From: pd1x+@andrew.cmu.edu (Peter F. Delaney)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Our House Rules (Combat)
Date: 16 Oct 92 14:09:26 GMT
Organization: Junior, Mathematics, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA


	The following is an excerpt from our Imperial Civil War campaign's
house rules files.  We use a trollish race, so you can ignore any
reference to them if you don't have something equivalent.  Posted by
request.

*

8)  Combat Rules.

     A)  Two Weapons.  Usually, to use a weapon in each hand you have to
take one of size Small (secondary), and one of size Medium or Small
(primary).  Trolls get one of size Medium and one of size Large (primary).
Dwarves, gnomes, and halflings can only take one of size Small (primary)
and one of size Tiny (either a dagger, hatchet or knife).  If the character
is a Fighter or Ranger, he can spend two WP slots to learn a Florentine
technique that lets him fight with either two Medium (medium races), two
Large (troll), or two Small (short races).  The -2/-4 is somewhat
alleviated by Dexterity.  See SPECIALI.ICW for more information on fighter
specializations.

     B)  Maximum Missile Damage.  Missile weapons cannot add more Strength
damage than their maximum damage for that size range.  Thus, a thrown
dagger adds at most +4/+3 (sm-med/lg), and a longbow arrow adds at most +6
(for a bow built for strength).  ONLY THROWN WEAPONS add strength bonuses
to hit, except for the bow, which can be built for strength at an absurd
cost by master bowyers.

     C)  Missile "To Hit" Bonuses.  There are none for Dexterity any more!

     D)  Dwarves and Axes.  Dwarves are allowed to use Battle Axes in one
hand, although they are not allowed to use a second weapon with this
combination no matter what (that is, dwarves can use battle axe and shield,
but not battle axe and dagger).  This is a "special ability" for dwarves.

     E)  Hit Point Stuff.  You are knocked unconscious at 0 Hit Points, and
are killed at -10.  At 0, you are stable and unconscious.  At negative HP,
you are dying slowly, losing one hit point per round until you die or are
cured to 0 or more.

     F)  Criticals and Fumbles.
       i)  Every time you roll a natural 20:
                   a)  If you needed a 20 or higher to hit, you are allowed
                        to roll again, and add the d20 result to your
                        attack roll.  If this 20+ result is higher than
                        what you needed, you have hit the creature.
                   b)  If you needed less than a 20, you may roll a second
                        attack immediately.  This is a "critical hit".

       ii)  Every time you roll a natural 1:
                   a)  You automatically miss, and
                   b)  You must make a Dexterity check on 1d20, or lose
                        your grip on your weapon ("fumble").

     G)  Arrow Breakage.  Arrows and bolts break on a 1-3 on d6.

     H)  Firing into Melee.  This makes it likely that, if you miss your
target, you will hit someone else!  If there are two combatants, you fire
at -2; -4 with three or four targets; -8 for five to seven targets; and -12
for eight or more targets.  If you not only miss, but would have missed AC
10, then a normal attack roll is made against a random target, including
Strength bonuses, if any, and magical bonuses to hit.  The weapon's THAC0
for this purpose is a 20.
.
Pe+eR Delaney, CMU, Pittburgh, PA ... Compuserve: 73750,3667
Internet: blackclove+@cmu.edu ...  Local: pd1x
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Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd