I have recently picked up a copy of the Pathfinder Bestiary. It is an essential accompaniment for running the Pathfinder game, as it brings all the core monster in line with the new “D&D 3.75″ system. It isn’t as good as it should be in certain areas, but I’m not proposing to review the product in this post. What the book does do is provide rules for building new monsters, calculating Challenge Ratings, applying templates and also presents new rules for using powerful races as player characters. The latter is the thrust of today’s post.

Now, these rules have limited application for HD&D. As you will undoubtedly remember, powerful races will simply have their abilities broken down into a succession of racial talents that players can choose to select, or not, as they advance their characters. There is no such thing as racial hit dice or racial character classes in HD&D. However, the Pathfinder rules are very interesting, in that they try to make the third edition system work properly. It was something that I never managed to achieve, so let’s see how they did.

The following, blue, text is taken from p313 of the first printing of the Pathfinder Bestiary (9781601251831):

Using one of the monsters presented in this book as a character can be very rewarding, but weighing such a character against others is challenging. Monsters are not designed with the rules for players in mind, and as such can be very unbalancing if not handled carefully.

There are a number of monsters in this book that do not possess racial Hit Dice. Such creatures are the best options for player characters, but a few of them are so  powerful that they count as having 1 class level, even without a racial Hit Die. Such characters should only be allowed in a group that is 2nd-level or higher.

For monsters with racial Hit Dice, the best way to allow monster PCs is to pick a CR and allow all of the players to make characters using monsters of that CR. Treat the monster’s CR as its total class levels and allow the characters to multiclass into the core classes. Do not advance such monsters by adding Hit Dice. Monster PCs should only advance through classes.

If you are including a single monster character in a group of standard characters, make sure the group is of a level that is at least as high as the monster’s CR. Treat the monster’s CR as class levels when determining the monster PC’s overall levels. For example, in a group of 6th-level characters, a minotaur (CR 4) would possess 2 levels of a core class, such as barbarian.

Note that in a mixed group, the value of racial Hit Dice and abilities diminish as a character gains levels. It is recommended that for every 3 levels gained by the group, the monster character should gain an extra level, received halfway between the 2nd and 3rd levels. Repeat this process a number of times equal to half the monster’s CR, rounded down. Using the minotaur example, when the group is at a point between 6th and 7th level, the minotaur gains a level, and then again at 7th, making him a minotaur barbarian 4. This process repeats at 10th level, making him a minotaur barbarian 8 when the group reaches 10th level. From that point onward, he gains levels normally.

GMs should carefully consider any monster PCs in their groups. Some creatures are simply not suitable for play as PCs, due to their powers or role in the game. As monster characters progress, GMs should closely monitor whether such characters are disruptive or abusive to the rules and modify them as needed to improve play.

These rules certainly seem better thought out and proportionate. I like the way that they acknowledge the diminishing return you get from playing powerful races at very high levels. Taking the late Game of Souls campaign as an example,  I don’t think anyone can argue that the Scribe of Tam was the equal of the resurrected Tam. I am also pleased that the book states that there can be no universal rules for creating balanced PC monsters. That said, I am not 100% convinced by Paizo’s take on this.

There is no Equivalent Character Level (ECL) in Pathfinder. All creatures simply run off their Challenge Rating (CR) value. The CR is still used to balance encounters and calculate experience points. A CR 4 creature should be roughly the same power as a level 4 character. Which is obviously where the logic for these new rules have come from. However, it does make for some interesting anomalies.

Taking the minotaur that they use as an example, we can see something a little unexpected.

A minotaur is a CR 4 creature, but in Pathfinder (as in regular third edition) the minotaur is a six hit dice creature. The rules state that the minotaur adventuring with a 6th level party should have two additional class levels (CR 4 + 2 levels = level 6). That means that while the rest of the adventuring party has six hit dice, the minotaur actually has eight hit dice: six from its racial HD (CR 4) and two class levels.

Because racial hit dice count for less as the minotaur advances, this gap widens at higher levels. By the time the party are halfway through 6th level (6 HD), the minotaur PC will be a Minotaur Barbarian 3 (7th level with 9 HD). By the time the party are halfway through 10th level, the minotaur PC will a Minotaur Barbarian 8 (12th level with 14 HD).

Does that strike anyone as odd?

Also what is not entirely clear here is how class-independent benefits such as skill points, feats, hit points and saving throw progressions will accrue. If you’re a minotaur barbarian 8 do you have the feats of a 12th level character (which is your CR) or the feats of a 14th level character (your HD)?

So there are still problems to be ironed out. I think that a little more than six paragraphs should have been spent explaining this. Paizo had an opportunity to truly integrate the rules for playing powerful characters with every single monster in the Bestiary, and they blew that chance. Which is a shame. But it is interesting.

Which is really all I had to say on the matter.  If you’re a Pathfinder fan then you may be interested to know that free previews of classes from their upcoming Advanced Player’s Guide will start appearing on the Paizo Blog later this week. We wil see the Cavaliar and Oracle on Friday 13th November; the Summoner and Witch on Friday 30th November; and the Alchemist and Inquisitor on Friday 14th December. I am far from above pillaging these new classes for HD&D.

My apologies for not pressing on with the posts on Combat, Weapons and so on. My attention has been somewhat diverted by the upcoming weekend game. Once that it is out of the way, I shall be able to devote a greater proportion of my time to HD&D. However, the following occurred to me this morning, and I wanted to joy down my thoughts while they were still fresh.

As I am sure you remember, I’m currently proposing we use a Recharge Magic system in HD&D. Obviously, we’re a long way from playtesting and when we do playtest, I have every intention of trying out the recharge system. However, there was a fair amount of opposition to the idea, so I have been thinking of possible alternatives, that don’t involve reverting to a spell-points. Here’s one of them:

Skill Checks to Cast Spells

Many roleplaying games run magic off the skill system – i.e. you have a roll to make a skill check in order to cast a spell. Any spell. At any time. The limitation placed upon spellcasting is not an arbitrary number of spell points, or limiting the casting of a spell to a certain number of times per day. The limitation is that you might simply fail the skill check.

“Hang on!” you might say. “Doesn’t HD&D already do this?” Well, no. It doesn’t. Not quite. In HD&D you often have to roll a Spellcraft check when you cast a spell, but this is not a check to cast the spell. This is a check to overcome the defences of your target. The Spellcraft check is an attack roll that replaces an opponent’s saving throw. As it stands, you do not need to roll a die simply to cast magic.

If we were to embrace this system instead of Recharge Magic, every spell would require a skill check to cast - even if you’re just detecting magic. Every spell would have a chance of failure. If you were targeting a spell at an opponent, then we would need to adopt the same mechanics I’ve already proferred for many of the combat manoeuvres: i.e. one die roll against two DCs.

For example, if you wanted to cast a Lightning Bolt at a foe you would make one roll on Spellcraft skill. The result would be compared to two DCs: the difficulty of casting the spell, and the Reflex defence of your target. Only if you rolled high enough to beat (or equal) both DCs would the spell work successively.

This is preferable than making two die rolls to cast a spell (one to cast and one to hit) as that tends to skew probability -  as well as slowing down combats. The DC to cast a spell would be pegged at the “average” DC depending on the level when the spell first becomes a available. So the DCs would be:

• 1st level: DC 15
• 2nd level: DC 16
• 3rd level: DC 17
• 4th level: DC 18
• 5th level: DC 20
• 6th level: DC 21
• 7th level: DC 22
• 8th level: DC 24
• 9th level: DC 25

Now, as you rise in level the chances are that the DC to cast the spell is lower than the DC of the defences of your enemy. Therefore in combat, the difference is minimal. However, this is still a limitation. If you try to cast a spell and fail, then you still use up any material components. However, you can still try again the following round. With a suitably high spellcraft skill you could effectively cast low level spells indefinitely.

The disadvantage of this system is that it does make spell casting more complicated. There are also some spells that we don’t really want characters to be able to cast indefinitely – particularly healing magic. Therefore, there are still some kinks in the idea that need to be ironed out.

One can imagine how many of the traditional trappings of D&D could be layered onto this system. Using a metamagic feat increases the DC to cast a spell. If you don’t get eight hours sleep then you lose access to your highest level spells the following day and so on.

The principle of this is sound. You roll to cast a spell. If you fail the roll, then the spell doesn’t go off. It’s simple, and doesn’t involve any extra die rolling in combat. The question really is whether this is enough of a limitation to stop magic completely dominating the game.

Thoughts?

In writing and adapting rules for the hybrid game I try not to second guess myself. I’m not convinced on the power level of some of the talents, or whether the magic system will function at all, but I’m putting those concerns to one side until after play testing. But there are occasions when I question the basic assumptions of the game. The matter I am currently mulling over is Skill DCs.

The problem was crystalised for me when I was playing Marc’s game a few couple of weeks ago. My character needed to balance over a roof, which called for an Acrobatics check. Now the character’s not that clumsy (she has a Dex of 13) but Acrobatics isn’t a trained skill for her, so the total skill modifier is +3. Rolling 1d20+3 is no guarantee of succeeding at anything, and inevitably I wound up taking a tumble. I got to thinking: how would that situation work in HD&D?

Well, in HD&D a character who is untrained in a skill wouldn’t have any ranks in at all. In HD&D, Maia’s Acrobatics check would have been made on 1d20+1 not 1d20+3. And to make matters worse, all the DCs in HD&D are about 5 points higher than their fourth edition counterparts. Playing under the hybrid rules, I wouldn’t have had a hope in hell on that roof.

Now, I could console myself by saying that I would have chosen Acrobatics as a skill for my character if the 4e rules had let me do it. HD&D is more flexible in this regard. However, that would be missing the point somewhat. And besides a fifth level character with a Dex of 13 who has maximum possible ranks in Acrobatics, still only has a skill modifier of +3 in the hybrid game.

So the question is: are DCs too high or are skill checks too low? Or is it both? Or neither?

The HD&D Assumption

There are various elements that can improve your skills in HD&D, but there are less than you’ll find in third edition, fourth edition or Pathfinder. There are no skill synergies in HD&D, and no feats that grant +2 to two vaguely related skills. This all seeks to keep the maximum skill modifier low. In fact, pretty much all you have in HD&D to modify your skills is the following:

• Your ability score modifier
• Level-based increases to your ability scores
• Your racial bonus (+2 to two skills)
• The Skill Focus feat (+1 per five levels to one skill)
• Your skill ranks (equal to a maximum of half your level rounded up)

I am keen to base max skill ranks at half your level, rather than your full level (as in third edition) because the latter case leads to an unnecessary escalation of DCs. When the difference between what a very skilled character can achieve and what an unskilled character can achieve is greater than any result you can roll on 1d20 then the game begins to break down. HD&D will still break down, but it’ll break down at a much higher level than third edition. Probably not until about level forty – which is well beyond the scope of most games.

The skill DCs don’t take into account racial modifiers or the skill focus feat. I judged these as welcome extras that players can use to make their characters even better in their chosen pursuit. Let’s set those aside. Instead the skill DCs are based on a character who has maximum ranks in a skill, an ability score of 18 at first level, and who continues to increase that ability score at every possible instance. There is an assumption that a first level character has +5 in a skill, and that a twenty-first level character has +18 in a skill.

A used this calculation to extrapolate the DCs I would expect characters of levels 1-30 to be able to achieve. And then categorise the DCs as Easy, Moderate, Hard and Impossible. Remember that a Moderate DC needs maximum ranks, and an 18 starting stat. I’ve been using this table to set DCs for all elements in the HD&D system:

The key point to bear in mind is that a Moderate check is designed to be something that is Moderate for a trained professional. Not something that is Moderate for an unskilled no-hoper. This principle was enshrined way back in the second HD&D post, and it’s stood up till now.

How it works in Fourth Edition

Fourth edition sees things differently. Now you may be thinking that 4e is hardly a source of good mechanics, but there’s a lot of good stuff buried under the dross. And the 4e designers have been fairly open about how the system is put together.

The following is an excerpt from Dungeon #170 on the “Maths Behind the DCs”. It’s written by Mike Mearls, who is the lead designer for 4e so he should know what he’s talking about. He did write Keep on the Shadowfell, however, and I may never forgive him for that. Still this makes interesting reading:

The standard DCs for levels 1-3, after errata, are:

Easy: 5
Moderate: 10
Hard: 15

If you’re like a lot of D&D players, those seem a little low to you. The key is, though, to understand why they sit where they do. The following examples all assume a 1st-level character.

The easy DCs are meant to represent trivial tasks, the sort that rarely go wrong but could. We aimed for an untrained character with no particular aptitude (+0 or a penalty in the appropriate ability score) to fail about 20% of the time. A trained character succeeds automatically.

For moderate DCs, the character with a +0 modifier fails 45% of the time. A character with a +2 bonus and no training fails about a third of the time (35%). A trained character fails 20% of the time, while a trained character with a +2 to +4 stat mod looks at 15% to zero chance of failure.

Finally, for the hard DC, our +0 character stares at a 70% chance of failure. Training brings that down to 45%, and a half-decent stat slashes it down further to a 35% failure, or 60% for the untrained character.

The really interesting case here is the super-competent character. That character has training (+5), a good stat (+3), a +2 bonus from race or background, and maybe another +2 (or so) from a feat or magic item. That PC fails the hardest check 15% of the time. Not bad, is it?

All this math is to illustrate an important principle: The DCs are aimed at the character who might have training and a +2 stat bonus, and at PCs who made no effort to improve a skill. If a PC really wants to maximize a skill, the system lets him show off his mastery by blasting through the DCs with ease. By spending those feats, training in a skill, and picking a combination of race, background, class, and so forth to maximize a skill, the character is a master compared to other PCs.

So fourth edition has higher skill modifiers and lower DCs than HD&D. The entire philosophy behind the DC setting is completely different. I want a trained character to succeed a moderate DC  50% of the time. They want a trained character to succeed at a moderate DC 85% to 100% of time. By the same token an untrained character should succeed at a moderate DC about 50% of the time, while in HD&D untrained characters can easily have a 0% to 5% chance of success – and carry that level of success with them throughou their adventuring career.

Of course, one of the challenges in HD&D that is not in fourth edition, is that we use the same skill system to adjudicate combat. You can’t have a mega skilled  character hitting a difficult Reflex defence 85% of the time. That strikes me as a little broken. However, this article did get me thinking about my skill DC assumptions. As a player, I wouldn’t want to look at my character sheet and see a numbe of +1s and +2s next to all my skills.

How it works in 3rd Ed. and Pathfinder

Both third edition and pathfinder base maximum skill ranks of your character’s level, not half his level. I’ve already said I don’t want to do that, but there are still some things we can take from the way these systems work.

Third Edition: Sets a character’s maximum skill ranks as your level +3. This gets away from the problem of having cripplingly low skills at first level. The maximum ranks of cross-class skills are set at half this. So a 13th level character can only have +8 in a cross-class skill.

Pathfinder: The Pathfinder system does away with having different maximum ranks for class and cross class skills. In Pathfinder you can put a number of ranks into any skill equal to your level. Each class has a list of class skills. If you put ranks into one of your class skills you get +3 to your check. This is the same principle as the +5 modifier to trained skills you get in 4e, but it creates skill modifiers that are exactly the same as third edition (a goal of the Pathfinder design process).

Could we do something similar in HD&D? Bump up the skills of first level characters to make their skills more meaningful at very low levels. It’s worth a thought isn’t it?

The Future of Skills in HD&D

I was thinking of something along the lines of this: The maximum ranks you can have in a skills is half your level +3 (rounded down). This means characters would start with up to three ranks in any one skill, and could put an extra rank in at every even numbered level.

This would be quite helpful from a progression point of view, as not much happens at even numbered levels at present. If your skills could increase, and your defences increased by +1 at even instead of odd levels then it would make the progression more balanced.

In practice, characters under this system would have skill modifiers that are 2-3 points higher than they would have been in the original HD&D system. It’s a small difference, but one I think could be necessary in the long term.

As for DCs…. I say leave them where they are. They’re already quite high. Rather than assuming characters have a stat of 18 and maximum skill ranks; I’ll just assume a stat of 14 and maximum skill ranks. That can easily be justified.

The question is…

What version of the rules do we use for playtesting: my original thoughts with very low DCs, or this new idea with not quite as low DCs? My opinion is still not to second guess myself, to hold this new ides in reserve and use it only if the first obviously fails. We’ll know that when we enter play-testing, but I’d be interested in hearing your opinions in the meantime.

Today we take a break from the grind of the combat system with a welcome look at some General Feats. This is a timely post, as many of these feats seek to augment, alter or improve many of the Actions in Combat that were presented in the most recent post.

There are 60 feats presented in the list below. This compares to the 97 feats that saw print in the third edition Player’s Handbook, the 151 feats from the fourth edition Player’s Handbook 1, and the 179 feats from Paizo’s Pathfinder RPG. So is HD&D a little feat-lite when compared to its forebears? No, not at all. HD&D isn’t finished yet, there will be plenty more before the end. Although it is interesting to note that the way the hybrid game is structured seems to lend itself to slightly fewer feats.

The feats in the list below are just general feats. These are the feats that I see as being open to all characters of any race or any class. Of course, I might change my mind. We might decide that Repetoire of Deceit is better suited as a rogue-only feat. Most of the class specific feats will appear in the descriptions of the character classes themselves – so expect to see a lot more when the Fighter debuts in the next week or so. At the end of this post is a section on What’s New and What’s Changed, which should help to explain why I’ve done some of the things I’ve done.

So without further ado…

Alertness (General Feat)
Some call you paranoid and jumpy, but you haven’t lived this long without paying close attention to your surroundings.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: None
Area of Effect: Personal
Benefit: You don’t grant enemies combat advantage during surprise rounds. You also gain a +2 inherent bonus to Perception checks.

Arcane Initiate (Multiclass Feat)
The chance of arcane majesty is too tempting to ignore. You extend your skills to embrace the mysteries of magic.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Int 13
Benefit: You multiclass into Wizard. Add Spellcraft (Arcane) to your list of Class Skills. If you are already trained in this skill, then you may select any other skill from the wizard’s list of favoured skills and add it to your class skills.
    If you already have the chosen skill as a cross-class skill, and you have spent skill points in it, then you gain a rebate of skill points equal to your ranks in the skill. See the description of the Skill Training feat for more information.
    From this point on you are considered a Wizard for purpose of qualifying for feats, talents and prestige classes. Whenever you choose a new feat you may choose a wizard feat, whenever you choose a new talent you may choose a wizard talent. See the rules on multiclassing for further details.

Attack on the Run (General Feat)
You can deftly move up to a foe, strike and then withdraw before he can attack.
At Will | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Dex 13, Combat Mobility feat
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You can split your Move action, enabling you to move both before and after your standard action. For example, a character moving 30 feet in a round, could choose to move 15 feet, take a standard action (such as an attack), and then move another 15 feet. Using the Attack on the Run feat to move away from an enemy you have just attacked in mêlée, does not provoke the opportunity attack usually associated with such movement. Making a ranged attack whille engaged in mêlée combat still provokes opportunity attacks as normal. Using Attack on the Run is not an action, rather it is part of the Move action you take during combat.
Special: If you attack a foe with the Combat Superiority talent, you are still vulnerable to opportunity attacks from that character – even if you have this feat.

Blind-Fighting (General Feat)
You have the “ear that sees”. You are able to fight effectively in mêlée combat against opponents you cannot see.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Permanent blindness, or 11th level
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: Foes battling you in a mêlée combat gain no benefit from concealment or total concealment even if you are blinded, the area is engulfed in magical darkness and they are invisible. Simply adjudicate combat as if the foe was visible to you. Enemies engaged in mêlée combat with you do not have bonuses to their Stealth skill and do not enjoy combat advantage over you. Likewise, you have no penalty to your skill checks or reflex defence against said enemies.
    This area of awareness only extends to mêlée combat (approximately five feet around you). Enemies outside that range retain all the benefits of being unseen, and the rules governing how you perceive and interact with them are unchanged.

Combat Casting (General Feat)
Once you start casting a spell, it is very difficult to disrupt or distract you.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Spellcaster
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You gain a +5 bonus to your Will defence for the purpose of defending against attacks that try to disrupt your spellcasting.

Combat Mobility (General Feat)
You are used to racing through combat at speed, and you can do so without giving your enemies any advantage.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Dex 13
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You can run or charge through combat without granting combat advantage to your enemies. You do not grant combat advantage when running, charging or attacking with the bull rush, over-run or trample manoeuvres.

Combat Reflexes (General Feat)
You move like a greased wippet to respond to sudden and unexpected threats.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: 11th Level
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You may take two Swift actions in the same round. This includes any immediate reactions or immediate interrupts that may tbe triggered by outside stimuli. Normally characters can only take one swift action per round.
Special: This feat doesn’t grant you any swift actions to take, they must come from another source. However, if cirumstances conspire to grant you two opportunities to take a swift action during the same combat round, then you may take them. For example, a fighter might make two opportunity attacks, a wizard might cast two quickened spells, or a swordmage might use her aegis power against two different opponents.

Danger Sense (General Feat)
Be it reflexes, instinct or simply galloping paranoia – you’re always ready for anything.
Contious Effect | Mundane
No Action
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you make an Initiative check you can roll twice and take the higher of the two rolls.

Daunting Skill (General Feat)
Your skill with your favoured weapons can be used to intimidate your enemies.
At-Will | Mundane
Standard Action
Prerequisite: Intimidate as a class skill; Skill Focus in the weapon you are using
Area of Effect: Close Burst 30 ft radius
Effect: You engage in an ostentatious display of weapon mastery that scares the bejesus out of your opponents. After spending a standard action bewildering everyone with your prowess you may make an Intimiate check to demoralise all enemies in a 30 ft radius of of you. Roll one check and compare the result to the Will defence of all your enemies. Any target you succeed against is Shaken until the end of your next turn.

Demoralising Stare (General Feat)
One look from your eyes is enough to loosen the bowels of even of the bravest men.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Intimidate as a class skill
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You may use the Intimidate skill to demoralise an opponent as a Move action instead of a Standard Action. From 11th level you may attempt to demoralise an opponent as a Free action instead of a Move Action. However, you may not attempt to demoralise an opponent more than once per round.
Special: This feat has no affect on the time it takes to perform the Daunting Skill feat.

Die Hard (General Feat)
You can remain conscious and fighting after attacks that would dismember others.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Second Wind talent
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you become bloodied, you do not fall unconscious. Instead you remain standing and you can continue to act normally with the exception that you can only take one Standard action per round, as opposed to one Standard and one Move action.
    You still continue to make stabilisation checks as normal, and still die if you fail three of them. An attack that brings you down to below your Bloodied Value also kills you.

Empower Spell (Metamagic Feat)
You can cast spells to greater effect, allowing you to punch above your weight in combat.
At-Will | Magical
No Action
Prerequisite: Spellcaster of 5th level or higher
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you cast a spell, you may choose to Empower it. You may only empower spells that are at least two levels lower than the maximum level you can cast. For example, if the most powerful spell you can cast is seventh level, then you can empower spells of fifth level or less.
    All variable numeric effects of an empowered spell are increased by one half. An empowered spell deals half as much damage as normal, cures half again as many hit points, affects half again as many targets. For example, an empowered magic missile deals 1½ times its normal damage (multiply the damage by 1.5 for each missile).
    Attack rolls, opposed rolls and saving throws prompted by the spell are not affected by empowerment.

Enlarge Spell (Metamagic Feat)
You are able to cast your spells at a greater range than mere amatuer spellcasters. You sneer at them.
At-Will | Magical
No Action
Prerequisite: Spellcaster of 3rd level of higher
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you cast a spell, you may choose to Enlarge it. You may only enlarge spells that are at least one level lower than the maximum level you can cast. For example, if the most powerful spell you can cast is third level, then you can only enlarge spells of second level or lower.
    The indicated range of all Ranged and Far spells are doubled. For example, an enlaged fireball has a range of 800 feet + 80 feet per caster level. Mêlée and Close spells are not affected by the enlarge spell feat.

Eschew Materials (Metamagic Feat)
You can cast spells without relying on material components.
At-Will | Magic
No Action
Prerequisite: Spellcaster
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You can cast any spell without the need for the listed material components, unless that component is denoted as Rare. Rare components and foci must still be supplied normally.

Escapologist (General Feat)
You have the happy talent of being able to dislocate your shoulders, arms and other bodily appendages.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Dex 15
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You are able to dislocate your shoulders and other joints, enabling you to squeeze through spaces that are only large enough to admit your head. You gain a +5 bonus on Escape Artist checks to squeeze through tight spaces (such as a thin chimney), as well as to wriggle free of ropes, mannicals and other restraints.

Extend Spell (Metamagic Feat)
You can extend the duration of most of your spells so that they last twice as long as normal.
At-Will | Magical
No Action
Prerequisite: Spellcaster of 3rd level or higher
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you cast a spell, you may choose to Extend it. You may only extend spells that are at least one level lower than the maximum level you can cast. For example, if the most powerful spell you can cast is third level, then you can only enlarge spells of second level or lower.
    Double the duration of a extended spell. Spells with a duration of “concentration”, “instantaneous” or “permanent” cannot be extended. If a concentrate spell persists for an additional number of rounds after concentration has ceased, then this portion of the spell can be extended.

Far Shot (General Feat)
You are able to hit even more distant foes when you use a ranged weapon.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you use a projectile weapon such as a bow or a crossbow, its range increment increases by one half (multiply the increment by 1.5). When you use a thrown weapon, such as a dagger or a hammer, its range increment is doubled. For example, a longbow usually has a range increment of 100 feet. In the hands of someone with this feat, the range increment would be 150 feet.

Fleet of Foot (General Feet)
You are extremely light on your feet, and can move at considerable speed when you want to. Whether you use this extra speed to avoid combat or throw yourself into danger is up to your conscience.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
No Action
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You receive a +5 inherent bonus to your Speed score. This increase in Speed applies in all circumstances, and is used to calculate your overland movement rate as well as your tactical speed while in combat. A human with this feat would have a speed of 35 (not 30). If he double-moved he could cover 70 feet as part of one move action (not 60 feet).
Special: If you are trained in Athletics, then the bonus conferred by this feat is +10, not +5.

Great Fortitude (General Feat)
You have the constitution of an adamantine ox, and find it much easier to throw of effects and afflictions than your weak-bladdered companions.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
Move Action
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You gain a +1 inherent bonus to your Fortitude Defence and Fortitude Saving throws. The bonus increases to +2 at 6th level, +3 at 11th level, +4 at 16th level, +5 at 21st level and +6 at 26th level.

Improved Bull Rush (General Feat)
You are adept at pushing your foes around around the battefield, over the side of battlements and into the path of ongoing dragons.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Str 13
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you make a Bull Rush attempt you may roll two attack rolls, and take the higher result. Additionally, the target of a successful Bull Rush always falls prone regardless of your degree of success on the attack roll. Using this feat is not an action in and of itself, rather it is part of the standard action you use to initiate a bull rush.

Improved Counterspell (General Feat)
You understand the nuances of magic to such an extent that you can counter your opponent’s spells with greater efficiency.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You gain a +5 bonus to identify spells being cast by other spellcasters. This bonus applies regardless of whether you try to couterspell other casters or not.
    If you do ready an action to counterspell, you may use any spell of the same school as long as that spell is the same or higher level as the spell the enemy is casting. Without this feat, you may only counter a spell only with the same spell, or a spell specifically designated as countering the target spell (such as dispel magic).

Improved Critical (General Feat)
Attacks made with a particular skill have a greater chance of scoring a critical hit.
Continous Effect | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: 11th Level
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: Choose any skill you can use to make an attack roll. You may choose any Weapon Group skill, Spellcraft, Unarmed Strike or any other skill with the GM’s consent. Attack rolls made with your chosen skill score a critical hit on a natural 19 or 20, instead of just a natural 20.
Special: You can select this feat more than once. Each time you apply its effects to a different skill.

Improved Disarm (General Feat)
With a flick of your wrist you can send your enemy’s weapon to any point you desire.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Dex 13
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you make a Disarm attempt you may roll two attack rolls, and take the higher result. Additionally, disarmed items now land at any point you choose within a 15 foot radius of the target. If a companion with an empty hand readies an action, then he can catch the weapon or item that you disarm. An enemy retrieving an item that is sent 15 feet still grants combat advantage while he does so, but must spend two move actions to retrieve his item rather than one. Using Improved Disarm is not an action, rather it is part of the standard action you take to make a disarm attempt.

Improved Feint (General Feat)
You are adept at fooling your opponents, and taking advantage of the misdirection.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Cha 13
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you make a Feint attempt you may roll two Bluff checks, and take the higher result. In addition, you may make a feint attempt as a Move action instead of a Standard Action.

Improved Grapple (General Feat)
You are highly skilled and grabbing and restraining your opponents.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Dex 13
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you make a Grapple attempt you may roll two attack rolls, and take the higher result. Additionally, you make grapple attempts as a Move action instead of a Standard action, meaning that you can make two grapple attempts per round if you desire.

Improved Initiative (General Feat)
When danger threatens you react like greased lightning.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You gain a +4 inherent bonus to your initiative check. This bonus increases to +6 at 11th level, and +8 at 21st level.

Improved Over-run (General Feat)
You are highly skilled and grabbing and restraining your opponents.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Str 13
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you make an Over-run attempt you may roll two attack rolls, and take the higher result. Targets of your over-run may not choose to get out of the way, unless you allow them to. Additionally, the target(s) of a successful over-run always falls prone regardless of your degree of success on the attack roll.

Improved Precise Shot (General Feat)
Your ranged attacks are able to ignore the effects of cover and concealment.
At Will | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: 11th level, Precise Shot feat
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you make a ranged attack with a thrown or a missile weapon you ignore the bonus granted to the Reflex Defence of targets that have cover, superior cover or concealment. Total cover and total concealment provide their normal benefit against your attacks.

Improved Second Wind (General Feat)
It is extremely hard to kill you. You have reserves of determination and vitality that make most barbarians look as weak as watered wine.
Recharge (special) | Mundane
Move Action
Prerequisite: Second Wind Talent
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You can use your Second Wind talent twice per day instead of once. You may not use it more than once per round.
Special: This feat can be taken multiple times. Each time you take it you gain one additional use of your Second Wind each day.

Improved Sunder (General Feat)
You can damage inanimate objects more effectively than your companions.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Two-Weapon Master talent; You must be wielding a two-handed weapon, or a versatile weapon in two hands.
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you make a Sunder attempt you may roll two attack rolls, and take the higher result. Additionally, you ignore the first 5 points of the item’s AC. At 11th level you ignore the first 10 points of the items’s AC. At 21st level you ignore the first 15 points of the item’s AC.

Improved Trample (General Feat)
You use your size and bulk to its greatest advantage when wading into combat and stepping on the little people.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Str 15
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You receive a bonus on Over-Run and Trample attempts depending on the difference in size between you and your targets. For each difference in size category between you and your target, you receive a +5 bonus to your trample check. For example, a Colossal Red Dragon trampling through a hobbit jamboree receives a +25 bonus on its trample check.

Improved Trip (General Feat)
You are particularly skilled at knocking opponents to the ground, and taking advantage of their prone condition.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Dex 13
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you make a Trip attempt you may roll two attack rolls, and take the higher result. Additionally, you may use the Trip manoeuvre in place of any single mêlée attack, instead of it taking up a whole Standard Action.
    Normally, if you make a Trip attempt it is the only thing you can do in the round unless you spend an action point or take a Swift action. Your standard action is spent making the Trip attempt. With this feat, the Trip attempt can replace a single mêlée attack, so if you are able to make multiple attacks as part of a standard action (from the Double Attack or Two Weapon Fighting talents, for example) then you can make a Trip attempt and attack as part of the same standard action. You can even make multiple Trip attempts if you like.
    For example, Syrah Pendragon has the Two-Weapon Fighing and Improved Two-Weapon Fighting talents. She can attack four times as part of one standard action: twice with her axe, and twice with her shield bash. On her turn she decides to use one of her shield attacks as a Trip attempt. She fails. She then decides to use her second shield attack as a Trip attempt. This time she succeeds and her enemy is knocked prone. She can then use her two remaining attacks with her axe to attack a prone foe that is granting her combat advantage.

Improved Unarmed Strike (General Feat)
Your hands and feet are deadly weapons. You don’t need to resort to anything as clumsy as a sword to subdue your opponents.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
No Action
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You are considered armed even when you are not carrying weapons. Your unarmed strikes (kicks, punches, head butts and the like) can inflict nromal lethal damage, or subdual damage at your choice. The damage inflicted by your unarmed strike does not change.
Special: This feat is useful for characters who do not have formidable natural defences. Races armed with claws, barbs or bites already inflict lethal damage with their natural attacks and do not require this feat. Characters with the Martial Artist talent do not also need this feat.

Initiate of the Faith (Multiclass Feat)
Your piety has required you to take up holy order in addition to your more godless profession.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Wis 13
Benefit: Choose a particular deity or pantheon. You multiclass into a cleric of that faith. Add Knowledge (Religion) to your list of Class Skills. If you are already trained in this skill, then you may select any other skill from the cleric’s list of favoured skills and add it to your class skills.
    If you already have the chosen skill as a cross-class skill, and you have spent skill points in it, then you gain a rebate of skill points equal to your ranks in the skill. See the description of the Skill Training feat for more information.
    From this point on you are considered a Cleric for purpose of qualifying for feats, talents and prestige classes. Whenever you choose a new feat you may choose a cleric feat, whenever you choose a new talent you may choose a cleric talent. See the rules on multiclassing for further details.

Iron Will (General Feat)
You are exceptionally resist to attempts to control or influence your behaviour.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
Move Action
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You gain a +1 inherent bonus to your Will Defence and Will Saving throws. The bonus increases to +2 at 6th level, +3 at 11th level, +4 at 16th level, +5 at 21st level and +6 at 26th level.

Jack of All Trades (General Feat)
You have picked up a smattering of even the most obscure skills.
Continuous effect | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Int 13, 7th level
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you make an untrained skill check with a Trained Only skill, the maximum result you can roll is not limited to 10. This feat has no effect on your known languages or scripts.

Kip Up (General Feat)
You might be caught flat on your back, but you’re never caught napping.
At-Will | Mundane
Free Action
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You can stand up from a prone position as a free action instead of a move action.

Lightning Reflexes (General Feat)
You are remarkably agile, and adept at putting yourself just out of the reach of danger.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
Move Action
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You gain a +1 inherent bonus to your Relfex Defence and Reflex Saving throws. The bonus increases to +2 at 6th level, +3 at 11th level, +4 at 16th level, +5 at 21st level and +6 at 26th level.

Maximise Spell (Metamagic Feat)
You can reliable and consistantly cast spells to their maximum possible effect.
At-Will | Magical
No Action
Prerequisite: Spellcaster of 7th level or higher
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you cast a spell, you may choose to Maximise it. You may only maximise spells that are at least tthree levels lower than the maximum level you can cast. For example, if the most powerful spell you can cast is ninth level, then you can maximise spells of sixth level or less.
    All variable, numeric effects of a spell modified by this feat at maximised. A maximised spell deals maximum damage (as if you had rolled a critical hit), cures the maximum number of hit points, affects the maximum number of targets and so on. Saving throws and opposed rolls are not affected, nor are spells without random variables.

Pact Initiate (Multiclass Feat)
The power offered by entities beyond your understanding is too much of a temptation. You do your best to dabble in an overwhelming pursuit.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Cha 13
Benefit: Choose a particular warlock pact. You multiclass into a warlock of that pact. Add Spellcraft to your list of Class Skills. If you are already trained in this skill, then you may select any other skill from the warlock’s list of favoured skills and add it to your class skills.
    If you already have the chosen skill as a cross-class skill, and you have spent skill points in it, then you gain a rebate of skill points equal to your ranks in the skill. See the description of the Skill Training feat for more information.
    From this point on you are considered a Warlock for purpose of qualifying for feats, talents and prestige classes. Whenever you choose a new feat you may choose a warlock feat, whenever you choose a new talent you may choose a warlock talent. See the rules on multiclassing for further details.

Precise Shot (General Feat)
You are skilled at timing and aiming ranged attacks.
At Will | Mundane
No Action
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you shoot or throw ranged weapons at a foe engaged in mêlée combat, that foe enjoys no cover from its enemies. They do not gain the +4 bonus to Reflex Defence that they usually would in these circumstances. If you miss the foe, there is no chance that you accidentally hit the wrong target.

Quick Draw (General Feat)
You can draw your weapon with startling speed.
At-Will | Mundane
Free Action
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You can draw and sheathe a weapon as a Free action instead of a Move action.

Quicken Spell (Metamagic Feat)
You can cast two spells in the amount of time it takes most wizards to cast one.
At-Will | Magical
No Action
Prerequisite: Spellcaster of 9th level or higher
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you cast a spell, you may choose to Quicken it. You may only quicken spells that are at least four levels lower than the maximum level you can cast. For example, if the most powerful spell you can cast is eighth level, then you can empower spells of fourth level or less.
    Only spells with a casting time of one standard action can be quickened. Quickened spells are cast as Swift actions instead of Standard actions, meaning that it is possible for a spellcaster to cast more than one spell in the same combat round. You may not take more than one swift action in a round. This includes any immediate reactions or interrupts.

Rapid Withdraw (General Feat)
When you back away from combat, you really back away from combat.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Dex 15
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you take the Withdraw action in combat, you may back away a number of feet equal to 5 × your Dexterity Modifier, instead of just 5 feet. For example, a character with a Dexterity of 16 could back away 15 feet. Regardless of your Dexterity score, you cannot withdraw a greater distance than you could walk with one Move action (i.e. your Speed in feet). Using Rapid Withdraw is a not an action, rather it is part of the Move Action you use when you take the Withdraw manoeuvre.

Repetoire of Deceit (General Feat)
You are a devious, under-handed and dirty fighter… and proud of it. Your repertoire of bluffs, sucker punches and distracting double-talk are second to none.
At-Will | Mundane
Move Action
Prerequisite: 11th level, Improved Feint feat
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You may make multiple Feint attempts against the same opponent during the course of one encounter or battle.

Silence Spell (Metamagic Feat)
You are able to cast spells without uttering a sound.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Spellcaster of 3rd level or higher
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you cast a spell, you may choose to Silence it. You may only silence spells that are at least one level lower than the maximum level you can cast. For example, if the most powerful spell you can cast is third level, then you can only silence spells of second level or lower.
    A silenced spell can be cast with no verbal components. All spells have verbal components unless the text of the spell expressly states otherwise.

Skill Focus (General Feat)
Your proficiency in a chosen skill eclipses the abilities of your peers. Truly, you are the master.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Selected skill must be a Class Skill
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: Select one of your class skills. You gain a +1 inherent bonus to any check or attack you make using that skill. The bonus increases to +2 at 6th level, +3 at 11th level, +4 at 16th level, +5 at 21st level and +6 at 26th level.
Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new skill.

Skill Training (General Feat)
You possess a greater breadth of knowledge and skills than is usually found in one of your vocation.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
No Action
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: Add one skill to your list of class skills. You gain additional skill points equal to the number of ranks you already had in the chosen skill. These skill points must be spent immediately. If you had zero ranks in the chosen skill, then you gain no additional skill points.
Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Each time your take the feat, add another skill to your list of class skills.

Slippery Customer (General Feat)
Opponents find it very hard to a get a grip on you. You are adept and twisting and wriggling out of even the most tenacious grip.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: If you are grappled, and make an attempt to break the grapple, then may make two attack rolls and take the higher result. In addition, you make attempts to break out of a grapple as a Move action instead of a Standard action.

Sneak of Shadows (Multiclass Feat)
Regardless of how well-respected you have become, you still have a darker side of stealth, treachery and violence.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Dex 13
Benefit: You multiclass into Rogue. Take any skill from the rogue’s list of favoured skills and add it to your class skills.
    If you already have the chosen skill as a cross-class skill, and you have spent skill points in it, then you gain a rebate of skill points equal to your ranks in the skill. See the description of the Skill Training feat for more information.
    From this point on you are considered a Rogue for purpose of qualifying for feats, talents and prestige classes. Whenever you choose a new feat you may choose a rogue feat, whenever you choose a new talent you may choose a rogue talent. See the rules on multiclassing for further details.

Soldier of Faith (Multiclass Feat)
You have found your god, and you believe that faith is best expressed with the point of a sword.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Str 13 or Cha 13
Benefit: Choose a particular deity or pantheon. You multiclass into a paladin of that faith. Add Knowledge (Religion) to your list of Class Skills. If you are already trained in this skill, then you may select any other skill from the paladin’s list of favoured skills and add it to your class skills.
    If you already have the chosen skill as a cross-class skill, and you have spent skill points in it, then you gain a rebate of skill points equal to your ranks in the skill. See the description of the Skill Training feat for more information.
    From this point on you are considered a Paladin for purpose of qualifying for feats, talents and prestige classes. Whenever you choose a new feat you may choose a paladin feat, whenever you choose a new talent you may choose a paladin talent. See the rules on multiclassing for further details.

Still Spell (Metamagic Feat)
You are able to cast spells imperceptibly.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Spellcaster of 3rd level or higher
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you cast a spell, you may choose to Still it. You may only still spells that are at least one level lower than the maximum level you can cast. For example, if the most powerful spell you can cast is third level, then you can only still spells of second level or lower.
    A stilled spell can be cast with no somatic components. All spells have verbal components unless the text of the spell expressly states otherwise.

Student of Battle (Multiclass Feat)
Tactics and strategy has always fascinated you. Now you intend to put your hobby into good use – or perhaps you just like shouting at people.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Str 13
Benefit: You multiclass into Warlord. Add either Knowledge (History) or Knowledge (Nobility) to your your list of Class Skills. If you are already trained in these skill, then you may select any other skill from the warlord’s list of favoured skills and add it to your class skills.
    If you already have the chosen skill as a cross-class skill, and you have spent skill points in it, then you gain a rebate of skill points equal to your ranks in the skill. See the description of the Skill Training feat for more information.
    From this point on you are considered a Warlord for purpose of qualifying for feats, talents and prestige classes. Whenever you choose a new feat you may choose a warlord feat, whenever you choose a new talent you may choose a warlord talent. See the rules on multiclassing for further details.

Soldier of the Sword (Multiclass Feat)
Although you don’t regret your chosen vocation, you are beginning to appreciate how useful it is to know how to swing a sword.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Str 13
Benefit: You multiclass into Fighter. Add any one Weapon Group Skill to your list of Class Skills.
    If you already have the chosen skill as a cross-class skill, and you have spent skill points in it, then you gain a rebate of skill points equal to your ranks in the skill. See the description of the Skill Training feat for more information.
    From this point on you are considered a Fighter for purpose of qualifying for feats, talents and prestige classes. Whenever you choose a new feat you may choose a fighter feat, whenever you choose a new talent you may choose a fighter talent. See the rules on multiclassing for further details.

Sure Climber (General Feat)
You can climb walls like a monkey.
At-Will | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Climb as a class skill
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: A successful climb check allows you to climb at your normal speed rather than half your speed. Note this feat does not give you a specific Climb Speed. You still cannot Take 10 on climb checks.

Tavern Brawler (General Feat)
You live for the violence, the blood and the broken glass of a good old-fashioned tavern brawl.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
No Action
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: You do not take the penalty to hit from using improvised weapons in combat. Whether you attack with a flawlessly manufactured morningstar, or a broken floorboard with a rusty nail in it, the effects are the same.
    You also gain a +10 bonus on Sleight of Hand checks to spill the drink of another patron and blame someone else.

Toughness (General Feat)
You are significantly tougher than an average member of your race and profession.
Continuous Effect | Mudane
No Action
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you take this feat you gain additional hit points. You gain a number of additional hit points equal to your level +3. Every level from now on, you gain 1 additional hit point.

Weapon Specialisation (General Feat)
In your hands, a weapon can do significantly more damage.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Skill Focus in weapon
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: Choose a weapon group (including unarmed strike) to which you have applied the Skill Focus feat. Whenever you hit with a weapon from that group you gain a +1 inherent bonus to the damage you inflict. The bonus increases to +2 at 6th level, +3 at 11th level, +4 at 16th level, +5 at 21st level and +6 at 26th level.

Warrior of the Wild (Multiclass Feat)
Despite your chosen profession, you have always had an affinity for the wild.
Continuous Effect | Mundane
No Action
Prerequisite: Str 13 or Dex 13
Benefit: You multiclass into Ranger. Take any skill from the ranger’s list of favoured skills, and add it to your list of Class Skills.
    If you already have the chosen skill as a cross-class skill, and you have spent skill points in it, then you gain a rebate of skill points equal to your ranks in the skill. See the description of the Skill Training feat for more information.
    From this point on you are considered a Ranger for purpose of qualifying for feats, talents and prestige classes. Whenever you choose a new feat you may choose a ranger feat, whenever you choose a new talent you may choose a ranger talent. See the rules on multiclassing for further details.

Widen Spell (General Feat)
Your spells can spread over a greater area of effect.
At-Will | Magical
No Action
Prerequisite: Spellcaster of 7th level or higher
Area of Effect: Personal
Effect: When you cast a spell, you may choose to Widen it. You may only widen spells that are at least three levels lower than the maximum level you can cast. For example, if the most powerful spell you can cast is ninth level, then you can widen spells of sixth level or less.
    Widened spells affect an increased area. Any numeric measurement of the spell’s area increase its area increase by 100%. For example, a fireball spell normally affects creatures in a 20-ft radius of the origin point; if it is widened it instead fills a 40-ft radius area.

What’s New and What’s Changed?

Almost all the feats above were adapted from the third edition PHB and the open gaming licence. I dabbled a little in 4e and Pathfinder, but our feat selection is heavily grounded in the third edition. Which is probably where it should be grounded. There are some obvious omissions and changes in the feats. I’ll quickly go through them:

Muticlass Feats: As previously stated in the rules on Multiclassing, you need select a multiclass feat in order to multiclass. The feats presented here are the same as the ones from fourth edition and present options for mulitclassing into the wizard, cleric, warlock, rogue, paladin, warlord, fighter and ranger. We can introduce more depending on how many classes are available when we start play-testing.

Note that multiclass feats are brought in line with the Skill Training feat. Unlike 4e I didn’t want a multiclassing feat to be a more attractive option to players that just wanted access to a specific skill, than picking up the Skill Training feat. Hopefully, the ability score requirements on the multiclass feats will succeed in doing that.

Metamagic Feats: These have survived into HD&D (at least so far). I think it’s easier to describe and understand metamagic feats in the hybrid game than it was in third edition. You can apply more than one metamagic feat to a spell, but the difficulty of doing so stacks. So if a quickened spell must be at least four lowers level than the maximum level you can cast, and a maximised spell must be at least three levels lower than the maximum level you can cast, then a quickened and maximised spell must be at least seven levels lower than the maximum level you can cast.

On the whole, metamagic will be more common in HD&D. A character with the Still Spell feat who can cast second level spells, can apply still spells to all his first level spells continuously and without limitation.

Item Creation Feats: There aren’t any. All the craft, forge and brew type feats have been moved into the spell system. So there’s no Brew Potion feat, but there might be a brew healing potion spell, and a brew potion of growth and so on and so forth.

Feats that are now talents: Some feats are missing from the above list because they are so quintessentially tied to a character class that they have become Talents. These include: Armour Proficiencies, Cleave, Manyshot, Mounted Combat, Shield Bash, Shield Proficiency, Stunning Fist, Summon Familiar, Two Weapon Fighting, Two Weapon Defence, Whirlwind Attack

Feats called something else: Endurance (Skill Focus: Athletics), Ride-by-Attack & Spring Attack & Shot on the Run (all folded into Attack on the Run), Run (Fleet of Foot), Spell Focus (Skill Focus: Spellcraft), Trample (Improved Trample), Weapon Focus (Skill Focus: Weapon Group)

Feats that just don’t exist in HD&D: Great Cleave (folded into Cleave), Combat Expertise (has become the Parry talent), Deflect Arrow & Snatch Arrows (folded into a Monk talent), Heighten Spell (there’s no point in HD&D), Leadership (this isn’t covered by the feat or talent system), Rapid Shot (use Double Attack talent), Scribe Scroll (something any spellcaster can do), Spell Mastery (although something smiliar will exist), Spell Penetration (there’s no spell resistance in HD&D), Track (now a skill),

And the feats I don’t know what to do with yet: I’m still trying to work out rules for these feats. The most common reason for this is the magic system isn’t set in stone just yet. These problem feats include Augment Summoning, Extra Turning and Point Blank Shot.

Which is all I have to say. Have a look through the feats. In your critiques, please pay particular attention to a feat’s prerequisites: I haven’t given those as much thought as I should. Also challenge my assumption that all these should be general feats. You may think that some should not.

During combat you can choose from a wide variety of options. This sections lists a goodly number of those options, and tells you what type of action you need to use to attempt each one. The list isn’t exhaustive, and never could be. After all, each character’s options are only limited by the player’s imagination. If you want your character to grab an over-ripe watermelon from a convenient market stall and try to ram it on the head of a local watchman then you can – just don’t expect to look here and find rules for “Attacking with Soft Fruit”. What follows are the most common actions, and they can hopefully serve as a guide for adjudicating what happens when you try something beyond the rules.

You attempt the manouevres in the following section as either a standard action, move action, free action, swift action, immediate reaction or immediate interrupt. The following table helpfully summarises this information:

Action Points

Sometimes you want your character to try just that little bit harder, to dig into their deepest reserves of determination and energy; to push themsleves beyond their normal limits. In HD&D, this type of superhuman resolve is represented by your character’s action points.

At first level all characters have one action point. You gain a second action point at 11th level, and a third action point at 21st level. Regardless of the number of action points you have, you may never spend more than one of them on your turn. Once you spend an action point, it is gone until you take an extended rest.

Spending an action point is a free action that must be taken on phase two of your turn – although it can be taken at any point during phase two. Spending an action point gives you one extra Standard action on your turn.

You can do anything with this extra standard action that you could with a regular standard action: make an attack or attacks, cast a spell or even convert it into a Move action. The action gained from spending an action point is above and beyond all the other actions your have in a round. It is possible to take Swift or Immediate action in the same round you spend an action point.

Certain talents, feats or spells alter what happens when you spend an action point. They may grant you an additional effect as well as a Standard action, or a different effect entirely. Spending Action Points to gain different results can often only be attempted in special circumstances.

Active Defence

As a standard action, you can abandon any pretence of wanting to attack your foes and instead concentrate on defending yourself. When you take the Active Defence action you choose one of your Saving Throws and make a roll. That roll becomes you Defence until the beginning of your turn next round.

For example, Elias is scrambling over the cindered remains of Jotan’s Point when he comes face to face with a red dragon. The monster uses its breath weapon on our hero. Elias decides to use his standard action to do all he can to resist his foe’s attack.

The dragon’s attack targets Elias’s Reflex defence. Elias has a Reflex Defence of 22, and a Reflex Saving Throw of +12. He rolls 1d20 and adds 12 to the result. The die is rolled comes up with a 14. Until the beginning of his next turn, Elias has a Reflex Defence of 26.

Of course, taking an Active Defence is fraught with peril. There is a fair chance that you will roll below 10 in which case your defence is worse than when you started. I guess sometimes you can just try too hard.

Certain feats and skills can improve your chances of rolling higher when you take the Active Defence action.

Aid Another

You use a standard action to aid another character during combat. You can aid an ally’s attack roll against one enemy or grant an ally a bonus against an enemy’s next attack. These are exactly the same rules for aiding an ally’s skill check outside combat, and are reprinted here for you convenience.

Choose a target within your mêlée reach and make a skill check with your chosen Weapon Group skill against a DC of 10. If you succeed, deal no damage, but choose one ally. That ally either gets either +2 circumstance bonus to his next attack roll against the target, or +2 to all his defences against the target’s next attack. The bonus ends if not used by the end of your next turn. You cannot Take 10 on this check.

Multiple characters can combine their Aid Another attempts to impart a bonus of more than +2. Two characters would give a +4 bonus, three characters +6 and so on. This is an exception to the rule that circumstance bonuses do not stack with one another. However, only a limited number of characters can help in a given situation: after all, only so many allies can mob the same enemy. The GM is within his rights to limit the number of companions who can attempt the Aid Another action. Also if a character who tries to help does not manage to roll 10 or higher on his skill check, then he actually imposes a -2 circumstance penalty to his companion’s roll. He is more hindrance than help.

Attack

Making an attack against a foe is a standard action. The attack action assumes that you are using a weapon of some kind, or attacking with your natural weapons or unarmed strike. If you are attacking with a magic spell, then see the “Cast a Spell” action.

Mêlée Attack: You can strike any opponent within reach of your weapon. This is usually five feet, and it is at this distance that most mêlée combats are fought. Some weapons, such as polearms, have a reach of ten feet or more and can therefore attack foes further away. However, many reach weapons cannot be used to target foes within their reach.

Unarmed Strike: A monster or beast attacking with its natural weapons (such as its claws or bite), or a trained unarmed combatant (such as monk) attacking with his hands and feet, follow exactly the same rules for mêlée attacks. Other characters – including almost all player characters who are not monks, or do not have the Improved Unarmed Strike feat – are slightly less effective.

Unarmed attacks from these characters are resolved normally, but they only inflict subdual damage as opposed to normal (lethal) damage.

Ranged Attack: With a ranged weapon, you can shoot or throw at any target that is within the weapon’s maximum range and in line of sight. The maximum range for a thrown weapon (like a dagger or a warhammer) is five range increments. For projectile weapons like bows and crossbows, it is ten range increments. Some ranged weapons have different maximum ranges, as specified in their descriptions.

Hitting foes at range is difficult. Each range increment (after the first) imposes a cumulative -2 penalty on your attack roll against the target. For example, a long bow has a range increment of 100 feet and a maximum range of 1000 feet. If you are trying to a hit a foe within 100 feet there is no penalty ot the attack roll. If you are trying to hit a foe standing 1000 feet away then you take a heft -18 penalty to hit.

If you are engaged in mêlée combat, and you make an attack with a ranged weapon against either your current foe or someone else, then you provoke an opportunity attack from everyone who is currently engaged in mêlée combat against you. Making an opportunity attack is an Immediate Interrupt for the attacker. The attacker doesn’t have to make the opportunity attack if he doesn’t want to.

The Attack Roll: You make an attack roll by making a skill check with the appropriate Weapon Group skill. Usually the target of the attack roll is your foe’s Reflex Defence. Additional modifiers may be applied to the attack to take into account special circumstances such as cover, concealment or environmental conditions.

