Tactical Combat for TOR

[SirKicley]

@ wolf, those pics and ideas are great.

@ Rich - like the barrow

@ Redstone (and others) - I have given some thought on how to implement more "tactical" use of combat if the goal is to have a closer semblance to say Pathfinder/D&D combat grids/minis.

1) Movement speed is based on "stance". (assuming that a forward stance person is more careless with his steps and moving faster, charging etc - this is analogous to "charging" in D&D 3rd edition - resulting in lower AC but better chance to hit your foe). And also based on Characters race. Man and Elf should be group A (in matrix below), and Dwarf and Hobbit should be group B. Since enemies do not choose stances - their speed should always be 40 (orc size) / 30 (goblin size).

STANCE / A-Speed / B-Speed
Fwd / 60 / 40
Open / 40 / 30
Def / 20 / 20
Rear / 20 / 20

NOTE: This speed assumes you're also attacking in the same round. I would suggest doubling the listed movement is allowed if no attack is to be done; but since the base movement that you are doubling is still hinged on the selected stance, you still at least have a listed TN to be hit that round.

2) I would stay away from "Attacks of Opportunity" for everything except in the case of a failed "skill test to escape combat" I include the notion of a person trying to disengage with one foe to instead attack another as an attempt to "escape combat" (this is analogous of moving from one threatened square to the threatened squares of another foe. Simply moving around a foe through "threatened squares" of the same foe should not provoke an AoO - for the mechanics in TOR would be too wonky; there are no feats, or abilities etc that piggyback on the AoO concept to provide characters with protection from these - like D&D has Mobility Feat, Combat Reflexes, Combat Expertise, Fighting Defensively and Tumble skill and more are all aspects of that game that piggyback on the notion of AoO due to movement. Instead, moving in this way to for instance move behind a foe in TOR to set up a flank, can be accomplished by either a_) a successful Athletics or Battle roll, or b_) in lieu of a skill test, the character must be in a defensive stance to avoid being hit as he moves through and around it. NOTE: Failure in the skill test simply means that character cannot make his attack that round; it doesn't provoke an AoO like a failed Tumble check would have in D&D; as I've already indicated this would most likely create too many anomalies.

3) Flanking should add +2 to attack rolls. AND should also give a +2 to any skill checks against that foe (such as one hero trying to escape that combat - due to the foe having two characters to deal with and one can conceivably distract the foe to allow the other to escape.



It's not perfect - but it might be a good start and tweak it from there. Good luck and feel free to describe any playtesting.