIng at Drusilla. Though {he nounce it before inilla live a nd
glalve-wlclder is OU f of Am · you don't suffer a + I to Initla- The ta rget the n rolls ld20
live. You dostill suffer the -4 at· agains t his DexterHy. If he suc-
sl,ards range. Drusilla Is right In tack penalty. ceeds, he Slays on his feet. If he
fails. he fa lls down . Modifiers to
(rom of AmSlard. easily wJUl/n If you s uccessfully hi t, the vlc- his Dexterity include:
lim can 't use his pinned weapon
his range. Amstard fOJJS his until the pin Is broken. and you +6 Target Was Not Moving
Parr)'. rolling againsf the g ia/ve- can't use your pinning wcapon - 3 Target Was Unaware of
or s hield until the pin Is broken.
wielder's AC. and hits: he par- Attack
ries the attack. When It's lime Whe n the pin Is first per·
(or the PCs to attack. Drusilla fo rmed , the victi m ge ts one Th e Pu ll/Trip m a ne uve r is
putS the gJaive-wfelder down chance to struggle. usi ng a best performed on someone
and Amstard swings his halberd Stre ngth roll exactl y as dc· who is movin g a nd una wa re of
against another ellemy. scribed for the Grab maneuver. you . A ta rget who is standing
above. 1f he succeeds. he yanks sti li (not walking or running)
M issile Wupon Panles the weapon free: ifhe has a ttacks and is aware of his a ttacker is
left this round. he can use a ll of very hard to knock down.
In desperate them . If he fails, the weapon reo
situaUons, a character can mains pinned for the rest of the Use of Poleums
parry with a missile weapon he round : the victim loses one orhls
is holding (bow. crossbow. or attacks for the round {if he on ly Polearms (and
staff sling. bu t not sling). If he Is had one. he's out of luck until a ny ol.her weapons with long
s uccessful wi th his parry, next round}: but next round a nd staff·like e le m e nts-quarter·
though. his weapon Is ruined: tn succeeding rounds, his first s taves, la nces. spears. e tc.) are
(h e e ne my 's attac k has d e· struggle attempt eac h round good weapons to have when
slroyed Il. He may continue par- does not count against his a vaJl· you 're trying the Pulltnip rna·
rying with It until It Is able attacks. (Subsequent ones neuver.
completely destroyed (rules for in the same round do count as
destroying weapons and armor You can PullfTrlp someone at
appear In the Equipmen t chap· a n a c ks.) the maxi mum ra nge of your
ter of this book). but It may It Is possible to Pin someone weapon, for Instance, with no
never agaJn be used for Its orlgl· additio na l penalty to hil.
nal purpose. with the missile wcapon you a re
carrying (except for the ordl· You can PullfTrlp moving ani·
Po1.nylng from the D,MG na ry Sli ng). While It's bei ng mals with a polearm : this is at a
used to Pin, It may not be used -6 penalty to hit IfLhe animal ls
Eve n if you as a missile weapon . If It was Large (but you can't even try It
use this Parry maneuver, you anned (an arrow was nocked. a on a Large a nimal lViWOu[ a
can still use the Parrying option quarrel was In place. or a s tone pole of some sort).
from the Du ngeon Master 's was In the s taff·sling·s pouch). It
GuIde. page 61 . loses tha t missile In the strug· And . nnally. they are very use-
gle: the character must reload It ful for knocking riders off their
Incide nlaU v, since th e DMG's la l e r. mounts. With a mancatcher or
Parrying counts against a ll at· pol earm (though not with a
tacks coming In on the ngh ter quar ters taff, la nce or spear).
that round. the nghter needs La you can a ttack a mounted rider
an nounce, before initiative is

7'

X Combat Rules

and ha ve a good cha nce ofpull - mel of the weapon, e tc, There· regain the AC bonus then : If you
fore , those bonuses don't coun t don 't ha ve an attack until next
In g hi m from h is horse. The for anything. round , you regaJ n the AC bonus
Dexterity m odifiers listed above at the very start of the nex t
also a pply to th e rider's c hance When performed on a c harac· round .)
to stay mounted . ter who Is as leep or magically
held. the Sap maneuver au to· This is a good maneuver to
Sappi ng some- matically hilS . The chance for perfonn when you've dropped
one-I.e.. hil lin g him over the knockout goes up to 10% per
head in order to knock him point of damage done, up to your weapon, as It will do some·
out-Is a maneuver you under- 80%. Howe ve r, if the subse·
take when you wish to capture quent perce ntile die·roll is 8 1 or wha t more damage than a bare·
a n enemy alive (or Jus t incapacl- highe r. th e victim Is not handed attack.
late h im wH.hout killing h im). knocked out -h e's been awak·
ened by the a ttack. (Why try a Sh le l d· Rush
To do this . the attacking char- Sap maneuver on an a lready·
acter ma kes a Cal led Shot a l a n asleep target? Because you may This mane u-
want to kidnap him or smug· ver is like a combination of the
addi tional - 4 to hit {so It"s -8 gllng him out of a ce ll a nd can 'l PullffHp and Shield-Punc h ma-
risk him waking up a nd a lerting neuvers.
lota l. plus the us ual Ca ll ed Sh ot the guards.)
pena lt ies o f ha ving to announce The attacke r must start at
your m a neuver before Initia tive The Sap maneuver can only least 10 feet a way from the vic-
be performed wiLh me lee weap· Urn, and must have either a me·
and suffering a + J to initiative}. ons or bare hands: it cannot be dium or body shie ld . Basically,
performed with missile weap- he runs at full speed up to his
If th e aaac k hils. the cha rac- ons_ victim. s la mm ing full-tilt into
ter rolls ordlna ry dam age for the him, hoping to Injure him or
weapon . He gelS a 5 % chance of The Sap maneuver Is usable knock him down.
knockout (as per the Punc hing only on Sma ll IS} or Medium 1M}
and Wrestling ru les) for every monSlers: It will not work on As with the Shleld·Punch, the
point of dam age he does, up to a La rge (L) or bigge r mons te rs attacker gets no bonus to hit
m aximum of 40%. such as dragons. TheyJust can't from the shie ld . nor does he get
be knocked out with this mao the AC bonus of his shield from
Example: Sir Amscard wan ts neuver. the lime he starts the maneuver
until his next attack.
fO knock ouc a noble opponent Shle ld·Punch
If he hi ts. he does damage
rach er chan killilim . He attacks The shie ld - equal to the Shield· Punc h, and
fo Sap the opponent. Luckily, punch is a very basic maneu ver. the target must make a Id20
even with the - 8 co hit. h e s ue· If you are using a buckler, small roll against Dexterity to stay on
cessfully hies his foc. With his shield, or medium shield. you his fee t. The target applies these
sword, he rolls 6 points of dam· modifie rs to his De xterity :
age. Th is gives him a (6x5 %) can use It to attack with as well
30% chance of an ins ran! + 3 Thrget Was Moving lbward
knock out . On h is percenlf1e as defend . by s lamming it into Attacker
dice. he rolls 42: he has failed your target's body.
th is llm e. He'lI try again. + 3 Thrgel Was Not Moving
When your turn \0 attack - 3 Thrget Hit From Behind
The damage done by Sap at· comes. s imply announce tha t - 3 Thrget Was Unaware of At-
tacks is lhe same as that done you ' re shield-punc hing and
by Punching: In othe r words, make your attack roll . You gel ta c k
only 25% is norma l. or "perma· no a ttack bonus from the s hield,
ne nt:' damage. The other 75 % regardless of its size or magical aAs vou can sec, Irs more reli-
is tem porary. a nd wears 01T after enchantment .
a shon while, as we'll discuss able knockdown tha n the Pu IU
la ter in thiS chapter. A s hield-punch does 1-3 dam· Trip.
age, pl us your Strength bonus .
When us ing a spec ial or magi- Once you have performed a Howe ve r. t he aUackc r a lso
ca l weapon to perform the Sap. shleld·punch. you lose the AC has a chance to be knocked
you do nOf count the weapon 's bonus of the shield fo r the rest of dow n .
aflack or dam age bonus. You're the com ba t round from now un·
not using the weapon the way It III your next a ttack. (If you have If he misses his roll to hit. he
Is meant to be used : you 're hil- an attack later in the round . you s lams Into the target anyway,
ting your target with the na t of and does no damage to his lar-
the bla de. wllh the hilt or porn· get. He m ust make his Dexterity
ablHty check at a -6 pena lLy: If
he makes it, he is still standing,

7Z

Combat Rules

but if he fails it. he Is knoc ked ing at a parr oft-he target s body ends up fia( on his /;a ck. bang·
down . Either way. his target re- that Is unprotccted by a slJlclC/. Ing against tlle arc's legs with
mains standing. the are looming ovcr him . and
A crossbowmall could usc a the OM aSSigns the arc a bonus
Even If he succeeds In his at- Ca lled Shol againsl the rope to hit Rath nar beca use ofthe he·
lack roll . he sli ll has a c ha nce to ro's Clu msy posfllon.
holding the chandelier. causing
fa ll down . The attac ker rolls the chandelier to com c cras hing Don't s.y N o;
down ooro the villain :S head: in ·
Id20 againSt hi s own. unad- sread o( suffering a massive ar- Determine Difficulty
Justed Dext crlly. If he fa lls It. he tack penally ror such a
falls down . 100. preposterousshol. (he DM might A good rule or
give {he player a n allack bon us
StrikelThrust ror lhe surprise valu e o ( the at· thumb to use. when a player·
tack. plu s a percem age change c ha Tacter t Tles someth ing
This is t he ba- (or knockout. as penile " A Hack- stTange or daring In combat. is
sic combat man eu ver. a nd Is in- ing Wll/loul Killing " rules (play· th is: Don' t say no to his pro-
cluded here just [o r co m- eT's Handbook. Page 97). posal: Just detenn lne the dim·
ple te ness . cullY or the mane uver In your
A swashbuckler running up a head. give him a geneTal ldea of
With the Strlkerrhrus t ma- flight of stairs wlfh guardsm en that difficulty. a nd le Lhim try It .
ne uver. lhe aHacke r uses the In flOl pursuil could tumble a
weapon he has in hand and stack of casks down the sla/rs An easy way to do thalls arbl·
s t rikes. SW ings. or t h rusts It at bchlnd hIm: the DM could gl1'e traTII)' to assign a " difficulty
the Int cnded victim. If It hits. 111m a PulllTrip mancuvcr number" of I to 10 to any spe·
the attack docs the damage ap- aga InSt each one of those c ia l maneuver. T he n. have the
propriate to the weapon and the guardsmen. and even a n im- c harac ter ro ll again s t w hic h·
atlacker's Stre ngth bonus. proved chance 10 hit. ror at- eve r of his abillUes (Strength .
tem pting this classic move. Dexterity. etc. ) tha t seems most
"Striking" with a Missile Weap- closely to peTtain to the task ...
on or Thrown Weapon con· On the other hand. a piayeT and s u bt Tact that dlrnc ulty
sUtutes Dring It/throwing It at might come up with a plan or number fTOm his ability. If he
your ta rget. UsuaJJy. you Just say maneuver thal ls mere ly foolish s ucceeds in ro iling equal to o r
" ShooC instead of"SlIikc" when or a busive to the ca mpa ign . The less than his modlned a blHt y. he
an nouncing your ma neuver. OM can aSSign such a ma neuver has succeeded In his task.
minuses 10 hit and damage.
Surprise .And nuh Maneuvers Example: Drusilla wa nts t.o
Examplcs;
All of th ese Ra fllnar's player decides that uy the same m aneuver Ra thnar
maneuvers. and Lhe many pos. If Rathnar m akes faces at a n arc
slblliLies they provide for char· he is fighl.ing. then /Il e orc wfJ/ was going to p ull. She. lOO. lias
acters to customize their become spooked and run away. no acrobatic training . but Is In
nghting styles. s ho uld give you When Rath nar attempts this. light leat her arm or. Th e DM
the idea that the OM should be the orc p roceeds 10 make faces
encouraging wild. e.·uravaganl. righ t back at him . then begins thinks that Vils will be p rell)'
Inte resting maneu vers a nd diffic ult for her (though not as
s tyles in com bat. This Is a 10\ the process of cutting Ralhnar dimcull as it was for RathnarJ.
more entertaining tha n ordi- to ribbons. and assigns thc maneuver a dif-
nary. plodding swing vs. s wing ficulty fa ctor of 5 If she lea ves
combar. Later. aner some time al the her spear behind. It'll be an 8. If
healers guild. Ralhnar Is in bet·
TheTefoTe. the DM should re- ter armor a nd is In dire com ba t she tries lO rake her spear along
waI'd Inte lligent. creative efforts wlllJ another ore. Raulnar de· on l he maneuver: He rells Dru·
In combat by granting them boo cldcs that hc 'JJ tuck and roll be· silla 's player (hal II 1s dlmcult
nuses 10 hit and da mage. but possible. though it wllJ be
tween the ore's legs. s ta nd up nearly Impossib le Ifshe uses 11er
Examplcs: behind him . a nd clea l'e Ilim In spear . RelucLan tly. sh e drops
A lightly·armored hero wlrh Hvaln from behind. However. the spear and pulls out a short
the ACrob.l t.iCS non weapon pro- sword befor e affcmpting t.h e
ficiency cou ld charge a (oc. then his player has fa Ued to consider m aneuver.
use h is A croba Ucs to flip over that Rathnar is in bulky plmc
him a.nd str ike h im (rom the Her Dexterity scor e Is 13; with
rear: the DM might give him a mall a nd knows nothing aboul the - 5 penalty. It 's modified to
bonus (Q hilln a ddllion to SIn k · acrobati cs. T hc DM assigns a n 8. On her combat action . she
arre mpls I_h e ma ne u ver. a nd
Ratlmar a swr penalty to his rolls 1d20 against her m odified

Dext erlry r o /l when Rat h nar

tries t he manCU1'cr . Rat.hllar

73

X Combat Rules

Dex. She rolls an 8, and achieves scooping up r.he sand. He tells ma neuve rs until you a lready
it exacLly; Drusilla rolls between AmSlard La r oll against his Dex- have a fi rm grasp on the combat
the orcs legs. stands up behind terity. unmodlfled, when pick · system. and ca n run basic com-
ing up the sand ... and t/Je bats wilh liLLIe or no difficulty.
him. and drives die short sword number he makes his roll by
wiIJ bc (he brUle's d ifficulty Second. t hey' ll allow the
home before he knows what hif number in seeing It coming, playe r-characte rs 10 be more
him. The DM gives her an arb/- colorful and effi cicnt in combat .
u-ary +4 [0 hit for the surprise Amsf.ard's Dexterity is J3. He But the flip -side of this benefit Is
value of w e maneuver. rol1sa Won Jd20. maklngtt by lha tlhe NPCs and mons ters can
3. Th e brute's Inrelligence is 10: be eq ually colorful a nd efficient ,
Someone with Acrobatics with the difflcultyof3, his m oo/-
non weapon proficiency might fied Intelligence is 7. Secretly, It will be a rude awake ning for
be abJe to perform that same t1J(~ DM rolls I d20 {or Ule brute.
w ck-and-roJl wi th no penal t)~ or achJel'ing a n 8: the br ute the playe r -ch a rac ters wh e n
IvUh a penalty dicta led only by doesn 't sec t.he mancu ver com- they run across a band of evil
the type orarmor he Is wearing. ing. But Amsr.ards player ca n 't
be rold that un UI AmSlard Is fig hters as diverse and accom -
See the " Armor ModIfiers for commllled to his maneuver.
Wrestling" chan on page 97 of plis hed as they a re_
th e Player 's Handbook : (hose Amstard now throws the
sand: this coun ts as an attack. PunchIng, Wrestling,
m odifiers would work equally The DM gives him an ordinary
attack roll to succeed. Amstard and M artIal Arts
well In this sl! uatlon. successfully hits vs. l he brtHc·s
Punching a nd
Another lhing to do whe n a A C. and fl OW ale brute is l em po- wrestlJng are described in the
maneuver will probably work Players Handbook, pages 9 7-
rarilv blinded , . , 98. We'll e laborate a little on
a utoma tically If the in te nded That 's how the thought proc- those rules here, and lntroduce
target doesn 't sec It coming. is rules for basic Oriental-sty le
to assign a difficult y number to ess works, anyway_The players ma rtia l a rts maneuvers .
the target'S chance of seeing it. s hou ld have the opportunity l O
This dIfficulty could be a pen- try just about any maneuver or 'Spc.cI..Uzlng With Punc.hlng
alty or a bonus. depending on a pproach they can imagine, and
how obvious the maneuver Is, the OM should figure out how and Wrcstllng
a nd so cou ld be from 1 to 10 in IIkc ly eac h try Is of s uccess.
e llhe r direc tion . The OM would Nolhlngshould be Impossible to Though every-
have the Intended target roll try just beca use i[ Isn ·r specifi- one has a certai n knowledge of
Id20 against his m odified Intel- cally covered In the rules. punc hing and wrestling. so that
ligence, and if he rolled equa l to everyone can be considered to
or less lhan thal number. he'd Maneuvers In the C.mp.lgn have a "weapon proficie ncy "
see the maneuver coming and you can now Specialize In eilh er
be able to avoid it. If he faile d, All of lhe of the two techniques.
the OM could give the attacker above maneuve rs a nd a p-
ordinary chances of success, or proaches can be used in any 1b Specialize. you mus t devote
AD&D!I game cam pa ign , There a weapon proficiency slot to the
even make the attack an auto- arc a couple of thi ngs you technique, Any c haracter of any
matic success. s hould realize about them. class can Specialize In Punching
or Wrestling (or Martial Arts, de-
Example: Ams ra rd Is In a first. they' lI add a lot of rich- scribed later) ... but except for
ness of detail to your comba t. the f ighting-Monk {described in
street braw/with a big brule ofa Using them, you can do just Th e Complete Priest 5 Handbook,
warrior; they've been punching about everything in combat that no character Olher than a single-
the dayligh rs ou! ofoneano(her, you can Imagine your cha racter class Warrior can ever specialize
a nd Ams l ard has J USl been doing. However, the flip -side of in more than one of these tech-
kn ocked down. His player an- that benefit Is that il a dds a level niques_ A single·class Warrior
of complexity to your combat; can e nd up specia lizing in both,
nounces tlla l he's trying a clas- the players and OM have to do but may begi n play specializing
more thinki ng about Individua l In only one of them .
sic trick : He'lJ inconspicuously maneuvers and comba t sllua-
Lions. Therefore, we don't rec- SpeclallzaUon docs not cou nt
pick up a handful of sand and, ommend you use these as a Weapon Specialization. A
first-leve l fig hter could speclaJ-
sas he rising to rerum to the Ize In bot h Long S word and

fight , he'lJ dash chesand into his
opponent 's face, blinding him.

Thac:S a r easonable trick fO
try. The DM decides war the
brule's chance fOfigureou l Am -

stard's maneu ver lsdireclly pro-
portional to AmSlard 's finesse in

14

Combat Rul es

Punching If he wished lO. A ready know. when the c haracLer It is possible for a Warrior 10
Rogue. who ca n not lake any successfully hits, the roll ILsclr continue to improve his Punch-
Weapon Specialization. can still determines which maneuver Ing abilities: See "Continuing
was made: you use the chart on Specialization ," below.
lake one unan ned OghUng style page 97 of ule Players Hand·
book. a nd the attack roll a lso de· Normal Wrestling Attacks
spcclaJlzatlon. term ines the m a neuver used.
Fighting style specializations Review the
But on a succcssful hit. the
{I.e. . Slngle·Weapo n . 1\vo- punching specialist can modify Wrestling ru les from the Play·
Hander, etc.) do not grant any that result. If he has a chan boo
bon uses to Punching. Wres- er's Handbook. page 98. Eac h
tling. o r Martial Arts combat. nus of + 1. he can c hoose the
They're of use only to combat s llccessful wresWng move does
with melee weapons. m a ne uver one higher or one
lowcr on the c hari . 1 poin t of da m age (plus
Norm.l Punchlns Att.,ks
Example; Sir Amslard Stre ngth bonus, if the auac kcr
Review the
Punch rules from the Players punches a {roll. (He's reck lessly desi res): a continu ed ho ld
Handbook. page 98 . Remember
t.ha t a normal punch docs 1·2 bra l'e. after all.) He rolls a 12 to causes cu mulatively 1 more
damage (plus S trength bonus).
and a punch wltha metal gaunt- hi!, and this turns out co be a point of damage each round
let docs '·3 (plus S trength bo-
nusl. and that 75% o f a ll successful htl . On lhe " Punch· than the rou nd before.
punching damage is tem porary. ing a nd Wrest ling Results"
and wears OrrW ilhln minutes ar- In Wrestli ng com bat. whe n
l eT the combat Is Included. chan. we see tllat this is a Kid·
ney Punch. doing I pOinl of two characters are wrestling.
A character can pull his damage. with a 5 % chance for
punch. so lhal he does no dam- knockout. But Amstard is a eac h rolls to hit the other-using
age. or only his punc h damage Pun ching SpeclaJisr with a
(without h is Strenglh bon us ). chan bonus of + I . He can normal attack rolls against the

Punching Speclallutlo n choose ins/cad for !.hc result to o pponent's AC. a nd utilizing the

If a c ha racler be an I I -Hook (doing 2 points of .. Armor Modifie rs For Wres-
spends onc Weapon Proficiency damage a nd will! a 9% chance
on Punching. thus taking spe· tling" table on page 97 of the
cla llzatJon with Punc hi ng. he for knockout), ora 13·Hook(do·
gains the follow ing bcnenlS: Player's Handbook for modifie rs
Ing 2 polms ofdamage and with
He gains a + 1 bonus to all his a 10% chance for a knockout}. to hit.
auack rolls when punching:
He changes the maneuver from In a s ingle combat round . a
He gains a + I bonus to a ll a Kidn ey Punch to a 13·Hook .
damage when punChing: c haracter call perform Wr es-
On ly If a c haracte r specializes
He gains a + I charL bonus tling on the aoltrheesrulctshraroramcttehr~
with a ll pun chin g a u acks: in punching and thu s h as a with the norm
chan bonus ca n he a ffec t his
He gains one additional Punching and Wrestling Results
punc hing a ll ack per comba t punch results In Lh ls manner.
round (both ha nds must be free. A character usi ng a Cestus table from thai same page. On
hold ing nothi ng. for the charac·
ter to gaIn this benent): and does get to add thc bonuses to Wrestle results from that table
hit and damage from Punching
If the character wishes. when Specialization to his Cestus which a re marked with a n aster·
he pu lls his punch . he can also damage. If he has specialized in
refuse to do the +2 damage tha t Isk (- ), the attacker, if success-
specializatiOn gives him. Cestus too. he can decide from
ful. can m ai ntai n that hold until
The chart bonus is a re nection round to rou nd which of his bo-
ofLhe character's superior accu· nuses he wUl apply this round. it's broken: use the Strength·roll
racy with punching. As you al·
Additionally. you may use the ru les described above for the
Cestus attack's attack roUto de·
te rm ine which Punc hing rna· "Grab" maneuver to determine
neuver was used wi th lhe
a ttack: you still use t.he da mage when holds arc broken.
for the Cestus instcad of the rna·
ne uver. but now also ha ve the A c haracter can pull wrestli ng
possibility of a knockout. T his
can make combats with cestl a da mage: he can do no damage.
little more complicated. so the
OM may disallow th is rule If he or the 1 point associated with

c hooses. each s uccessful maneuver. or

the 1 point plus S trength bonus

a llowed to him , whichever he

c hooses.

As with punching damage.

wrestling da mage is a lso tempo·

rary.

Wrestling SpeciaUzad on'

If a cha racter
spends one Weapon Proficiency
Slot on WrcstHng. and thus spe-
cializes with Wrestling, he gains

15

X Combat Rules

the followi n g benefits: Uon of ma rlla l-arts movies. n ormal Armor Class of the tar·
He gains a + 1 bonus to all his Th ese MarUal Arts are on ly gel. (If the a ttacking cha racter
has armor on , he docs s uffer the
31l3.ck rolls wilh Wrestling: available in a campaign if the OM .. Armor Mod lOe rs Fo r Wres-
He gains a + I bonus to all decides that the an is available tling" from Thble 57 o n page 97
for characters lO learn . He must of the Player 's Handbook.) If hc
damage with WreslHng (that is, firs t decide if he wants characters hi ts, he does Ule d amage listed
all his maneuvers will do 2 to be able to use these maneuvers from the maneuver plus any bo-
points of dam a ge pl us h is in his campaign. which will tend nus rrom his Strength score .
Strength bonus. and continued to give the campaign a more ori-
holds cause cumulatively 1 ental flavor: then. if he wishes to l( the a ttack roll Is s uccessful.
more point of damage for each use them. he needs to establis h a the attacker consults the table
round they are heldl: history for these combat abilities. below for the resu lt of the at-
Customari ly. they've been devel- tack. If. ror instance. the c ha rac-
He gains a + I chart bonus oped by some distant civilization. ter rolls a 13 to hi t. the resu lt [s a
wi th a ll Wres tling attacks: and recent trade with that cul-
ture has brought some practition· Body- Punch. doin g 1 point of
He gains a +2 to SLrcngth. only damage (plus the allacker's
for rnatmaining a wrestling hold ers and teachers of the an to the Stre ngth bonus for damage ).
(i.e.. a 5rrength 15 character rolls
player-characters' society. Martial Arts Results Table
against Strength 17 when maln- 1b learn Martial Artsatlls basic
tainlng a wrestling hold. but only Attack. Martial Arts %
for tha t purpose): and level. the character spends one DmgKO
Weapon Proficiency slot on Mar- Roll Maneuver
When he c hooses to pull wres- Ual Arts. Once he has spenlthal 20+ Head Punch 3 15
tling damage. the charac ter slot. he can use Mania) Arts In the 2 10
may also pull the +2 10 damage same way thai other people use 19 H[gh Kick 28
g ranted by specialization. Punch ing and Wrestling. as we' ll 18 Vltals-KJck 25
describe immed[ately below. 25
So if. for In s tance. he has a + I 17 Vitals· Punch I3
c hart bonus. a nd rolls a 16 to hil Martial Arts Results II
16 Head Bash I2
(E lbow Smash ). he can Instead At its basic 15 Side Kick II
c hoose a Trip or an Arm Lock. level. MartiaJ Arts skill [s used
He'll decide based on his cur- just like Punching a nd Wrestling. 14 Elbow Shot oI
rent s ltuaLlon: If U's in his best Martial Arts com bat occurs when
Interest to put his opponent on a character attacks with his bare 13 Body-Punch I2
the ground, he'll choose a lhp, 12 Low Kick II
and ifIt 's benerfor hi m to havca hands. reel. and e\'en head. No I2
maneuve r that a llo ws him to 11 Graze I3
hold 01110 h is oppone nt from weapons are used . (A character I5
round to round , he ' ll c hoose an can hold a weapon [n one hand 10 Body-Punch 2 10
Arm Loc k. a nd nothing in Lhe other. attack- 9 Low Kick 2 10
ing with his weapon one round 2 15
It Is possible for a Warrior to and wiLh his Manial Arts skJII [n 8 Body-Punch 2 20
continue to improve his Wres· the nex!.) 3 30
tling abllillcs: See "Continuing 7 Knee-Shot
Specialization," below. As wi th Pun ching. da m age
from Martial Arts Is ha ndled in a 6 Side Ktck
Martial Am slightly different fa shion. The
damage fro m a ny bare-handed 5 Head Bash
As you saw in Martial Arts a ttack is broken 4 Vilals-Punch
the Player's Ha ndbook. every- Inl twO parts : 25% of the da m- 3 Vita ls-Kick
body knows how to punch a nd age from the attack is nomlal 2 High Kick
w r e s t l e, da m age , while the remaining I • Head Punch
75% is "temporary" damage. • Or less
Martia l Arts, however. are a n - The Player 's Handbook. page
other ma tter. Not e\'ery charac- 98. discusses te mporary dam· Descriptions of the M.aneuvers
ter in a normal medieval -s tyle age, as docs this chapter, in the
campaign will know how to uti- section on " Recovery," below. Body-Punch: This Is a
II zc orienta l-sayle Marllal Arts_ straightforward punch Into lhe
When attacking wuh Marlial ta rget's stomach or chest.
The Martial Arts described In Arts skill, the character makes a
this section aren't any real- normal attack roll against th e Elbow Shot: With this rna·
world fighting sty le: they're a neuver. the a ttacker plants his
combination of "generic" mar- e lbow iOlO the targe t's c h est.
tial-a rts maneuvers In the tradi- side, o r s tomac h.