If you are attacking with an improvised weapon (e.g. a broken bottle, chair leg or picture frame) then just tell the GM what you’re attacking with, and what skill you intend to use to do it. He’ll impose a penalty on the attack roll of either -2, -5 of -10 depending on the circumstances.

The Damage Roll: All weapons have a damage die. For example a longsword inflicts a base 1d8 damage on an opponent’s hit points. This damage die is almost always modified by the attacker’s Strength Modifier, although some weapons (e.g. crossbows) work slightly differently. Feats and talents may also add to the damage roll. If the opponent is wearing armour, or has a thick natural hide, then the damage roll must overcome the foe’s Armour Class. Certain weapons and certain feats may help you overcome Armour Class without the need to inflict more damage.

Area of Effect: Most weapon attacks target a single individual either at Mêlée or Range. However, certain talents grant special manouevres, such as Whirlwind Attack. These attacks may function in a similar manner to a spell by targeting all foes within a certain area. The description of individual feats and talents will tell you how a particular ability can be used.

Multiple Attacks: Some feats and talents let you attack more than once on your turn. Taking multiple attacks still counts as one standard action. For example, a 1st level ranger with the Two-Weapon Fighting talent and a weapon in each hand can attack twice as a standard action. The text of each individual talent reveals how the attacks are made, and any special rules that may apply to targets or attack rolls.

Shooting or Throwing into Mêlée: If you shoot or throw a ranged weapon at a target engaged in mêlée then there is a chance that you will hit the wrong target. If the target is fighting your friends in mêlée then this could be quite embarassing.

If the target is engaged in mêlée combat then its opponent(s) grant it cover against ranged attacks (but not mêlée, close or far attacks). The cover granted is normally standard cover (+4 to Reflex Defence). In exceptional circumstances, the GM may rule that the target has superior cover (+8 to Reflex Defence).

Any shot taken at such a target should consult the following table. This is assuming that the target has standard cover, obviously the foe’s Reflex Defence and the chance to hit the wrong target will both be higher if the target has superior cover.

If the ranged attack roll gets a “Potentially hit cover” result from the above table, the GM checks to see who got hit instead of the intended target. The GM should roll randomly. In a complex mêlée there may be several other viable targets, some of which may be friends and some of which may be other enemies.

Larger targets are also more likely to be hit than smaller ones. Count a Large creature as equal to two Medium creatures, a Huge creature equal to four medium creatures and so on.

Once the GM has decided which random target has been struck by the ill-shot or ill-thrown weapon, then he should look at the original attack roll. If that attack roll is equal to or greater than the Reflex Defence of the random target (with no bonus from cover), then the weapon strikes that target and inflicts damage. Otherwise it misses normally.

For example, Gellis the Yellow Ranger is trying to get a clear shot at a well-bearded enemy warlock, flanked by two troll body-guards. The enemy is currently in mêlée combat with two of Gellis’s friends: Dai the dwarven cleric, and Bruce the stalwart fighter.

The warlock has a Reflex defence of 20, which means Gellis needs to roll a 24 to hit him (+4 for cover). The die is rolled and the result is 22. This is not enough to hit the warlock, but the shot isn’t poor enough to miss the fight entirely. Gellis has hit someone in the mêlée: but who?

There are four other potential targets: Dai, Bruce and the two trolls. As the trolls are large creatures they each count as two targets (there is twice the chance of hitting them as one of Gellis’s friends). The GM decides to determine who is hit by rolling 1d6. On a 1 the arrow hits Dai, on a 2 it hits Bruce, on a 3 or 4 it hits the first troll, and on a 5-6 it hits the second troll. Because the GM is mean, he makes Gellis’s player roll the die.

The 1d6 is rolled and the result is a 2. Gellis has hit Bruce. However, Bruce is an experienced fighter and is carrying a large shield. His Reflex defence is 23, which is higher than Gellis originally rolled for his attack. The GM rules that the arrow shot at Bruce but was deflected harmlessly by the fighter’s shield. Gellis has avoided skewering his companion his time. He quickly draws another arrow.

The feat Precise Shot allows you to fire into mêlée combat and ignore this penalty to hit. It also eliminates any chance of accidentally hitting the wrong target on a miss. Gellis should probably look to get hold of that next level.

Fighting Defensively: If you are engaged in mêlée combat, then you can attempt to fight defensively. You still make attacks, but your main intent is to avoid being hit. Fighting defensively imposes a -4 penalty on all your attack rolls, but gives you a +2 bonus to your Reflex defence.

Anyone can fight defensively, although characters with the Parry talent are far better at it. Some weapons grant additional bonuses when you fight defensively with them. Alternatively you could abandon all your attacks and use the Active Defence action instead.

Breath Weapon

A breath weapon is a gout of elemental energy that is vomited up by a plethora of unpleasent beasties, but is appropriately regarded as the signature weapon of dragons and dragonkind. If your character does not have a specific racial talent saying that you have a breath weapon, then you don’t have a breath weapon.

Breath weapons are Close Blast attacks, and the damage they inflict is often based on some sort of energy type such as fire, lightning, cold, thunder, radiant, necrotic or poison. The breath usually takes the form of a Line or a Cone depending on the statistics of the breathing creature. The attack roll for the breath weapon is:

Weapon Group (Breath) vs Reflex

As a Close Blast you make one attack roll and apply it to all the targets within range. Some breath weapons don’t deal hit point damage, but have other effects. In these cases the breath weapon may have to hit Reflex and one other defence in order to be effective – either Fortitude or Will depending on the circumstances.

Breath Weapons are usuallly supernatural effects. They don’t use the magical weave, but neither are they mundane.

Bull Rush

A bull rush is an attempt to push your opponent backwards instead of damaging him. You don’t actually have to rush anywhere when you initiate a bull rush. You can be standing toe to toe with your enemy and simply give him a good shove. However, if you can build up momentum from charging your foe, then the Bull Rush is usually more effective.

Bull Rush is an excellent technique if you want to push your enemy off a cliff, into a bubbling pool of lava or under the hooves of a stampeding herd of wildebeest.

You can only bull rush an opponent who is one size category larger than you or smaller. So a hobbit could Bull Rush a human, but not a horse.

Attack Roll: Making a bull rush attempt is a Standard Action. You make a Bull Rush attempt by rolling either an Athletics or Unarmed Strike check. You make one attack roll, and the result must beat your foe’s Reflex and Fortitude defence:

Athletics vs Reflex and Fortitude

or

Unarmed Strike vs Reflex and Fortitude

Some weapons can be used to make Bull Rush attempts, in which case you would roll on your weapon skill instead of Athletics or Unarmed Strike. In special circumstances you can inflict damage at the same time as making a Bull Rush attempt, but you need to see the text of individual weapons, feats or talents for information about that.

Success: If you hit with a Bull Rush then you push your opponent back 5 feet. For every point that you beat the target’s Fortitude defence, you push your foe back one extra foot. If you beat your foe’s Fortitude DC by 5 or more, then the foe falls prone at the end of the forced movement.

For example, you attack a foe with a Reflex Defence of 18, and a Fortitude Defence of 16. Your attack roll is 26, which is enough to hit both defences. You push your target back 15 feet, and the target falls prone.

Failure: If you fail the Bull Rush attempt, the foe stays where he is. If you have a move action remaining you can attempt to withdraw or move away from your enemy, although you may provoke an opportunity attack for do doing.

Improved Bull Rush: If you have the Improved Bull Rush feat then you roll two attack rolls every time you make a bull rush attempt and take the higher result. The target always falls prone if the bull rush attempt was successful.

Bull Rush when Charging: You can Bull Rush instead of making an attack when you charge a foe. Charing gives you a +2 bonus to your Bull Rush attempt.

Called Shot

Sometimes whittling away an opponent’s hit points with repeated attacks is not enough. Sometimes you need to hit a more precise target. Maybe you want to leave a jagged scar down your enemy’s cheek; maybe you want to slash him in the eyes, or cut his tendons or give him a nasty whack on the funny bone. On those occassions, the Called Shot rules are here to help you.

HD&D has no system of hit locations, and nor should it. While appropriate for some settings, hit locations make characters more fragile. They don’t tend to work well with a game of heroic fantasy. They are also slow down play, and make it more difficult to adjudicate healing. HD&D’s Called Shot rules are more in keeping with the legacy of the Dungeons and Dragons game.

The rules for Called Shots allow a character to strike a specific body part, or target, but only if you specifically aim for one. If you don’t declare you are taking a called shot, then your attack is resolved normally. Taking a Called Shot is not as easy or as straight forward as one might think.

Standard action: When you take a Called Shot you make a single attack roll against one foe as a standard action. Making this one attack is your standard action for the round. You can’t apply the effects of any other manoeuvre, talent or feat that is also a standard action. So a character with the Double Attack talent cannot make two called shots, a character with the Sneak Attack talent cannot apply his sneak attack damage to the damage roll.

Attack Type: The attack you use to make a called shot can be a mêlée, close, ranged or far attack, but it must be an attack that targets only one foe. An attack that covers a wide area, but only affects one target within that area is fine. An attack that covers an area, and targets multiple opponents in that area is not fine. You can make a called shot with a spell but that spell must only abide by this restiction. So you can make a called shot with Melf’s Acid Arrow but not with Lightning Bolt. The GM may rule that some called shots are impossible: you can’t sever your opponent’s ear with a hurled warhammer; you might not be able to break a dragon’s leg regardless of how hard you try.

Additionally, your attack must be one that targets a foe’s Reflex defence, and inflicts hit point damage if successful. The GM may allow other sorts of attacks to work with the called shot rules on a case-by-case basis.

Penalty to Hit: You make an attack roll as normal against your foe, but you take a -5 penalty to hit. If the target you are aiming for is very small, you take a -10 penalty to hit.

Called Shots and Armour Class: Manufactured armour doesn’t normally cover the entire body. There are often chinks in the armour where you can direct your attack. In these cases you are taking the penalty to hit from the called shot, in return to targeting an area that has a lower armour class rating. Even creatures with natural armour may have less well armoured spots. Whether the penalty to attack this spot is -5 or -10 is up to the GM. If you’re attacking a foe in full plate armour and you’re trying to get an arrow through the visor of close-faced helm the penalty would be -10.

Inflict Damage Normally: If you strike with your called shot then you inflict damage normally. Any talents or feats that can apply to a single attack roll, apply normally. You can inflict lethal damage with a weapon that usually only deals subdual damage (q.v.) by making a Called Shot at a -5 penalty to hit.

Additional Effect: A called shot cannot do more damage than a normal attack would. However, it can have an additional effect upon your target. Sometimes the affect is self-explanatory. For example, you might be trying to dislodge an evil broach from the clothing of an possessed child. If you succeed at a Called Shot with a -10 penalty (the GM rules the locet is very small) then you flick the broach to the ground, without harming the child.

Sometimes you might try and injure a particular body part of your foe for maximum effect. You might want to stab your opponent in the eye, for example. Doing this doesn’t inflict any additional hit point damage, and it will never kill a foe outright in one blow, but it might have an extra deliterious effect: stabbing someone in the eye has a chance of blinding them in that eye. However, in these cases, your enemy’s Fortitude defence is taken into account.

Target Fortitude Defence: If you are making a called shot to inflict a specific wound on a target, then you have to make a successful attack roll against your target’s Reflex Defence and its Fortitude Defence.

Weapon Skill vs Reflex and Fortitude

Make one attack roll. If you hit the foe’s reflex defence, but not the fortitude defence then you hit and inflict damage but don’t inflict a wound. If you hit the foe’s fortitude defence but not the reflex defence, then you’ve missed completely and still don’t inflict a wound. Only if you roll is good enough to hit both the foe’s reflex and fortitude defence do you attack and inflict a wound.

Remember that you are imposing a penalty to this roll, and the penalty applies equally to attack against fortitude and the attack against reflex.

Wounds: If you attack is successful the target picks up a Wound. Wounds are described in the section on Afflictions (q.v.). They work in a similar fashion to curses, poisons and disease. Wounds usually heal by themselves, but this can take a long time. Magic can heal wounds, but some wounds require more powerful magic. For example, a broken bone can only be mended by a Cure Serious Wounds spell or greater.

If you strike a part of the body, you can inflict a wound associated with that body part:

Unless the called shot inflicts a cosmetic injury, special rules apply to wounds gained by way of the Called Shot manoeuvre. If you receive a wound, then you take any penalty associated with the wound’s Initial Effect until the end of the encounter. At this time you make a Fortitude saving throw against a DC set by the GM (usually the Save DC of the wound) for each wound you possess.

If the save succeeds then the wound wasn’t as serious as it first appeared, and its effects fade after a few minutes. If the saving throw fails, then it’s a true wound and you treat it the same way as you would any other wound. Such wounds may take weeks to heal without magical aid. Some might even be permanent. Refer to the section on afflictions (q.v.) for more information.

Cast a Spell

The casting time of spells can vary enormously from a few seconds to hours, or even to days for the complex high-level incantations. A spellcaster must use his discretion when selecting a spell to cast: it should be a spell that he can realistically finish casting before the combat ends.

Fortunately, most spells require one standard action to cast. As with attacks, a spell can be cast either before or after your move action: whichever is most advantageous to the caster. Judicious use of the Move action can keep the often fragile spellcaster out of harm’s way (especially combined with the Attack on the Run feat). Of course, some spellcasters like to throw caution to the wind and plough into mêlée with the party fighters.

Verbal and Somatic Components: Unless the text of the spell explicitly says otherwise, the casting of all spells requires the caster to be able to speak and gesture in an eldritch manner.

A caster who is gagged, within the area of a Silence spell or similarly incommoded cannot cast a spell. A deaf character has a -5 penalty on Spellcraft checks to cast spells. The feat, Silent Spell allows the spellcaster to cast his spells without the need for a verbal component.

Equally, a character who is restrained, tied or pinned (q.v.) cannot cast a spell. Spellcasters involved in a Grapple have a -5 penalty on their Spellcraft checks to cast spells. The feat, Still Spell allows the spellcaster to cast his spells without the need for a somatic component.

Material Components: Some spells also need the use of material components. These components may be consumed in the casting, or they may be a foci that can be used time and again. Rummaging around in a pouch for a component and using it properly during spellcasting is not considered an action. It is instead part of the action of casting the spell.

A wizard who is unable to use somatic components is also unable to employ material components, and so the same restrictions apply. However, not all spells require material components.

For the most part components are measured in terms of their value. A spell might cost 1 sp or 1 gp worth of arcane components. Rather than keeping track of how many owl pellets or blobs of fox faeces a wizard has in his pocket, the player can simply deduct the monetary value of the components during play in the same way a ranger keeps track of his ammunition.

However, some components are extremely costly and rare. Some are unique and have to be specially made. A spellcaster needs to keep track of these special components separately on his character sheet. Fortunately, a spellcaster is likely to have very few spells that require such components in his repetoire. If a spell component has “rare” noted after it in parenthesis, then then player must keep track of his supply of such components separately.

The feat Eschew Materials removes the need for a spellcaster to use any components what are not designated as “rare”. These special components must still be obtained as usual.

Opportunity Attacks: If a spell is designated as a Ranged or Far Attack then there is a chance you will suffer an opportunity attack from casting it.

If you try to cast a ranged or far spell when engaged in mêlée combat, then you provoke an opportunity attack from everyone currently engaged in mêlée combat against you. As making an opportunity attack is an Immediate Interrupt your foes may be unwilling, or unable, to make this attack.

The opportunity attack is not provoked because such spells are inherently more distracting to cast than spells aimed at a closer range; it is provoked because ranged and far spells draw the spellcaster’s attention away from the threat at hand and toward a distant target.

The Attack Roll: Attacking with a spell requires a Spellcraft check. The target DC is one of your foe’s defences: either Reflex, Fortitude or Will depending on the spell in question. As with weapon attacks, other modifiers can apply. Spells cast on allies or yourself do not require attack rolls; indeed, some offensive spells don’t require them either.

The Damage Roll: Spells do not always inflict damage. Often they impose other deliterious conditions on the target. However, if they do impose hit point damage then this is often dependent on the level of the spellcaster. Damage from spells is often (but not always) energy damage, that ignores a target’s armour class.

Area of Effect: The area of effect of spells varies far more widely than weapon attacks. See each individual spell for more details.

Disrupting Spells: A foe that <A HREF=”#ready”readies his action (q.v.) and attacks at exactly the same time that a spellcaster casts his spell has a chance of disrupting that spell. In this case the foe makes a single attack roll as normal. Compare that attack roll to both the spellcaster’s Reflex defence and his Will defence.

If the roll is good enough to hit both the wizard’s Reflex and Will defence, then the wizard takes damage and the spell is disrupted. If the spellcaster was casting a Recharge spell then it is still expended (it can be regained normally). If it is an at-will spell, then the caster can try to cast it again with his next standard action.

If the attack roll hit Reflex but missed WIll, then the wizard takes damage, but the spell is not disrupted. If the attack misses Reflex and hits Will, or if the attack roll misses both defences then nothing happens.

A spellcaster with the Combat Casting feat gains a +5 bonus to his Will defence for the purpose of resisting attempts to disrupt his spellcasting.

Dismiss a Spell: Once cast, many spells have a set duration and will continue without any futher input from the spellcaster. If a spellcaster wants to try and end one of these spells prematurely he can do so as a standard action. Unless the text explicitly says otherwise, all spells than have an autonomous duration can be dismissed by the original spellcaster.

Direct or Redirect a Spell: Some spells, such as flaming sphere and spiritual weapon, allow you to redirect the effect to new targets or areas after you cast the spell. Redirecting a spell usually requires a move action.

Casting Spells over Multiple Rounds: If the spellcaster attempts to cast a spell with a casting time of more than one standard action then it is going to take that caster more than one round to finish casting the spell. For example, a spell with a casting time of one minute would take ten rounds to cast.

The caster is assumed to be involved in casting the spell continuously from the beginning of his turn in round one until the end of his turn in round ten. He cannot take any other actions except free actions (or actions gained by spending an Action Point) during this time. This also means that any attack that strikes him at any point during this time as a chance of disrupting the spell.

Even if the spellcaster has a Will of adamant, cunning foes should still disrupt the spell by restraining the wizard, stealing his components or erasing any magical glyphs that the wizard has painstakingly drawn.

Charge

You throw yourself into the fight, running at your enemy and landing a telling blow against him. Charging a foe is a reckless tactic, but also one that can be quite effective. Although you increase your chance to hit your opponent, you are also easier to hit, and run the risk of being impaled by a prepared opponent.

Charging is a special Standard Action that incorporates both movement and an attack. When you Charge you must move a set distance and then make a single mêlée attack against your enemy. You can make a Bull Rush attempt against your enemy instead of an attack if you like.

When charging, you must move at least 10 feet and no more than twice your Speed in feet. So a human with a Speed of 30 must move a distance of somewhere between 10 ft and 60 ft in order to charge a foe.

Obviously, a charging character has an unused Move action for the round. However, special rules apply here. The standard action to Charge has to be the last thing you do in a round. You can use your Move action to move a set distance, or to draw a weapon or open door, but you must do those things before you Charge. If you haven’t used your Move action by the time you Charge, then you lose the action for the round.

You may still spend an Action Point or use a Swift or Immediate action after a Charge.

Benefits of Charging: Charging characters get +2 to hit, and +2 to damage against their foe. In addition, certain weapons score additional damage if used when charging. Some of these weapons (such as lances) need to used from a mount, but others can be used by foot-bound adventurers.

Disadvantages of Charging: Charging grants Combat Advantage to all your foes until the beginning of your next turn. This may mean that if the Charge attack doesn’t drop your foe, then they could react with a devastating counterattack. Additionally, some weapons can be set to receive a charge, and inflict a lot of damage on the attacker.

Other variables: If you have the Combat Mobility feat then you do not grant Combat Advantage while charging. If you have the Attack on the Run feat then you may take your Move action to move away from your foe after you have made the charge attack.

If you have attacked a Fighter with the Combat Superiority talent then moving away may still provoke an opportunity attack. If you are charging a foe then trying to move past them then you are actually making an <a href=”#overrun”Over-run attempt (q.v.).

You don’t necessarily need to move across solid ground to make a Charge attempt. Flying characters with a fly speed, and Swimming characters with a swim speed, can still charge a foe as long as they make the requirements. You can use the Athletics skill to jump as part of a charge attack (this counts as part of the Charge action).

Constrict

Some creatures, notably snakes and giant squid, have the power to wrap around their foes and squeeze the living daylights out of them. Constriction is a special attack that certain creatures can inflict upon targets they are already grappling (q.v.). If you don’t have special racial trait, talent or feat that says you can constrict then you cannot constrict.

Once you have made a successful attempt to grapple a foe, subsequent successful checks allow you to continue grappling and to perform another action. Options to move, damage or pin your foe are open to everyone. Constrict is simply another option, but it is a potent one.

Constriction simulataneously pins, damages and suffocates your target. Apply these following inconveniences to the victim of a constricting creature:

Pin: The target gains the pinned condition (q.v.)

Damage: The target takes hit point damage as given in the creature’s statistics. The amount of damage inflicted while constricting, is not usually the same as the creature’s normal mêlée attack.

Suffocation: The target is no longer able to breathe. Treat characters in this state as if they were drowning. You can hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to your Constitution score, but only if you do nothing other than take move actions or free actions. If you take a standard action (such as trying to escape a grapple), the remainder of the duration for which you can hold your breath is reduced by 1 round. This means that a character in combat can hold his breath only half as long as normal. After the period of time you can hold your breath has elapsed, you must make a DC 10 Constitution check (or a DC 10 Athletics check if you prefer) every round to continue holding your breath. Each round, the DC for that check increases by 1. If you fail the this check, you automatically drop to zero hit points and have to start making death saving throws.

Counterspell

Sometimes stopping an enemy from casting a spell is more important than casting a spell of your own. Sure, you could rely on the fighter to wade into mêlée combat and disrupt the enemy wizards spell, but who really trusts the party fighter? If he had any sense he’d be a spellcaster, right?

Counterspelling is a way in which a spellcasting character (of any class) can cast a spell that automatically nullifies a spell cast by an enemy spellcaster. Here’s how it works:

Firstly, you have to designate an enemy as the target of the counterspell, and Ready an Action (q.v.). The act of readying an action counts as your standard action for the round. As soon as your opponent casts a spell, you must try to identify what spell he is casting. You do this by make a Spellcraft check. The DC is set under the Spellcraft skill, but is usually 15 + 2 per level of the spell cast. Making this Spellcraft check is a free action.

If you identify the spell being cast, and you know the same spell yourself, then you can can cast the same spell at the exact same instant your enemy does. Both spells automatically neutralise one another, and neither have any effect. You do not need to make a Spellcraft check to counterspell opponents in this manner.

Range of Counterspelling: Normally the range of counterspelling is the range of the spell. However, if you are trying to counter a Mêlée or Close you need to be within ten feet of the enemy wizard to do it.

Exceptions to the Rule: Some spells automatically cancel out one another. For example, casting Slow on a subject under the effect of the Haste spell. If a spell specifically counters (or can be countered) by another, different, spell then the text of the spell description will explicitly say this.

Dispel Magic: The spell dispel magic can always be used in place of any other spell when counterspelling. However, using dispel magic does not guarantee success. You must make a Spellcraft check when using dispel magic. The target DC is your enemy’s Spellcraft skill.

Improved Counterspell: The feat improved counterspell grants you a +5 bonus to Spellcraft checks to identify the spell you enemy is casting, and lets you counterspell with any spell of the same School as opposed to the specific spell in question.

Coup de Grace

There are times when you have the opportunity to attack a foe who is completely defenceless. While it’s not sporting or chivalrous to put the boot in like this, it is damnably effective. A coup de grace can be delivered against any target with the Helpless condition.

Making a coup de grace attack is standard action. Make an attack roll against the target’s Fortitude Defence. If you succeed the victim’s hit points are reduced to her bloodied value and the target dies. If you miss, then the victim instead takes damage equal to a critical hit with the weapon you are using. This includes any extra attack from (e.g.) Sneak Attack. This damage might still prove fatal.

A coup de grace must be delivered with an attack that targets a particular individual. You can’t make a coup de grace with a fireball. The attack must also be targeted from mêlée range, so although you can deliver a coup de grace with a bow or a crossbow, you have to be standing right next to the target in order to do it.

If you cannot see the target (you are blinded, or the target is has total concealment) you must first find the target before delivering a coup de grace. Finding a target in this manner takes at least one standard action, but may take more at the GM’s discretion.

Crawl

As a Move action you can crawl half your Speed. When crawling you enjoy the same advantages and disadvantages of Prone characters (q.v.). Dropping to the floor to the start crawling is a free action, but standing up from a prone position is another move action.

Delay

Sometimes you don’t want to act at the point in the initiative order where the dice say you act. While you cannot act any quicker than your initiative roll, you can choose to delay your action and act later in the round. There are many tactical advantages in doing this. You might want to wait until your friendly paladin heals you before jumping into the fray against the dragon, or you might want to wait until the second the evil wizard casts his spell so your attack has a chance of disrupting it.

Delaying is also referred to as “holding your action”. If you want to delay during the combat round, you have to tell the GM that you’re delaying – and you also have to tell him why. If the GM knows you’re waiting for a specific event then you might be able to use your action in the nick of time to save your companions. In these cases you are Readying an action (q.v.). There’s more on that below.

When you hold you action, you don’t delay your entire turn. You only delay Phase Two of it. Phases one and three of your turn happen normally at your regular initiative roll, but you can put off phase two until your initiative count in the following round.

If you haven’t used phase two of your turn by the time the initiative order reaches your turn in the following round, then you lose any actions associated with it. Your initiative point for this round (for all the phases of your turn) is the same as the initiative that you originally rolled.

For example: Elias has rolled an 18 on his initiative check. It is now the fourth round of combat, and it looks as though he and his allies have won. Brack is polishing off his fourth yuan-ti abomination, and the villain that Elias himself was fighting died last round. Elias can see no-one else to fight, and none of his friends seem to need any help. Elias decides to hold his action and see what happens in the rest of the round.

At initiative point 18, Elias’s turn starts as normal. All actions associated with phase one and phase three of his turn take place as they would if Elias hadn’t delayed his action. So if Elias is taking any ongoing damage (from that Acid Arrow he was shot with two round rounds ago) he takes the damage now. If he has any regeneration or fast healing (from standing close to Syrah’s aura of vitality, perchance), he applies those effects now. Any spells or ongoing effects that end in phase three of his turn also end now. So that handy shield spell Elias has running now evaporates. And if Elias has any saving throws to make (from that yuan-ti poison that is coursing through his veins) he makes that now as well.

Once all that is out of the way (at initiative point 18) Elias begins to hold phase two of his turn. This is the part of his turn that includes his standard and move action. He can hold it for as long as he likes, and can leap back into the initiative order at any point between now and the end of the round.

Once the initiative cycle gets to point 1 the round ends, but Elias is still holding his action. At the beginning of round five he is still holding his action, and he continues to hold it until the initiative order reaches 18. At this point the GM asks Elias if he actually wants to do anything with his held action or not.

If Elias chooses not to do anything with his held action, then he loses all the actions he could have had in phase two of the previous round. Elias has now reached his turn in the current round. He can choose to do something, or he can choose to delay again.

