Arena: Thug vs. Tiefling Warrior

Arena: Thug vs. Tiefling Warrior

This is the start of a new series of posts, where I run test combats with my friends, using NPCs/adventurers/monsters, and write turn-by-turn reports. In this one, the arena contestants are a thug and a tiefling warrior. Two simple humanoid warriors with swords and ranged attacks. Should be fast and simple, right? I thought so too.

The contestants start 11 yards apart in the arens with a bunch of obstacles, such as piles of rocks, pillars, and fences. They both have Basic Speed 6, but the tiefling (red figure) has higher DX than the thug (green figure), so he goes first. We decided that both contestants start with their weapons ready - broadsword and a dagger for the thug, and rapier and pistol crossbow for the tiefling.

TURN 1

I think the pictures should be enlarged when clicked on

Tiefling: Steps forward and takes a shot with his pistol crossbow. Distance is 10 yards, range penalty is -4. (Rolls 7 vs 9). That's a potential hit. The thug dodges. (Rolls 8 vs 10). He is unharmed.

Thug: Move and Attack. Moves forward 4 yards, then throws the dagger. Distance is 6 yards, range penalty is -3. Opts to target a random hit location. (Rolls 12 vs 6). That's a miss.

TURN 2

Tiefling: The tiefling performs a Concentrate maneuver and spends 1 FP to use his racial ability, i.e. create a 2-yard-radius area of darkness that penalizes vision by -3. The tiefling himself has Infravision, so he ignores this penalty. He chooses the hex in front of him (O25) as the target (no range penalty). Targeting a hex grants a +4 bonus on the to-hit roll, giving the tiefling an effective Innate Attack (Gaze) of 17. (Rolls 13 vs 17). Darkness appears where intended.

Thug: Moves five yards, to the side of the area of darkness. The thug does not have Infravision, so he'll be penalized by -3, and that's not good, especially considering his weapon skill of 11 (compared to the tiefling's Rapier-13).

TURN 3

Tiefling: Steps sideways (to be in the center of the darkness) and performs a rapier thrust at the torso. (Rolls 9 vs 13). The thug dodges. (Rolls 7 vs 10). The thrust does not connect.

Thug: The thug steps forward and Evaluates.

TURN 4

Tiefling: The tiefling changes facing to face the thug, takes a step back, and thrusts again. (Rolls 5 vs 13). The thug dodges (his Dodge is higher than his Parry). (Rolls 12 vs 10). The tiefling rolls damage. (Rolls 4 on 1d-1). The thug has a light mail on his torso that provides DR 3*, so only one point of damage goes through. Since this is impaling damage, the injury is multiplied by 2. The thug is at 10/12 HP and has a -2 shock penalty for his next turn.

Thug: The thug knows that attacking here is pointless (-3 penalty due to darkness, -2 due to shock), so he steps forward and Evaluates again.

TURN 5

Tiefling: Drops his pistol crossbow and takes out his light small shield. Since the shield only has DB 1, this only takes a single Ready maneuver.

Thug: Swings his broadsword at the tiefling's torso. Two Evaluate maneuvers provide a +2 bonus, shock penalty is no more, darkness penalizes by -3. (Rolls 12 vs 10).

TURN 6

Tiefling: Goes into All-Out Defense (Improved Parry), trying to bait out an attack for a riposte (GURPS Martial Arts, pp. 124-125).

Thug: Steps and Evaluates, not taking the bait. (Remember, according to GURPS Martial Arts, only the Feint maneuver is not obvious).

TURN 7

Tiefling: Takes a step forward, changes facing to face the thug, and thrusts at his groin (-3). (Rolls 12 vs 10).

Thug: Move and Attack. Runs around the tiefling to attack him from the back (-2 penalty to defend). (Rolls 12 vs 5). Not even close, but that's not unexpected.

TURN 8

Tiefling: Turns around to face the thug and Evaluates.

Thug: Steps back and does All-Out Defense (Improved Dodge).

TURN 9

Tiefling: Evaluate.

Thug: Evaluate.

TURN 10

Tiefling: Thrusts at the sword arm (-2 for hit location, +2 from two Evaluates). (Rolls 14 vs 13).

Thug: Moves back two yards.

TURN 11

Tiefling: Steps, drops his shield, grabs his crossbow. Here we found out that the racial darkness ability of the tiefling was written with a mistake in the racial template, but not in the statblock. The confusion resulted in us deciding to use the template version, where the darkness lacks the Ranged enhancement and hence follows the tiefling. In the end, it didn't even matter. Also, we forgot that it takes two maneuvers to pick something up from the ground, so the crossbow was picked up with a single Ready maneuver.

Thug: Ready maneuver to ready another dagger.

TURN 12

Tiefling: Here we realise that the tiefling cannot actually reload the crossbow with one hand, so the tiefling takes a Ready maneuver to sheathe his rapier.

Thug: The thug runs and performs a Drop Kick (GURPS Martial Arts, p. 70) as an All-Out Attack (Determined). He doesn't know the technique, so he defaults at Brawling-1. (Rolls 7 vs 11). The tiefling does a reatreating dodge. (Rolls 13 vs 13). Barely made it. The thug is now lying on his back. We forgot that the thug must've moved two yards past the target on a miss, but considering the reach of the rapier, this would've made any difference.