Graze: Th[s could have
starled ou t as a ny sort of rna-
neu\'er, but It m erely grazed the
target: It wasn'llanded firmly.

16

Low Kic k: T he auacker kicks nerable points mentioned im- lers do, a nd when he pu lls his
the target In the leg or thigh. media tclyabove. a ttack, he can a lso rcruse to do
the + I damage that Speclall?.a·
Head Bash : The attacker Specializing In Martial Arts tion gives him.
slams his forehead into the tar·
get's face. which Is a stout rna· The samc Spe· So if he rolls a 15 to hit. and lhe
ne uver. ciallzlng niles app ly to Martial a ttack hits. he has performed a
Arts: Once the character has Side Kick. If he uses his + I chan
Head Punch : This Is a good. Proficiency In Mart ia l Arts (by bonus. he can change that mto an
strong blow with the fist to the spend ing one Weapo n Profl· Elbow Shot or a Head Bash. He' ll
enemy's head . particularly his ciency SIOl). he ca n Specia lize in probably choose to change It to a
it (by s pend ing an othe r). l'lead Bash ror the improved dam-
Jaw. age and improved chance or
High Kick : The allacker kicks When the charactcr becomes knockout.
a Manial Arts S pecialist. he
the larget tn the up per body gains the following benefits: Ii Is possible for a Warrior to
somewhere: S to mach, chest. continue to Improve his Mar tial
He gai ns a + I bon us to all his Arts abilities: See "Continuing
back. or shoulder. allack rolls with Martial Arts: Specialization:' below.
Knee-Shot: The attacker
He gains a + I bon us to al l M ore Than One Sty l ~
bri ngs his knee up into the tar- damage with Martial Arts:
get's stomach or thigh. Any character
He gains a + 1 chart bon us can s pec ia lize In one orthe three
Side Kick: With this ma neu- with aU Martial Arts a ttacks: lypes of unarmed combat
ver, the anacker has time to pre- (Punching. Wres tling. and Mar-
pare and lau nc h a very powerfu l He gains one additional Mar- tial Arts).
Sideways kick (which may be at tial Arts attack per com bat
the end of a cinematic lea p). round {both hands m us t be free. A slngle·class Wa rrior can
holding nothing. for the c ha rac- on ly specialize in one of the
Vit als-Kick : T he attacke r ter to ga in this benefitl: and
kic ks h is target a t some vulnera-
ble point: Croin. kid ney, neck. He may pull his atlack j ust as
Pu nching and Wrestling charac-
solar plexus. etc.
Vitals-Punch: T he anacker

pu ts his fist Into one of the vul·

r-'\

(

r ~ n"
R, I
"-~
r
"'\"~,\
'""' ~ '\

'""''r\

11 '-"""

11

X Combat Rules

three unarmed combat s tyles choose any ma neuver within ate include: (General) Dancing.
when he is first c reated. After the range of maneuve rs covcred Direction Sense. (Warrior)
fi rSlievcl. however. he may spe- by his chan bonus (sec the ex- Blind·fightlng. Endurance.
cialize In the oilier lwo. He can ample below). Running. (Rogue. double slots)
take specialization in only one Ju m ping. Tightrope Wa lkiug.
sty le each time he receives a Example: Cassius the Gladia- and Thmbllng.
new Weapon Proficiency. so he tor is a Punching Specialist. He
could not possibly be a special- Specialized in Punching at first In campaigns with more c las-
ist In all Lhree unt il he reaches level. PUI another Weapon Profi· s ical and oriental elements to
sixth experience level . , . and ciency slot into It af thir d level . the martial artists. Nonweapon
ninth level Is morc like ly. anofher at sixth. a.nd sr111 an-
olher at ninth. Pronclcncies s uch as (General)
Usually. the character. if he
wants to specialize in more than At ninth level. he has a +3 b0- Artistic Ability. {Priest. double
o ne s tyle. wUl take either Mar- nus fO arrack rolls with Punch· slots un less Paladin} Anc ient
ing. a +3 LO dam age rolls willI History. Astrology. Healing. Hcr·
tial Arts or Punchin g. not both. Puncbing.anda +3 chartOOnus. ballsm. Local History. Musica l
because their usefulness over- Instrument. ReadlngfWrltl ng.
Let's say lJe rolls a 16 to hit Religion. (Wizard. dou ble s lots
laps a great deal : an d then he' ll someone. and lhal we attack un less Ranger) Ancient History.
take Wrestllng. because Wres- does hit. Th is would nomlally Astrology. Herbalism. Reading{
tling Is useful when the charac- beaGJancingBlolV. But he has a Writing. Religion.
ter Is being grappled. +3 chart bon us. He can choose
for the maneuver. instead ofj us I fig hting Style Specializations.
Continuing Sped . llz,atlon being a rolled resule of 16. to be from this chapter. are also very
an vwherefrom 19to 13. He ca n appropriate for the character.
This is an op- chOOse for the mane uver co be a
Lion that Is on ly available to Wild Swing. a Rabbit Punch. a Natura lly. you won·t be able to
single-class Warriors (and to Kidney Punch. a Glancing Blow afford all these things ror you r
(as roUed ). 8 Jab. an Uppercut. Manlal Artist c haracter. even if
Fighting-Monks from The Com- your OM docs allow you the in·
plete Priest:S Handbook) . ora Hook. telligence bonus for extra Pron-
Of these seve n maneuver s. cle ncies mentioned earlie r In
If the warrior continues to de- this chaptcr. Thi nk not about
vote Weapon Pronclency slots to Jab and Hook do the moor dam· having all these abilities. but
an unarmed combat style afler age. and Hook has a sligh l.ly about taking spcclnc abilities to
he Is already specializing in it. higher chance of knockout suc· make the c harac ler unique . dif-
he gets the fo llowing benents_ cess. so he chooses II. \VitI! Ills ferent rrom al l the other pes ...
Note: The character may not punch. he will do a basic 2 even If lhcy. too. are principally
take more !.han basic SpeclaU7,a- points for ehe maneuver. +3 Martial Artists.
lion in any of the a n s at nrst ex- points from Ille damage bonus
perien ce leve l: thus . at fi rst he gets for specializing. and any For instance. one character
level. he may de\'ote one slot to bemus his Strength gi,fcs him. co u ld be a Paladin /Swas h·
Punc hing. or one slot to Wres- buckler who lakes Weapon Pro-
tling. or twO s lots to Martial The Co ~plete M.rtl.l' Artist nclency with all f e nCing Blades
Arts. but not more than !.hat to (two slo ts). Specialization with
any of them . At third leve l. If you wish to the Sabre (one slot). and Speclal-
when he recei ves ano!.her s lot. create a character who Is pri nci- Izallon with Punchlng(one s lOll.
he may devote It the n to im · pal lya Martial Artist. yOll ough t Another character could be a
prove his Speclaiizatlon. to take o!.her Weapon and Non- Ran gcrfBeast·Rlder who ta.kes
weapon Pronclencles which are Weapon Profi Ciency with a ll
for each additional sial de· appropriate to the classic Bows (two SIOlS) an d Proncle ney
voted to his art: martial-arts hero. and Specialization wllh Marlial
Arts (1\\'0 slots). This way. no
He gains a + 1 bonus to all his Almost a ll Weapon Proncien · twO Martial Anlsts are likely to
altack rolls with his combat cles are appropriate for the c har' be even remot ely alike.
style; acter. including all swords.
bows. a nd polearms. and espe· In Orlent.1 ump.lsns
He gains a + I bonus to a ll clally proficle neles with the
damage with his combat sty le: Samu rai weapons from the If your ca m·
Equipmcncchapter of this book. paJgn Is based In an oriental sel-
and ting. you need to make an easy
Nonweapon ProOc iencles c hange. Instead or norma l pron-
He gains a + 1 chan bonus which are especially appropri-
with aU attacks ln that combat
style . WI!.h chart bonuses of +2
or more. the character can

78

XCombat Rules

ciency with Punching and Wres- beholder's speclaJ eye, for exam· Dlsum
plel. Smashi ng Something Be-
tling being free. and proficiency Ing Held (though the atlacker It's possible for
with Martial Arts costing onc risks having the contents of a barehanded fighter LO d isarm
whatever he's s mashing spilled a n armed oppo ne nt , but !L's
s lol. normal proficie ncy wit h on him ), and Bypassi ng Armor dangerous. When so trying. the
(again . this only works on ma n· barehanded fig hter's AC suffers
Martial Arts is free. while profI· sters where the OM has de· a penally of 2 (for example. a 5
s igned a specific weakness Into becomes a 7 ; he 's having to ex-
ciency with Punching and Wres- the monster). pose him self to aUack briefl y),
tling cost one slot each. and his Disarm attempt is at an
A Puncher or Martial Artist can additional - 4 to hit. Bu t if it
Bareh'lnded M.neuvers also perionn a Called Shot to at· hits. It's Just as successful as
tack a specific Hit LocaUon. See any other Disarm .
It's possible to the text on "Hit Locations:' be-
u se most of the maneuvers de- low. This Is the sort of attack the Grab
scribed above under "Melee Ma- character wanlS to use If he's try.
ing (0 hit an enemy tn Lhe jaw to As desc ribed
neuvers when fighting knock him out. pound him In Lhe above. the Grab Is designed for
solar plexus to double him over. barehanded usc, and so suffers
barehanded. either Punching. and so on: all nonnal ruJes for Hit no penalty when the a ttacker Is
Wrestling. or Martial Ans. Locations are used. barehanded.

When a character wishes to uUed Shots: Wrestling Hold AttACk
perform a maneuver thars not
one of the standard maneuvers A Wrestler can A barehanded
fo r the barehanded fighting take a Called ShO{ In order to fig hLe r can hold his a ttack with
style in question. he makes iliat choose the spectnc Wrestle ma- no penalty.
announcement a t the appropri- neuver resu lt he wants. If he
ate time in the combat sequence succeeds. he does not randomly A barehanded
(thal Is, If It'S a Called Shot of roll the wrestle maneuver which fig hter trying to parry a bare-
some sort. he a nnounces be fore takes place: he chooses it. This handed attack docs so at normal
initiative: otherv•.'ise. h e makes is of special usefulness whe n odds.
the announcement when he's he's trying to achieve a hold
called on for the description of resul t. As with Disarm. It's possible,
his action for the rou ndl. but dangerous. for a bare-
Example: A wresller decides handed figh ter to parry an at-
Wh en his turn comes up. he tack rrom a melee wea pon . The
rolls to hit . If he's specialized in to take a Called ShOI . Before ini- Parrying character mu st suffer
a barehanded fighting s ty le. he a n AC penalty of2 (for the same
still geLS the auack bonus for his lIat/ve is rolled. he anno unces reasons described under Dis-
Specialization . If he hits. he a rm . Immediately above). and
doesn't do one of the maneuvers thaI hes taking a Called Shot /0 his AC stays disadvantaged un-
from his fig hting sty le; he per· achieve (he reSU/f of Ann Lock. til h is next allac k comes up .
forms the specific maneuver he Then. when performing the
elec ted. However, If he's a Spe- He suffers (he usual + Ito initia- Parry (which usually consists of
cialist. he does get the damage live: when his l urn comes up. he geltlng so close to the enemy
bonus from his fighting style. sulTcrsa -4 to hil. lfllehils, the that Lhe Parrying characte r ca n
maneuver result is Arm Lock. get his own hand under the de-
Here a re exam pies of how this regardless of [h e roll. scending weapon·hand). the
works with the specific Melee Parrying character s uffers an
Ma neuvers: Also, when a fight er is wres- add itional - 2 to hit.
t ling another character. he
uUed Shots: Pun'chlng m ight find it to his advantage to
make a CaUed Shot to pull the
.nd M.rtl.1 Arts enemy's helmet down over his
enemy's eyes. blinding him fora
A Puncher or combat rou nd or two.
Ma rtial Artist ca n perform
Called S hots. but none will do But, ob vious ly. suc h suc-
any extra damage . They can be cesses depend heavily on the
very effective In combat In very good-will of Lhe OM. If he thinks
specific situations If the charac- such maneuvers are more
ter Is trying to perform one of bother than color. dOIl 't try to
th e standa rd Call ed Shots: perform the m.
Striking a Specific Body Part (as
me ntioned earlier, to damage a

19

)l Combat Rules

r ln Shle ld ·Punch write down "Numhcd" and that
num ber. (You can a lso use th e
A barehanded Since a Shleld - Combat Sheet Included at the
Punch requires th e use of a end of this book.) If the rcsult
c harac ter can't use the Pin rna· shield. a barehanded character was O. wrlle down 1 Instead.
neuver to pi n som eone else's obviously cannot perform this
bare hand . Use the Wrestling m a n e u ve r. Then, ca lc ulate 50% (o ne·
halO of you r cha racter's hit
rules for such an altempt. Shield-Rush point total . Round u p if the frac·
A barehanded character can Lion Is .5 or higher. On your
Since a Shield · characte r s heet, a lso near the
try to use Pin to pin somcone's Rush also requires the use of a hit polml!sting (or on this c ha p-
wcapon : use the modlOers de- shield. a bareha nded character ter's Comba t Shee t) , wrlle down
scribed immed iately above fo r cannot perform this maneuver. "Useless" a nd that num ber. If
Parry. Ule result was I , wri te down 2
StrlkeIThrust instead .
PulllTrlp
When a bare· Whenever you go up a level
A barehanded handed character tries t he and gain new hit poinlS, recal-
character can try to Pullffrlp a n- Strikerrhrusl ma neuver. we call culate those numbers.
It a " Punch" a nd use the normal
other charac ter with no a ddi- Punching rules. Example: Zaross has 27 hit
tional penaJly. Barehanded. the poin ts. His Nu mbed number Is
c harac ter can on ly ltip c harac- Hit Locations 6. 75 (rounds up to 7), and his
ters who are adjacent to him. Useless number Is 13.5 (ro unds
and cannot 1T1p any Large crea· We've said be· up to J4).
fore that this whole book con-
t ure or monster. s is ts of optio na l sys te ms fo r Body Lo c ~tlon5
your campaign: well , th is Hit
A barehanded Locations svstem can be eonsid· Now. when·
Sapping attack (basi ca lly. a ered very optional. ever you conduct combat. do so
punch to th e Jawl Is a classic nonnally. And every nonnal blow
combat maneuver. It can be per- The AD&D. game doesn't en- struck Is deducted from the char·
formed with Punchin g and Mar- courage a hit locations system. acter's hit points 110rma1ly.
tial Arts. but not wilh Wrestling. for the reasons give n In the
Dungeon Masters Guide, page Every normal blow struc k
As with the regular Sap. th e 72 (" Injury and Death"). Some (thal ls. every blow not declared
barehanded nghter makes his of you s un want one, however. as aimed at a s pec mc Body Lo-
Called Shot a t an additional -4; so in th is section we 're present· caUon) hilS the character's torso
ing a Hit locations system that (i.e.. any poin t from his shoul-
If he hilS. he does n annal dam- a llows you to determine Indlvld· ders to his hips).
age for his attack. and has the ualinJurles ... but stays true to
the game's philosophy. However, If you take a Called
normal Knockout chance of 5% Shot, you can make your s trike
per point of damage done . The " Numbed " .nd at a nyone of six other Body L0-
"Useles.s" Numbe.rs ca tions (head, two arms. two
Between the Sap maneuve r legs. and stun·points).
and the Ca lled Shot for the Head Wh en usi ng
Hit location , the character has this system . the nrst thing to do The. Locations
(Wo aHacks lhat can hit an ene· Is to calculate your characte r's
my's head. They arc very differ· "Numbed" a nd " Useless" Num- These are the
ent. however. and so they a re bers. character's Body Locations;
not redundant.
Calculate 25% (one-fourth ) of Torso: As desc ribed a bove.
The Sap provides a chance for your character's hit point tota1 The lbrso Is hit with a ny non·
knockout: the Called Shot to lhe (don ' t count current InJuries: Called Shot.
Head doesn ' t, this is his stanlng hit point ta-
tal) . Round up if the fracLion Is.5 Head : Mu s t be hit with a
The Called Shot to the Head or higher. On you r c haracter Called Shot at an addiUonal - 4
has several unusual possible re, s heet. near the hit point IIsLlng, to hi t.
suits (Blindness, Knockdown .
etc.): the Sap doesn ·t. Arms (2) : One right. one left.
Must be hit with a called Shot.
And the Called Shot to lhe
Head can only be used if the OM Legs (2): One right, one left.
allows Hit Locations in his cam· Must be hit with a Called Shot.
paign . If he doesn't. lhc Sap is
all you' re left with ,

80

XCombat Rules

S t u n-Points : This rather sta nt knockout: If the knockout more tha n 2 points of damage.
broad category Includes the so- fails. the victim ta kes only the he m us t make a Dexterity abil -
lar plex us and o ther nerve ce n· damage done by the attack and Ity c heck to avoid fa lling down.
ters which. whe n struc k. te nd to none of the special body loca-
cause the victim a lot of pain. tions resu lts described here. (4) Knockdo wn : The c harac-
Stun-Points must be hit with a ter Is kn ocked fl at on his back-
Called Shot al a n addllion al -4 Specific Effects side by the blow. but does not
to hU. suffer any additional ill effect.
of C.Ued Shots His head Is not really Numbed or
General Effects Useless; as soon as he s tands up
You may be agai n. the disadvantage for the
of u.lled Shots asking yourself. " Figu ring out Knockdown goes a way.
whata useless arm Isa ll aboulls
Now, when prerty easy: but what do they (5) Blindness and Deafness.
you take a Called Shot again s t mea n whe n your head Is usc- (61 Dizziness and Knockdown.
less?"' Arms (2): A Numbed or Use-
one of those special locations. less arm cannot hold a weapon :
Imeresling things ca n happen: Avoiding the normal wise- the charac te r Imm edia te lv
cracks tha t wou ld result from drops the weapon. The charac-
If the attack's damage such a s traight line. let's lalk ter wil l not drop a shield
equa lled or exceeded the vic- about the actual e ffects of this strapped to the a rm. but does
tim 's "Numbed" number In a " uselessness" for each of the hit not get the AC bcnenl of the
si ng le blow , th en thaliocation Is lo c a tio ns. shield unti l his arm recovers.
Nu mbed. Ills useless for the rest Legs (2): When a character's
of this co mbat round . AI th e Tors o: The torso doesn't be- leg is Numbed or Useless. he
come useless: the "Nu mbed" Illus t immediateJy make a Id20
stan of the next round. before a nd "Useless" numbers have no roll against his Dexterity. If he
bearing on it. rolls his Dexterity or less. he re-
Initiative is rolled . the character mains s ta nding (on one foot);
Head: When a character takes otherwise. he flops to the
recovers full use of that body a Numbed or Useless resu lt to ground (and Is considered sil-
part. his head. one of the following ef- ting for purposes of striking at
fec ts can take place . The OM . him). His movement drops to a
If the attac k's damage nOt the player. chooses which fo urth of what it should be until
equalled or exceeded th e vic - one. He can random-roll on Id6. he recovers. Every time he is hit
or Just choose the one that he for more tha n 2 poi nts of da m-
ti m 's "Useless" number In a sin- fa ncies most.
age. he has to make thaI same
gle blow. then tha i locaLion Is (II Blindness:T he cha racter Is I d20 roll against Dex teri ty. and
Injured. and Is Useless for the blinded (from the pain. not in- wHl fall down If he falls It. A
rest of the fight. Once the nght is JUry to his eyes) u ntil the Numb- S hie ld-Rush allac k wtll auco-
over (I.e .. o ne side or the othcr Is ness or Uselessness ends. When mallcal1y knock this cha rac te r
defeated. surrc nde red. or de· a cha racter ls blind but still try- to the ground .
parted. or the 1wo sides a re now Ing to defend himself. a nyone
at peace). the character recove rs a uacklng him gets a bonus of Stun-Points: When a charac-
use of the Injured body pan In +4 to hit. (If. for some reason. he ter has taken a "Numbed" or
2d6 minutes ... o r Immedla l.ely Is also kneeling. slUing or fla t on " Useless" a ttack result to a
upon Its being magically healed his back. the bonuses to hit are s tun-pOi nt . he has t he wind
up \ 0 the "Numbed " number or cu mula tive)_ knocked out of him and has a
better. ha rd time defe nding himself.
(2) Deafness: The c ha racter His movement drops to ha lf of
For these effects to take place. hears ringing In his ears until whal it s hould be u ntil he recov-
remember that the allack must the Numbness or Uselessness ers; and his attackers a re at a
have done the required amount ends. The character suffers no + 210 hit him unt il he recovers.
of damage in a sfngle blow; mul · co mbat pe na lt y. but ca nnot (This bonus is cum ulative with
tlple blows don't add together hear orde rs or warnings olher a ttac ke r bonuses fo r
for this purpose . shouted a t him . blindness or bad position.)

Damage fro m Punc hing. (3) Dfzzfness: The character Is
Wrestling. and Martial Ans can coneussed and dizzy. He per-
a lso cause body pan s to become forms a ny Dexterity ability rolls
Num bed a nd Useless. with a penalty of - 4 until the
Numbness or Uselessness ends.
A Sap attack (described above
under "' Melee Ma neuvers"). reo .,AnyUme he Is hit in combat for
gardless of how much damage it
does. does not achieve the
Nu mbed or Use less results.
That maneuver a ttempts a n In-

X Combat Rules

Recording These InJuries monster tor character) has 50% one of thcse attacks, he must
of lis hit points im'esled In that calculate whic h portion of It Is
It 's simple to body pan: If it did . a creature normal. "permane nt " damage,
record these injuries. might ha ve more th an 300% of which mus t. be healed by magic
Its own hit points! The or by medicine. and which por·
You don't record the damage "Numbed" and "Useless" num · tlon is tempora ry, wh ic h will
separa te ly. All the hit-point bers are Just ways to detennine wear off after a while.
losses are applied against the how much damage II la kes 10 in-
character's normal pool of hit capacitate a certain body part , Recording TemporAry DA-;nAge
polms. JUSI as berare. and the hll point damage is a l·
ways applied 10 the ,' icU m's nor- Usually. lt·s too
On the Combat Sheet pro· ma l hi! point score. much trouble to calculate pro·
vided at the end of this chapte r. portions on every attack you sus·
or on a sc ratch-sheet. you 'll This System and tal n. Ins tead. keep a separate
wan! to record any special com- track of an damage you receive
bat resu lts and h ow long they' re Low-Level Ch~..(ters In a single combat from Punc h·
tn effect. f or example: " Right ing. Martial Arts, and Sap at·
arm useless uolll combat over:' Low-l eve l tacks. Whe n the combat is over.
characters. wi th the ir s ma ll divide t.hem up into Nonnal a nd
Indlvldual lnlurles s tore of hit points. are com para· 1l:mporary damage. When you
ilnd HColllng Magic Uvely easy to hurt In this sys- have a fraction of .5 tor less) on
tem . A c haracter with 10 hit th e Norm a l Dnmage result.
When a char- points has a Numbing num ber round down: all the rest of the
acter who has taken a Useless of 3 and a n Inj uring number of damage Is Temporary damage.
resu lt Is h ealed before the area 5. However. s inee these specia l
recovers naturally_ then the damage resu lts are a ll tem po- Example: Sir Amstard is In a
rary, and add a certain amount boxing match wUh thedevastat·
healing magiC Is presumed to ofna vor to comba ts. you s hould lug Cassius, and is gelling the
heal the injured region first. If have no difficulty usi ng them worst ofIf. He lakes on e shot for
the magic heals onc-fourth of with characters of any level. 5 palms of damage. another for
the character's hll points. the 6. and anoLher for 3. and on rhis
Useless body part Is working Howc\'er. don' t forgel that all third shot Cassius successfully
Hn e again. these special s hots mus t be r olls his KnockoUl percenrL1ge.
Called Shots. Thcy don' t come Amsrard is kn ock ed Out.
re,rm'anent .nd about because of random die·
Crippling Effects rolls. Amstard has sustained a iota I
of 14 points of damage. One-
This system Recovery fourth. or 25%. ofrhat is Normal
does not support any perma·
nent da mage or crippli ng ef· You al read y Damage. That s 3.5. II'lJich we
fec ts, In accordance with the know how fast characters re·
general AD&D.t game phlloso· cover thc usc of damaged Hit Lo· round down to 3. He :S la k en 3
phles. calions whe n those locations polms of Nonnal Damage. The
are Useless: It takes o nly 2d6 remaining 1J points arc Thmpo·
Monsters '....d Hit Lo't.ttlons minu tes. rary damage.

These ru les But there are a couplc of other Recovering from
can be used for monsters, too. types of recovery whic h need
even those with extra limbs a nd some elaboration. Tempor•..,y D~ mage
body parts (extra heads. wings.
tails. etc .). As with humans. it Recovery Of A character re-
takes a "Numbed" shot {one- covers from Temporary Damage
fourth the monsler's hit poi nts Tem.porAry DAmAge a t a ra te of 1 hit point every nve
In a single blowl to numb an minutes. If 1l:mporary Damage
area fo r one round. and a "Use- ' has ca used a charac ter to go un·
less" shot (one·half the man- consciOUS. he' ll recover co n-
ster's hit points in a single blow) As you know. sciousness when he returns to 1
to incapacitate the body pan for hit point or more.
an entire fight. damage from Punching, Manlal
Exampl e: Arnstard. above.
Remember that the "Useless" Arts. and the Sap maneuver Is took 11 po/illS ofdamage before
number does not mean lhat lhe
25 % normal and 75% tempo· h e was kn ock ed o ut. He'll re-
covcr one poin t ofdamage cvery
rary.
This means, whenever a cha r·

acter is sustaining damage from

82

XCombat Rules

5 minutes. Affcr 55 mioUles. Temporary Damlise Combat Conditions
he'll be a s healthy as he can be
until his Normal bamage is also and Knockout Not a ll fig h lS
take place in wlde-open spaces
healed up. Howe ve r. since It If a characte r with level ground a nd In condl ·
wasn 'l the 'Temporary Damage s u s tained e nough Tem porary tio ns of a dequate light. He re.
h e rook thaI kn ocked him out. Damage to render him uncon- we' n ta lk abou t wha t effects bad
sclolls in Lilc same blow as he cond itions can have on com bat.
bU/ a Knockout resu lt from a suffered a Knoc kout. he doesn 't
wa ke up u nUI cond itions for re- Darkn.ess and Blindness
PunchingaHack. he lVon '( wa k e covery of both the Temporary
up from recovery' of Thmporary Damage and the Knockout are When things
Damage: recovery from Knock- met. arc really da rk , characters have
QuI Is handled djrrerenll.l~ a ha rd time nndlng and attac k-
Examp le: In a rem M eh, Am · ing their foes ... a nd defending
Magical Healing ttnd slard pounds Cassius silly u ntJl again st their enem ies' a ttacks.
his lasl blow k nocks Ilim ou t.
Temporary Damage Tha I last blow reduced him to Characters and monsters don't
-3 hit points, rendering him sta n suffering pcnal Ues In dark-
When a char· unconscious. and A m stard also ness until It's very dark indeed.
acter who has sustained both successfully rolled for Kn ockou t When it becomes very dark. they
Norma l and Temporary damage on per centile dIce. So. w hen suITt!r penalties to hit their ene-
receives magical healing. the does Cassius wake up? mies. And If their enemies can
healing spell first heals the Nor- see better than they can. their en·
mal (real) Damage. If it hcaJs all tf will lake Cassius 20 m in · emics gel bonuses to hit.
utes to recover 4 pofn ts of Thm ·
t he Norma l Damage. it then porary Damage. which will p ut On page 117 of the Player 's
him a f I hpand let him wa ke up . Ha ndbook Is a c hart of VisibiHty
goes to work on the Thmporary Cassius rolls lI is System Shock
Da mage . roll and is s uccessfu l. m eaning Ran ges.
t hat he wm wa ke up fro m Le i 's add one line to tha t
Example: Lei us say Amslard Kn ockout arr er 2d6 m inutes. He
n.'Ccivcs a cure light wounds rolls a 7.50 h e would wake up in chart : Thtnl Blackness. In Thla l
spell Immcdialcl.v after bei ng 7 minu tes. Blackness, all Visibility Ranges
knocked out The prlesl rolls a 6
on Jd8. T he firs l l hr ee poinl.S of Bu t both recover ies have lO areO.
healing c ure his three poinfS of On/sh for him to wake up. Afier
Normal Damage. The remain· 7 min utes. lIe 's still un con - Combat Modifiers for
Ing three are applfcd to his Tem- scious. and will slav !.hat way Darkness and Blindness
porary Damage. When !.hal '5 all
done. Amstard Is down 0 points u nril 20 min utes arti up, Condition Mel. Mis. Inrr.
Bonus
of Nomlai Damage and 8 poin ts MliSlul HeliUng and Clear sky -0
of Temporary Damage. (dayti m e) -3 -0 +0
Knockou~ -4 +0
Recovery From Knockout Fog. dense -I -2 +0
If a charac ler or blizzard - 3 +0
A Knockout who has been Knocked OUl re- -2 -I +0
result can be reached from ceives heali ng magiC (a cure llgllt Fog. light -0 -4 +2
Punching and Martial Ans at- woundsspcll or a ny more power· or snow -2 - 6 +3
tac ks and from th e Sap maneu· fuJ healJng spell . excluding irrele· -3 - 6 +3
vcr. Fog. -4 -2 +1
vam spells such as cure disease moderate
When a characler is knocked -I
out. he mustlmmcdlate.ly make or neutralize poison). and he suc- Mist or
a System Shock percenlile roll cessfully made hisSysl,em Shock light rain
(see "Thble 3: Conslil utlon:' In roll, he'lI wake up immediately
Ihe Player's Handbook. page (provided. as us ual. lha l he's Night.
IS). If he makes the roll, he wUI above 0 hl! points). full moon
awaken in 2d6 mi nu tes. If he
falls the roll, he will awaken In If he receives healing magic Nigh t.
2d6 hours. but failed his Sys te m Shock
Roll. the magiC still he lps him : no moon
He may now calcula te his recov- Thtal
e ry as though he successfully
made his Syslem Shock roll darkness
l \vi li g h t

On the chan above. you 'll see
all those same Visibility Ranges
In the first column .

83

Combat Rules

The second colum n Indicates Tile chan says that Amstard figh ting Aspcn clal e fh e Elf.
Lhe charac lt:r 's allac k penalty and allies take a -I (0 hit . .. al
each range step. ThaI S -} at Rat.hnar does n 't IIm'c [nfra-
when hc's attacking someone In shon range. another - 1 at m e-
melee combat In lhal sortofvlsl- dium. and a last -1 at long vision; Aspendalc docs. Rath ·
range. Amstard .md frieuds take nar. because It 's dark and m oon -
billlY· a - 3 to hit when firing 8[ the less. is rakinga -3penallYlO hil
T he third co lumn lists the
orcs. AspendaJe In m elee. Aspemla/e.
penalties for shooting at some· t.hcrcfore. has a +3 when slrlk·
one In ranged comb."u in those Suddenlv. tile cloud breaks inga l Ralhnar. ( - 3 forbad lig ht -
visibility cond itio ns . This pen- and a hea l~Y rain fa lls o n el'ery- Ing. + 3 for Rathnars handicap.
alty Is lake n o nc e 31 S hort one. The DM rules thaI it s l he + 3 for infra l'ision bonus).
Range. again at Medium Ra nge. equivalent of lighl fog or snolV.
and once more at Long Range Th e orcs haven 't yet gotten Second. In missile combat. In
(see Thble 45 on page 69 of th e sim ilar condlLions . the c ha rac-
Players Handbook ). wi thin 140 yards. so fhey're sllll te r with the better vision gets a
at long range. Amstard a nd bonus to hit his target. This.
The fo urth column Is the a lso. is equa l to the othe r fel -
Infravlslon Bonus. If a c haracter friends firc again. Now. (h ey'£c low's melee. not missile. penalty
at - 2 10 hit per range step. or to hit.
h as Infravislon. his bonus Is ap- -6 IOlal 10 hillheir enemles.
plied against his attac k penalty Examp le: Thkfng a beating.
How Infravlslon Works Rathnar runs 01T Inf.O the dark-
for Melee. and a gains t his attac k ness and gels 10 Ilis boll'. Aspen-
penalty fo r Missile all:acks su f· (The Simple Way ) dale accommodates him . Firing
fe red at eac h ran ge s te p. a t Med i um Range. RalJmar is at
Th e Simples t
How this Works way to usc !nfravlslon In these a -12 to hill Thais - 6 each at
ci rc umstances is LO ignore tha t
When a c har- fourth column on the c ha rt Sllort ;wd Mediu m ranges. ac-
acter is in a sltuaUon where he above and Jus t say that Infra- cording fa {he chart above.
vision cancels out a ll darkness
s uffe rs a penally to hit in me lee pcnallies. This Is simple. easy LO T hird. the third column of the
remember. and doesn't cause c hart abovc gives a bonus for
comba t . he's obviously In som e any combat hassles. In fravision. This Is applied to
the c haracter's penalty for mc-
dark area. He, a nd everyone else How Infr.vlslon Works lee combat. and to his penalty
w ith similar visio n. sulTel'"S the for missile combat at eac h range
pe na lties lo hit in melee and (The Complex WAY) step.
missile com bat.
If you pre fe r E.-.:ample: Aspendalc r et urns
Example: Rathnar is in a fight more realism a nd complexity.
In pea-soup fog . He can barely the n Infra vision Is a help. but fire. He wou ld be a l. a - 6 per
see Ilis hand in fronl of his fa cc. It's st ill not quite as good as be- each range slep. too. but he IJas
An enemy looms up In the fog. ing in broad daylight. Infra vision . He ge lS a -6 a t
Rafhnar strikes af if ... bUI s uf· Short and a t Medium Ra nge.
With these oplionaJ rules. Infra· bu l that'Soffset by a +3 at Short
fers a -3 10 hu . The fog Is so vision can be a big help in Urnes and a +3at Medium Ral1ge. His
of darkness. A charac ler with penally: - 6. And beca use he
thick that it S difflcult to strike Infravision is n ' t as disadva n- can see bcller In t.he dark than
e.\:aclly the right p lace. He reUs tagcd by poor lighting condlUons. Ratll1Jar al1)'u·ay. he gelS a bo-
a n alLac k tha t would ba.r ely
have hif his foe In ordinary cir· First. in melee combat. in any nus equal to Rathnar's m elee
cumstances: In these circum - condition of darkness where one penalty : +3. His final penally: A
stances. his blow Isa clean miss. person has better vision tha n
the other. he gets a bonus to hit. mere - 3 . He shoolS back a t
Th e miss ile penal lY ge ts This bonus Is equal to the other Rallmar. MWng him clean on.
worse a nd worse the further fellow's a ttac k pe nalty. (The
away the attacker Is from his c harac ter wit h infravlslon is still Unstable Ground
target. subject to the normal penalty -
in effecl. this bonus cance ls the C h a r ac t e r s
Example: Sir Amstard. at the character's own pe nalty.) some times have to fight on un-
head of an army. is firing at the stable ground. Earthquakes ha p·
oncomingarmyoforcs. which is Example: Ir 's dar k and moon- pen. Giant mons ters burrow their
half·way across the plain. The l ess outside. a nd Rathnar is way up from the depths of the
orcs are at 200 yards. bar ely in earth. shaking everything. Char·
range of the heroes' long bows. acters have naval batlies where
The weather. howel'er. Is drizzly they fight on the decks of ships.
and rainy. considered to be Mist
on the chart above.

S4

XCombat Rules

When such situaUons com e foustlng lengthier affa ir-wh ich Isn't a
bad thing: a classic joust shou ld
u p. the OM decides what the Jous ting Is a go on for a few rou nds at least.
force of the ground·movement type of combat where two
Is. If it's surflclently violent. moumed warriors. armed with ltlnces tlnd Dlsmol,Jntlng
characters will h ave to make lances ride at one another a nd
d20 rolls against Dex terity at try to spit one another with their The DMG.
the beginning of each combat weapons. page 76-77. taJks about being
r ound to stay on thei r feel. dismounted In comba t. but
Sometimes those Dexterity rolls lI 's the spon of knights and doesn 't discuss at le ngth the
will have bonuses. sometimes kings. and is very appropriate to usefulness of the la nce in dis-
penalties. When they fall those campaigns with a medieval set- mounting opponents.
rolls. they fal l down .
ting. The lance Is designed to dis·
The chart below s hows sev- moun t opponents as well as to
Inltltltl ve Inflict damage. Anytime a lance
eral such situations and the hits a mounted target a nd docs
As a special 8 poi nts or more of damage (af-
types of Dexterity ability checks rule, when two riders arc joust· ter doubling). thc vic tim has a
they require: lng, don't bother with Initiative chance of being dismou nted. He
rolls. On the nrst round of a must roll his Ridi ng pronclency:
Dexterity joust. the two jousters ride a t If he fa lls. he falls for an add i-
one another and roll to hit; on tional \ -2 damage.
Check the second. both conli nue their
r ide. turn around , an d start Si nce both lancers can hit at
Situation Required? back toward one another. the same time. and both can
conceivably miss their Riding
Big Monster Yes, at All attacks are resolved s imul · rolls. both ca n be dismounted si-
taneously. lnltlatlve does not en- multan eous ly ... which tends
Digging Up Dex terity score ter the picture. to be embarrassing. and can be
dangerous In la rge battles.
Minor 1temor No If Jousting is taking place dur-
Ing a larger battle. where other La nces ofle n
Majornemor Yes, al things are going on a nd InlUauve break. Any lance lhal hits and
must be rolled. try this: When It's docs more than 12 pointS of
Dexterity +3 time for the jouster who won Ini- damage. a nd a ny lance thai has
Ualive to take his action. the been successfully Parried by a
Minor Yes, at jouster who lost Initiative also s hield. may break. The player
gets to make his attack roll. rolls I d6: on a I or 2 . the lance
Earthquake Dexterity score though this takes place during breaks and Is useless (except as
the middle of the enemy's com- a club).
Major Yes, at bat sequence. This helps simu-
late the fact that the lance-strikes L,mce Spedallutlon
Earthquake Dex terity - 6 take place simultaneously.
If a character
Ship's Deck , MuJtlple Att.u.ks takes Weapon Specialization in
lance, he gets the usual benenls
Slightly RollingNo When a char- of allack and damage bonuses.
acter has mu ltiple altacks in a But he also gets lhe following
Ship's Deck. Yes. at single round . and is jousting. he benefi ts :
docs not get mu ltiple lance at-
Rol1Jng OextcrHy +3 tac ks. He can only use that He can perform the Shield·
lance once In a combat round Rush maneuver wit h his la nce-
Ship's Deck. '1es, al (a nd loses the nex t round turn- tip . In order for this to do
ing his horse. If he's to come damage like a Shie ld-Rus h In-
Storm·1bssed Dexterity - 3 back and face the same enemy). stead of a lance strike the char·
acter must be mounted. and
So. If a c ha racter wit h However. that second attack must strike a character who has
Dexterit y 13 rinds himse lf In the same rou nd can s till be ef- metal (or leather·a nd-metal) ar·
righ ti ng on the deck of a fective: the best usc for It Is for
storm -tossed ship. each turn the rider to Parry the incoming
he' lI have to ma ke his Dexterity lance attack with his shield .
chcckata - 3: He'lI have to roll a This can make a joust a
10 or less on Id20 or fall down.

Mounted Co mbat

You'l! find rules
for Mounted Combat in the
Dungeon Masters Guide, pages
76-77 . Let's elaborate on Lhem a
bit.

85

X Combat Rules

mor or a shield . If Ule character event revolves around [hem a nd m ust be of the nobility. but that
does not have such annar. the their deeds. Is necessarily left u p to each
attack is automatically a lance DM .
strike. Tht: Basic Toum.mt:nt
The Jousting com peti tion Is
He gets a +2 bonus to AC The basic si ngle elim ina tion. The fi e ld of
(t h us. an AC 2 would become a tourn ament. in a medieval-type entrants Is broken down Into
setting. consists of a Joust com- ra ndom ly-chosen pairs (som e-
01 . on ly when jousting and only petition. T his can take place in Umes the choosing is not so
VS. another Jousler. {Thalls. the an ordinary fie ld. but Is more random, if the organizers want
AC bonus is only agaJnsl incom- colorful and entertaining whe n to pit especially in teresting
in g lance attacks. and only it takes place on a speCial Joust fighters against one anot.her .. ,
works when the defender is list. or to rig the tournament re-
SUllSl. Each pair makes anum·
himself mounted and carrying a The 'oust Ust ber ofjousting passes until one
lance.1 is dismou nted (or yields t he
This fiel d con· fie ld-I.e.. s urrend ers In order
Horseb.uk Archery sists of a long s trip of ground to avoid further damage). If
with a low fe nce along the mid· both combatants are dis-
Only the Com- dIe of It; lheJousters ride toward mounted In the same pass, th ey
one another, each with the fence get up, remoun t. and stan over.
posite Short Bow. Short Bow. to his left. and make Jousting
passes umil one or the other is The winner of the pair ad-
Dalkyu (from this supplement 's dismounted. vances to the next round of
matches; the loser Is consoled.
Equipmcm chapler ). and Cross- Along one or both long sides of
the lisl. stands are set up for 011- When the number ofentrants
bows may be used from horse- lookers. There may be a box or Is a n odd number, one fighter
special seating area for the local doesn't have an opponent. He
back. The Lo ng Bow and ruler and his retinue. gets to "fight the bye." An oppo-
ne nt Is chosen for the Jouster:
Composite Long Bow may not At both ends of the lis t. where Someone who lost In an earlier
the horses tu rn around, are malch. a warrior not entered in
be. racks of lances fo r the riders' the competition. etc. Regard-
use. At one end of the list is a n less of who wins t he malch. t be
Fir ing a bow from the back of exit to the fi e ld where the Jouster Is advanced to t.he next
knlghlS and other partlclpanlS rou nd (and thus has a slight
a stili horse (one which is not have their tents set up. benefit over someone who
didn' t ge l to fighlthe bye); but
running) Is done at a -I penally The Jo usting Compt:tltlon he's Just as tired and inju red as
any other fighter.
to hit. . Thc most pop-
ular event in a tournamcnt . the No fighter may fight the bye
firing from the back ora walk- event which lhe tournament re- morc than once In any tourna·
volves arou nd . Is the Jousting ment: th e organizers re-arrange
ing or tfotting horse is done at a competition. things if the same fighter ends
up without an opponent in an-
- 2 penalty to hit. In this competition. a ll partici- other match, By t.h e last
pating fighters announce them· matches of the competition. the
Firing from the bac k of a gal- selves to the seneschal. kn ights' tou rnam ent num bers will have
marshal. or other minor digni- evened out and no more byes
lopinghorseisdoneata -4 pen- tary who docs the actual work of w lU be fou ght.
running the tournament. There
alty to hil- is no fee for admission, bUl each With eac h subsequent round ,
enlran t mllst have hi s ow n the number of entrants Is
In some barbarian tribes. es- mount armor, and lances. It's halved. until a t the end only two
best if he also has a squire. page are left : the winner of t ha l
pecially those who Inhabit wild- or friend to wait by his lance- match is the wi nner of the lOur·
rack to hand him a new lance nament .
open plains, every warrior whe n one breaks.

knows Riding for the tribe 's fa- In some societies, a ll entrants

vorite riding animal a nd Spe-

cializes in Com posite Short

Bow, This makes the m very,

very dangerous opponents in a

cavalry engagement ,

To urnaments

Tournaments
are events where fighte rs get to-
gether to compete . , . fo r prizes,
to show off their abilities. etc.

Fightin g Isn ' t al l that goes on,
and fighters aren't the only ones
in atiendance. Thumaments are
huge social eveflls where every-
one gaUlers to watch. compete.
gossip. trade. bet. and sport. But
fighters are the center·piece: the

86

XCombat Rules

Blunted Lances along the stands an d gi ve the Archery Competitio ns
crow n, a t la nce·point . to the
Tournamen ts lady of his choice. The Queen of An arch ery
may be [ought with blu nted Love a nd Beauty s its with the com petition is usually for long
lances. Blullted lances work Just fig hter and loca l ruler a t the bows or light c rossbows: some
as normal lances. but they do night 's feast. a nd the award is a tournament'S have one competl·
damage like Punching damage sign of status and respect. but tion for each.
confers no lasting benefi t.
(I.e.. 75% of all damage is tem- In the arc hery competitio n.
porary. and wears off after the In a campaign where women the targets are sel up at the
cnd of the match). Blunted a lso fight. na tu raHy. the fe male weapon 's long ran ge; a ll com·
fighter would be given a crown pclltors suffer a -5 to hit With
lances do not have metal or to award to the " Kin g of Grace:' each shot. Thrgels are AC 10.
poi nted heads: mey weigh as
much as regu la r lances. but cost Prlz.es In each tournam ent rou nd.
o nly half as much. eac h participant fi res fiv e ar·
Pr izes a re of· rows or quarrels at his target. A
Queen of Love and Beauty len awarded (0 the winner ofthe miss Cou ntS as 0 points. A nor·
joust. These arc not generally ma l hit coun ts as 3 points. If a
Often. the win- cash prizes. or magical prizes; cha racter rolls 5 over what he
ner of the Jousti ng competition they are usuaJly some jewelled needed to hll. It counts as 5
gelS 10 choose the tournament's or ornamental s ign of favor. and points, lfa na tu ral 20 Is rolled. It
"Queen of Love and Beauty:' act as trophies for the victor. cou nts as 10 poin ts (a b u ll's·
The local ruler or tournamen t eyell,
organizer gives him a crown or Other £Vents
coronet. which the fig hter may AI the end of eac h ro und .
bestow lIpon any lady (at t he Other events polnLS are tallied a nd half the
taking place at a tournament (at field. the ones with the lowest
tou rnament) of his choosi ng: the discretion of th e organizers scores. are ellmi na tcd , Thiscon·
typically. lhe crown Is placed a nd the OM) Include: tinued un til there arc only two
or three com petitors left: when
ove r the e nd of the ngillcr's
lance . so thal he m ight r ide

81

X Combat Rules

that happens. Lhe compelitlon D.nelng , Soel. IIzI,':IJ first . a surre ndering charae·
has reached Its final round . ter who Is about to be butchered
Finally, the could " t'urn out " to have some
In the final round. the same tournament Is a grand social information Critical to the char·
event. Mus iCia ns play. people acters, and say something like
rules are In place. but smaJler. gOSSip, dances are conducted : "KIJI me and you'll never learn
harder targe ts are used: they it'sa grand place to hear new ru · abou t (fill In the blank)." This
have AC 4. mors. o r start the m , to mee t stubborn NPC won't reveal the
contacts, to st umble across Inform ation , even on pain or
Pri zes often consist of new mysteries, .. all of which the death. unless the PCs promise
bows. quh'crs. s heaves of ar· OM should keep in mind . to accept his surrender (and
those of his fri ends) a nd keep
rows. and jewelry. Archery Is When to End Combat the NPCs alive afterwards. (If
the Pes promise. and la ter reo
pretty respectable: It does not Combats In nege. you ca n a lways visit other
command the sort of status or the game don' t have to goon un- revenge upon them _)
prizes the Jo us t does. but Is til everyone on one side Is dead
better-regarded tha n Lhe lowly ... or even defeated. Second, a local deity, spirit or
monster cou ld see the PCs hack·
fOOL-list. Nobles an d peasants Don't forge l thai one side or ing on surre ndering NPCs and
alike may participate. the other (Including the PCs' g row olTended . Much toughe r
side) can surre nder, o r retrea!. than th e pes will ever be, this
In some c ultures, the cross- or even convince the other side being snatc hes up the most or·
bow Is thought of as a vulgar to stop fighting and do some rensi ve of the PCs, te ll s him
weapon: in such cultures. most talking or negotiating. what he's doing and why. a nd
tou rnamenl S won 't have a
crossbow competition . The few When every fight must end in then curses or klUs the PC as a
such com petitions which take o ne s ide achlcvlng total. bloody
place a rc not 3tlended by noble vlcior)'. the game rapidly grows lesson to the others.
competitors. boring. When Lhere's opportu - This Is a brute-force tec h ·
nity for a grea ter numbe r of res·
Foot-Lists olutlons. there's more nique. but s uch players have a l·
uncertainty to combat. and to ready shown that they
A foot-list Is or· the campalgn 's story line. understand little but brute force
ganlzed like a joust. exccpl lhat anyway.
Its entranlS Oghlon fOOL. a nd arc If you have characters who
no t restricted to the nob ilit y won't stop ri ght ing when It When Char.uters Always
{even when the jous t Is}. s hould be done, you have prob-
lems, Here are some things lodo Chase Esupees
Since melee weapons a re about them.
deadlier than blunted lances. Some charac·
some tournament organizers When Cha racters Don',t ters c hase a ft er every g roup of
prefer not to have fool-lislS: th e e nemies who run away fro m
chan ces of a figh ter dying arc Acce pt Sunender combat. with the avowed inten·
pretty high . a nd organizers are t10n of running them down and
no t required or ex pected to have When your
a high-level priest o n hand to characters won' l ever accept a n killing them.
raise some peasant warrior who enemy's surrender. you have a The beSt way to counter this
dies In a competition . serious problem . because it a lso
means that those char acters atti tude, and persuade the PCs
Prizes ofte n consist of weap· won't ever surrender themselves to iet the occasio nal band of in -
ons and minor jewelry, usua lly (because they know it always consequential NPCs and mono
not as expe nsive or fancy as means cenaJn death), and that sters escape, Is to have s uc h
lhose awarded to the Jousters. you can never have two charac· enemies set up traps a long their
lers (PC and NPC) fight and later escape rou te. Ir the pes pursue,
Merchants' Stalls end up as allies (unless Lhcy're they gel caught in the traps and
both chaotic evil , for Instance) , suITer damage a nd embarrass-
Also present at ment. T hat wili leach them to be
la rger tourname nt s a re rows You can enrorce the right of morc cautious In fut.ure events.
upon rows of merchants' stalls: your NPCs to surrender (and ex·
a large tournament is a fascina t- peCttO live throug h Itl through a Once the cha racters see e ne-
Ing place to go shopping. and a couple or means. mies getting away. they may
good placc to find cxpens in a ll come to the realization that th ey
sorts of cra fl -making, weapon- may themselves occasio na ll y
making. and armor-making. flee a nd gel away.

88

XCombat Rules

When ( h,ar.a cters (2) The OM asks the players or aggressive NPCs. could bring
whal they will do: abou la combat immediately. But
NeYer Negotl. te
131 Initiative Is rolled: and If that doesn' t occur. the PCs and
Som e t imes. 14JCombat Is resolved In Inl-
when Pes and NPCs arc t hick in NPCs can talk. argue. ehoose to
combat, an NPC m ay try to calm tJaUve order.
things down . call for t he two In a lot of campaigns. Step 21s fight or agree 10 cooperale, what-
sides to pan and cease
fighting-at least fo r a while. It skipped. The OM decides what ever they choose.
may be t hat the Nrc has figured the NPCs or monsters are dOing. If the two grou ps decide to
out !..hal the two parties should has everyone roll initiative. and
be allied. or that he wants to then asks th e player-charac ters. fi gh t , rolllniUaUve normally.
bribe the pes. or eve n conduct as thei r actions com e up. what
surrender negotiations ... from they' re doing. Tactics

a position of strength. Bu t if you ' r e using Ca ll ed All too often, a
If your c haracters never nego- Shots. you have to be diligent warrior c harac ter si mply
charges lip to the front line [n
tiate. once again your campaign about keeping Step 2 In the se- every co mbat. and in non -
oplions are limited. You have to combat slt uaUons sits back and
brute-force some sense into quence. so that the c harac ters' listens while his wiseI' m age and
Called ShOLS can be established priest friends handle all the nlg·
them . A good way to d o this Is to before Initiative Is rolled. gling details of the adventurer's
life ou tside of combat .
have the pes Oghtan NPe group Waiting o n Inltlatln
who have a hostage or artifact We ll. neJther of these ap-
crucial to the PCS. T he NPCs say There's an·
they wHI kill the hostage or de· other good reason not to skip proaches is particu larly good.
s tray the artifact irthe pes don't Slep 2 of the Combat Sequence:
stop nghtlng for a minu te. And In combat. the front· llne al -
Lhe{re telling the truth ... Though combat is I.he war- tack Is on ly one of several op-
rlo r 's profession . so me OM s tions the par ty needs 10 covel'.
Once Ihe PCs have lost several laun ch Ihe p layer -charac ter s
hostages or artifacts dear to into combat more often than And out of com bat. t he fi ghter
them. they may sian reconsid- they necessarily need to. Is admirably suited to dealing
erin g their reaelionary poliCies. with several everyday details
And once t hey get In the habit of Why is this? It 's because It be- th at concern th e adventuring
doing a little talking with the en- comes very easy 1.0 narrat e an
em y. they may figure out that encounter t his way: "You round p a r t y.
t hey can also initiate such com- the corner and t here. 30 feel
munica tion In future com baLS. ahead. you sec a panyofsix orcs Co mb.t Tactics
advancing. They see you , too.
Notes On the Roll for inll.latlve." When Ihe

Combat Sequence Once again , Step 2 is skipped : c haracters (not Just the warnor-

Here are a cou- and , merely by saying "Roll for c haracters) en ter combat. these
ple of lipS to give you more op· initiative:' you presume thai
lions In combat. the player-characters will at lack are some things thaI the warrior
the orcs. and that the orcs will
C.Ued Shots attac k the PCs. Not on ly do you should remember and provide
presume it : YOLI practica lly
With all the guaramcc It. The players will for :
r ules and options wc've hllro· follow the OM 's call for initia-
duccd In Tile Comp/ere Fight- tive, and combat isjoined before Shleld·W.Us . nd Po lurms
er 's Handbook. we need to anyo ne ngures out th at th ey
remin d you to be diligelll about had other options. As has bee n
asking about Called Shots dur-
Ing the Combat Sequence. If this has IlCi.'omc your habit mentioned before. a character
when O~·l in g. try substituting
In the game. combat follows some other statement Instead: with a poleann (or long spear. or
th is sequence: Ask "What do you doT Instead of j avelln )can stand behind a char-
calling for IniUal.h·e rolls. Th is acter wit h a shorter weapon and
(1 1 T he OM decides what the f,tl vcs the players the opportunity attack the sam e targets that his
NPCs and monsters will do: to talk to or challenge the other ally Is auacking. That's onc of
the principal advantages lO the
party. Combat might result any- polearm. bu t it 's ignored aU 100
o ft en In AD&DI$ gam e cam-
way: a particularly mililani PC.
pai g n s.
This Is the way It works:
The character with the po-

lcarm poSitions himsel f behind
an ally. preferably a nghtcr with

.9

X Combat Rules

a shield. Because the polearm In real life (for example. when learms. And one or two shoul d
fighter must work around the practiced by wolf·packs), this or· be missilers, carrying bow.
friend In front of him. he suffers ten has the effect of confusi ng crossbow, or even sling or
a -2 to hit anyone on the other the prey and reduci ng its figh t· throwing knives.
ing effectiveness. The prey feels
side of his friend. However. he a bite to Its rear and tu rns to at· This gives t.he party a certain
Isn't limited just to the enemy of tack there: bur while It'sconcen· amount of versatility. The heavy
traUng on enemies in that fighters can engage the heavy
the man he's standing behind: I f direction. the wolves now to its opposition, The poJearm fig ht-
rear make their attack. ers can attack the enemy with
our polcarm hero is s tanding be· reduced risk of being hurt. Th e
In the AD&l)J!lgame, the wolf· missilers s hould concentrate on
hind a line of three men {who are pack lactic can have similar ef· eliminating enemy mlssliers
fects , . . If the OM wishes to first, and then can turn their at·
slde·by·slde}, he can strike at al low It to. lfthe OM approves or tention to doing unreturned
anyone who is close enough to th is tactic, he can cooperate by damage to the melee·fighting
attack any of those three men having the monster, ror a few enemies.
with a medium-length weapon. rounds a t least. behave In the
predic table fa shio n: Eac h It 's espeCially good when
This Is usefu.l in a combat be- round. the monster turns and characters can mix and match
cause the polearm wielder can attacks the group that attacked their roles. Any character can
a tlack ta rgets without being it last. which is now defending, have a sling or a throwIng axe at
right In their faces. or engaged This will give the pany several his belt and become a missllerln
with them. That means he can rounds of combat where it has a matter of seconds, for exam·
switch targets without any the advantage and can whittle pic.
the monster down,
fancy footwork. When one orills Rotatio n
But be aware: Even Ir the DM
buddies Is foundertng. or taking is nice enough to give you this It often hap·
a beallng. the poleann wielder slight tactical advantage, even·
can begin auacklng thal bud· tually even the stupidest man· pens that a front·line fighter be·
dy's enem y. s ter will gel wise and try to
break through the circle of fight· comes seriously damaged when
And don't forget the polcarm ers, A good thing doesn't last fighting. , , and then must con-
vs. polearm Parry. as described foreve r, tinue fighlin g, because he has
above under that maneuver's no other option until the enemy
deSCription , It may be that your DM has no is defeated, This doesn't have to
interest in letLing this tactic be lhe case,
Wolf-P.u:k Tactk s work . Ask him if It has a chance
of doing some good in your cam- In a large party combat, par·
When the ad· paign. If he says no, don't even ll cu larJy da maged frOOl-li ne
venturing party gets In combat try it. Even if he says yes, he fighters can be "rotated out ."
with a single large monster may not remember to grant Uln{ pu lled rrom the front line and reo
which can be conrronted dl· litUe benefit: if. after a few wolf- placed by a less hurt warrior, , ,
rectly (like a tToll. for instance, pack allempls, you haven't or not replaced at all: The s hield·
and unlike a dragon. which has seen It work once, give up on the wall (I.e.. the other rron t·line
a strong mix or melee abilities, tactic . nghtcrs) can close ranks and
ranged combat abilities, and plug lip the hole,
mobility), It's foolish Just to line Tactiul Mix
up and hack at the thing. In facl. See the rules for Retreat [Play·
it's not necessart1y clever just to It's a good idea er 's Handbook, page 97), During
surround the mons ter and hack for the fighting characters (in · his combat action. thc Injured
at It. l1'v this Instead: c1udlng rogues and priests) in a man announces that he's reo
party to represent a mix of treating: the ally or allies he
Surround the monster. or weapons and combat styles, stood side·by,side with need to
course. Severa l shou ld be fronl·line announce that they're blocking
fight ers, bearing heavy annor pursuit [I.e.. they're moving so
On the first round, balf or the and large, damaging weapons, that the enemy can't Just wan·
circle or heroes should perrorm One or two would be behlnd·the- der In through their line). That
a Parry. or the Parrying maneu· lines fighte rs. carryi ng po· puts the hurt man behind his
ver rrom the DMG. The other own line, whe re he ea n keep
half shou ld attack as vigorous ly away from damage or even seek
as possible. some healing.

On the second round. the
action switches: The group
which attacked last round, now
derends, and the group which
defended now altacks.

.0

If one of the polearm fighters The spca r-carrler is given a a nd Iss ues orders to his allies.
is accommoda ting, th ey ca n Single weapon of his own. s uch The tactical coordina tor
take the rest of their combat as a spear, a nd a lso carries a
round to s witch weapons. The couple of extra weapons. which s hould be the o ne to noUce that
injured man takes the polearm, a re party-owned weapons- one of his fro ntline (rlends is be-
and the other fighter takes the such as a long sword In a back Ing chopped to pieces, and order
fro nt ·line wea po ns . On their sheat.h and a short sword on hIs that character rolated back be·
next combat round, the unin- bell. for inslance, hind the line, When one particu·
Jured man moves up into the lar enemy Is discovered to be
line a nd the injured man begins In combat. he Slays behind more dead ly than the rest. the
whacking enemies with his po- the lIne and ta kes the QCcaslonaJ tactical coordinator should or·
learm . spear-poke a l the enemy over der mlssilers and polearm fight-
the line. Whenever a PC loses a ers to concentra te their effons
Thls is a good way to keep weapon (lO a fumbl e. or an ene- on rnat o ne, When the fight goes
my's Disarm. or when a weapon agai nst the heroes and can 't be
people a live, Is shattered by a foel, the spear- turned around , the tactical coor·
carrier uses his next available dlnator s hou ld o rder th e
In some cam · combat rou nd La move In close retreat-and ma ke s ure, If possl·
palgns, players have the a tU- a nd give the PC one of the extra ble. thatlt's an orderly o ne, with
tude that NPCs a re along to get wea pons he's carrying. no one missing and fighting·
killed so that the PCs won ' t. ranks sUIl maintained.
The spear-carrler Is also useful
That's patently ridiculous : an fo r keeping a more distant eye on If no PC fight er volun teers or
adventurin g party with that al- what's going on with the combal. naturally evol ves Into the com-
titude would soon gain a very He might noUce new enemies ar· bat leader role. lhe OM can help
bad reputation . and wou ld nnd rtving on the hortzon, or noUce an "pus h things along" by deter-
It increasingly difficult to hire enemy skulkJng to get around the mining, In his best opInion,
NPCs. would find rna t in ns a nd edge of the shleld·waJl, before a which PC would be best In that
taverns always denied them player-charactcr has the opportu- role ... a nd lhe n having NPCs
service. would find that sages nity to do so. turn to Llla t charac ter for orders
told them to buzz off, etc. when com bat sltuat.ions come
Since this c haracter Is an u p.
However. there 's a type of NPC, he doesn't have LO share
spear -carrie r NPC that a ny the player-characters' fran llc Camp~lgn Tudes
group of adventurers should desire to make every comba t
consider hiring- and that's the round of cvery combat count for The wa rrior
actual spear-carrler. something . He ca n affo rd to Is n't helpless or useless outside
keep a n eye on things a nd won 't of comba t. either.
In many towns and villages. necessarily be desperate to bang
the heroes ca n find a s trong, o n an enemy every round . In slluatlons where the pany
strapping youth who Is willing is preparing for an adventure,
to come a long with them for the A variant of this character is planning a missIon , or Just ar·
promise of some lreasure and the spear-carrler devoted to a riving in a new place (town. cas-
combat training. This energetic specific PC. A PC who Is a spear· tle, whateve r) , the fight e rs
youth shouldn't be s lapped In thrower. fo r instance . might (especlaJly the combat leadcr)
armor a nd pu t up front to be have a page or squire devoted to should make themse lves re-
killed : Instead, he should b e ca rry ing twO or three extra sponsible for learning the fol -
charged with carrying an extra spears for him . In such a case. lowi ng things ... and reporting
weapon or two and making sure the PC Is usually responslblc for these facts to the others;
tha t aJl his allies have wcapons tcaching the pagc or squirc to
at a ll times In combat. In a com- fight (without getting him Co mb~ts.md
bat , the spear-carrier may act as killed) so that NPC might some-
a behind-the-lines polearm war- day become a knight. Combat Missions:
rior, If his hands a rc n' t full al ·
ready. He a lso serves as backup Directing Traffic Whar 's the
defe nse for people who stay be- Jay of r.he Jand? The fighters
hind the lin es beca use they It 's very help- should gel detailed descriptions
can 'l fight well: Noncombatant fu l for one fig hter In a party to (a nd , if possible, maps) of the
NPCs, mages, etc. act as tactical coordinator {that area where they will be fighting;
Is. comba tleaderl . In combat, he this will he lp them plOl strategy.
He re 's how It works: a mbushes. etc.
.,keeps his eye on the situation

Combat Rul es

What son of forces does the likely to reqUire specialized came to be: perhaps there's a
opposlUon muslcr? This might equipmenl. and U's t.he fight ers' clue to getting things fixed in
be details of the e nemy army. or responsibility to determine the history of the matter. Get-
the garrison of a castle the he· wha t sort of equipment that is ting details of the magiC of the
... and then to get it.
roes want to Invade, or j ust nl- situation: only a mage can prop-
Just Anlvlng In Town
mars of what might be found In erly evaluate these details: per-
the dark dungeon the charac- Wha/ are I_he haps the mage can arrange or
ters Intend to explore. characters' rooms like? Wheth· research a cou nte r-spell useful
er the heroes are being accom· in the situation.
Is allYthing strange gOing on modated by friends. by an Inn.
or by a local ruler or noble, the Priests can take responsibil-
al the sife? Ifthere is. it might be nghter shou ld c heck ou l their ity for: Learning what the local
rooms in ICons of defensibility. priests think of the s iLUalion .
symptomatic of something Im- If the heroes are attacked in Communing wi th their deities
portant to the c ha racters. Do the their rooms in the middle of the to see If the deity has a ny proph-
night In the dark. the fighter ecy, advice or admonition to of·
loca ls h ear grumbllngs and should know (beca use he's pre· fer. Provisioning the party: t.he
pared himself in advance) how priest Is best sulled to a rra nging
rumblings dee p in the canh that many cxils there are from the for ordinary provisions (food.
weren't there before? This room. whether they are open, clothing, etc.).
closed. or locked, how defensi-
might Indicate that a dragon ble the room is, wha t st.ory it is Rogues can take responsi-
on and how far It is to t he bility for: Putting an ear to the
has moved in ... or that some- ground. etc. He might wish to street (that is, the people of the
consult with the Rogue. who street) a nd seeing what's afoot;
one is doing some mining se- might be inclined to c heck for it's always a clue to the resolu-
secret doors or tra ps, or on the tion of a problem If the ru lers
c ret ly. Arc there suddenly a lot feasibility of going up to the roof say onc thing and the common
of st range rs In town? This when the heroes go out the win- people say something different
might mcan th e en emy has dow. about a situation. Eval uating in·
spies in town. or is hiring new filtratio n and break-in opportu-
Wh at are the local laws? The nities: the rogue is best suited to
warriors, w ho pass through fighter should fi nd out what the determining how possible and
local ordinances arc concerning useful It would be to getting a
town on route to their final desH- the carrying of weapons a nd the spy In the enemy camp. break-
naUon. Wbenever tbere's some- wearing of annor. If it turns out Ing In to a specific site. etc.
thing strange going on, the that either Is Illegal or restricted,
heroes wUl have to facc Its he ought to le t his friends know Natura ll y, a ll these descrip-
source eventually, and should about it. Contrary to what some tions are generalizations. Any
be as prepared as possible. campaigning groups think. 10' specific character m ight be par-
When the nghters hear of some- cal communities have the right ticularly talented at one of these
thing s trange going on. they re- to make such laws a nd enforce roles, even if he belongs to a
ally ought to consult with the them . .. and when player· " wrong" c haracier c lass. But
mages and priests. who migh t charaetersdery the local author- someone s hou ld und ertake
have Ideas on the matter based lUes, refuse to take off armor or each of these tasks: otherwise,
on their own fie lds of learning. abandon weapons. and even at· the characters are going into a
tack and kill local peace officers. situation knowing less than
Can lhe heroes count on local the PCs are for the moment vi/- they could know about it.
help? If th is Is a combat assault, lains, not heroes.
can the heroes request. hire or The ~ombat Sheet
levy local troops to back them The other character classes
up? If they can . and the sltua· have the ir ow n subjects to ex- On page 122 Is
tion warrants it. they s hould. plore In the same situations. By a Combat Shee t. One s ide con-
But If they nc\'cr ask. tJley al- comparison: tains information for PCs. the
most never gc t help. other Is fo r the DM to record vi-
Mages can take responsibil- tal combal statistics about the
Can the heroes hire local ex- ity for: Learning the history of characters.

pens? If their mission is to take .,the current situation. how it
tllem Into an a rea where a local
knows marc abou t the situation
than they do. It 's a good Idea for
the characters to hire a local ex-
pert_Guides who know the local

sites. especially, are an invalu-
able resource.

Whar sort of equipment will
the parry nced? Any sort of spe·
clal si tua tion (walls 10 climb ,
specific monsters to fight. imer-
estlng terrai n 1.0 c ross, etc. ) is

Warriors do not li ve by raw bamples Two-Handed Only
combat talent a lone (thou gh
they've bee n known to die by Ill . Each of the Arqu ebus.
No. they also need equipment. weapons fro m the Player 's Blowgun, Bows (a11). Crossbows
the tools of their trade: weap- Handbook falls into one of those (all) . Mancatcher. Poleanns (all).
ons. armor. and miscellaneous four ca tegories. as follows: Quarterstaff. SUng (one hand to
gear appropriate to the warrior- load, o ne hand to throw), Staff
class. One-Handed Only sling. Swordl1\vo-handed.

In this c hapter. we 'lI talk Dagger/dirk . More On One-H"nded or
about that equipment. and ela b- Dart. Footman's mace. Hand/ Two-Handed
ora te on the weapons a nd armor throwing axe , Knife. Lances
presented in the Players Hand- lalll. Scourge. Sic kle. Sword/ As you ca n
book. Kh opesh, Sword/Sc imitar, see, fiv e weapons fa ll into the
Sword/Short. Whip. One-Hand ed Or 1Wo-Ha nded
Old Weapons category : The Basta rd Sword ,
One-HAnded But Can Ie a nd rOUT spear- like weapo ns
We need 10 Wielded Two - Han~ed (Ha rpoon . Javelin, Spear. TH-
c1artfy some details aboul weap- de nt) .
OilS which appeared in the Play- Ba ltic axe,
er's Handbook. Clu b, Footman 's nail, Foot- In the Player's Handbook. It's
ma n's pick. Horseman 's nail. pres umed that you 're fighting
One-Hand, Two-Hand Horse man's mace, Horseman's with Spear one -ha nd ed , a nd
pick. Morningstar. Sword/Long. wlLh Harpoon , J avelin . and 1)-1-
Weapons . for a nd Warharnmer. dent two-handed . {This Is be-
purposes of how lhey're held cause Spea r Is a Medium
and wie lded. fa U Imo fo ur ca te- One-H.mded Or Two-Handed weapon a nd the others a re
gories: one-handed only, one- Large.} However, in The Com-
handed but can be wielded Harpoon. J a v· plete Fighter's Ha ndbook. a ny
two-handed. one-handed or two- elln . Spear, Sword/Bastard. lli- of these weapons can be used ei-
handed. or two-handed only. dent. ther in one ha nd or in both .

One-Handed Only means the Weight Speed Damage
weapon can o nly be wielded
o ne-handed. In onc hand or the Item Cost Ilbs.) Size Typet Factor S-M L
o ther.
Harpoon %
One-Handed But Can Be One-handed 20gp 6 L P 7 Id4+11d6+1
Wielded TWo-Handed refers to a 1Wo-handed 20gp 6 L P 7 2d4 2d6
weapon principally designed for
one-handed usc but which can be Javelin %
used two-handed. These wca- One-handed 5 sp 2 L P 4 Id4 Id4
pons have enough haft or hill on TWo-handed 5 sp 2 L P 4 Id6 Id6
them that the wielder can wield
the weapon In both hands. which Spear %
confers no benefit . . . unless the One-handed asp 5 M P 6 Id6 Ida
character has taken a Style Spe- Thro--handed I asp 5 M P 6 Id8+ 1 2d6
claHzaUon in 1Wo-Hander F'Ighl- Spear. Long %
Ing Style lsee the description of One-handed 5 gp a L p a Ida Id8 + I
1Wo-Hander technique in the 1\vo-handed I 5 gp a L p a 2d6 3d6
Combat cha pter).
llidenl %
One-Ha nded Or TWo-Handed One-handed 15 gp 5 L P 7 Id6+ I 3d4
weapons a re designed specifi- 1Wo-handed 15 gp 5 L P 7 Id8+ I 3d4
cally to be used with one or both
ha nds, and have separate dam- % This weapon is Intended for one-handed or two-handed USC_
age listings for the twO different I This weapon innlcls double damage when finn ly set to receive a
fightin g sty les.
charge.
Two-Ha nded Only weapons
ca n only be wi eld ed in two
hands.

93

But they can also be wielded MlsslI~ W~.pon Rang~s heading that corresponds to
two-handed_ and do even more that culture or Warrior Kit ,
damage when they arc. The ta· Weapon ROF S M L
b le shows both the one-handed If, for instan ce, your character
and two· handed damage for B ol as I 369 Isn't a Gladiator, he can't s lart
each of the four weapons. play wUh a drusus. In fac t. If he
Cha in • '12 I 2 doesn't belong to a culture
Also. to this list wc' re adding w h ic h has glad ia tors. neve r
the Long Spear. This is like the Dagger. travels to s uc h a c ul ture, and
ordi nary spear. but mounted on doesn't eve n nnd a market with
a much longer (12'- 18 ') s haft. bon e ' f> 23 contacts with such a culture. he
It's not especially suited to one· Dagger.
handed use. but inOic ts a lot of can never even gee a drusus,
damage when used two· stone 'j, I 2 3
handed. Daikyu So the OM. and OM alone. de-
"I, 7 14 21 cides how accessibl e each of
The Harpoon. J avelin. S pear. these weapons is based on how
and Trident can all be thrown. Javelin, many ties the camprugn culture
but we thrown weapon damage has with the culture that creates
Is always the one·handed dam- stone 246 these weapons. Even if he says
age. never the two-handed dam- thal there Is contact, It m ay not
age. Th e Long Spear Is not built Knife. "I, J 2 3 be possible or easy for pes to ac·
for throwing. bone quire these weapons; Just be-
cause samurai visit the court of
These five spear-like wcapons Knife. your king doesn't mean that
are as fasl and m aneuverable they'd be willing to sell their
when used two-hand ed: there· stone 'f> I 2 3 treasured kata nas, after all.
fore, unlike the Bastard Sword. • 12
their speed factor does not Lasso • 12 3 In short, acquis ition of this
worsen whe n they are used two- Ne t 3 type of eq Ui pment is left as an
h a n d ed. exercise In role-playing and ad-
S hurikc n 'f> 2 4 6 \'enture. in played -oul game
New Weapons Spear, sessions. not as somcthlng as
simple as droppi ng some gold
Several of the stone 12 3 pieces off you r character s hee t.
warrlor-kils described In the SUietlO "I, 1 2 3
AdvaJlced Warrior Types chap- Gl.d.liIltor W~."ns
ter mentioned new weapons ap· Tiident 1 0 1 2
proprlate to those warrior types. Gladiators a re
On the next page Is a c ha rt of all The chain. lasso and net are trained In a variety of weapons.
those new weapons: a IIltle fur· included In the table above be· In addition to the new weapons
ther on we'll discuss what they cause their usc. in combat. is on the chart above. gladiators
are and how they're used. much like a missile weapon. can be trained in the following.
They have ranges related to the more common ly-ava il ab le.
Many of these weapons have le ngth of the c hain. the lasso or weapons: Long bow (a ny type).
special abilities, bonuses and the net's tra iling rope, Short bow (a ny type). Dagger.
combat funclions not renecled Footman 's nail , Knife, Ha lberd ,
on the chart: these abilities help The .. . .. means the weapon Scourge, Scimitar, Short sword ,
account for the high costs listed
for some of the weapons. doesn't precisely have a rate of Spear. Tridenl. and WhIp.
fire: It may be used as often as The short sword used by glad·
Other weapons. particularly the cha racter's level (and per·
the bone and stone ones, seem haps specialization) d icta tes for iators, lncidcntally, is a s hon.
to be of very limited usefulness. a melee wea pon. s traight· bladed weapon sha rp-
There's a reason for that. dis· ened on both edges: it Is called
cussed a little funht'!r on in th is Use of Th~se T..bles the gladius. a nd gladiatorS take
section. their name from It. The glad ius
The fact that has the characte ristics of a n or·
these weapons appear on tables
In an AD&Oe game product dlnary short sword.
d oesn 't mean that players may
immediately buy these weapons
fo r th eir charac ters, These
weapons are no t commonly
available . a nd m ay on ly be
taken with OM perm ission. , .
and that perm ission s hould de-
pend on the character's origi n.

You see, each of these weap'
ons is appropriate to a certain
cultu re land to the Warrior Kits
belonging to tha t cultu re): and
each ofthcse weapons is furthe r
desc ri bed below , u nd e r the

94

New Weapons list

Ite m Cost Weight Size Type' Speed Damage
Fac tor S-M L
Arrows. Stone 3cp/ 12 (Ibs.J M P
2 cp S B 4 Id4 Id4
FHght& 2 cp 1/10 L B 4 Id3 Id3
Belaying pln ! 5sp M B 8 Id6 Id4
So stick & I gp 2 S S 2 Id3 Id2
Bolas! 5sp 4 L B 5 Id4 I d3
Cestus! 2 Id4 + 1 Id4
Chain & I sp 2 S P 2
Dagger 2sp 3 S P 2 Id2 Id2
lOOgp L 7 Id3 Id2
Bone! I M P
Stone! 3 sp/6 I 2 Id8 Id6
Dalkyu & 3 S P 2
Dalkyu arrow & 2 gp I S P Id4 Id3
5 cp 4 Id4 Id3
G a r rl h ook ! 2 L P 4
5cp 2 L P Id4 Id 4
At t a ch e d 5 cp 2 Id4 + 1 Id6
Held 2 S PIS 2
Javelin. Stone % 3 cp S PIS 10 Id2 Id2
One-handed 5 cp ,,2,,.. L 2 Id2 Id2
.5sp S PIS 10
1Wo-ha nded 3gp 3 M 3 Id4 Id3
Knife 5gp 2 M B
I gp 10 7 Id6 Id6
Bone I 3 L P 7
Stone I 8gp L B 2 Id8 Idl O
2 gp 10 S PIB 2 Id8 Id8
Lasso & 5 sp 7 S P
3 sp 2 8 Id4 Id2
M a i n -gau ch e ! I L P 8 Id4 Id4
5gp L P
Net & 5gp 8 6 Id8 IdS+ 1
8 M P 6 2d6 3d6
Nun c h a k u ! 8 cp M P 2
8 cp ,55,. S P Id4 Id6
Polearm Ssp 5 Id6 2d4
Naglnata &1 4 M S 3
Tetsubo & 12 gp 3 M S Id3 Id2
sogp 4
Sal ! 6 M SIP 4 Id6 Id8
100 gp 6 M SIP 4 I dS + 1 IdS+ 1
Shurlken I l OOgp 4 M 4
IS gp 5 M P 3 IdlO I d 12
Spear. Long % 17 gp 3 M S 2d6
One-Handed SOgp SIP I d6+ I 2d6
Id6+J IdS+ 1
1Wo-Handed , IdS + 1
Id8
Spear. Stone % Id8
O n e -b a n d ed

TWo-banded

S tUeito!

Sword

Cu tlass I
Drusus!
Katana %

One-handed
TWo- handed
Rapier I

Sabre I

Waklzashl S

This weapon Is inte nded for one-handed use, and may not be used two-handed.
S T h is weapon Is intended for one-han ded use. but may be used two-han ded (see the rules for 1Wo-H an der

Style Specialization In the Combat chapter ).
% This weapon Is Intended for one·handed or two-handed use.

,& T his weapon Is Intended for two-handed use on ly.

I This weapon Inflicts double danl age when finnly set to receive a charge.
The "Type" category Is divided Into Bludgeoning (B). Piercing (PI, and Slashing (5). This Indicates the type

of auack made, which may alte r the weapon 's effecUve ness against different types of ar mor. See the

optional mle In the Player 's Handbook. page 90,

9'

8 01.1.5 gll ng him. (This docs not work If When wearin g a cestu s or two
the cha racter was wearing a cesti. a charac ter m a y s ull ma ke
The bolas are Close-Faced Helm or a Grea t a Grab ma ncuver with the ha nd
three ba lls a llached to ropes or Hel m. described later lhis chap· the cestus is on . T his a ttac k wIll
cord s about a yard in length: the ter.) The bolas do the listed dam · be at a -2 to hit fo r clums iness.
other ends of th e cords are tied age on the round the y h it . a nd a - 2 to lhe a ttacke r's
together In a knot. The wielder Thereafter. on each successive Stre ngth (for purposes of hold-
of the bolas whirls them by the rou nd where they begin th e Ing on ) like wise.
knot a nd throws them at a tar- round slill on the viclim's throa t.
ge t ; if th ey h it . the y w ra p they do Id3 hp of da mage from Cestus. because It is s imply a
arou nd the target. with the balls s tran gula tio n . T he dam age bon us to punc h.lng-ty pe a t-
smas h ing pain fully into the [ar- stops when they arc removed or tacks. does not requIre weapon
get as th ey connect, Once they when the target Is dcad. proficien cy: a n yo ne can usc
ha ve w rapped th emselves cest! wllh no proficiency pe n-
arou nd a target. It t.akes the vie- Weapon profi cie ncy wi lh the alt),. T he refore. Specializa tion
Urn one full rou nd and a s uc- Bolas is not rela ted to a ny othe r with Cestus costs only weapon
cessfu l abllily c h ec k vs . weapon proficie ncy. S peclallza· proficienc y s ia l.
Stren gth to get them free. (If the tion grants the usual benefits. In
c h a rac te r fails his Stre ng th case of a CaJled Shot to the tar· In a c u ltu re where the re Is
c heck . he does not get the bolas get's head. th e damage bon us gladia tori al com ba t. cesU are
free lh is rou nd .) only applies to the initia l hlL: it is readily available from weapon-
not added to the subsequent s m ith s, bu t {he y a re n ot ex-
This weapon does only a lillie rou nds of stra ngula tion .
dam age. but it is CSIX!c ial ly use· ported. as they' re such a basic
ful lf you arc USing the H i t Loca · Any Icmherworker or wea p· wea pon the markel Is nOt very
tions rules from the Combat ons m ith ca n make a set of bolas good . Any foreign weapons m lth
Rules chapter. .. . but he m us t ha ve exact mea· who has cestl described to him
surem ents for the cords a nd ex· can make perfeeL1y fun c tiona l
If the a ttacker ma kes a Ca lled act weig hts for the ba lls to do il cest! : the fi rs t two cesti h e
S hot to the targe t 's Legs (he right. Simp ly hearing s uc h a makes will be a t twice the listed
doesn 't have to s pecify wh ic h ; If wea pon desc ribed. the c rafts· cost. and s ubseque nt ones will
the a ttac k hits, It h its bol h), and man ca n ma ke some thing like It be a t lhe lis ted cost.
s uccess fu lly a tlacks. the bolas ... but un less he makes h is
wra p them selves lightly around c raftsm a n abi lity c heck by 3 or Drusus
his legs. He can no longer run or belter. th e wea pon he ma kes
wa lk until he ge ts t.hem free . He will be proporUoned wrong a nd T he Drus us is
m ust ma ke a Dexte rity c heck wlll be a t a -4 1.0 hit. a Gladius (shon sword ) of Ex-
JUSt to a void falli ng down . In ce ptiona l qu a lity (as pe r lhe
fact. if he was m ovi ng whe n the Cestus ty pes of wea pon qua li ty de-
attack was made. he suITc rs a scribed In lhe Chara c ter Cr ea-
- 3 pe nalty to h is Dextcrlty The cestus is a lion c hapter of this rule book). It
c heck 10 avoid fa lli ng down . glovelike weapon . s tudded with looks Just like a n ord inary gla ·
sharp s pikes a nd edges on lhc dlus: on ly by tes ting the s ha rp-
If the attac ker makes a Called back of the glove a nd across th e ness of the blade can someone
Shot to the ta rgc t's Arms {again . knu c kles . Gladi ators fig h ting tell the difTerence . The Drus us
he doesn 't ha\'e to specify: both wi th th e ccs tu s us ually wear ha s bee n forged so th a t t he
will be hit) and s uccessfu lly a t- lWO. one on eac h ha nd {the plu· m e ta l Is be tte r· te m pered a nd
raJ is eestlJ: here. it pays for a holds an edge belter. a nd the n
tac k s . the bolas wr ap the m · gladiator to have Cestus Wea- s harpe ned u n til It has a razor-
s elves tightly arou nd his arm s pon Spec ia lization . 1\vo ·
a n d lorso. He can not wield his Weapo n S ty le S pecia li za ti on . like edge.
wea pon and docs not get the AC and/or Pu nChing Specialization . Because of this. it does + I
bonus of his shield until he ge LS
himself free. His roll to free him- Ces lll s com bat is very popu la r d a m age a nd co nfe rs a no n ·
self Is a t a - 2 pena lty lO h is with arena c rowds because It Is m agical + 1 to h it ove r the nor-
Strenglh a bilit y score beca use e xtrem ely bloody a nd up·close. mal gladl us. {This m eanS the
he has no leverage. Also. beca use the weapons do wielding c ha racte r gets a + I to
com pa ra tively lit tle da m age. hit when using the weapon. but
If lhe a ttac ker makes a CaJ led the fi ghters te nd to last a long the wcapon docs not give him
Shot to the target's Head . the b0- time in combat. the a bi lity to hi t monSlers whic h
las wrap themselves around the require magical weapons to af-
target's neck and begin stran- feeL)

96