Acting Twice a Round? A character with can choose to delay phase 2 of his turn in round one, and take it in round two as long as he takes it before the initiative point in round two that he rolled. Therefore in round two he could potentially take two move and two standard actions. Is this fair?

Combat in the hybrid game is not a closely regulated dynamic. The rules say that rounds take six seconds, but if you stop to consider how ridiculous that is (we managed to defeat the great wyrm red dragon in just 42 seconds!) then it should be apparent that the six second round is just a convention.

While characters can delay their actions to the following round, and then take more actions, the fact remains that they haven’t taken any actions at all in the round before. The Delay action doesn’t cause a great imbalance in the game.

Disarm

Perhaps you’re just a flash swashbuckler with a penchant for tormenting your foes before your dispatch them. But even if you’re not, there are still plenty of good reasons why you would want to disarm an opponent instead of (or as well as) killing him.

Using Disarm is akin to making a called shot. Making an attempt to disarm your opponent is a standard action. During this standard action you make one mêlée attack, against your foe’s Reflex Defence. Disarming a bad guy with a weapon is usually more difficult that simply plunging the weapon into his black heart, so you take a -5 penalty on the attack roll. Even if successful, the attack inflicts no damage.

(Weapon Group -5) vs Reflex

you succeed then you have knocked the weapon out of your enemy’s hand. The weapon falls to the ground at your enemy’s feet, and the enemy can stoop to pick it up with their next Move action if they desire. An enemy who tries to pick up a weapon in this way grants combat advantage until the end of his next turn.

Disarm doesn’t have to be used on weapons. It is equally effective against wands, orbs or anything else an opponent could be holding.

You cannot attempt to disarm an opponent of an item of a larger size category than the biggest weapon you can wield. So a human cannot disarm a giant of his ten foot tall greatsword – it’s just too big.

Using Disarm to Grab Items: If your hands are free – you are fighting with the Unarmed Strike skill – then you can attempt to use the disarm manoeuvre to grab unattended items on your foe’s person. The GM should use his discretion in adjudicating what can be grabbed in this manner, but well secured items such as a ring or a bracelet cannot be snatched. The target would have to be restrained in some manner first.

If you have the Martial Arts talent, then you can even try to grab the weapon of the foe you are fighting instead of disarming him. If you succeed in your disarm attempt, then you are holding the foe’s mêlée weapon in your hand. This looks extremely flash, and is good for demoralising opponents.

Using Disarm on Two-handed weapons: It is more difficult to disarm a two-handed weapon than a one-handed weapon. In these cases, you take an additional -5 penalty to the attack roll against the foe (for a total penalty of -10).

Using Disarm on Shields: A shield counts as a two-handed weapon for the purposes of disarming. Disarm attempts take a -10 penalty to the attack roll. However, the disarmer can choose to take the lesser -5 penalty and attempt to knock the shield out of alignment, rather than divest the foe of it completely. If successful, the deflection bonus to Reflex Defence granted by the shield does not apply to the opponent, until the beginning of the opponent’s next turn. During that time another ally or you (via an Action Point) could take advantage of this opening.

Improved Disarm: If you have the Improved Disarm feat, then you make two attack rolls when you make a disarm attempt, and take he higher result. Disarmed items no longer land at your foe’s feet, but at any point within a 15 foot radius of the foe that you choose: even in the hands of your comrade. Enemies moving to retrieve a weapon still grant combat advantage, and now it takes two Move actions to retrieve their item.

How to avoid being disarmed: Having your weapon knocked from your hand in the middle of combat is a potenially fatal inconvenience. There are several ways that canny combatants can get around this; these are the most common two:

A one-handed mêlée weapon can be secured into a specially created locked gauntlet. Weapons secured in this manner grant a -10 penalty to attack rolls that attempt to disarm you. Locking a weapon into the gauntlet is a Move Action, but removing it is a standard action. It is possible to wear two locked gauntlets, and lock a two-handed weapon into them. This would provide a -15 penalty to disarm attempts. However, it would also be pretty silly, as the combatant could nether put down the two-handed weapon, or remove the gauntlets, without help.

The easiest way around being disarmed is to carry a back-up weapon. If you also have the Quick Draw feat, then losing your weapon to a disarm attempt won’t even slow you down. The truly paranoid might want a back-up weapon for their back-up weapon.

Draw, Sheathe or Drop

Drawing a weapon so that you can use it in combat, or putting it away so that you have a free hand, requires a move action. This action also applies to weapon-like objects carried in easy reach, such as wands. If your weapon or weapon-like object is stored in a pack or otherwise out of easy reach, then getting hold of it may take a standard action or longer.

You don’t need to sheathe a weapon: you can simply drop it. Dropping an item is a free action. Of course, if you drop an item someone else can pick it up, and if you try and pick it up then your enemies have combat advantage over you until the end of your next turn (just as if you had been disarmed). If you have the Quick Draw feat them you can draw and sheathe an item as a free action instead of a move action.

Drawing ammunition for use with a ranged weapon (such as arrows, bolts, sling bullets, or shuriken) is not an action. Rather it is part of the standard action of attacking with the weapon.

Ready or Loose a Shield

Strapping a shield to your arm to gain its deflection bonus to Reflex defence is a Move action. Unstrapping or dropping your shield, so you can use your shield hand for another purpose is also a Move action. If you have the Shield Proficiency talent then the act of readying or loosing a shield is a free action instead.

Drop Prone

Flinging yourself to the ground is a free action that you can take on your turn. It doesn’t take much concentration to fall over, after all. Once you’re on the floor you gain the prone condition (q.v.). Prone characters grant combat advantage to all enemies attacking them in mêlée range, but have a +2 bonus to all their defences against attacks from further away.

Feint

As a standard action, you can attempt to use the Bluff skill to mislead an opponent that you are currently fighting in mêlée combat. Make a Bluff attempt with a DC equal to your enemy’s Passive Insight score. If you are successful, you gain Combat Advantage against the foe until the end of your next turn.

Bluff vs Passive Insight

You can make a feint attempt multiple times during a single battle or encounter, but never more than once against a particular foe. The Improved Feint feat allows you to make a feint attempt as a Move action instead of a Standard action.

Frightful Presence

Some creatures possess an aura of unmitigated terror that they can use to sow disquiet, dread and abject fear in their foes. Frightful Presence is not the same thing as a successful Intimidate check. With Intimidate you can impose the Shaken condition (q.v.) onto one target. Frightful Presence is altogether more impressive than that, but because it is more impressive then you need to have the right feat or talent to use it. If you don’t have such a power, then you don’t have Frightful Presence.

Using Frightful Presence is a not an action, rather it is part of another dramatically appropriate action. When a creature snarls, charges or attacks, its Frightful Presence automatically kicks in. When this happens, the creature with frightful presence makes the following attack against its enemies:

Intimidate vs. Will

Frightful presence is usually a Close Burst (q.v.) attack that affects all targets within a certain radius of the frightful creature. Anyone in range who is the victim of a successful attack either becomes http://iourn.wordpress.com/2009/09/27/hdd-attacks-and-defences#Shaken”>Shaken (q.v.), Frightened (q.v.) or Panicked (q.v.) depending upon the creature’s potency.

If you are the target of an unsuccessful Frightful Presence attempt, then you are immune to that particular creature’s frightful presence for one day.

Frightful Presence may be a Mundane or a Supernatural effect depending on the creature in question.

Gaze

Some horrible monsters possess a Gaze attack. These are special attacks that take effect when an opponent looks into the creature’s eyes. Special racial talents are usually required to give your character access to a gaze attack, although some spells may work in a similar fashion.

The effect of catching the eye of a creature with a Gaze attack are legion. Gaze attacks may petrify a victim (as in the case of a gorgon), but they may also charm, immolate or instantly slay. Few, if any, gaze attacks have a beneficially effect on their targets. All should be avoided.

Making a gaze attack is Not an Action, and doesn’t require an attack roll. The creature with the Gaze attack just looks in a certain direction, and all potential targets that it can see are affected. Usually a limit in feet is placed on the efficacy of the attack, so the gaze is only potent out to a certain range. It is treated as a Close Blast (Cone) that is in continuous effect as long as the creature’s eyes are open.

The gaze is a passive attack. No attack roll is required to hit with it, but everyone in the area of effect can still make a saving throw. Saving throws against Gaze attacks are made during Phase One of a character’s turn, so it is possible to become petrified before one has a chance to act. The DC of the gaze attack is set by the gazing creature, and is usually the same as that creatures Will defence.

For example: a medusa has a gaze attack that petrifies its foes. This gaze affects all creatures in the medusa’s line of sight out to a maximum range of thirty feet. Everyone in the area of effect must make a DC 15 Will saving throw or be turned to stone. They must repeat that save every round they remain within range of creature’s gaze.

Avoiding the gaze: Characters may try to move behind the creature so they can’t be seen. This only works if the creature doesn’t know the character is there. It takes nothing for the (e.g.) medusa to spin around and look behind her. However, the medusa can only focus her gaze on one 90° arc each round. So if the party spreads out sufficiently, she will find it more difficult to target everyone at the same time. However, a creature can use a Move action to swivel on the spot and affect everyone withinin 360°. Anyone engaging the medusa is mêlée is automatically considered caught in her gaze, no matter where they’re standing.

Averting your eyes: Characters can try to avert their eyes, so they do not look at the creature in the face. If they do this, the creature gains concealment against their attacks (they are at a -2 penalty to hit), but the character increases its chances of resisting the attack. If you avert your eyes, then you gain a +5 bonus to your Will saving throw against the creature’s gaze attacks. But you still need to make the saving throw every round.

Wearing a blindfold: Some characters go to extremes to avoid gaze attacks. Characters wearing blindfolds are considered to have the Blinded condition (q.v.) and take all requisite penalties from so doing. However, they do not need to make saving throws against gaze attacks at all.

Gaze attacks can affect incorporeal opponents. A creature is immiue to its own gaze attack, and the gaze of others of its kind, unless the description of the creatue explicitly states otherwise. Other allies of a creature with a gaze attack might be affected, although they are all considered to be averting their gaze and therefore get a +5 bonus to their Will saving throws. The creature can also veil its eyes, thus negating this ability.

Grapple

As a standard action you can attempt to grapple a foe, hindering his combat options. Grappling (or grabbing) is the favoured technique of many monsters, and is offten the prelude to something even nastier – such as constricting (q.v.), raking (q.v.) or swallowing (q.v.) their hapless victim.

A grapple attempt is an attack roll against the target’s Reflex and Fortitude defence. You make one attack roll, and the result must beat both defences. A number of different skills can be used to grapple, and the choice speaks to the technique employed by your character:

Atheltics vs Reflex and Fortitude

or

Unarmed Strike vs Reflex and Fortitude

or

Weapon Skill vs Reflex and Fortitude

Ahletics: You fall upon your foe and try to prevent him from moving. Using Athletics in this way is not subtle and it is certainly not pretty. You grab your opponent’s hair, pinch his skin, bite his ear and get a good hold of his clothing.

Unarmed Strike: You use your skills of hand to hand combat to get your opponent into an unbreakable headlock, or half-nelson. Unlike Atheltics, you know exactly what you are doing, and can grab an opponent with a minimum of fuss.

Weapon Skill: Some weapons, such as whips, lassoes and certain hooked polearms, can be used to grapple a foe in addition to any other effect they possess. In these cases you would use your appropriate weapon skill.

The choice of which skill to use is down to personal choice and the strengths of your character. Mechanically, they all work the same way. Someone with +10 in the Athletics skill is as likely to succeed at a grapple attempt as someone with +10 in the Unarmed Strike skill.

In order to grapple successfully you need to have two free hands (or the requisite number of appendages if you’re not humanoid). If you don’t have two hands free then you take a -5 penalty to the grapple check.

If you successfully grapple your target, then both you and the target gain the Grappled condition (q.v.). You must then continue to make a check each round as a standard action to maintain the hold.

Once you are grappling an opponent, a successful check allows you to continue grappling the foe, and also allows you to perform one of the following actions (some creatures have more options). Maintaining the grapple and using one of these actions counts as one standard action.

Move your foe: You can move both yourself and your target up to half your Speed in feet. At the end of the movement you can place your target anywhere within reach. If you attempt to place your foe in a hazardous location – such as inside a wall of fire or over the edge of a cliff – then the target receives an additional and immediate attempt to escape the grapple as a free action.

Damage your foe: You can inflict damage to your target equal to your unarmed damage without the need for a further attack roll. Whether this damage is normal or subdual damage depends on the nature of your natural attacks.

Pin your foe: You can give your foe the Pinned condition, which further incommodes them and makes it impossible for them to take most actions.

Restraining your target: If you have your target pinned, then you can use rope or mannacles to permanently restrain them. In order to do this, you must maintain the pin for one round by making a successful grapple check. If you succeed then you may attempt to restrain the target as part of the same standard action.

When you restrain a target you tie them up with rope, or you can attach mannacles. If you are tying someone up then you must make a Survival, Profession (Sailor) or similar skill to knot the rope. This check gains a +10 bonus because it’s easier to tie someone up, than it is to escape.

Obviously, if the target is unconscious or otherwise helpless, there is no need to make any grapple checks before you can restain the target in this manner.

Multiple grapplers against one target: Allies can gang up to grapple a single target. The rules for Aid Another (q.v.) apply here.

Escaping a Grapple: If you are grappled, then you can attempt to break the Grapple as a Standard action. You do this by making an Athletics, Unarmed Strike or Escape Artist check against the grabber’s Fortitude Defence. If you are pinned then you must make succeed in one check to break the Pin, and another check to break the Grapple. However, you can keep trying unless you are further restrained.

If you are restained with mannacles or rope, then it is still not quite the end of the story. A character can try to wriggle out of restraints by making an Escape Artist check. The DC of this check is either dependent on the quality of the mannacles, or the foe’s rope use check +10. Unlike normal checks against a grapple, you may only make a check to escape restraints once. If you fail then you remain restrained unless the circumstances change, or until someone frees you. See the Escape Artist skill for more information.

Instead of the Escape Artist skill, you could make an Athletics check to burst the restraints by dint of raw strength. The GM has the break DCs of various materials. It is usually much more difficult to break restraints than to slip out of them.

Turning the Tables: Clever characters can turn the tables on grapplers so that the grabber becomes the grabbee. If you have been grappled (i.e both you and your attacker have the grappled condition) and you succeed in the check to the escape the grapple, you can instead choose to remain in the grapple, but now you take on the role of the aggressor.

Basically if someone grabs you, instead of escaping, you can try and grab them instead. If you are pinned then you must first break the pin with a successful grapple check, before you can attempt to turn the tables on your foe.

An Example of Grappling: The rules for grappling offer a lengthy explanation for something that is actually quite straight forward. Here’s an example to illustrate the point:

Ravenna’’s Uncle Jhasik is wandering home through the mean streets of Jotan’s Point when he is set upon by a trio of harpy hooligans. One harpy makes an Athletics check against Jhasik’s reflex and fortitude defences. The harpy gets a +4 to the roll because the other two harpies are helping her (using the Aid Another action).

The harpy’s attack is successful, both she and Jhasik gain the grappled condition. On his turn, Jhasik tries to escape, by making his own Athletics attack against the Harpy’s Fortitude defence, but he fails. In the second round the harpy makes another grapple attempt. This is also successful; as part of the standard action of making the grapple attempt, the harpy also pins her victim. Jhasik now has the pinned condition, although the harpy is still only grappled. On his turn Jhasik tries to escape again, but he’s an emphysemic old codger and he fails once more. He tries to call for help, but the harpy puts her hand over his mouth as a free action.

In the third round, the harpy makes a grapple check again, and it is once again successful. As part of the standard action of making the grapple check, the harpy decides to restrain Jhasik. She quickly hog-ties and gags him. While doing so she makes a Survival check at +10 to set the DC to wriggle free of the bonds.

The DC is 35. On his turn Jhasik makes an Escape Artist check to try and escape, but fails. He cannot try this check again, and is now stuck with no hope of escape. The harpies hang him from a nearby lamp-post where he is found six hours later by the local bread-boy, Douglas.

Manipulate Item

In most cases, moving or manipulating an item is a Move action. This includes retrieving or putting away a stored item, picking up an item, moving a heavy object, and opening a door. Move actions are usually passive actions, that is performing a Move action (while advantageous for you) doesn’t directly incommode your enemies on the battle field.

Both players and GMs should use the rule that if the character does something for himself, or interacts with an inanimate object that is not in the possession of another character, then the action required to do so is probably a Move action.

Opportunity Attack

In battle, all characters are assumed to be doing their utmost to avoid attacks at all times. When the swords come out and the spells starts flying, you can bet that even the most arthritic family retainer is dodging and weaving like a field mouse on speed.

However, despite your character’s best intentions and ingrained instinct for survival, there will be times in combat when you deliberately let your guard down. On these occassions, enemies can take advantage of your momentary lack of concentration by making an extra attack against you. This extra attack is called an opportunity attack.

An opportunity attack is an Immediate Interrupt, that is triggered when you do something foolish in the face of your foe. The foe’s immediate action takes place before the action that triggered it, so it is possible that a successful opportunity attack could prevent the triggering action from taking place at all. However, characters are only permitted one Swift action (which includes Immediate actions) per round. So it’s possible that even if an opponent is granted such an attack he may be unable or unwilling to take it.

Although, opportunity attacks can be triggered in special circumstances, there are two main actions that provoke them:

Running away: if you are engaged in mêlée combat, and you try to disengage from combat without using the Withdraw (q.v.) action, then all foes who are currently engaging you in mêlée combat can make an opportunity attack against you.

Ranged of Far Attack: if you are engaged in mêlée combat, and you try to used a Ranged or Far attack (q.v.) then all foes who are currently engaging you in mêlée combat can make an opportunity attack against you.

Some special talents and feats (usually only available to Fighters) allow characters to deliver opportunity attacks in other circumstances. These are special cases. As a general rule, your character will only run foul of opportunity attacks if he performs one of the two acts listed above.

Note than an opportunity is one single attack with a mêlée weapon. You can’t make opportunity attacks with ranged weapons, and you can’t make opportunity attacks with spells, even if they are delivered by mêlée touch. You cannot take multiple attacks when you make an opportunity attack even if you have the Two-Weapon Fighting, Double Attack or similar talents.

Over-run

Sometimes time is of the essence. You have to reach your destination, and you simply don’t have the time to battle every single enemy between you and your target. Maybe your old nanny is chained to an altar and about to crushed by a giant stone block, maybe there’s a boulder tumbling down a steep hill toward an orphanage or maybe its five-to-closing on Friday afternoon and your library books are late.

An Over-run is attempt to barrel past your foes without fighting them. Your only intention is to get from point A to point B. You can only attempt to over-run a target that is one size category larger than you, or smaller. Using Over-run is a standard action.

When making an over-run attempt, you must move at least 10 feet and no more than twice your Speed in feet. So a human with a speed of 30 must move a distance of between 10 ft and 60 ft in order to make an over-run attempt.

Obviously, a character making an over-run attempt still has an unused move action. Unlike Charge (q.v.) there is no restriction at what point in the round the Move action can be used. You character could simply add the Move action to the distance covered by the Over-run attempt (up to 90 feet for a human), use it to draw a or sheathe a weapon or anything else a Move action can be used for.

Attack Roll: You make an Over-run attempt by rolling either an Athletics or Unarmed Strike skill check. You roll once, and the resuly must beat the target’s Reflex and Fortitude Defence:

Athletics vs Reflex and Fortitude

or

Unarmed Strike vs Reflex and Fortitude

Some weapons can be used to make Over-run attempts, in which case you would roll on your weapon skill instead of Athletics or Unarmed Strike.

Success: If you hit with the Over-run attempt then you push the target out of your way, and they do not interfere with your movement. You do not inflict any damage to the target and, unlike <a href=”#bullrush”Bull Rush (q.v.), you aren’t trying to push your foe an appreciable distance. You probably only displace them sufficient distance to allow you to pass.

If your attack roll exceeds the target’s Fortitude Defence by 5 or more, then you also succeed in knocking the target prone.

Multiple Opponents: If you’re trying to push your way past multiple opponents, then pick one opponent as the focus of your Over-run attempt and make one attack roll. The result of this roll must beat the Reflex and the Fortitude Defence of the target you single out. Every additional target that you must move past adds +2 to the target number, as if they were using the aid another action. If you fail, the GM rules how far you got into the mass of your enemies. The rules for knocking enemies prone still applies.

Failure: If you fail the Over-run, the foe stays where he is and your movement ends in front of your enemy. You may attempt to move away if you still have a move action remaining, although this may provoke an opportunity attack.

Disadvantages of the Over-run: When you try to Over-run an opponent, you grant Combat Advantage to all your foes until the beginning of your next turn. If an enemy knows you are going to try and run past him, then he can attempt to <a href=”#ready”ready an action (q.v.) to attack you when you pass. The same impaling weapons that are so effective against charging enemies, could also be brought to bear against you.

An anticlimactic gesture: There is nothing stopping the target of the over-run simply stepping to one side and letting you pass. In this case, there’s no need to make an attack roll and you simply progress your intended distance unmolested.

Trample: If you attempt to over-run creatures that are one size category smaller than you or less, then you can choose to Trample (q.v.) instead of Over-run your targets.

Feats: The Improved Over-run feat makes you more effective at barrelling through your opponents, while the Improved Trample feat lets you bring the full benefit of your size when you make over-run or trample attempts.

Poison Use

Unless you’re a paladin, it doesn’t pay to fight fair. There will be times when rather than meeting your foe in honourable combat it is far more expedient to simply poison him and be done with it. Using poison in battle is a tricky and potentially dangerous enterprise. The different types of poison and how they work are discussed in the section on Afflictions (q.v.), in this section we look at how best to employ poison against your enemies.

There are four broad types of poison: Contact, Inhaled, Injury and Ingested. Any one of these types of poison may be employed by the terrible monsters that characters meet in their adventures However, only injury and contact poisons tend to be used by PCs in mêlée combat, because these are the poisons that characters can spread liberally over their weapons.

Applying poison to a weapon or a single piece of ammunition is a standard action. Whenever a character applies or readies a weapon for use he must make a DC 10 Alchemy check, or a DC 15 Acrobatics check to avoid accidentally poisoning himself. If that check fails, then the poison affects the character normally. A character poisoning himself in this matter, does not consume the dose of the poison.

Poison that is applied to a weapon retains its potency for about five minutes. After that time a poisoned weapon has no additional affect, except in the case of some particulalry virulent contact poisons that remain deadly after several hours exposure to the open air. However, placing any poisoned weapon into its sheathe or scabbard is likely to wipe off the poison. In almost all cases, you poison you weapon shortly before you intend to use it, and keep the weapon drawn.

When you attack with a poisoned weapon, you make your normal attack roll first. If that is successful, then you make a secondary attack against the foe’s Fortitude defence. This secondary attack must be a separate die roll. The poison’s attack modifier is set by the poison’s potency, it has nothing to do with your character’s power level.

One dose of poison applied to a weapon is good for one successful attack. After you make one successful attack, the poison is used up. If you want to attack with a poisoned weapon again, then you will have to spend another standard action spreading a second dose of poison on the blade.

Pounce

A pounce is a special form of Charge (q.v.) possessed by certain creatures such as lions, giant spiders and megaraptors. The ability to pounce is usually conferred by a racial trait, talent or feat. This is a not a combat manouevre that you can attempt without such a power.

A Pounce is a standard action that incorporates both movement and an attack. A pouncing creature moves a distance of between 10 feet and twice its Speed in feet. At the end of the movement it attacks a foe. Unlike Charge, a pouncing creature may make multiple attacks after the movement.

More often than not, creatures with an ability to pounce also have a talent that lets them make multiple attacks in a round. For example, a lion can attack with two claws and a bite each round. If it pounces, it can still attack with two claws and a bite. If the ability to pounce falls into the hands of a player character, then it has no effect unless the character has the means to make muliple mêlée attacks as a standard action.

If the character has such a means (e.g. Double Attack, Two-Weapon Fighting or Flurry of Blows) then the ability to pounce allows them to charge and make all their attacks as one standard action.

In all other respects, Pounce functions exactly like a Charge Attack. Including the +2 to hit and +2 to damage, as well as the disadvantages such as granting combat advantage to yourenemies.

Rake

Creatures that can rake have the ability to make extra attacks against foes they have grappled. Imagine a cat grabbing a foe with its front paws and biting down on it, while using its back claws to rip its prey to ribbons. Those rear claw attacks are Rake attacks.

Only creatures with a specific racial trait, talent or feat have the ability to rake. Almost all creatures that rake do so with their back claws, and therefore the ability to rake is usually limited to four-legged predators with offensive claws on all their feet (such as the aforementioned cat).

In order to rake you must first grapple (q.v.) your foe. Once you are grappling, subsequent successful checks allow you to continue grappling and to perform another action. Options to move, damage or pin your foe are open to everyone. Rake is another option that can be added to the list.

Whenever you choose to damage a foe you are grappling you may make two extra attack rolls against that foe as free actions. These are your two rakes:

Weapon Skill vs. Reflex Defence

Most attacks made when grappling at made at a -5 penalty to hit. This penalty does not apply to Rake attacks. Remember that grappled and pinned characters have a -5 penalty to their Relfex defence, and so therefore your rake attacks far more likely to hit them. The damage for the rake is whatever the damage of your normal physical attack – usually (but not exclusively) a claw attack.

PCs who Rake: With the right feat and equipment (a pair of clawed boots for instance) it’s possible that PCs may also be able to rake when they grapple their targets.

Ready

Readying an action allows you prepare for the unexpected. You have the opportunity to tell the GM: “as soon as that happens, I’ll do this”. For example, you can say that as soon as someone pokes their head around the corner, you’ll hit it with your hammer; or as soon as the prisoner makes a noise you’ll slit his throat.

Readying is a little like Delaying your action (q.v.) but you don’t actually need to delay anything. Declaring that you are going to Ready is a standard action that you take on your turn. If you want to take a move action for the round, then you need to take it on your turn as normal. During phase two of your turn you simply tell the GM two things:

1) What will trigger your readied action.

2) What your response to the trigger will be.

Your response to the triggering action has to be something you could normally do as a standard action.

You cannot change your mind later. If you say that “As soon as I see a troll, I’m going to shoot it!” then that’s what you’ll do. If it the troll turns out to be one of two hundred trolls, and a better readied action would have been “As soon as I see a troll, I run for the hills!” it’s your hard luck.

Once you have declared your intention to Ready as a standard action, you now simply wait to see if the triggering criteria that you specified are met. If they are, then you enact your response as an Immediate Reaction at the appropriate time.

This is an important point. The readied action is carried out as an Immediate Reaction. It happens after the triggering event. If your criteria is “I’ll hit the wizard if he casts a spell” then you’ll do just that: wait for the wizard to cast a spell, and then hit him. If you’re waiting to try and disrupt a wizard’s spellcasting, which is a common use of this combat action, then you need to say: “I’ll hit the wizard when he starts to cast a spell.”

If you have not used your readied action by the time the intiative order reaches your turn on the following round, then you lose the action. However, on your turn, you can choose to ready the same action again for the next round.

Rend

Rend is a rather nasty ability that allows characters who make multiple attacks with multiple weapons to inflict even more damage on their opponents. Creatures attacking with two claws, or characters attacking with a weapon in both hands, can potentially rend.

