Heroic Combat: Iteration 1 Test Duel

Heroic Combat: Iteration 1 Test Duel

Let's give abstract combat a test drive. I'll try to play out battles of different scales to see how the system works (if it even works at all), but tonight we're having a duel.

Swordsman

ST 12   HP 12    SM+0

DX 11  BS 5.5   Dodge 9

HT 11  FP 11     

Move 3

DR 4 (torso; medium segmented plate)

Light medium shield (DB 2) - Shield (14)

Thrusting Broadsword swing (14): swing 1d+2 cutting, Reach 1.

Thrusting Broadsword thrust (14): thrust 1d+1 impaling, Reach 1.

Bandit Captain

ST 13   HP 13    SM+0

DX 12  BS 6   Dodge 10

HT 11  FP 11     

Move 6

DR 3*, -2 vs. crushing (torso; light mail)

Thrusting Broadsword swing (14): swing 1d+2 cutting, Reach 1.

Thrusting Broadsword thrust (14): thrust 1d+2 impaling, Reach 1.

Short Bow (13): thrust 1d impaling, Acc 1, Range 195/300, RoF 1, Shots 1(2), Bulk -6.

First, let's assume the starting encounter distance of 15 yards on a featureless plane. Something like a large dungeon room. Since I am playing both sides, I will determine the combat tactics randomly (in this particular example, at least).

Round #1

Swordsman (HP 12/12, FP 11/11) - Defensive

Bandit Captain (HP 13/13, FP 11/11) - Hold Ground

Initiative: S - 1; B - 4.

Starting Distance: 15 yards

The bandit captain is far enough from the swordsman - his opponent will not be able to reach him. He cannot do the Wait action because it will not trigger on this distance. An appropriate move would be to use two short actions to sheathe the sword and ready the bow, remain in place, and shoot the approaching swordsman. He will fire three arrows at the swordsman, but the shots are unaimed. This gives him a +4 bonus (+2 per each additional arrow after the first) in the ensuing Quick Contest.

    Ranged Attack: QC of Bow vs. Shield. The bandit captain rolls against Bow-15 (Bow 14 + 4 extra shots - 3 short range) and gets 8. The swordsman rolls against Shield-16 (Shield 14 + 2 defensive tactics) and gets 14. The bandit wins by 5, which means that two arrows hit. He rolls 1d twice and gets 1 and 5. Since the swordsman has DR 4 on his torso, only the second arrow penetrates, dealing 1 point of penetrating impaling damage that is transformed into 2 lost HP. (I'm ignoring the chance to hit vitals here).

The wounded swordsman moves full 12 yards (Move x 4), shortening the distance to merely three yards. Being encumbered sucks.

I roll 1d and get a 2, which means that I have to subtract fatigue. The bandit captain is not encumbered, so he loses 1 FP, and the swordsman has medium encumbrance, so he loses 3 FP.

Round #2

Swordsman (HP 10/12, FP 8/11) - All-Out Defensive

Bandit Captain (HP 13/13, FP 10/11) - Neutral

Initiative: S - 4; B - 6.

Starting Distance: 3 yards

The bandit captain goes first again. He uses two short actions to switch from his bow to his sword, and that's it. He could have moved and attacked at -6 due to spending part of his turn to switch weapons, but coupled with the fact that the swordsman is in All-Out Defense, this is a waste of time.

The swordsman moves two yards and attacks.

    Melee Attack: QC of Broadsword. The swordsman rolls against Broadsword-10 (Broadsword 14 - 4 All-Out Defense) and gets a 12. The bandit captain rolls against Broadsword-14 and gets a 8. The attack was not successful.

I roll another 1d for fatigue and get a 5. No fatigue this round.

Round #3

Swordsman (HP 10/12, FP 8/11) - All-Out Offensive

Bandit Captain (HP 13/13, FP 10/11) - All-Out Offensive

Initiative: S - 1; B - 3.

Starting Distance: 1 yard (locked in melee)

The bandit captain goes first yet again and attacks.

    Melee Attack: QC of Broadsword. The bandit captain rolls against Broadsword-18 (Broadsword 14 + 4 All-Out Offense) and gets a 14. The swordsman rolls against Shield-10 (Shield 14 - 4 All-Out Offense) and gets a 12. The bandit wins by 6. This means that two attacks land. In this case, thrusting attacks are better, so the bandit rolls 1d+2 twice and gets 5 and 6. After DR and injury multipliers, this transforms into 6 lost HP. The swordsman is at HP 4/12 now.

The swordsman strikes back.

    Melee Attack: QC of Broadsword. The swordsman rolls against Broadsword-18 (Broadsword 14 + 4 All-Out Offense) and gets an 11. The bandit captain rolls against Broadsword-10 (Broadsword 14 - 4 All-Out Offense) and gets a 16. The swordsman wins by 13. This means that he lands four hits. He goes for swinging attacks (I'm ignoring the edge protection rules here to make things simple) and rolls 1d+2 four times, getting 5, 3, 3, 8. This results in 3+7 = 10 lost HP. The bandit is at HP 3/13 now.

It's time for a morale check for both sides. Since both of them lost more than 2/3 of their HP, the roll will be at +5. I roll 3d+5 for the swordsman and get 11 - he does not flee. I roll 3d+5 for the bandit captain and get 20. This is higher than 13, so he flees. The swordsman could pursue, of course, but he's too slow to catch the bandit (they both are reeling from wounds too).

Conclusion

So far, everything seems to work fine, I think. The fight took only three rounds, and was very quick to resolve, which was the goal of this system. However, I noticed that since when defending with a shield, you use the Shield skill instead of Block, the shield's DB does not matter. Perhaps it should give its DB as a bonus to skill for the purpose of defense here. Next time, I'll try a group fight.