TURN 13

Tiefling: Steps behind the pillar and begins reloading his crossbow (1/4 Ready maneuvers done).

Thug: Goes into the kneeling position.

TURN 14

Tiefling: Another Ready maneuver to continue the reloading process (2/4 Ready maneuvers done). Here we also realized that the 10-second darkness should've ran out already. We expected this fight to be done in 3-4 seconds, like normal GURPS fights.

Thug: Goes from kneeling to standing.

TURN 15

Tiefling: Another Ready to reload (3/4 Ready maneuvers done).

Thug: Move and Attack. The thug moves sideways and throws the knife at the tiefling. Range is 3 yards (-1 penalty for distance), and a -2 penalty due to Move and Attacking. (Rolls 10 vs 10). The tiefling does a Dodge and Drop to get a bonus. (Rolls 11 vs 13). That was a smart move! The knife flies past his head, but the tiefling is now on the ground.

TURN 16

Tiefling: Here we realised that we're not sure if a Dodge and Drop should reset the reloading timer, but decided that it should not. Thus, the tiefling finishes reloading the crossbow and steps/crawls back.

Thug: Moves up as part of an All-Out Attack (Determined) and thrusts at the tiefling's torso. (Rolls 13 vs 15). The tiefling does a retreating dodge (yes, you can do that on the ground by rolling away). (Rolls 12 vs 10). The thug rolls damage. (Rolls 6 on 1d). Here we realise that this is not a thrusting broadsword, so the damage is crushing. The tiefling has medium leather armor on his torso that grants him DR 2*, so 4 damage goes through. No injury multiplier. The tiefling is at 6/10 HP.

TURN 17

Tiefling: Goes from lying prone to kneeling.

Thug: Again, the thug runs and performs a Drop Kick (GURPS Martial Arts, p. 70) as an All-Out Attack (Determined). (Rolls 15 vs 14). So, he ends up on the ground too.

TURN 18

Tiefling: Stands up.

Thug: Goes from lying prone to kneeling.

TURN 19

Tiefling: Readies his rapier.

Thug: Stands up.

TURN 20

Tiefling: Shoots the thug with his pistol crossbow, targeting the vitals. Distance is 3 yards (-1 penalty), and -3 penalty for targeting the vitals. (Rolls 9 vs 9). The thug dodges. (Rolls 13 vs 10). The dodge fails, so the tiefling rolls damage. (Rolls 3 on 1d). It fails to penetrate DR 3 of the thug. The tiefling then steps back.

Thug: Another Drop Kick (GURPS Martial Arts, p. 70) as an All-Out Attack (Determined). (Rolls 13 vs 14). The tiefling decides to try a retreating parry (rapier is a fencing weapon, so it gets a bonus). According to Parrying Heavy Weapons (p. B376), the effective weight of a slam equals to the slammer's ST (in this case, 12). The rapier's weight is 2.75 pounds. So, on a successful parry there is a 1-3 on 1d chance of breakage. The tiefling rolls Parry. (Rolls 8 vs 13). Then rolls for breakage and gets 3 - the weapon breaks. The often forgotten Broken Weapons sidebar (p. B485) says that another roll of 1d is required. The tiefling rolls 1 - that means that the blade snaps in the middle and the rapier is now treated as a smallsword. The tiefling can default Smallsword from Rapier-3. The parry is still considered a success, and the thug falls on the ground.

TURN 21

Tiefling: The tiefling steps forward and does an All-Out Attack (Determined) to thrust his smallsword at the thug's torso. (Rolls 14 vs 14). The thug cannot defend, so the tiefling rolls damage. (Rolls 4 on 1d-1). Past DR 3 this results in 1 point of penetrating damage and 2 points of injury. The thug is at 8/12 HP now.

Thug: Goes from lying prone to kneeling.

TURN 22

Tiefling: Steps forward and tries to deliver a stab as a random hit location. (Rolls 11 vs 10). That's a miss.

Thug: Stands up and swings broadsword at the tiefling's torso. (Rolls 6 vs 11). The tiefling performs a retreating dodge. (Rolls 12 vs 13).

TURN 23

Tiefling: The tiefling throws his pistol crossbow at the thug's groin. (Rolls 7 vs 5). The default penalty of the Throwing skill was too much.

Thug: Move and Attack to move in the tiefling's hex and grapple his sword arm. He uses DX to hit and applies only -1 for the hit location, because the hit location penalties are halved when grappling. (Rolls 9 vs 10). We forgot -4 to hit from Move and Attack! The tiefling tries to do a retreating parry. (Rolls 13 vs 11). He fails to do so due to using a smallsword instead of a rapier, and gets grabbed.

TURN 24

Tiefling: The tiefling tries to kick the thug in the groin. Here we realised that the tiefling has no Brawling, so he cannot use Knee Strike (GURPS Martial Arts, p. 76) and similar techniques, while the thug can use them at a default thanks to having Brawling. (Rolls 8 vs 7). We forgot that a miss by 1 hits the torso! The tiefling rolls DX to remain standing. (Rolls 9 vs 12).