Rending is not an ability that is open to just anyone. Like pounce and rake it is an ability that player characters would need to ‘unlock’ by selecting the appropriate feat or talent.

If you are attacking you two mêlée weapons (or two natural attacks) and both those attacks hit the same foe, then you may attempt to Rend that foe. Rending is a free action, that must follow your successful attacks. Make an additional attack roll for the rend:

Weapon Skill vs. Fortitude

If the attack is successful then you inflict additional hit point damage. If you have claws, then this is because you tear the flesh. If you aren’t attacking with a piercing or slashing weapon then you are judged to simply have grabbed hold of your foe and pulled, ripping tendons and dislocating bones.

The damage inflicted by a Rend is indicated in a creature’s description, but it is usually twice the damage die for your character’s basic punch or claw attack, plus your strength modifier.

You may only rend once per round, even if you have more than two attacks per round. Although more than two attacks increases the chance of your rend from working.

Run

Running is sometimes called a double-move. As part of your move action you travel twice your Speed in feet, instead of just your Speed in feet. So a running human could cover 60 feet with a move action instead of 30 feet. Running helps you to get to places more quickly, but it also comes at a price.

If you are running, then you grant combat advantage to all your enemies until the beginning of you next turn. Even if you keep your wits about you, you just can’t dodge all those attacks if you’re moving at speed.

If you convert your standard action into a second Move action, you can use it to take a double move as well. This is a flat out sprint. A human who does this actually manages to cover 120 feet in a round.

You don’t need to be walking on the ground to take the Run action. Creatures with a climb speed can take the run action when climbing, creatures with a fly speed can take the run action when flying, and creatures with a swim speed can take the run aciton when swimming.

Speak

Nothing makes the doggerel of combat more bearable that a little snappy banter. Why would you become an heroic freedom fighter if you couldn’t mock the uptight villain to his face? And what’s the point of being an evil overlord if you don’t get to sneer condascendingly, and reveal the true extent of your genius to these upstart adventurers?

Of course, the ability to speak has a wider application than role-playing or comic relief. There are times that it may be beneficial (or even essential) to impart words of advice, warning or encouragement to your companions.

The ability to speak is therefore a free action that you can take at any time during the round, not just when it’s your turn. Exaclty how much you can say, and when you can say it is up to the GM who will do his best to adjudicate as fairly as possible. He may rule that shouting a short sentence or two is fine, but reciting the entire Gilbert and Sullivan back catalogue would be pushing your luck.

It should be noted that many talents, feats and spells allow you to influence the battlefield merely with the sound of your own voice. Using one of these abiilties is not the same as speaking. Refer to the text of the relevent talent or feat for more details about how they work.

Stand Up

It’s quite remarkable the number of times an adventurer finds himself lying on his back. It may be because you’ve been knocked prone by an attack, you might have thrown yourself to ground to avoid an explosion or you must might be asleep when the action starts.

However you got there, chances are you don’t want to stay lying on the ground for long. For one thing it’s uncomfortable, but more importantly your combat actions are somewhat limited if you’re just lying face down inhaling the humus.

Standing up up from a prone position is a move action. However, you can stand up as a free action if you take the feat, Kip Up.

Sunder

Rather than attacking your enemy in combat, you can target the weapon or shield that your enemy is holding. Instead of dealing damage to the foe, you deal damage to their equipment. If you can hit the target and inflict sufficient damage, you may render the item less effective. If you deal enough damage, then you can destroy the item entirely.

In order to make a Sunder attempt, you must attack with a mêlée weapon. If you have the Improved Unarmed Strike feat then you can make a sunder attempt with your hands or feet instead. Ranged weapons cannot be used to make sunder attempts. Some spells may break or destroy weapons, but they’ll use different rules explained in the individual spell description. Normally, you cannot use a spell to deliberately target and sunder a weapon.

As a standard action, make a single attack roll against any one item in your foe’s possession. Normally, this would be the foe’s weapon or shield, but could be his armour, necklace, backpack or anything else you can see. Normally the attack roll is made at a -5 penalty. If the object is particularly small, then the attack is made at a -10 penalty.

(Weapon Group -5) vs Reflex

If you are successful, then you deal damage to the object and not to your foe. All objects have an Armour Class value, as well as hit points based on their size and the type of material the object is made from. As with your character’s own Armour Class, the item’s AC is deducted from any damage before it is taken off the object’s hit points.

Hit point and armour class values of all objects are given in the equipment section, and should be noted on your character sheet for ease of reference during play. Examples of the most common items are given in the table below.

Note the difference between the armour class that manufactured armour confers upon its wearer, and the armour class that manufactured armour has to defend attacks against itself. Often, the values are the same, but you cannot always assume this is the case. For example, Plate Armour confers AC 8 on a wearer, but has an item AC of 10.

Broken and Destroyed objects: If an object is reduced to half its hit points or less, then it gains the Broken condition (q.v.). Broken objects are less effective. An object reduced to zero hit points is destroyed, and cannot be used. Broken items can be repaired, Destroyed items cannot usually be repaired.

Sundering unattended objects: Obviously, your destructive urges do not need to be limited to objects held, worn or carried by an enemy. You can use you weapon to smash just about anything. If you are not under stress (i.e. outside combat) hitting an inanimate target with a mêlée attack requires no attack roll. In combat, an inanimate object has a Reflex Defence of 10 (or 15 if it’s particularly small).

Sundering Masterwork Items: Masterwork items tend to have a higher item AC and hit points than normal items of their type. In general, masterwork items gain a +2 bonus to hardness for each +1 of their masterwork bonus; and a +10 to their hit points for each +1 of their masterwork bonus. So a +3 masterwork longsword would have an Item AC of 16 and 35 hit points.

Sundering Magical items: Sundering magical items may be impossible, or may require a special materials or particular preparation. For example, you may only be able to sunder a magic sword if you are using another, more powerful, magical weapon. Individual magic item descriptions will list details of how, or if, such items can be sundered.

Swallow Whole

Some creatures are so enormous that they can grapple with their mouth. When they make a grapple attempt they do not us hands, claws, pinscers or tentacles: they use their bite attack. Obviously, this isn’t an option that is open to all characters. Usually a special racial trait, talent or feat is required to be able to swallow your victims whole.

In order to swallow your foe must first grapple (q.v.) him. Once you are grappling, subsequent successful checks allow you to continue grappling and to perform another action. Options to move, damage or pin your foe are open to everyone. Swallow Whole is another option that can be added to the list.

A Swallow Whole attempt may only be made on creatures that are one size category smaller than you or smaller. A swallowed victim automatically takes bite damage before they are consumed. Swallowed creatures continue to have the grappled condition, while the creature that did the swallowing does not.

Swallowed creatures usuallly continue to take damage after they are swallowed. This damage is often in the form of crushing damage from their foe’s body, and acid damage from their foe’s digestive juices. One can only imagine that being swallowed alive is not a pleasant experience. Unless otherwise stated, this damage occurs in Phase Three of the character’s turn, starting the round after they were swallowed.

A swallowed creature can attempt to cut its way free of a creature as long as it is conscious. However, it must use a light slashing or piercing weapon to do so. Spellcasting is possible, but the normal penalties for being grappled apply. If cutting yourself free, the Reflex Defence of the creature’s interior is 10 less than its exterior, and it does not have an armour class.

Even if you succeed in cutting your way out of a foe, you don’t leave a hole that anyone else can use. Anyone else swallowed by the same creature still has to cut their way out on their own.

Alternatively, the character can attempt to climb back out of the creature’s mouth. A successful grapple check, or a DC 30 Climb check is required to get back into the creature’s mouth. A character that gets himself back into this position is still considered grappled, and still must make another successful grapple check to free himself.

Trample

If you attempt to Over-run (q.v.) opponents that are at least one size category smaller than yourself, you can choose to make a Trample attempt instead. Trample is an attempt to crush as many foes as possible under your size thirteen feet. It is a combat manoeuvre designed to do the greatest damage to the greatest number, not to get from Point A to Point B.

Using Trample is a standard action during which you must move at least 10 feet and no more than twice your Speed in feet. So a horse with a speed of 60 must move a distance of between 10 ft and 120 ft in order to make a trample attempt.

Obviously, a creature making a Trample attempt still has an unused move action. Unlike Charge (q.v.) there is no restriction at what point in the round the Move action can be used. You character could simply add the Move action to the distance covered by the Over-run attempt (up to 180 feet for a horse), or use it for anything else a Move action can be used for.

Attack Roll: You make a Trample attempt by rolling either an Athletics or Unarmed Strike (natural weapons) skill check. You roll once, and the result must beat the target’s Reflex Defence:

Athletics vs Reflex

or

Unarmed Strike vs Reflex

If you have the Mounted Combat feat, and you are attempting to trample your foes with your mount, then you can use your Ride skill to make the attack roll.

Success: If you hit with the Trample attempt then you inflict damage equal to the damage you (or your mount) would normally inflict with a kick or claw attack. If your attack roll is also good enough to hit the foe’s Fortitude defence, then you succeed in knocking the target prone.

Multiple Opponents: If you’re trying to trample over multiple opponents, then pick one opponent as the focus of your Trample attempt and make one attack roll. The result of this roll must beat his Reflex Defence of the target you single out. Every additional target that you must move past adds +2 to the target number, as if they were using the aid another action. If you fail, the GM rules how far you got into the mass of your enemies. The rules for knocking enemies prone still applies.

For example, the result of your trample check is 25. You target the trample at one foe with a Reflex Defence of 13. You trample than target, and a further six targets with the one roll.

Failure: If you fail the Trample attempt fails then the foes are unaffected, but your still move your stated distance. You may attempt to move away if you still have a move action remaining, although this may provoke an opportunity attack.

Improved Trample: If you take the Improved Trample feat then you receive a bonus on trample checks depending on the difference in size between you and your targets.

Trip

A Trip is an attempt to push you opponent over, trip him up or otherwise knock him to the floor. Despite the name, you don’t actually have to try to trip your foe. Any violent means you employ to get your foe from a standing position to a prone position is considered a trip. You can only try to trip an opponent that is one size category larger than you, or smaller.

As a standard action make a single mêlée attack roll. The result of this roll must beat the target’s Reflex and Fortitude defences. Usually you use the Athletics or the Unarmed Strike skill to make a Trip attempt, although you can make trip attempts with some weapons or with a good solid bash from your shield.

Athletics vs Reflex and Fortitude

or

Unarmed Strike vs Reflex and Fortitude

If you are successful, then your opponent falls to the ground where they are standing. They are prone (q.v.) and suffer the same benefits and penalties of all prone characters (such as granting combat advantage to anyone engaging them in mêlée combat).

Although it is possible to knock creatures prone with the Bull Rush or Over-run manoeuvre, Trip is a much easier way to accomplish the result. Also, characters with the Improved Trip feat may be able to get an attack in on their prone foe before they have a chance to scramble to their feet.

Two Weapon Fighting

For many characters, the idea of fighting with a weapon in each hand is extremely appealing. Not only does it make your character look suitably suave and rakish, but it can also be devastatingly effective, particulalry against unarmoured foes. If you want to be a swirling dervish of death, and you can live without the protection a shield can provide, or the added damage of a two-handed weapon, then this could be the fighting style for you.

Anyone can grab a couple of weapons and take a stab at two-weapon fighting. However, unless you also have the right talents and feats, the chances are that you”re not going to be very effective at it. This is how it works:

Normally, when you make the Attack standard action (q.v.) you can only attack once. However, if you have a weapon in each hand then you can attack once with the weapon in your primary hand, and once with the weapon in your off-hand, as one standard action. You make two separate attack rolls (one for each weapon). You can direct both attacks at the same foe, or at two different foes, as long as you can reach them.

Double Weapons: The same rules apply for double weapons, such as the quarterstaff, dwarven urgosh or gnomish hooked hammer. With these weapons, you can attack once as you would with any other weapon, or you can attack twice: you attempt to bash your foe with either end of the weapon.

Whether you are fighting with a weapon in each hand, or attacking with a double weapon, you make the attacks with a penalty to hit. These penalties are summaries in the following table:

Weapons in HD&D are categorised by a number of special qualities. These are fully explained in the Equipment section, but for the purposes of two-weapon fighting, you need to understand the One-hand and Off-hand qualities.

One-hand: This is a weapon that can be wielded in one-hand. Some one-handed weapons can be used two-handed, but if a weapon has the One-hand quality then it is designed to used in one hand. A longsword is a such a weapon. One-handed weapons may still be heavy weapons with significant damage potential, such as a longsword or a warhammer.

Off-hand: An off-hand weapon is a weapon that is small and light enough to be held in your character’s off-hand while he is also holding another weapon in his primary hand. All Off-hand weapons are also One-hand weapons, but not all One-hand weapons are Off-hand weapons. A dagger, short sword or a main gauche are examples of off-hand weapons.

When fighting with two weapons, most combatants will wield a One-hand weapon in their primary hand, and an Off-hand weapon in their off-hand. Alternatively, they may wield an Off-hand weapon in both hands. The ’standard’ penalty for two-weapon fighting (the -5 to hit with both attacks) assumes that you are taking one of these two approaches.

If you choose to wield a weapon that doesn’t have the Off-hand quality in your off-hand (you are attacking with two One-hand weapons, such as two longswords) then the penalty to hit increases from -5 to -10.

If you are using a Double Weapon, then you take the lesser penalty of -5 to hit. The rules consider the use a double weapon the same as wielding a One-hand weapon and an Off-hand weapon.

A character with the Two-Weapon Fighting talent doesn’t take the -5 penalty to attack with two weapons as long as they wield an Off-hand weapon in their off-hand. The penalty for using two One-handed weapons is reduced from -10 to -5.

A character with the Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting feat (which require them to also have the Two-Weapon Fighting talent) ignores the penalty to hit when they wield two One-handed weapons in combat.

The talent Improved Two Weapon Fighting (available from 11th level) lets characters make four attacks per round with their weapons instead of two. The talent Greater Two Weapon Fighting (available from 21st level) lets characters make six attacks per round with their weapons instead of four.

These talents are usually only available to Fighters and Rangers, or characters with the appropriate Multiclass feat.

Use Magic Item

If you are lucky enough to have a magic item, then you undoubtedly want to use it as quickly and as often as possible during combat. There are three broad types of magic items, and their uses vary accordingly.

Spell Completion: This is the activation method used for magical scrolls and similar items. Using these magical items is the equivalent of casting a spell, and you normally have to be a spellcaster to use them. Using a spell completion magic item is a standard action.

Command Word: Some magic items require only a special spoken word to invoke their power. Speaking the command word is not an action. However, using the magic item that you have just activated with the command word is normally a standard action.

Use-Activated: This type of item simply has to be used in order to activate it. You need to drink a potion, swing a sword or interpose a shield between you and the bad guy. The action required to use a magic items such as this varies considerably.

For example, drinking a potion is a move action. Attacking with a magic sword is a standard action in the same way attacking with a mundane sword is a standard action. Interposing a shield to block an assault is not an action whether it is magical or mudane.

Walk

Including “Walk” in a list of combat actions may seem misguidedly thorough. However, Walk is the default means of locomotion for your character in combat. If you don’t specify that your character is running, charging, jumping, climbing or otherwise moving in strange and mysterious ways, then you are walking.

Walking is a Move action. When you walk you move a number of feet equal to your Speed score in any direction. Walking is the way you move safely through combat, without granting combat advantage to your enemies. If you want to cover move distance than you can by walking, you can always take the Run action (q.v.) although this is inherently more dangerous.

Withdraw

There are times when the battle is simply going poorly. Your dice are not your friend and whatever you try to do, your enemy keeps evading your blows while continually stabbing you in the liver. The time has come to withdraw from the fight. But disengaging yourself from combat is not easy.

Using Withdraw is a move action. You safely disengage yoursel from mêlée combat, and back away five feet. Five feet may not seem like very far, but this is out of the range of most mêlée weapons. Once at this distance from your enemy, you can move away normally.

If you try to Walk or Run from mêlée combat without first using the Withdraw action, then every enemy who is currently engaging you in mêlée combat can make an opportunity attack against you as an immediate Interrupt. This is a very bad thing, and you should do your best to avoid it.

For example: Illyan Snowmantle is engaged in single combat against a disfigured kaorti swordsman. He decides that discretion is the better part of valour, and the time has come to depart combat. It he runs or walks away, then the kaorti can make an opportunity attack against him, so Illyan decides to use the Withdraw action.

As a move action, Illyan steps back five feet. He is now out of range of he kaorti’s sword attacks. He still has a standard action remaining this round, so he opts to convert it to a second move action. He decides to use this Move action to Run (q.v.) away. During the course of one round he has successfully disengaged from his foe, and put 60 feet distance between them.

When Withdraw doesn’t work: If you are fighting a character with the Combat Superiority talent then he’ll be able to make an opportunity attack against you whether you Withdraw or not. Usually only Fighters have this talent, but you’re still taking a chance by withdrawing.

If you are standing on hindering terrain (q.v.) then you can only move half your speed. This also applies to the Withdraw action. This means that if you’re standing in hindering terrain, such as thick mud or waist-deep water, you simply cannot move back far enough to avoid the opportunity attack. Therefore Withdraw doesn’t work.

Also, Withdraw only lets you step back 5 feet. If your foe has reach of 10 feet or move (either with a long weapon, or long arms) then they can still make an opportunity attack against you if you try and walk or run. You may have to Withdraw twice (with two move actions) in these cases. Or you could take the Rapid Withdraw feat that lets you move further with the Withdraw action.

Next…

The next part of the combat section is Atypical Combat. Experience the wonders of aerial, underwater, mounted and vehicle combat. With added Seige Warfare, at no extra cost. Sadly, this post won’t see the light of day on Wednesday (you didn’t think I could keep up this schedule indefinitely did you?) but there will be a little something on Wednesday just to keep your interest alive.

Few characters in a fight stand around motionless. Combat is a dynamic enterprise full of feints, charges and spectacular retreats. There are some characters who want to be in the thick of things, and other characters who will take every step to avoid the thick of things. Those fragile wizards can dish it out, but they can’t take it.

Roleplaying games are games of the imagination. They are not board games. The hybrid game does not use a battlegrid, or require miniatures for play. Movement is not a precise science. Ranges are determined by the GM on a case by case basis, often with the consent and approval of the players. The most important consideration is a character’s relative position to his allies and enemies, not the de facto position that a grid would reveal.

Speed

Anything that possesses the capacity for ambulation is given a Speed score. This means Speed not only applies to characters and monsters, but also to mounts, and vehicles such as ships, wagons and magically-powered trams. Speed scores are the same for every member of the same race, although they can be modified by your selection of feats and talents. Unless otherwise noted, the Speed on your character sheet is your Land Speed. It is the rate at which you can move along the ground.

Your speed represents the number of feet you can Walk along the ground as part of one move action. If you have a Speed of 30, you can walk 30 feet as a move action. You still have your standard action with which to perform anything more exciting.

You may convert your standard action to a second Move action, and use that second Move action to Walk as well. So in a course of a round you could have two move actions and use them both to walk. A character with a Speed of 30 could therefore walk up to 60 feet in a round if they did nothing else. A character who uses both his actions to walk in a combat round is said to Hustle. Hustling becomes more important for overland movement rates (see below).

If you need to get somewhere more quickly you can Run instead of walk. When you run you can move twice your Speed as one Move action. So the character with a Speed of 30 could run 60 feet as one move action. If that character converted her standard action into a move action, she could run up to 120 feet in one round.

While you can cover more distance while running, you are less aware of your surroundings and let your guard down against your enemies. There’s more on running in the Actions in Combat section (q.v.). Certain feats help you overcome this disadvantage.

Of course, many characters don’t walk along the ground. You may swim, climb, jump, fly or even burrow. Details of these movement modes are found in Special Movement below.

Tactical Movement

Tactical Movement is the term used to explain your character’s movement during combat. Outside combat, it usually isn’t necessary to take your character’s Speed into account. Whether it takes you five rounds or ten rounds to walk to the shops and buy a pint of milk is irrelevent. Inside combat, the distance your character can move in relation to the world around him is very important.

Just as combat itself is rather abstract in HD&D, so too is movement. With nothing as prosaic as battle grid to fall back upon, players and GMs need to adequately juggle the position of all the characters in their mind at once. Sometimes this is simple, sometimes it is more complex. The following guidelines help to visualise combat.

The GM Paints the Picture: It is the job of the GM to adequately describe the scene before the players. He needs to make sure that all of the players are aware of exactly where they are and what they are doing when combat begins. If a verbal picture isn’t enough, then a visual aid may be required.

The GM Draws the Picture: A piece of paper or a white board is sometimes required to sketch out the scene at the beginning of combat. It is helpful for the player’s to know where they are all standing in relation to one another, how far away the bad guys are, and if there are any interesting features of the area that might play a role in the combat. A GM might have thought he decribed the scene adequately only to have a player request a sketch. This is fine. Everyone needs to know what is going on. Confusion leads to a lack of interest in the proceedings. That isn’t fun, and can be fatal.

Once the sketch is drawn, the GM may choose to update it from round to round as the party moves about. This is sometimes useful for large, dynamic combats where there is a lot of movement. However, it is often misguided to lavish a great deal of attention on this. Once players know where they started, it’s usually easy enough to extrapolate where they are now and what they are currently doing.

It’s all Relative

The fluidity of tactical movement in HD&D is based on the players understanding their relative positions to everyone else. They don’t need to know exactly where they are, they just need to know how far they are away from their companions, their enemies and other features of the battlefield.

The PC knows what his Speed is. He knows how much distance he can cover with a Move action. He can decide whether he wants to walk, hustle or run. He may have special feats or talents that increase his speed, or allow him to Move in a manner that is usually contrary to the rules – such as being able to move, take a standard action, and then move some more.

The only other thing a player needs to know is a specific distance that he can work from. For example, if the GM declares that the foe is 100 feet away, then immediately the player knows whether he can hit the target with a ranged weapon or spell, how long it will take to close on a target to engage in mêlée combat, and so on and so forth.

Even with something as seemingly fiddly was the Withdraw (q.v.) action, all you need to know is that spending a move action to Withdraw lets a character retreat from combat safely. There’s really not much more to it than that.

If a PC is being chased by an enemy, then you only have to compare their relative Speed scores to know whether or not the enemy has a chance of catching up. If characters have the same speed, then call for opposed Athletics checks to determine success. Longer chases, where stamina rather than speed is the most important factor, don’t tend to take place in combat. They’re covered in Overland Movement below.

Often in combat a player is not quite aware of his character’s relative position. Combat may have moved on while the player blinked. The GM must therefore be prepared to answer questions such as: “Can I get to that enemy this round?” or “How far away is the tower from where I am now?” or “Can I get over to my ally and give him a healing potion before he dies?”. And he must be prepared to answer these questions off the cuff.

How is a GM to do this? Without a merticulously scaled map to hand he his no demonstrable guide. Answer: he just makes it up. The GM has a picture of the combat in his mind. He understands the players’ relative positions better than they do, and he can extrapolate the answer to almost any question. Importantly, the GM also has a responsibility to create a dramatic and memorable combat. If a player’s action is dramatically appropriate, and taking that action is not completely beyond the bounds of possibility, then he should be encouraged to allow it. As long as he is being consistant, and as long as he is being fair to all players, then the flow of the game is more important than the minutiae of where everyone is standing.

For example, suppose the players are fighting a terrible battle against a dark archdruid in northerly Kerikal. Suppose that druid has caused a large chunk of the ground to rise up as a floating island, and he is making his escape. Raza wants to know if he can run to the island, jump, and catch hold of it before it gets too high.

Now the GM could spend time working out where Raza is standing in relation to the island. He could say that at a flat our sprint Raza could cover 200 feet in the course of one round. He could spend time working all that out, or he could just say: “Make your jump check.”

The GM knows that the monk is fast, and covering a lot of distance quickly is his ‘thing’. So he lets him cover than much distance. Does he let Ravenna do it as well? No. The sorcerer isn’t as fast as the monk, and she knows it. Does such a ruling destabilise the game? No. Is anyone annoyed that Raza was able to do this? No. Did it keep the game flowing at a crucial narrative point? Yes.

The GM has the responsibility of knowing when to use the rules, and when to bend the game in a spirit of the rules. Tactical Movement is an area where the GM’s creativity and natural sense of fair play are crucial. But he isn’t acting alone. GMs shouldn’t be afraid to listen to what players say during the game. It’s fairer to rule by consensus, if that consensus can be reach quickly.

Overland Movement

Outside combat the movement rules works slightly differently, although how far your character can move is still based on your Speed score. While characters can Walk or Run to their hearts content in the space of a few combat rounds, when it comes to moving about in the real world they are somewhat more limited. You cannot run indefinitely, after all.

Overland Movement diviides a character’s speed into three categories: a Walk (equal to his Speed in feet), a Hustle (equal to twice his Speed in feet) and a Run (equal to four times his Speed in feet). In the space of one round, a character with a Speed of 30 could walk 30 feet, hustle 60 feet or Run 120 feet. So far, this is exactly the same as movement in combat.

Encumbered characters, or characters wearing certain types of armour, may have their Speed score reduced. If this is the case, then apply these rules normallly, just use the new lower Speed score as the starting point.

For the puposes of Overland Movement, it is very easy to convert a character’s speed into miles per hour. One round is six seconds, meaning there are ten rounds in a minute and six-hundred rounds in an hour. A character walking 5 feet per round would cover 3000 feet (or 0.57 of a mile) in one hour.

The most common speeds for PCs are found in the following table. In all cases the results have rounded to the nearest half mile per hour just to make the maths easier.

So a character with a Speed of 30 normally walks at about 3½ miles per hour. If they hustle (they start jogging) they can travel at 7 miles per hour, and if they run they can manage about 14 miles per hour. But how long can characters keep walking, running or hustling?

Walk: Characters can walk for eight hours during a day without problem. Such characters may stop occassionally for rest or a meal, but most adventurers should be able to put eight hours of continual travel into a day without too much bother. An average human with a Speed of 30 could therefore travel approximately 28 miles in a day.

A character can walk for more than 8 hours in a day by making a forced march. For each hour of marching beyond 8 hours, an Atheltics check (DC 15, +2 per extra hour) is required. If the check fails, the character takes 1d6 points of subdual damage. A character who takes any subdual damage from a forced march becomes fatigued (q.v.). A character failing two checks, from either forced marching or extreme hustling, becomes exhausted (q.v.). Exhasted characters have their Speed score halved, which may put an abrupt stop to your journey.

Hustle: Characters can hustle for one hour without a problem. That means characters can hustle during combat, or around the home with no real penalty or need for rest. It is only if a character hustles for an extended period of time that the overland rules come into play.

Trying to hustle more than one hour between sleep cycles is extremely tiring. For each additional hour of hustling beyond 1 hour, an Athletics check (DC 20, +2 per extra hour) is required. If the check fails, the character takes 2d6 points of subdual damage, and becomes fatigued (q.v.). A character failing two checks, from either hustling or forced marching, becomes exhausted (q.v.).

Run: The average character can only run for 1-2 minutes without the need to make checks to keep running. Running for shorter durations doesn’t have a profoundly tiring effect on most adventurers, so you can run from point A to point B in combat without much fear of exhausting yourself. A continuous sprint is another matter entirely.

You can run for a number of rounds equal to your Consitution score. One round is six seconds, so a character with a Con of 10 can run for one minute. A character with a Con of 18 can run for 1 minute and 48 seconds. After this time has elapsed you must make an Athletics check to keep running. The DC of this check is 15 + 1 per extra round spent running.

If you fail the check then you stop running and you must rest. While resting you can move no faster than your Speed each round, and you must continue to rest for at least one minute before resuming your run.

A character cannot attempt to cover more ground by entering a cycle of running and walking. If a character tries such a thing, then consider them to be hustling instead.

Other forms of locomotion: Characters might be able to use the special movement forms listed below. In certain circumstances they may be able to hustle or run with these movement modes just as if they were walking on land. Characters who are riding a mount or travelling in a vehicle use their mount or vehicles Speed instead of their own for calculating how far they can travel.

Special Movement

Ambling along the ground is the least interesting way that characters can get about. All characters can jump, swim and climb, but in a fantasy setting there are plenty of PCs who will be able to fly through the air or teleport in random directions. These special forms of movement are covered below.

A key rule to bear in mind when looking at special movement is the difference between your character’s Speed score and a specific speed that relates to one of these uncommon modes of locomotion. Your Speed score measures the number of feet you can walk on the ground as part of one move action. Any one can leap into water and swim half their Speed as a move action, but that doesn’t mean they have a “Swim Speed”. Certain characters will have specific (different) speeds listed for climbing, swimming, burrowing and flying. If you have a listed speed then such movement is part of your natural element.

For example, a watersoul genasi has Speed 30 and Swim Speed 30. This means that she can walk at a speed of 30 on the ground, and she can swim at a speed of 30 in the water. Also because she has a Swim Speed, she can perform tricks while swimming that characters without a Swim speed cannot. She can always Take 10 when making Swim checks.

Climb

When you are faced with a steep slope or a wall (as defined in the Climb skill) then you need to make a Climb check to ascend it. You can climb half your Speed in feet as a Move action. If you convert your standard action into a second Move action, you can also use that to climb. Therefore a character with a speed of 30 can climb 15 feet with one Move action, and 30 feet with two. You cannot take the Run action when climbing.

Climbing is part of regular movement. A character with a Speed of 30 who is standing 10 feet away from a tree that he wishes to climb, could walk to the tree and start to climb it as part of the same Move action. It would cost 10 feet of movement to walk the 10 feet to the tree, and 20 feet of movement to climb 10 feet up the tree.

Some creatures such as spiders have a listed Climb Speed instead of climbing at half their normal speed. Characters with a Climb Speed can Take 10 on any climb check, and can take the Run action while climbing. A giant spider with a Climb Speed of 20 could Run 80 feet up a wall in a single round.

Jump

A jumping character attempts to propel himself up and over a particular obstacle. There is no such a thing as a Jump Speed: the distance a character can jump is dependent upon their Athletics check result, as defined in the description of that skill.

Jumping still counts as part of your character’s movement. So if a standard human jumps over a 20 ft chasm as part of their move action, they can only move another 10 feet as part of the same move action. This rule is slightly complicated by high level characters, or creatures with exceptional jump scores. Theoretically, it’s possible to a get a jump check result so high that it indicates you jump further than your character’s Speed.

For example, a 30th level character with a Strength of 26 and the Skill Focus (Athletics) feat has an Athletics skill modifier of +29. The character leaps over a stream, makes an Athletics check and rolls a 20. The check result is 49, indicating that the character has jumped 49 feet. The character’s Speed is 30. He moved 10 feet before the jump, and has jumped 49 feet. That means as part of this move action he has covered 59 feet. Right?

There are several ways to deal with this. Firstly, the character may not want to jump that far (the stream is only 20 feet wide!) Don’t penalise a character who gets a high check result. The roll indicates success, as well as distance. The character can land where she likes. However, if the player does want to cover the entire distance, the GM should rule that the Jump was the equivalent of a double-move, or Run attempt. Let them jump the full distance, but rule they grant combat advantage to their enemies until the beginning of their next turn: just as if they had run the same distance.

There will be times when even this solution isn’t enough. Characters might be able to Jump more than twice their Speed in one go. In these rare cases, still count the jump as a double-move. Don’t let the jump eat into the character’s standard action, or last for more than one round.

Fly

Flight is not as uncommon as one might think in a game such as HD&D. Plenty of creatures have wings, and spells such as Fly bestow the ability to fly onto player characters. Characters who gain the ability to fly can use their Fly skill to perform a series of complex manoeuvres.

Flying creatures, characters who transform themselves into flying creatures, and those flying my dint of magic spell will have a speed for their flight noted in the relevent statistics and descriptions of their powers. For most of these characters this will also mean that they have a Fly Speed for the duration of their ability to fly.

Characters with a Fly Speed can Take 10 on any Fly check, and can take the Run action while flying. A great wyrm red dragon has a Fly Speed of 200. In the space of one round it could cover up to 800 feet.

All flying characters also have a manouevrability class, incidcating how easy it is for them to change direction or perform insane aerial acrobatics. In HD&D this manoeuvrability class manifests itself as a bonus or a penalty to the Fly check. See the Fly skill for more information.

Swim

Anyone can leap into a body of water and start swimming. You can swim up to half your speed in feet as a Move action. If you convert your standard action into a second Move action, you can also use that to swim. Therefore a character with a speed of 30 can swim 15 feet with one Move action, and 30 feet with two. You cannot take the Run action when swimming.

Characters with a Swim Speed take to water like a fish. Indeed in many cases, they might be fish. Such creatures can always Take 10 on their Swim checks, and can take the Run action while swimming. A dire shark has a Swim Speed of 60. It could swim an impressive 240 feet in one round, although it couldn’t keep such a speed up for long.

Don’t confuse a Swim Speed with the ability to breathe underwater. While creatures with a Swim Speed are often native water-breathers or amphibious creatures, simply having a Swim Speed doesn’t mean you can breath underwater. For example, the Swim spell lets you swim like a fish, but not breathe like one.

Burrow

Burrowing is the act of digging through the ground to get from one place to another. Burrowing allows you to move underneath obstacles that would otherwise fry, drown or stab you. It is also Bugs Bunny’s favoured mode of locomotion – but remember never to turn left at Albuquerque.

If you don’t have a Burrow Speed then you cannot burrow. Characters who have a Burrow Speed are able to enter the ground and move a number of feet equal to their Burrow Speed as a single move action. If you convert your standard action into a second Move action, you can also use that to burrow. Therefore a character with a Burrow Speed of 20 can burrow 20 feet with one Move action, or 40 feet with two. Burrowing characters cannot use the Run action to increase their speed.

Burrowing characters are usually able to tunnel through any substance except solid rock and substances tougher than solid rock. As a rule, burrowers cannot tunnel through anything that has an Item AC of 8 or higher. Tunnelling through brickwork or a dry stone wall is perfectly possible as the obstruction is not one solid mass.

Most burrowing creatures do not leave behind tunnels that other creatures can use. This is because either the material they tunnel through fills in behind them, or because they do not actually dislocate any material while burrowing.

There are exceptions to both these rules, with some burrowing creatures being able to carve their way through solid stone as if it were butter, and others leaving vast cavernous tunnels in their wake. Refer to the descriptions of these creatures for more specific information.

Burrowing and tunnelling creatures are almost as much of a headache for a GM as teleporters. Sometimes they are even more problematic as burrowing is a mundane rather than magical ability, and few NPCs will see the need to counter against burrowing PCs. However, here are two things to bear in mind:

Burrowers can be heard: A burrowing character cannot be seen, but he can be heard. If you burrowing PC is trying to surprise a foe by erupting from underneath him, then the PC should make a Stealth check against the target’s Passive Perception score. Remember the Stealth check takes a -5 penalty if you are moving at faster than half your Burrow Speed.

Burrowers cannot see: Unless the burrower has some kind of tremorsense ability, then they cannot tell where they are going, or where their enemies are while tunnelling. They may have to frequently break the surface to regain their bearings. Characters tunnelling under the ground for an extended period of time must make an intuit direction check (a Survival check with a DC of 25) to stay on the right track. The same check might be required if the character is trying to locate a very specific target while being unable to see or hear them.

Teleportation

Teleportaton is the ability to disappear in one location, and instantaneously reappear in another without crossing the intervening space. Such a tremendous feat is made possible only by the application of powerful magical or supernatural forces. A character steps sideways into the Astral Plane for less than an instant, and uses that plane as a conduit to reach their destination.

Traditionally teleportation has been the purview of very powerful characters and, for the most part, it remains that way in HD&D. Teleportation over long distances requires intense training and magical aptitude. Even the most proficient casters often rely on existing teleportation portals, while others use their magic to join an existing portal network. Only the supremely potent can translocate vast distances under their own power, and only a handful of them could attempt to find their way to somewhere they had never visited before.

The spells Linked Portal (5th), Planar Portal (7th) and True Portal (9th) allow this potent use of Teleportation magic. All require special components, and all take several minutes to cast – placing them beyond the scope of a combat measured in rounds. However there is another, lesser, form of teleportation magic that does not have such grand ambitions. This form of magic is available to much lower level characters, and while it cannot be used to traverse great distances, it has its own special utility for characters.

Swordmages, wizards and warlocks are the classes that commonly make use of these spells. Unless the text of the power states differently all spells, talents and feats with the Teleportation descriptor use these two rules:

Line of Sight: You must have line of sight to you destination in order to teleport to it. Basically this means you have to be able to see where you are teleporting to. You can’t teleport to the other side of a closed door even if you know what is on the other side. This also means that you can’t teleport if you’re blinded or if it’s too dark to see. You can’t teleport to a destination that has Total Concealment (q.v.).

You do not need line of effect in order to teleport. So you could teleport through a glass window, even though the glass would stop the line of effect of most other spells and abilities.

Instantaneous Travel: You disappear in one location and reappear in another. You are not incommoded for travelling the intervening distance. That means you can break away from mêlée combat without triggering an opportunity attack (even if your foe has Combat Superiority). You can also teleport out of a grapple without having to make a successful grapple check. A teleport power that didn’t have somatic, material or verbal components could be used to teleport even if immobilised, held or tied up. Although you’d arrive at your destination in a similar state of distress.

There is no such thing as a Teleportation Speed. Characters with the ability to teleport usually access it as a Recharge power, or as a power that only triggers in very specific conditions. While teleportation is not a mode of travel that can be relied upon in all circumstances, it is nonetheles a potent addition to the traveller’s arsenal. With sufficient time and resources, high level characters never need to hop on a wagon train again.

Terrain

Terrain is not just there to hide behind and build castles on; it can also adversely affect the distance a character can move. After all, it’s more difficult to slog through thick mud or deep snow, than it is to stroll down a tightly cobbled and well-maintained road.

When moving overland, the progress your character can make in a day is dependent upon the terrain she is traversing. Only if your character is walking down a flat highway can she travel the maximum distance listed in the Overland Movement section above. If the road is badly maintained, or nonexistant, then travel will slow considerably. Refer to the following table:

For the purposes of these rules, a Road is a well maintained stretch of highway. If you can drive a wagon down it, then it’s a road. A Trail might be obvious to follow, and well worn through continual use, but it is not being deliberately maintained by anyone. Trails may be narrow, uneven and impossible to traverse quickly. Trackless areas of land have absolutely no existing navigable route through them. This isn’t such a problem on plains, where the land is flat in all directions, but if you’re trying to move through a dense tropical jungle, then it’s another matter entirely.

Simply apply the multiplier from the table above to the number of miles your character (or your party) can travel in an hour or a day. For example, a human with a Speed of 30 can normally cover 28 miles in a day. If he’s following a trail through a thick swamp, then he can actually only cover 21 miles. A little creative maths may be required if the party are crossing different types of terrain over the course of several days, but the mechanics of this should be obvious.

While it’s certainly worth spending the time to calculate how long it takes the characters to traverse the campaign world, it’s misguided to get too bogged down with the minutiae of terrain when adjudicating Tactical Movement in combat. Rather than worry about the type of terrain, the party are traversing, GMs and players only need to consider the effect of hampering terrain in the broadest terms. Generally, this can be boiled down to one simple rule:

The character moves at half Speed

Nothing more complicated is required. If the character is standing waste deep in water or scrambling over unstable scree the distance a character can travel is halved. More often than not, rules for hindering terrain only come up when players specifically ask the question: “How long will it take me to get to Point A?”

If the entire combat encounter is taking place in hindering terrain (a battle in deep snow, or a flooding cellar) then the GM should make this abundantly clear at the start of combat. Any reduction in mobility changes the face of combat, and the PCs should be aware of the deliterious effects this will have on them.

For example, a character who is standing in Hindering Terrain cannot take the Withdraw action to safely move away from combat, because he simply cannot move back far enough as a single move action.

Poor Visibility: If a character cannot see very well – either because it is dark, foggy, or because the character has been blinded – then it is advisable that they move at half speed. Poor visibility is not a true hindering terrain, but a character may be advised to treat it like hindering terrain to stop any unfortunate accidents. A character trying to move faster than half speed through an area of Total Concealment must make a DC 10 Acrobatics check or fall prone.

Next…

It’s the big one! Grapple! Charge! Bull Rush! Swallow! Pin! It’s Actions in Combat.

Battles aren’t fought on a flat featureless terrain where enemies stand toe to toe and simply slug it out until one falls over. There are countless other little things that characters can do to try and give themselves temporary advantage while in combat. Archers might bed down behind cover so they can attack their enemies, without their enemies being able to attack them. You might gang up or flank your opponents. You might always try to attack from the high ground, or on horseback.

Combat Modifiers are situational bonuses and penalties that most usually apply to a character’s attack rolls or Reflex defence. Seek these out in combat. Gods know you need all the advantages you can get! The following tables summarise the most common combat modifiers:

Combat Advantage

One of the most common combat modifiers (and certainly the one that is mentioned the most) is Combat Advantage. Combat advantage represents a situation where the defender cannot give his full attention to the danger at hand. He might be pressed by multiple foes at the same time, or he might be surprised or stunned or otherwise distracted.

If you have Combat Advantage over a target then you have +2 bonus to your attack rolls against that target. However, this measily +2 does not convey quite how much an advantage combat advantage is for some characters.

Numerous feats, talents and spells key off combat advantage. They don’t work unless you have combat advantage over your foe. A rogue’s sneak attack is the most obvious example of this. If the rogue has combat advantage he inflicts a bucketful of extra damage dice. If he hasn’t then he doesn’t.

Seek out the benefits of Combat Advantage if you can. Even that “measily” +2 to hit can swing a battle one way or another. The more astute combatants will try to avoid reckless tactics that grant combat advantage to their enemies. Of course, this may not always be possible.

Cover

Taking cover is often the best way of avoiding ranged weapons, spells and mêlée attacks aimed at you. Cover is a tangible barrier that is inbetween you and harm. You might duck down beneth a low wall, hide behind a tree or duck back behind a corner. If you have cover, your enemies take a penalty on their attack rolls to hit you.

Cover is divided into three categories: Cover, Superior Cover and Total Cover. These categories reflect the increasing degrees of protection provivded by the terrain:

Cover: You gain cover from anything that obscures a quarter of your body or more. Standing at an open window, or behind a tree or around a corner provides cover. If you have cover, then you enjoy a +4 bonus to your Reflex defence against all attacks. Opponents still have line of sight and light of effect to you if you have cover.

Superior Cover: You gain superior cover from anything that obscures more than three-quarters of your body. Peering around a corner, standing at an arrow slit or behind a door that is slightly ajar will grant you superior cover. If you have superior cover, then you have a +8 bonus to your Reflex defence against all attacks. This doesn’t stack with the bonus provided by standard cover. Opponents still have line of sight and light of effect to you if you have superior cover.

Total Cover: If you are completely obscured from view by a solid object then you have total cover. Standing on the other side of a stone wall, inside a wagon or down a deep hole may grant you total cover. If you have total cover then you cannot be attacked. Although attacks can be directed at the cover that is protecting you. Opponents do not have line of effect to you if you have superior cover; they probably don’t have line of sight either (unless you’re hiding behind a transparent barrier).

Creatures and Cover: If you are engaged in mêlée combat, then your opponents and your allies provide you with cover against ranged attacks made against you, but not against mêlée attacks, close attacks or far attacks. See Firing into Mêlée (q.v.) for more informaiton on this.

Destroying Cover: If an opponent cannot hit you because of your cover, then they can target the cover instead. Details for substance and item AC and hit points can be found in the Equipment section. If an attack deals sufficient damage to destroy the cover you are hiding behind, then you take the remaining damage (assuming the attack roll was high enough to hit you).

Cover and Concealment: Bonuses to your reflex defence granted by cover and concealment stack.

Concealment

Where cover represents a physical barrier between you and your enemies, concealment is an intangible barrier. Darkness, fog, heavy rain or a blizzard may give you concealment from your enemies. If they can’t see you properly, then they have a much harder time targeting you with their attacks.

Unlike cover, concealment only provides protection from attacks that target individuals – i.e. Mêlée and Ranged attacks. Any attacks that affect all or some indviduals within a certain area ignore concealment. It doesn’t matter where in the blast radius of a fireball you enemy is standing, as long as he is standing somewhere in the blast radius. See the Line of Sight rules (q.v.) for guidance on trying to pinpoint the location of concealed characters.

Concealment is divided into two categories that reflect deepening degrees of imperceptibility:

Concealment: If you have concealment, then your opponents find it more difficult to pinpoint where you are standing. Conditions of dim light, heavy foliage, heavy snowfall, smoke or fog grant you Concealment. If you have concealment then you gain a +2 bonus to your Reflex Defence against mêlée and ranged attacks. Opponents still have line of sight and light of effect to you if you have concealment.

Total Concealment: A character with Total Concealment cannot be seen at all. Invisible characters (q.v.) are considered to have total concealment, as is anyone standing in total darknes, in a pea soup fog or similar intangible protection. If you are blind, then everyone has total concealment from you all the time. If you have Total Concealment then you gain a +5 bonus to your reflex defence againt mêlée and ranged attacks. Opponents still have line of effect to you if you have total concealment, but they do not have line of sight to you.

Concealment and Cover: Bonuses to your reflex defence granted by concealment and cover stack.

Flanking

One of the simplest combat tactics is for you and an ally to move into a flanking position. Flanking works because you and your ally stand on opposite sides of the same target, and both attack that target. Because the foe cannot devote his full attention to either you or your ally, he grants combat advantage to you both.

In game terms, if you are engaged in mêlée combat and you also outnumber your foes by a ratio of 2:1 then you are considered to be flanking those foes. Basically, if you mob your opponent, then you gain an advantage over him. Flanking is a particularly potent manoeuvre if the entire party is attacking the same foe – which often happens in battle against massive monsters such as dragons or purple worms.

When Flanking Fails: You can only flank if you are engaged in mêlée combat. Allies attacking the same foe from range cannot aid in flanking, nor do they enjoy combat advantage over the target. Additionally, characters that are Blinded, Dazed, Stunned or suffering any condition that prevents it from making normal attacks cannot contribute to flanking a target. Creatures with a Reach of 0 (notably diminuitive and miniscule creatures, or swarms) are unable to flank.

Situational Modifiers

There are a vast number of options in combat, and no set of rules can hope to cover them all. As with the rules to skills, the GM is well within his rights to impose situational modifiers to certain situations if he feels the outcome of a certain event is skewed in the direction of success or failure.

These modifiers are always Circumstance Modifiers, and usually they will be a modest +2 or -2 to a skill check or defence, although could be more extreme if the situation warranted. The GM should impose the situational modifiers sparingly, and should be careful that he is not penalising the PCs twice by saddling them with two different penalties to the same activity.

If a circumstance has the effect of improving or diminishing a character’s chance of success (e.g. the character is vomiting uncontrollably) then the modifier should apply to the character’s skill check.

If a circumstance has the effect of making a character easier or trickier to target with an an attack (e.g. they are wearing a luminous balaclava) then the modifier should apply to the characters defence.

For example: the PCs have broken into a museum in the dead of night with the hope of acquiring a magical urn that is currently on display. The urn has special properties that will contain the ashes of a master vampire. The pick up the fragile urn, but are jumped by the museum guards. Now they must fight and keep the urn intact. The GM rules that whoever is carrying the urn takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls and Reflex defence because they are trying to stop the object from getting broken.

Size and Combat

A creature’s size may affect its combat statistics. Only characters of Small or Medum size do not have these modifiers. All other creatures will find their attack rolls, reflex defence and hit points modified by their bulk. These effects are summarised in the following table:

The modifiers to attack rolls only apply to mêlée combat using weapons, natural weapons or unarmed attacks; and to ranged combat using thrown weapons such as axes, hammers and javelins.

Fortunately, these are the sort of modifiers that you only apply once during character generation and can then promptly forget about. Some racial traits and talents may mitigate some of these penalties. Don’t assume all colossal creatures are slow and easy to hit.

A creature’s size can also have a more immediate effect in combat. Questions of how many monsters can mob or attack a character at the same time are fairly common. In these circumstances, GMs need to bear the following principles in mind.

Assuming sufficient space, a creature can be attacked by up to four different creatures of the same size in the same combat round. Obviously, they can be attack by fewer larger foes, and more smaller foes.

Although Small and Medium creatures follow the same rules in most circumstances, they are still different size categories. Different rules govern the types of weapons these characters can wield, and different rules govern how they are reated here/ Each size category less than Medium, or greater than Medium, equates to a decrease or increase in the size of a creature by a factor of two.

Therefore a Large creature is twice the size of a Medium creatue. A Huge creature is twice the size of a large creature, and therefore four times the size of a Medium creatures and so on and so forth. This isn’t an accurate assessmnet of a being’s dimensions in the real world, but it is a handy shorthand for juggling how many creatures of a certain size can be in a given space at the same time.

The following table summarises the number of creatures (of different sizes) that could beseige small, medium or large PCs. in the same combat round:

Therefore eight small sized creatures could attack a medium-sized human in one round, but sixteen could get close enough to make an attack on a large ogre. When considering how many PCs can mob an enemy, then simply invert the table:

So up to sixteen large wyverns could surround and attack a gargantuan dragon in the same round. Remember that each increase in size category represents a doubling in size. This means that one Large creature counts as two medium creatures. Therefore fifteen wyverns and two dwarves could attack that dragon at the same time.

If the difference in size category between the attacker and the target is three of more, then this sort of comparisson breaks down. Do we really need figures to suggest how many humans can attack a 200 foot dragon, or how many wasps can attack a human? In these cases the tables simply state “Many”. It’s up to the GM to fairly adjudicate if these conditions arise. Chances are he’ll chose to use the swarm rules instead.

Equally, regardless of your size in relation to your target, a minimum of two foes can attack a target in the same round. So two colossal red dragons can attack the same bluebottle in the same round if they choose to.

Types of Modifiers

In HD&D you will find that some of the modifiers (penalties and bonuses) that you ally to your attack rolls are given a name, and some are not. Named modifiers tell you how your character has gained this bonus to his actions. For example, you gained a morale bonus from being inspired and generally cheered up.

Two bonuses of the same type do not stack. if you have two bonuses of the same type, then you take the higher bonus. For example, if you are carrying a heavy shield (which provides a +2 deflection bonus to your reflex defence) and a wizard casts the shield spell on you (which provides a +4 deflection bonus to reflex defence) then you only have a +4 deflection bonus to reflex defence, not +6.

A bonus and a penalty of the same type will still work against one another and perhaps cancel one another out. If you bard is singing an inspiring song that grants you a +2 morale bonus to your attack rolls, and the enemy bard is singing a depressing dirge that imposes a -2 morale penalty to attack rolls then the net effect is to give you a morale modifier of +0.

Untyped bonuses stack with anything. Talents, spells or feats that provide these bonuses will stack with every other bonus, but they are still not cumulative with themselves. A masterwork longsword might grant you a +1 bonus to attack rolls, but you can’t gaffer-tape two of them together and claim a +2 bonus.

The rules for modifier types do not just apply to attack and damage rolls in combat. Situational modifiers can apply any time you pick up and roll a die. Sometimes the modifier will be of one of these listed types; sometimes it will be an untyped bonus. The use of such modifiers, and when to apply them, is left to the discretion of the GM.

The number of modifier types have been kept deliberately small for the hybrid game. These are the types of modifiers you may come across in the combat and beyond:

Armour: Usually only expressed as a bonus, the armour modifier applies to your characters Armour Class. It is granted by manufactured armour (such as chain, hide, plate and so on) or by spells or magical effects that mimic armour. Armour will stack with Natural Armour bonuses, but two Armour bonuses from different sources will not stack.

Circumstance: A circumstance modifier arises from special conditional factors that impact on the success of the task at hand. Trying to pick a lock with masterwork lock-picks grant you a +2 circumstance bonus to your Disable Device skill check.

Competence: These bonuses and penalties reflect an intrinsic (put usually temporary) alteration in your character’s skill at any paricular task. For example, bards have the ability to Inspire Competence which temporaily makes a character more skilled at a particular task than he otherwise would have been. Competence modifiers usually only apply to skill checks, saving throws or defences.

Deflection: Usually expressed as a bonus, deflection modifiers almost always apply to you character’s Reflex defence. They represent the presence of a character-controlled barrier that can be brought to bear to repel attacks. The barrier doesn’t prevent penetrative damage (it’s not armour), it’s designed to turn aside attacks. Certain magical fields of protection, and the humble shield both grant deflection bonuses to characters.

Enhancement: An enhancement bonus (there are no enhancement penalties) is a continuous advantage to your character that is granted by an outside source. A magic ring may, for example, grant a +1 enhancement bonus to all your defences for as long as it is worn. A Firewalker’s Regalia of Consummate Funk may provide a +2 damage bonus to all spells with the Fire description. A magic sword may grant a +1 enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls. Unlike circumstance bonus, enhancement bonuses tend to be magical in origin although this is not always the case. Enhancement bonuses are lost if you lose the item that grants them to you.

Inherent: An inherent bonus (or penalty) is something that comes from within you. If you take a feat or talent that grants you an inherent modifier then you are making a permanent change to your character. Feats such as Weapon Focus or Iron Will grant inherent bonuses to your attack rolls or defences in certain circumstances. No-one can take an inherent bonus away from you, once you have one it’s yours for life.

Morale: A morale bonus represents the effects of greater hope, courage and determination; while morale penalties induce a sense of hopelessness, cowardice and despair. Creatures without an Intelligence score cannot benefit from morale bonuses.

Natural Armour: This is a bonus to armour class derrived from a thick hide, scales or other uber-dermal protection. A stone golem has a high natural armour because he’s made of stone. Natural armour bonuses stack with armour bonuses.

Racial: These bonuses derrive from your race or heritage. For example, some elves have a +2 racial bonus on Perception checks.

Size: All creatures that are not classed as Small or Medium have size modifiers that apply to certain attack rolls, reflex defence and hit points. Size modifiers do not stack with one another. If a creature changes size, then the size modifier for the next size category applies.

Next…

All these rules, and I still haven’t told you how your character gets from A to B. Friday’s update is Movement in Combat.

So you know how to determine the order of you turn in the combat round, you know how many actions you can take on your turn… but neither of those things tell you how combat actually works. In this section, we summarise the statistics that determine success in combat, and detail how to use them.

An attack is defined as any offensive action that directly targets an opponent. So casting a spell can be an Attack in just the same way swinging a sword is one. All attacks in the HD&D game follow the same basic process. Talents and feats may alter these rules according to their own descriptions. This is the process in brief:

1. Your character has numerous attack options open to him. He may cast a spell, swing a sword, throw a dagger or shoot an arrow from a bow. All of these are attacks, and selecting which attack you’re going to use is the first step in any combat. All attacks fall into one of four categories: Mêlée, Close, Ranged or Far so be sure you understand how these attack types work.
2. Select the target for your attack. Normally you attack one target at a range indicated by the weapon you’re using. However, your feats, talents and spells can completely alter this basic assumption. You normally need to make sure you can see or otherwise target your enemies in order to attack them.
3. If you are attacking, then you have to make an attack roll. This is a skill check with your appropriate skill. This may be a Weapon Group skill if you’re using a weapon, Spellcraft if you’re casting spell or other skills at the GM’s option.
4. All attacks target one of your foe’s Defences: either Reflex, Fortitude or Will. If your attack roll is equal to or greater than the foe’s defence then you have hit the target. If not, you have missed.
5. If you hit you deal damage to the target’s hit points… normally. Some attacks don’t deal damage. Instead they have other nasty or deliterious effects. Sometimes the target has protection against the damage, such as thick armour or energy resistance. All of this is covered below.

Attack Types

Regardless of whether the origin of an attack is mundane (a sword stroke), magical (a spell) or supernatural (a dragon’s breath) all attack types fall into one of four categories. These categories impose consistant rules and conditions on the attack.

Mêlée Attack

A mêlée attack usually uses a weapon and targets one enemy within your mêlée reach. However, it can equally apply to a monk’s round-house kick, a monster’s vicious claws or a spell that can only be discharged by touching an opponent.

Unless otherwise stated, your mêlée reach is about five feet. Certain weapons and long-armed monsters may have a greater Reach than five feet. This allows them to use mêlée attacks at greater range, and to inflict Opportunity Attacks (q.v.) at more distant foes. But it may prevent them from attacking with the weapon within that range.

For example, many polearms have a reach of 10 feet. They can be used to attack opponents at a range of 6-10 feet normally, but they are unable to strike foes standing 1-5 feet from your character.

Some talents (e.g. Double Attack) allow you to make more than one attack as a standard action. You can attack multiple opponents, or attack the same opponent mulitple times. In these cases you must roll each attack on each opponent separately. If your talent tells you to make one attack and apply the result to all targets in a certain area, then you’e not making a Mêlée attack, you’re making a Close or Far attack.

Close Attack

A Close Attack targets an area of effect that originates directly from you. Swinging your axe in an arc so that it hits all the enemies around you in one blow, or shooting a burst of fire from your hands to engulf the foes standing in front of you, are both Close attacks.

If you’re making a Close attack you only make one attack roll, and compare it to the relevant Defence of all your targets. Equally, you only make one damage roll and all targets take the same damage. Many close attacks (particularly spells) may still deal some damage even if you miss.

Close attacks can hit foes you cannot see without imposing a penalty to the attack roll, because you are targeting an area rather than an individual. A close attack does not turn corners or affect foes with total cover (q.v.). If you cast a spell with a 20 ft blast radius in a stone corridor that is only 10 feet wide, then spell still won’t affect anything further than 20 ft away. It doesn’t contort into a different shape to fill the same volume.

Close attacks are further categorised as either Bursts or Blasts.

Close Bursts: These are effects that are centred on you, and affect an area in a specified radius around you. For example, a “Close Burst 10 ft radius” affects everything in a ten foot radius from where you are standing. Bursts don’t necessarily attack all targets in the area of effect. They might still affect only one target, but you can choose which target within the area of effect falls victim to your power. The talent Whirlwind Attack is an example of a Close Burst.

Close Blasts: These are attacks that originates from you, and affect a designated area of a certain shape in a direction you indicate. The most common shape for a Close Blast is either a Line or a Cone.

A Close Blast (Line) affects all targets in a straight line in the direction you indicate. The range of the line is expressed in feet. A Lightning Bolt is a Close Blast (Line). An electrical arc leaps form your fingers and zaps all enemies standing along its path, out to a range of 120 feet.

A Close Blast (Cone) affects all targets in a 90° arc in the direction you indicate. The extreme range of the cone is expressed in feet. The GM determines which enemies are caught in your cone. Normally you can catch up to 2-3 foes who are engaging you directly in mêlée combat, but wily opponents may space themselves to avoid just such an attack. The cone will also catch other enemies in an ever-widening arc. Cone of Cold is an example of a Close Blast (Cone). You gesture and unleash an arc of frozen death out to a range of 60 feet.

Ranged Attack

A ranged attack is a strike against a distant foe. These attacks function in a similar manner to Mêlée Attacks, except that rather than targeting a foe within your mêlée reach, you target a foe at a prescribed distance from you. This distance may be listed in the description of the spell, or is dependent on the maximum range of the weapon you are using. Hitting extremely distant targets with a ranged weapon may result in a penalty to hit (see below).

Ranged attacks are usually a single attack against a single foe. Some talents and spells allow you to make Ranged attacks against multiple targets, or multiple ranged attacks on the same target. In these cases, each attack is rolled separately. Ranged attacks always target individuals, or multiple individuals. They do not target an area.

If you use a ranged attack while you are engaged in mêlée combat, then you provoke an opportunity attack from all the foes currently engaging you in mêlée combat. There’s more on Opportunity Attacks (q.v.) below.

Range Increments: All projectile and thrown weapons have a range increment listed in their description. Projectile weapons (like crossbows) can hit a target up to ten range increments away. Thrown weapons (such as axes or hammers) can hit a target up to five range incremements away. For each range incremement beyond the first that your attack must travel, you take a cumulative -2 to the attack roll. It’s more difficult to hit distant targets, after all.

For example: a longbow has a range increment of 100 ft. That means you can try to hit any target standing between 0-100 ft without taking a penalty to hit. For each 100 ft beyond the first, you take a -2 penalty to the attack roll. So an archer using his longbow to attack a foe 850 feet away would take a -14 penalty to the attack roll. The maximum range of a longbow is ten range increments, or 1000 feet. 

Far Attack

A Far attack is the ranged equivalent of Close attack. Far attacks target a particular area of effect, but the origin point of that area can be some distance from you. The shape of a Far attack’s area of effect sets the parameters of the power. There are a variety of Far Attacks although bursts, cylinders and walls are the most common.

If you use a far attack while you are engaged in mêlée combat, then you provoke an opportunity attack from all the foes currently engaging you in mêlée combat. There’s more on Opportunity Attacks (q.v.) below.

Far Burst: This attack functions as a Close Burst, except the area of effect originates at some distance from you, instead of where you are standing. The description of all such attacks presents you with a range in feet, over which you can target the effect. A far burst affects an area within a certain radius of the origin point, also specified in feet. If cast on the ground this takes for form of a hemisphere, but if you cast it in the air (or underwater, or any other terrain where you are able to move in three dimensions) the burst will take the form of a sphere.

The Fireball spell is the quintessential example of a Far burst. Its Area of Effect is described as “Far burst 20 ft radius, within 400 ft + 40 ft / level”. So a tenth level caster can select any point from where he is standing out to a distance of 800 feet as the origin point for the fireball. The spell explodes and engulfs all creatures within 20 ft of that point in fiery doom.

If you make a Far Burst attack, then you only make one attack roll and compare the result to the Defences of everyone in the area of effect. Equally, you only make one damage roll, and everyone caught in the area takes the same damage. Like Close Bursts, far bursts can hit foes you cannot see, but will not affect targets with total cover. They can’t turn corners.

Far Cylinder: A far cylinder is very similar to a far burst, except the area of effect has a different shape. A cylinder affects everything in a certain radius of the origin point, but only in two dimensions: it is a circle and not a sphere. This area of effect then explodes upwards and downwards for a specified distance forming a gigantic cylindrical column. If the origin point is on the ground then the downward thrust of the cylinder may damage the ground it is standing on at the GM’s discretion.

The cleric spell flame strike is a good example of a Far Cylinder. It is a column of holy fire than scorches enemies of the faith. Its area of effect is described as “Far cylinder 10 ft radius (40 ft high) within 100 ft + 10 ft / level”. So a tenth level caster can cause a flame strike to appear at any point within 200 feet of where he is standing. The spell affects anyone standing in a 10 foot radius circle of that point, and also explodes upwards for 40 feet, and downwards for 40 feet (if it can). If cast on solid rock it’s not likely to make much of an impression. Rock has 15 hit points per inch of thickness, and fire does only half damage to such material. The best the cleric could hope for would be a shallow crater.

If you make a Far cylinder attack, then you only make one attack roll and compare the result to the Defences of everyone in the area of effect. Equally, you only make one damage roll, and everyone caught in the area takes the same damage. Like Close Bursts, far cylinders can hit foes you cannot see, but will not affect targets with total cover.

Far Wall: This allows you to create a special area of effect that originates at any point within range of the spell. You create a wall of a specified length, height and thickness. The material the wall is made from depends on the spell (examples include fire, ice, iron and wind).

The wall extends in one direct from the origin point for the specified distance. Some walls can be formed into rings, completely surrounding a certain area (whether to keep something in or keep something out is up to you!). Other walls can even form solid hemispheres utterly encapsulating a given area.

The spell Wall of Fire is a good example of a Far wall. It’s area of effect is described as: “Far wall 20 ft high and either 20 ft long/level or a ring with a radius of 5 ft / 2 levels; cast within 100 ft + 10 ft/level”. So a tenth level caster can cause a wall of fire to spring up at any point within 200 feet of where he is standing. The wall can take the form of either a continuous sheet of flame that is 20 feet high and 200 feet long, or as a ring of fire that is 20 ft high, and with a radius of 25 feet.

If you want to try and trap foes inside a far wall, or place a wall so that foes are damaged by its elemental effects, then you make one attack roll and compare the result to the Defences of everyone in the area of effect. You also only make one damage roll. If you’re not trying to trap or damage foes, then conjuring a far wall doesn’t usually require an attack roll. It simply appears at the point you designate.

Choosing Targets

Understanding the difference between Mêlée, Close, ranged and Far attacks allows you to make an informed choice when you decide which particular can of whupass you’re going to open on your enemy. You may be the world’s greatest archer, but if you’re backed into a corner by a gang of yodelling ettins then you may not want to risk the opportunity attack from each of them that you’ll provoke by using your patented off-the-wall boomerang shot.

A wider issue is not what you want to do, but what you can do. Circumstances may well limit your choice of targets. In this section we look at Line of Sight and Line of Effect. Mostly you need to be able to see you foes to attack them, and if you can see them, then you need a clear path from where you’re standing to where they’re standing.

Line of Sight

If you can see a target then you have line of sight to that target. Any number of things can obscure your line of sight to a target. He might be hiding behind a tree, or standing at the centre of a magically conjured fog bank; he might be invisible, you might be blind or it might simply be too dark to see your target.

In game terms you have line of sight to target who has cover, superior cover or concealment. You do not have line to sight to targets with with total concealment. Targets with total cover are probably outside your line of sight, although they could feasibly be hiding behind a transparent barrier such as a Wall of Force.

If you are using a Close or Far attack (i.e. an attack that targets an area, not individuals) then if doesn’t matter if you can’t see the target. You attack normally and carpet-bomb the area. As you can’t see your foe, there is a possibility that he has had the chance to move out of the way of your area of effect, but the GM will adjudicate this impartially should the need arise.

If you a using a Mêlée or Ranged attack (i.e. an attack that targets separate individuals and not an area) then you can still take you best guess and attack anyway. This works as follows:

There are two steps to attacking a foe you cannot see with a Mêlée or Ranged attack. Firstly, you have to use your senses to pinpoint the general area where he might be standing, and secondly you have to make an attack roll.

You make a Perception check against a DC equal to the target’s Stealth check. The target may have made this stealth check several rounds ago (see the text of the Stealth skill for more information on this). The target gets +10 to his skill check because you can’t see him. Remember that the DC of your Perception check increases by +1 for every ten feet you are from the target, so ranged attackers are less likely to succeed than those in mêlée combat. If you succeed in the Perception check then you can make an attack against the foe. If you fail the Perception check, you have no idea where the foe is, so you cannot attempt an informed attack roll. Kind GMs may still alow you to flail wildly and trust to luck.

Even if the Perception check is successful you haven’t pinpointed your target, you still only know the general area where they are standing. The target still has total concealment (q.v.) from you, so your attack roll is made at a -5 penalty to hit.

Line of Effect

A line of effect is a straight, unblocked path between you and your target. A line of effect is blocked by a physical barrier between you and your intended victim. As a rule, if your target has Total Cover (q.v.), then there is no line of effect between you and the target, and therefore you cannot attack the target, or have an area effect originate from that point. Cover, Superior Cover, Concealment and Total Concealment are no barrier to Line of Effect.

You almost always have line of effect to opponents within your mêlée reach, so these rules most often apply to Close, Ranged or Far attacks. If you do not have line effect to your target then you cannot make a Ranged attack against them, or target them as the origin point of a Far attack. You cannot cast a fireball spell on the other side of a stone wall because you have no line of effect to the other side of the wall. If there is a door in the wall and the door is closed you still don’t have line of effect. If someone opens the door, then you do have line of effect. Boom.

Do not confuse line of effect and line of sight. Line of effect isn’t affected by intangible barriers such as fog or darkness. Such barriers may (feasibly) make the target more difficult to hit, but they don’t stop your weapon or arrow or spell from passing through them.

Line of Effect stops you from designating a particular spot as the origin point for a burst, blast, cylinder or wall affect. It doesn’t stop the area of effect of such an attack from washing over or even destroying the barrier than stopped your line of effect in the first place.

For example: you’re in a geisha house and you’re trying to attack an evil warlock. He’s standing on the other side of a wall made of paper. You can see his evil moustachioed silhouette. The wall of paper blocks your line of effect. You can’t cast fireball on the other side of that wall. But you can cast it against the wall on your side. The fireball goes off, destroys the paper wall in seconds and still catches the warlock in its area of effect.

Using the same example, there are evidently occassions where a ranged weapon can also punch through a barrier that is obstructing your line of effect. You can just as easily shoot a warlock through a paper wall with your crossbow as you can with your fireball. In these cases, the GM will make the ultimate call as to what attacks can and cannot circumvent the barrier blocking line of effect. See the rules on destroying cover (q.v.) for more guidance.

Attack Roll

To determine whether your attack is successful or not, you have to make an attack roll. As previously stated, an attack roll is simply a check with the skill you are using to make the attack. If it’s a weapon you use your Weapon Group skill, if you’re casting a spell you use the appropriate Spellcraft skill.

When making an attack roll you need to roll has high as possible. The result of your roll is compared to your opponents Defence: either Fortitude, Reflex or Will. If the result of your attack roll is equal to or greater than the defence you hit, if not then you miss.

Size and Attack Rolls: Remember that you character’s Size may influence some attack rolls you make. If you’re a Small or Medium character (and most player characters are) then this is a complication you don’t need to worry about. But if you’re Large or larger (or Tiny or smaller) then special size modifiers are applied to your attack rolls in certain situations.

The modifiers are: Miniscule (+6), Diminuitive (+4), Tiny (+2), Large (-2), Huge (-4), Gargantuan (-6) and Colossal (-8). These size modifiers apply to attack rolls in the following situations:

• Mêlée combat using weapons, natural weapons or unarmed attacks.
• Missile combat using thrown weapons such as axes, hammers and javelins.

The bonus (or penalty) doesn’t apply to projectile weapons such as bows and crossbows, to Spellcraft checks to cast ranged spells, or to supernatural abilties such as a dragon’s breath weapon. There is much more informaiton on Size in the section on Races and Monsters.

Automatic misses and hits: A natural 1 on an attack roll is always a miss. A natural 20 is always a hit, and it is also a critical hit (q.v). These rules only apply to attack rolls. They don’t apply to skill checks you make at other times.

Defences and Saving Throws

So you can dish out the damage, but can you take it? Any time you are attacked your character’s defences and saving throws spring into action to defeat, mitigate or absorb some of the pain that is coming you way.

Combat in HD&D establishes a relationship between the attacker or instigator of an action, and the target or victim. As a rule it is the instigator that rolls the skill check or the attack roll, against a static DC set by the GM or determined by the defences of his adversaries. So when you make an attack, you are the one who rolls an attack against your foe’s defence. Sometimes, however, attacks are themselves passive. In these cases the instigator is actually the defender, who rolls a Saving Throw to end an ongoing effect.

Defences and Saving Throws work together in HD&D to keep the combat fluid and dynamic and, most importantly, to keep the fate of characters in the hands of their players. The GM shouldn’t roll dice to kill player characters, the players should roll dice to try and stop him.

Defences: All defences have a base of 10 + half your level (rounded up) + your related ability score modifier (see below). Each defence is then modified by your racial modifiers, the decisions you made in character generation and a host of spells, feats, talents and items that can add to your defence score. Your Size may also affect your Reflex Defence. You never roll your defence, it is a static DC against which enemies can take shots.

Saving Throws: Your saving throw modifier is the same value of your defence -10. You make a saving throw by rolling 1d20 and adding this modifier. So if you have a Fortitude Defence of 25, then your Fortitude Saving Throw is rolled on 1d20+15. Normally all bonuses that apply to defences also apply to saving throws, but there are sometimes exceptions. As with Attack rolls, a natural 1 rolled on a Saving Throw is an automatic failure, and a natural 20 is an automatic success.

There are three Defences in HD&D, each with its corresponding Saving Throw. The higher the defence the better, but remember that it doesn’t matter how good you are, there are always enemies out there who are better. So don’t get cocky!

Fortitude (Con)

This measures your ability to stand up to physical punishment and attacks against your vitality and health. Fortitude represents your inherent toughness, mass, strength and resilience. It is the defence you use to fight off diseases and poisons. A high Fortitude Defence helps you avoid being pushed, tripped or grappled.

Attacks against Fortitude might take the form of the poisonous bite of an iron cobra, or a repulsion spell that sends you hurtling over a cliff to your doom. Fortitude saving throws are most often made to fight off disease or other ongoing afflictions. The better your saving throw, the quicker you can return to full health.

Reflex (Dex)

This measures how hard it is for your enemies to land a significant blow upon you. A high reflex defence lets you deflect or dodge attacks that would otherwise have hit you. If you’re proficient in its use, a shield increases your Reflex defence and makes it harder for your enemies to attack you.

Most attacks with weapons and spells are targeted against your Reflex Defence. Someone is trying to hit you, and you are doing your best to get out of the way. Reflex saving throws are often made to avoid known dangers. If you want to move down a corridor avoiding the huge axe that is swinging backwards and forwards on a long pendulum then you would make a reflex saving throw to do it.

Size and the Reflex Defence: Just as your Size can affect your attack roll, it can also affect your Reflex defence. Bigger creatures are just easier to hit. Full rules for Size are presented in the section on Races and Monsters, but in brief the modifiers are as follows:

Miniscule (+6), Diminuitive (+4), Tiny (+2), Large (-2), Huge (-4), Gargantuan (-6) and Colossal (-8). Characters of Small or Medium don’t need to worry about these size modifiers.

Will (Wis)

This measures your resolve, self-discipline and general strength of mind. A good Will defence lets you resist effects that would otherwise daze, disorientate or distract you. You are not easily fooled by other’s lies, and you also show a remarkable resistance to mind control.

When one thinks of attacks that target the Will defence, one automatically thinks of spells such as charm person, dominate or confusion. But a high Will can equally defend against mundane threats. You can use Will to avoid being Intimidated, or having your opinion changed by honeyed words. Will is the defence that protects you from fear in all its guises and descriptions. If a Will effect has penetrated your defences, you are often allowed a Will saving throw to try and shake off the compulsion after a certain amount of time has passed.

Attack Results

You have made your attack roll and penetrated your foe’s defences. Now you want to know what has happens to your enemy. Most attacks deal hit point damage, but things are seldom as simple as that. Some foes are inherently resistant to certain attacks, others are wearing thick armour; some are inherently resistant and wearing thick armour. Here’s the low down on some of the things you need to think of when applying the results of your attack.

Damage

If your attack succeeds, you normally deal damage. All weapons and spells have a damage die (or dice). Roll this and apply whatever additional modifiers you gain from your ability scores, feats or talents. That’s your damage score. Subtract that from you opponent’s hit points.

Usually, you add your Strength modifier to the damage you inflict with mêlée weapon. If you are wielding a two-handed weapon, or versatle weapon with two hands, then you inflict +1 damage in addition to your Strength modifier. Characters with the Two-Handed Master talent inflict much more.

The strength modifier is also added to the damage inflicted by thrown weapons, but may not apply to projectile weapons such as bows and crossbows. Always check the description of the weapon you are using (in the Equipment section) before using it. Don’t just assume that all weapons work the same way, because they don’t!

You seldom add ability score modifiers to the damage inflicted by spells. Such damage tends to be dependent upon your character’s level, rather than your character’s ability scores. Check individual spell descriptions for details of how much of punch the spell packs.

Ability Damage: Some damaging attacks don’t reduce a character’s hit points, instead they reduce a character’s ability scores. These attacks are particularly nasty, so of course the GM likes to use them as frequently as possible. Refer to the section on Wounds and Healing (q.v.) at the end of this chapter for details on inflicting (and suffering) Ability Damage.

Special Qualities: Make sure you understand the special qualities of your weapon or your spell. Details of these are found in the equipment section or the spells section. Your attack my bypass your enemy’s armour class, be stopped by his resistances, or play to his vulnerabilities. It’s the player’s job to remember these qualities so make sure you write them on your character sheet. If your weapon inflicts acid damage rather than regular damage, make sure the GM knows!

Armour Class

Anyone with a lick of sense doesn’t enter combat wearing a posing pouch and a big smile. Armour can help protect all characters against damage. The degree of protection offered by armour is called Armour Class, or AC.

Many monsters, and some player characters, are lucky enough to have a little thing called Natural Armour. This means their skin is so thick that it resists damage as if they were wearing armour. As you can imagine, this very handy. What is even handier, is that the AC bonus you get from natural armour, and the AC bonus you get from manufactured armour (such as splint mail) stacks. It’s probably best to stay away from a great wyrm red dragon dressed in full plate.

For those not in posession of natural armour their only recourse is to go and get a trusty suit of armour from their local outfitters. Different types of armour are described in the section on equipment. They range from simple leather armour (AC 1) to shiny honking plate armour (AC 8). So how does AC work?

Regardless of its source, Armour Class acts as a buffer zone. Whenever your character takes damage, the damage is reduced by your Armour Class value. For example, chainmail gives you AC 5. That means any damage you receive from an attack is reduced by 5 points before it is subtracted from your hit point total.

This degree of protection applies separately to all attacks. So if someone wearing chainmail is struck once for 50 points of damage, they will take 45 damage. But if they’re struct five times for 10 damage each time, they’ll only take 25 damage. If this sounds too good to be true, then it is. Armour is a useful tool, but using it effectively is difficult, and it comes with a price.

Armour Check Penalty: All manufactured armours carry an armour check penalty that applies to the following skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Climb, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Fly, Sleight of Hand, Stealth and Swim. Depending on the armour you choose, this penalty is anywhere from 0 to -7. Natrural armour never imposes an armour check penalty.

Reduced Speed: If you’re wearing armour, you can’t move as fast as unarmoured characters. Manufactured armours can imposed a 5 or 10 ft penalty to your character’s speed. Natural armour slows you down as well, but because its part and parcel of your being, its effects are already accounted for in a race’s Speed score.

Light, Medium and Heavy Armour: All manufactured armour is characterised as light, medium or heavy. Any character in the game can wear light armour with no bother at all. However, if you want to wear anything heavier than that, you need to pick up one of the two Armour Proficiency talents (Medium or Heavy). If you don’t, then the armour check penalty is doubled and also applies to all Weapon skills and Spellcraft checks to attack with spells that have somatic components. As penalties go,that’s crippling.

Protection is not universal: Armour doesn’t stop all attacks. Some weapons are specifically designed to go through certain types of armour. For example, a dirk will go through chain mail as if it isn’t there. Also, armour provides absolutely no protection against energy damage. So if you are attacked by fire, lightning, acid, poison, thunder, cold, necrotic or radiant energy then you might as well just be wearing your underpants. It works against force attacks though, which will probably be cold comfort to your family as they are scooping your cindered remains into a bucket.

Minimum Damage Value: Regardless of what armour you are wearing, all successful attacks do a minimum of 1 point of damage. No suit of armour or natural armour lets you avoid damage completely. Therefore even if you have an AC of 18 (and some monster do!) you are not invulnerable. You can still be killed by attrition – albeit rather slowly.

Armour and Magic: Some magic spells or effects can grant you an Armour Class value. Spells like Mage Armour are very popular with low level wizards. However, unless the text of the spell expressly states otherwise, the armour bonus conferred by these spells does not stack with either Natural Armour or manufactured armour.

Resistances

Some characters and monsters possess inherent resistances to certain types of attacks and forms of attack. These most commonly manifest themselves as Energy Resistances. For example, a Fire Giant is resistant to fire attacks.

Energy Resistance works in the same way as Armour Class. The resistance is expressed as a figure, and this figure is subtracted from the energy damage before it is applied to the target’s hit points. For example, a Fire Giant has Resist Fire 20. That means all fire attacks do 20 less damage to the giant. Unlike armour class, there is no minimum damage for energy resistances. If the resistance reduces the damage to below 1 point, then the target takes no damage at all.

Sometimes energy resistance is taken to such a degree that it becomes Energy Immunity. The more powerful fire giants simply can’t be damaged by a flame of any intensity. Other creatures such as elementals and dragons enjoy the same degree of protection.

However, do not think that such resistances are only for monsters. Plenty of player character races and classes have access to energy resistance. Gods often provide such protection of their clerics, genasi are closely tied to an element and receive some resistance to its effects, and wizards are able to call upon the Weave to defend them from such forces.

Resistances may apply to a form of attack that is not energy; and they may use different mechanics to the ones presented here (and for Armour Class). Here are some examples:

Regeneration: This is a classic example of a form of resistance. While Armour Class and Energy Resistance stop a creature from taking damage, a monster with Regeneration takes the damage, but heals it almost immediately. Lycanthropes and trolls both have regeneration, and its very difficult to put these foes down and get them to stay down without special types of weapons or attacks. There’s more on Regeneration in the section on Wounds and Healing (q.v.).

Incorporeal: Some creatures have a degree of the intangible about them. Sometimes these are beings that stand between two worlds. Ghosts and Ethereal Marauders, for example, are half in our reality and half in the misty Ethereal Plane that divides Iourn from the Shadowfell. Insubstantial characters take no damage from mundane attacks. Magical and Supernatural attacks (including damaging spells, dragon breath and magic weapons) do only half damage if they hit. Fortunately for player characters insubstantial characters usually have to manifest completely on Iourn to affect the real world in a meaningful way.

Vulnerabilities

Heroes are often overmatched, under-powered and on the brink of total defeat. Often only those who are clever enough to exploit the vulnerabilities of their enemies will live to fight another day.

There are several different types of vulnerabilities. Most common are creatures that have vulnerability to a particular energy type. Creatures with a vulnerability to a certain form of energy take extra damage every time they are exposed to it. It works a little like ‘anti-resistance’ if you will.