Thug: The thug tries an All-Out Attack (Determined) Head Butt (GURPS Martial Arts, p. 74). (Rolls 13 vs 9). That's a miss.

TURN 25

Tiefling: The tiefling rolls against DX to grab the torso of the thug with his free hand. (Rolls 11 vs 12). That's a success, as the thug cannot defend.

Thug: The thug tries an All-Out Attack (Determined) Knee Strike (GURPS Martial Arts, p. 76) against the tiefling's groin. (Rolls 15 vs 10). That's a miss.

TURN 26

Tiefling: The tiefling tries a takedown. Both contestants roll against the higher of their ST, DX, and grappling skills. The tiefling rolls 7 vs 12, getting a margin of success of 5. The thug rolls 6 vs 12, getting a margin of success of 6. So, the tiefling falls down, and the thug opts to release his grip.

Thug: The thug does an All-Out Attack (Determined) to swing at the tiefling's neck. (Rolls 9 vs 10). The tiefling makes a retreating defense, rolling into the water. (Rolls 10 vs 10). That was close!

TURN 27

Tiefling: Goes from prone to kneeling.

Thug: The thug does an All-Out Attack (Determined) to swing at the tiefling's neck. (Rolls 8 vs 10). The tiefling parries with his smallsword. (Rolls 6 vs 8). That's a success!

TURN 28

Tiefling: Stands up and stabs the thug. (Rolls 5 vs 10). The thug cannot defend, so the tiefling rolls damage. (Rolls 2 on 1d-1). That does not penetrate the DR.

Thug: The thug does an All-Out Attack (Determined) to thrust at the tiefling's face. (Rolls 11 vs 10). A miss by 1 hits the torso instead. The tiefling dodges. (Rolls 10 vs 10). And he does the dodge successfully.

TURN 29

Tiefling: Drops his smallsword and goes for a two-handed grab at the thug's torso. (Rolls 11 vs 12). That's a success, as the thug cannot defend right now.

Thug: The thug does the same - drops his sword and goes for a two-handed grab at the tiefling's torso. (Rolls 10 vs 13). The tiefling tries to dodge. (Rolls 12 vs 10). The grapple becomes mutual.

TURN 30

Tiefling: The tiefling releases the grip of one of his arms and tries to punch the thug. (Rolls 10 vs 8). That's a miss.

Thug: The thug releases the grip of one of his hands and tries to perform a one-handed Ear Clap (GURPS Martial Arts, p. 70) as an All-Out Attack (Determined). (Rolls 16 vs 8). Not even close.

TURN 31

Tiefling: The tiefling releases his other hand and goes for an All-Out Attack (Determined) to grab the thug's neck with both hands. (Rolls 11 vs 10). That's a miss. Should it count as a torso grab, because it missed by 1 though? No idea.

Thug: The thug goes for an All-Out Attack (Strong) Telegraphic punch to the tiefling's face. (Rolls 9 vs 10). The tiefling canot defend, so the thug rolls damage. (Rolls 2 on 1d-1). That causes the tiefling to roll against HT to avoid knockdown. (Rolls 12 vs 10). He drops to the ground and is stunned.

TURN 32

Tiefling: Does Nothing, because he's stunned. Rolls HT at the end of the turn. (Roll 10 vs 10). That's a success, he should be able to act normally next turn.

Thug: The thug does an All-Out Attack (Determined) Stamp Kick (GURPS Martial Arts, p. 80) at the tiefling's torso. (Rolls 14 vs 12). Rolling to not lose balance isn't necessary here, because the thug cannot defend anyway.

TURN 33

Tiefling: Punches the thug in the leg. Posture gives him a -4 to attack rolls, but additional posture rules from the page 99 of GURPS Martial Arts let him mitigate the -2 penalty for targeting the leg. (Rolls 11 vs 8). That's a miss.

Thug: The thug does an All-Out Attack (Determined) Stamp Kick (GURPS Martial Arts, p. 80) at the tiefling's torso. (Rolls 10 vs 12). The tiefling attempts an unarmed parry. (Rolls 11 vs 7). The thug rolls damage. (Rolls 6 on 1d). This puts the tiefling to 0 HP. He rolls against HT to stay conscious. (Rolls 13 vs 10). The fight is over, the thug won.

CONCLUSION

Honestly, that was a lot of fun. Sure, we missed some rules, as I now can see when writing this post, but hopefully we will keep them in mind for the next time. This example showed us the difference between an ST-focused character and a DX-focused character (although, the difference wasn't very significant). We chose these two constestants mostly just for testing how such a report can be written and for refamiliarizing ourselves with the rules. These characters have low skill levels compared to most adventurers, but as this example has shown, the fight was still exciting. We didn't expect the fight to be this long, but we haven't even used some of the optioanl rules, such as Extra Effort in Combat and the one where you roll 1d on torso hits to see if you hit the vitals. This is the pinnacle of GURPS entertainment. Next time we probably will do something less normal. If any of the readers has any suggestions, they are welcome.