For example, most undead are vulnerable to damage from radiant energy. A death knight has “Vulnerable 10 Radiant” in the description of his statistics. That means, whenever he takes any radiant damage, he takes +10 to the value. If he’s hit three times, each attack doing just one point of radiant damage, then the death knight actually takes 33 damage.

Some creatures are vulnerable to certain materials. Lycanthropes are unusually vulnerable to attacks from silver weapons. They take extra damage whenever they are struck with a silver weapon. Lycnathropes can’t regenerate damage from silver weapons either, so their doubly vexed.

Regeneration and energy vulnerability often work hand in hand. Trolls for example have vulnerability to fire and acid damage. They take more damage when exposed to these forms of energy and, like lycanthropes, they can’t regenerate the damage they take from these sources, even though they can regenerate everything else.

Vulnerabilities are usually the province of non-player characters and monsters. However, there may be occassions when player characters pick up a vulnerability – perhaps through a disease, a curse or a spell. Some GMs might even entertain PC trolls and lycanthropes. Of course these GMs are mad. Vulnerabilties are usually acquired through a compulsory extra racial trait during character generation.

It’s possible to have both resistance and vulnerability to the same form of energy. For example, a troll wizard with Vulnerable 10 Fire, might cast a spell to give himself Resist Fire 5. In these cases simply take the net result. The troll in this example would have a net vulnerability to fire of 5.

Conditions

Conditions are special circumstances that can be opposed on your character by outside force or entity. For example, if someone grabs you then you immediately gain the Grappled condition. If you engage in too much physical activity you might gain the Fatigued condition, and if you push yourself too hard you might become Exhausted.

Having conditions allows HD&D to have a consistant set of rules that apply in all circumstances. If, for example, we have a Blinded condition then at any point in the game that your character cannot see, all you need to do is refer to the effects of the Blinded condition. This degree of uniformity in the rules is essential in creating a seamless and consistant system.

In HD&D there are twenty-nine different conditions that can affect your character. If you are suffering from more than one condition then the effects of each condition is combined. If it cannot be combined, then the most serious effect applies instead.

Blinded: A blinded creature cannot see, cannot flank opponents and grants combat advantage to his adversaries. All opponents of blinded creatures are considered to have total concealment. Blinded creatures take a -5 penalty to their Reflex defence, and to all Strength and Dexterity based skill checks (including all attack rolls). All sight-based Perception checks automatically fail, and Perception checks that rely on a combination of sight and other senses take a -10 penalty. A blinded character must make a DC 10 Acrobatics check to move faster than half speed. Creatures that fail this check fall prone. Those who remain blinded for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them.

Bloodied: A bloodied character is someone whose hit point total has been reduced to a number from 0 to their bloodied value. A character’s bloodied value is a negative number equal to their Constitution score or one quarter of their total hit points, whichever is the greater. Bloodied characters fall unconscious. They drop whatever they are holding, fall prone and are considered helpless.

Broken: This condition applies only to inanimate objects that have lost half their hit points or more to damage, but have not been reduced to 0 hit points or less. Broken items are less effective at their designated task. Any tool required to use a skill check imposes a -2 circumstance penalty on that check. Broken weapons impose a -2 cirumstance penalty to all attack and damage rolls. Broken armour has its armour class value halved, and its armour check penalty doubled. A broken magical item such as a wand or a staff may begin to behave erratically if broken. Other broken items may impose penalties at the GM’s discretion. Magical spells such as mend and make whole can repair items, although if the item is magical the caster has be a higher level than the item. Mundane items can be mended by anyone with the appropriate Craft skill. The DC to mend an item is the same as the DC to create it. The cost of repairing an item is usually 10% of its value. Use this figure to work out how long the repair takes.

Confused: A confused character is mentally befuddled by a magical spell or effect and cannot act normally. In phase one of each turn that a character remains confused, his actions are determined randomly by rolling percentile dice: 

If a confused character cannot carry out the indicated action then they babble incoherently instead. Attackers are not at any special advantage when attacking a confused character. Any confused character who is attacked automatically attacks its attackers on its next turn, as long as it is still confused when its turn comes. A confused character does not make opportunity attacks against any creature that it is not already devoted to attacking (either because of its most recent action or because it has just been attacked).

Cowering: The character is frozen in fear and can take no actions. A cowering creature also takes a -2 morale penalty to all defences and saving throws.

Dazed: A dazed character grants combat advantage to its enemies. Dazed characters can take only one Standard action on their turn. They may not take swift or immediate actions. They may take free actions only at the GM’s discretion, although they can still spend action points. Dazed characters cannot flank opponents.

Dazzled: You are unable to see well because of the over stimulation of the eyes – usually because of a sudden bright light. Many subterranean races do not function well in normal light conditions and are easily dazzled. Mole people often accompany the dazzled conditions with cries of “Eeeee!” and aimless running with their arms held above their heads, but this is not compulsory. Dazzled creatures take a -1 penalty to all attack rolls and sight-based Pereception checks.

Dead: There are many ways to be declared dead. You may have had your hit points reduced to your bloodied value or lower, failed three stabilisation checks, had your constitution ability score reduced to zero or gained negative levels equal to your character level. Some spells and other effects can kill you in an instant without meeting any of those criteria. If you are declared dead, then your spirit has departed your body and you can no longer benefit from regeneration, magical or mundane healing. Dead bodies decay normally unless magically preserved. You can be returned from the dead by certain complex rituals such as raise dead and resurrection. However, these are not easy and there is often a price to pay.

Deafened: A deafended character cannot hear. He takes a -5 penalty on Initiative checks and on all Spellcraft checks to cast spells with a verbal component. All hearing-based Perception checks automatically fail, and Perception checks that rely on a combination of hearing and other senses take a -10 penalty. Those who remain deafened for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them.

<a name=”“>Dying: See Bloodied. The terms are interchangeable.

Encumbered: Encumbered characters are carrying more weight than they can comfortably manage. A character that carries a Medium Load is considered encumbered. The weight of this load is dependent upon the character’s size and strength (see Carrying Capacity). Encumbered characters reduce their Speed by 10 ft per round and cannot run or charge. Slowed is a more extreme form of encumberance.

Exhausted: An exhausted character cannnot run or charge, and moves at only half speed. He also takes a -5 penalty to all defences, saving throws, skill checks and ability checks. After one hour’s complete rest an exhausted character becomes fatigued (q.v.). A fatigued character becomes exhausted after doing something else that causes fatigue.

Fascinated: A fascinated creature is entranced by a supernatural or magical effect. The creature stands or sits quietly, taking no actions other than to pay attention to the fascinating effect, for as long as the effect lasts. It takes a -5 penalty on skill checks made as reactions, such as Perception or Insight checks. Any potential threat, such as a hostile creature approaching, allows the fascinated creature a Will saving throw against the fascinating effect. Any obvious threat, such as someone drawing a weapon, casting a spell, or aiming a ranged weapon at the fascinated creature, automatically breaks the effect. A fascinated creature’s ally may shake his friend free of the spell as a standard action.

Fatigued: A fatigued character can neither run nor charge, and takes a -2 penalty to all defences, saving throws, skill checks and ability checks. Doing anything that would normally cause fatigue, causes the fatigued character to become exhausted (q.v.). After eight hours of complete rest, fatigued characters are no longer fatigued.

Frightened: A frightened character is fearful of a particular object, location or creature. Such a character flees from the source of its fear as best it can – this includes utilising any magical or supernatural powers at its disposal. If unable to flee, then it may choose to stand and fight. Frightened characters also take a -2 morale penalty to all defences, saving throws, skill checks and ability checks. Frightened is a more severe state of fear than Shaken, the effects do not stack. Panicked is a more extreme state of fear than Frightened.

Grappled: A grappled creature is being restrained by another creature, trap or effect. Grappled creatures cannot move, and take a -5 penalty on Spellcraft checks to cast spells with somatic or material components, their Reflex Defence, and all attack rolls (except those made to grapple, or escape from a grapple). In addition, grappled creatures can take no action that requires two arms to perform. Grappled creatures cannot make opportunity attacks.

Helpless: A helpless character is one who is bound, sleeping, paralysed, unconscious or otherwise at the mercy of the attacker. Any attack against a Helpless opponent hits automatically. If a character can potentially take an action to dodge or deflect incoming damage then they are not helpless. A sleeping creature would probably get a Perception check to notice the attack, and therefore not be helpless when the blow is struck. A helpless character can be killed in one blow. Helpless characters are susceptible to a Coup de Grace: a special attack action that is quite likely to be fatal. Fortunately, a coup de grace is too tricky a manoeuvre to deliver on opponents with their wits about them – unless the attacker happens to be an assassin.

Invisible: If you are invisible you cannot be seen by normal vision, low-light vision or darkvision. While invisible you receive a +10 to your Stealth check to avoid notice, and even if you are found enemies can still not pinpoint you. You have Total Concealment from enemy attacks, as well as combat advantage over everyone who cannot see you. Regardless of what you do, you don’t provoke opportunity attacks from enemies that can’t see you.

Nauseated: Nauseated characters are experiencing severe stomach distress. Nauseated characters are unable to attack, cast spells or do anything else that requires attention. The only action such a charatcer can take is a single Move action per turn. Nauseated characters may not use swift or immediate actions, but they may take free actions and spend Action Points. Nauseated is a more extreme form of illness than sickened.

Panicked: A panicked creature must drop anything it holds and flee at stop speed from the source of its fear, as well as any other dangers it encounters, along the most expedient path. A panicked creature will use any items, spells or abilities at its disposal to facilitate its escape. During flight, the panicked creature cannot take other actions. It also takes a -2 morale penalty to all defences, saving throws, skill checks and ability checks. If cornered, a panicked creature cringes in fear and does not attack. Typically, it uses the Active Defence option to protect itself. Panicked is a more extreme state of fear than shaken or frightened.

Paralysed: Paralysed creatures are frozen in place and unable to move or act. Depending on what the creature was doing at the time paralysis set in, the GM may rule that the paralysed creature topples to the ground and is Prone. A winged creature flying in the air cannot flap its wings and falls. A paralysed swimmer cannot swim and may drown. Paralysed creatures are Helpless and cannot move or speak, buy they are not unconscious. Purely mental actions such as telepathy, or the direction of active spells are still possible. A paralysed wizard with the still spell, silent spell and eschew materials feats could still cast spells. A creature flying under the power of the Fly spell could still fly, but wouldn’t be able to do anything else.

Petrified: A petrified character turns to stone and can take no actions. Petrified characters are considered unconscious, and are completely unaware of their surroundings while suffering this condition. Damage to a petrified character has no effect unless the character is returned to flesh while still damaged. Any pieces broken off a petrified character are still missing should the character be restored, although they can be held in position at the appropriate point when the condition ends, and will safely fuse back into place. If the petrified form is smashed into small pieces, or if crucial pieces are missing, then the character cannot be returned to the flesh without instant death. However, a smashed statue could be rebuilt months or years later and the character returned without harm. A character does not age while petrified, and may live out an eternity in his stone prison.

Pinned: A pinned creature cannot move and grants combat advantage to his enemies. He also takes a -5 penalty to his Reflex Defence. Normally, the only physical action a pinned character can make is an attempt to escape the pin: he cannot make attack rolls against his opponent, draw weapons or items or signal to allies. A pinned creature can speak, although the grabber can prevent speech if desired as a free action. A pinned creature cannot cast any spells that require a somatic or material component. Purely mental actions such as some psionic powers, or casting a spell using the Still Spell and Eschew Materials feats are unaffected by being pinned.

Prone: A prone character is lying on the ground. Unconscious characters automatically fall prone, but sometimes characters throw themselves prone on purpose. Prone characters grant combat advantage to anyone attacking them in mêlée combat, but gain a +2 bonus to all defences against enemies who attack from beyond their mêlée reach. Prone characters take a -2 penalty to attack rolls except for those with weapons they can easily use from their position – such as crossbows. If you’re knocked prone when you’re flying you can glide safely down a distance equal to your Speed, but if the drop is longer than that, then you fall.

Shaken: A shaken character is nervous, jumpy or suffering from shock. He takes a -2 morale penalty on all defences, saving throws, skill checks and ability checks. Shaken is a less severe state of fear than Fightened or Panicked.

Slowed: Slowed characters are carrying so much extra weight that they can barely move. A character that tries to carry a Heavy Load is considered slowed. The weight of this load is dependent upon the character’s size and strength (see Carrying Capacity). Slowed characters reduce their Speed to 10 ft per round and cannot run or charge. Slowed is a more extreme condition than Encumbered. The two do not stack. Some spells can impose this condition without the character carrying a medium or heavy load.

Stable: A character who is Bloodied, but has stopped having to make stabilisation checks is considered Stable. Such characters are no longer dying, and will probably recover on their own given sufficient time.

Stunned: A stunned creature cannot take any actions. It drops everything it is holding and grants combat advantage to its enemies.

Surprised: A surprised character cannot take any actions of the duration of the Surprise Round. He also grants combat advantage to all his enemies during the surprise round.

Sickened: A sickened character is one who feels queasy. Such characters take a -2 penalty on all defences, saving throws, skill checks and ability checks. A more extreme form of illness is nauseated.

Unconscious: Unconscious characters fall Prone, cannot take any actions and are Helpless. They may be attacked automatically,, and are susceptible to coup de grace or similar attacks. Bloodied characters are usually unconscious.

Critical Hits

A natural 20 is always a hit, but it might also be a critical hit. If you roll a natural 20 and the result of the attack roll is also enough to strike the defence of the target, then you have scored a critical hit. This is worth repeating. If 20 + Skill Modifier is not enough to hit a foe’s defence, then you cannot score a critical hit with the attack. A natural 20 will still hit, but it won’t be a critical hit.

So what’s so good about critical hits anyway? When you score a critical hit you don’t roll damage. You attack scores the maximum possible damage instead.

For example, a fifth level rogue sneak attacking with his flaming dagger would normally inflict 1d4 (dagger) + 1d6 (fire damage) + 3d6 (sneak attack) + 2 (Strength bonus). If he scores a critical hit, he doesn’t bother to roll the dice, he simply inflicts 30 damage instead.

Some weapons, talents and feats allow you to score a critical hit more frequently. For example, you might score a critical hit on a natural roll of 19-20, or even 18-20. An extended critical range does not change the rule that only a 20 is an automatic hit. If your critical range is 19-20, you can score a critical hit on a natural 19, if 19 + your skill modifier is equal to or greater than your foe’s Defence. But if it isn’t then, a natural 19 is not an automatic hit. Only a natural 20 is an automatic hit.

Critical Misses: In a game with Critical Hits, you would think that it would only be logical to have a system for critical misses. If you roll a natural 1 then something bad happens to you. Right? The problem with critical misses is that they have a disproptionate impact on player characters, who tend to roll more dice than the GM. Characters making multiple attacks are also penalised in this respect. Critical misses are usually only fun if you’re not on the receiving end of them. Should your seasoned battle veteran have a 1 in 20 chance of slicing off his own ears every time he draws his sword? A natural 1 is already an automatic miss. It’s probably best not to be any harsher than that.

Durations

For the most part attacks in combat are over and done with in an instant. The stab of a knife, the whoosh of an arrow or the muffled cries of an ally as he is turned inside out by a powerful spell. However, some abilties may last much longer than this. Some may last as long as you concentrate on them, others will persist autonomously for a set amount of time, and some will last forever.

In this section I will take number of examples from the game’s talents and spells and demonstrate how the duration functions for each of them.

Tactical Presence: This is a Warlord Talent that allows the warlord to grant a morale bonus to the attack rolls of allies who can see and hear him. The bonus is +1 at first level and increases by +1 at every five levels after that. Using Tactical Presence is a standard action and the duration of the effect is one round. That means it lasts until phase three of the warlord’s turn in the following round. If he wants, the warlord can use his standard action the next round to use Tactical Presence again. In this case it lasts another round. The warlord can go on maintaining the effect with his standard action indefinitely, until the battle is won or he sees a dire need to use his standard action to do something else.

Melf’s Acid Arrow: This spell allows a wizard to send an arrow of acid hurtling across the battlefield, to stab a foe for 1d4 damage per two levels (maximum 5d4). That damage is an instantaneous effect. However, the arrow goes on to inflict 5 points of acid damage every round until the target makes a successful Reflex Saving Throw to shake the effect off. This is an example of ongoing damage. Every round, during phase one of his turn, the victim takes the ongoing damage; and every round, during phase three of his turn, the victim gets to make a saving throw to stop taking the damage the following round. Obviously the victim can, if he wants to, try something in phase two of his turn to stop the acid damage more quickly. For example, he might jump into a barrel of milk and hope for the best.

Hold Person: Another spell, although this one doesn’t damage opponents. Hold Person paralyses a single victim for one round per level of the caster. So if the spell is cast by a tenth level caster, then the victim is going to be held fast for ten rounds (one minute) before the spell wears off. The caster could wander off and do anything else he liked, and Hold Person would keep running. However, Hold Person is special. It gives the victim additional chances to break free of the effect every round if the victim wants to take them. Once per round starting on the round after the spell was cast, the victim may elect to use a standard action to make a Will Saving Throw to end the effect prematurely.

Wall of Fire: This spell conjures a broiling sheet of flame either as a wall or as a ring around a particular area. In either form the duration is described as “Concentration + 1 round / level”. This means that the spell lasts for as long as you concentrate on it, and then for one round per level after you stop concentrating. In order to concentrate you must use your Move action each round to maintain the spell.

Mage Armour: Once cast upon a target this spell (which gives you a +4 bonus to AC) lasts for 1 round per caster level. So a seventh level caster can make this spell last for seven rounds. There are no strings and no hidden rules. The spell simply persists with no concentation required by the caster.

Unless the description of the spell specifically says otherwise then spells with an autonomous duration can be ended by the caster as a move action. Normally, you would have to be within the maximum range over which you can cast the spell in order to dismiss it. Any spell with a duration of longer than Instantaneous can be brought down with Dispel Magic.

Next…

The rules for attacks and defences are only true if all things are equal. But in combat, all things are never equal. On Wednesday we’ll look at combat advantage, cover, concealment and all types of Combat Modifiers.

Combat is the most mechanically complex part of the hybrid game; it is also potentially the most confusing. Both players and GMs have much to remember. In addition to knowing their character’s abilities as well as their own, they need to properly visualise the scene in order to exploit every potential avenue to success. This vision also has to mesh with the visions of everyone else around the gaming table.

The last thing any player or GM needs is an overly complicated or extended system of turn taking. Your actions in combat (whatever they may be) should be quick to enact and quick to adjudicate. The system introduced here should help to expedite matters.

Your turn is divivded into three phases:

Phase One: This is the beginning of your turn. At this point you take no actions, but you perform a little housekeeping on your character. Even if you are unconscious or dying you still go through phase one of your turn, applying all effects that can apply: 

• Ongoing Damage: If you are suffering ongoing damage from any source, then you take the damage now. Remembering to inflict the damage is the responsibility of the attacker. So if you keep quiet and the GM forgets that you’re on fire, then you may get away with it. 
• Regeneration or Fast Healing: If you have either Regeneration or Fasting Healing then you regain hit points at the start of your turn. 
• Other Effects: Some effects or conditions in the game may start or end at the beginning of your turn. If they do then they do it here in phase one.

Phase Two: This is the meat of your turn where you can take actions and influence the course of the game. Some conditions may limit the number of actions you can take in phase two; indeed some make it impossible to take any actions: 

• Take Actions: On your turn you can take a standard action and a move action, or two move actions. You may also take any number of free actions the GM deems possible. 
• Swift Action: If you are able to take a Swift action then you take it here in phase two. 
• Any order: You can take your standard, move, free and swift actions (if applicable) in any order you like. 
• Action Pont: At any point during phase two you can spend an action point to get an extra standard action. 
• Other People’s Actions: Remember what you do may precipitate an action from your enemies or your allies. The chance of provoking one of these immediate actions may affect your character’s tactics. 

Phase Three: This is the end of your turn. It is here that you tidy up your character and make it ready for your turn next round. Even if you are unconscious or bloodied, you must perform all the steps that you are capable of performing. 

• Check ongoing effects: Any effect that you instigate that last for a number of rounds comes to an end in phase three of your turn. If a wizard casts a Shield spell that lasts five rounds then it ends in phase three of the wizard’s turn five rounds after it was cast. It’s up to the instigator to keep track of these effects, no one else will do it for you. 
• Saving Throws: Most saving throws are made as reactions to events that happen to you on other people’s turns. However, some saving throws against ongoing effects, or death stabilisation checks are made here in phase three. It is the player’s job to remember to make these saving throws.

In addition to the above you may sometimes find yourself in the position of being able to take actions on other people’s turns. You can normally take Free actions at any point in the round as long as the GM is in agreement, but you may find yourself able to make special attacks designated as Immediate Actions, but don’t forget to remember any ongoing effects your character his handing out to his enemies. Ongoing damage and other effects happens on your enemy’s turns, but it’s your responisbility to remember it!

If you choose to hold your action and act later in the combat round, you are only actually delaying phase two of your turn. Phases one and three happen normally at your original initiative point. See the section on Actions in Combat (q.v.) for more information on delaying your actions.

 Speeding Up Play

 Here are a few pointers on how to best speed up combat play in the Hybrid Game:

 1) Know your character!

All HD&D characters are complex with a myriad of different abilities, modifiers and powers that only apply in special circumstances. It may seem obvious, but you need to know and understand what your character can do. If you are a fighter with the Combat Superiority talent and you keep forgeting to make your opportunity attack at Withdrawing foes, then something is wrong. Maybe you’d rather being playing a wizard, or maybe you just need more time studying what your character is capable of.

2) Keep your character sheet up to date!

Your character sheet is your best friend. It has boxes and space for every die roll you need to make in the game. If you want to know what you should roll, then a quick glance at the character sheet should be all you need. Under no circumstances should you be calculating modifiers for skills or defences on your turn. Everything should be written down on the character sheet for your ease of reference.

3) Keep reference materials close at hand!

No player can remember the details of all the spells that their wizard knows. Even non-spellcasting PCs will have talents or feats that you may need reminding of.  In these cases, then make sure you have the reference for these abilities at hand. This could be a bookmarked copy of the printed rules, shortcuts to your favourite pages of the HD&D site or simply printed pages of relevent information cut and pasted from an electronic version of these rules. Do whatever is easiest for you, but do something.

If you find yourself continually turning into a bear, or summoning the same horde of dire apes, then have the stats for these monsters ready and rolled up in advance. It will save such a lot of time if polymorph-happy summoners have everything prepared in advance.

4) Make notes!

If you’ve cast a spell that inflicts 2d6 damage every round then note down that you’ve done that. It’s the aggressor’s responsibility to remember these things. If you can’t remember then just jot it down on a sheet of scrap paper, that you can then look at when your turn comes around. A scrap of paper is also a good place for noting down spells cast, as well as your current hit point total.

5) Know what you’re going to do before you do it!

You should always pay attention to combat on other people’s turns. In addition to being polite, it keeps your mind ‘in the game’ and doesn’t leave you floundering for what to do when your turn comes around. When it isn’t your turn, you should be planning what you’re going to do when it is your turn. Other people’s turns are the best time for looking up the description of that spell you want to try, or working out your chances to hit an invisible foe. Change your plans if circumstances change, but make the effort to put your plan into practice. It’s always more fun to direct the action than to react to it, don’t you think?

6) Roll all the dice at once!

If you have multiple attacks then all the attacks are likely to use the same skill modifier. Simply roll enough dice for every attack and then declare the result of the lowest die. If that’s good enough to succeed then all the others have succeeded as well and you don’t need to declare them. If it isn’t good enough, then declare the result of the next lowest die and so on. You’d be surprised how much time that saves.

Even if multiple attack rolls represent different attacks with different skill modifiers – e.g. an attack roll vs Reflex to damage a character, and an attack roll vs Fortitude to poison through the wound – still roll both dice at once. Obviously, declare which is which before rolling. If the first attack misses you may not need the second at all, but if you do need it then it is rolled and ready for use.

Additionally, you may choose to roll damage dice at the same time as your attack roll. If you make multiple attacks then colour coordinate: roll a d20 and a damage die of the same colour or design. 

Next…

The first three parts of the Combat section have been short and to the point. That’s all behind us now. On Monday we begin to look at the nitty gritty of HD&D’s combat mechanics. Come back then for the post on Attacks and Defences.

When combat starts your character has a lot of options open to him. Do I cast a spell? Shoot an arrow? Jump on my horse and gallop to safety? Any and all of these options is considered to be an action. However, a combat round only lasts six seconds. Therefore in any given combat round there are a finite number of actions that you can perform. The rules in this section tell you how many actions, and the types of action,  you can attempt.

Not all actions are considered equal. In the hybrid game, actions are divided into six categories: standard actions, move actions, free actions, swift actions, immediate actions and those actions that are not really an action at all. Sound complicated? It’s not really. The number of actions you can take on your turn is as follows:

1 Standard + 1 Move + Free Actions

or

1 Move + 1 Move + Free Actions

 In addition you may be able take one Swift or one Immediate action during the round depending on circumstance. The different types of actions are summarised below:

Standard Actions: You can perform one standard action on your turn. Standard Actions are “doing” actions. If you want to pro-actively influence combat or other characters then the chances are you have to take a standard action to do it. Making an attack with a weapon, casting a spell, grabbing a foe, drinking a potion or stabilising a dying friend are all standard actions.

Move Actions: You can perform one Move action on your turn. This can be either before or after your Standard action. You always have the option to take a second Move action instead of your Standard action. Therefore you could take two Move actions in a round (but no Standard action) if you desired. A Move action normally lets you move up to a set number of feet equal to your character’s Speed. However, you can sometimes perform other quick actions (e.g. drawing a sword, mounting a horse) as a Move action. You cannot take another action within a Move action. So you can’t move a little bit, take a Standard action, and then move some more.

Free Actions: These are actions that take so little time that you can effective perform as many as you like in the course of one round. The GM has the final say on whether an action is possible or not. Free actions include dropping an item, falling prone or speaking (tossing off pithy one-liners to your foes is always encouraged). Unless explicitly stated, you may take free actions at any time during the round – not just on your own turn.

Swift Action: A swift action is an extra action that you can perform in addition to your Standard Action and Move Action during the round. You can only perform a Swift action in certain special circumstances. For example, the Haste spell lets you make one extra mêlée attack as a swift action each round. The Quickend Spell feat allows you to cast a spell as a swift action as long as you meet the prerequisites. You may only perform one Swift Action per round even if circumstances grant you more than one.

Immediate Action: These are actions triggered by external events. Immediate actions are therefore the only type of meaningful action you can take when it isn’t your turn. For example, a foe you are fighting in mêlée combat turns tail and runs from the fight. You can make an opportunity attack on that foe as an immediate action. Immediate Actions may be further categorised as Reactions (happening after the triggering event), or Interrupts (happening before the triggering event). Some talents, feats and spells are immediate actions, or let you take immediate actions in special circumstances. An immediate action counts as your Swift action for the round. So you can’t take an Immediate action and a Swift action (or two Immediate actions) in the same round.

No Action: Some actions are so insignificant that they aren’t considered actions at all. Sometimes this is because they are part of other actions. For example, the act of drawing an arrow and notching it to your bow is part of the Standard action required to attack a foe with the bow.

Next Time…

Come back on Friday for rules on Taking your Turn.