This is the sixth in a series of posts detailing the house rules I use for Swords & Wizardy: WhiteBox. Today we deal with combat. Cheers!
REFEREE'S NOTES
The way I sequence combat in Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox bears only minor resemblance to the rules as written, or even OD&D for that matter. Other than sticking to "1 minute rounds," my approach to the combat sequence is a fairly "rules light" mix of 3e (initiative and actions), S&W (use attack matrices or BAB, but not both) and B/X (combat movement).
A special shout out goes to Jason Cone (Philotomy Jurament) for his pioneering work (see
Philotomy's Musings, layout and editing by Jason Vey) and discussions about OD&D. I don't think I use any of these specific house rules, but they were certainly an inspiration to me.
SEQUENCE OF PLAY IN A COMBAT ROUND
1. DETERMINE SURPRISE
Combatants who are NOT surprised may perform 1 round of combat actions immediately, in order of highest Dexterity score to lowest. Those who ARE surprised cannot act during this “surprise round,” and in fact have a 1-in-6 chance to drop any items held in-hand. Once the unsurprised participants have taken their surprise round actions, or if no one is surprised, proceed to 2.
2. ROLL INITIATIVE
Each combatant rolls 2d6 + Dexterity modifier to determine their initiative result. The Referee might make one roll for groups of similar monsters. Combatants get to act in order of highest initiative result to lowest. If two or more combatants have the same initiative result, the one with the highest Dexterity score goes first; the second highest Dexterity goes next, and so on.
3. PERFORM ACTIONS
Each combatant acts in order of initiative result, from highest to lowest, as noted above. On their respective turns in the combat round, each combatant may
Move and perform one of the following six Basic Actions:
Attack (Melee or Missile)
Banish Undead
Cast a Spell
Delay/Interrupt
Interact
Use Magic Item
Monsters sometimes have special actions different from basic actions. The Referee has information about special monster actions and describes what happens in play when they occur.
4. CONTINUE PERFORMING ACTIONS
Once all combatants have performed their actions, the first combat round is complete. The initiative order then “recycles” for the second combat round. Basically, this means that Step 3 repeats itself—initiative is rolled once only, at the start of combat, and combatants continue acting in subsequent rounds in the same initiative order as the first until the combat encounter is resolved.
BASIC COMBAT ACTIONS
Move: A character can move up to his combat movement rate on his turn in the combat round, provided he is not engaged in melee with an enemy. This is typically 120, 90, 60 or 30 feet per round. Movement may be split up before, during, or after his other action, unless the other action says this is impossible. A character may also use his other action to move farther—instead of attacking, casting a spell, and so forth. If he does this, the character moves a second time on his turn at his combat movement rate. This is called a “double move.”
Attack (Melee): The character attacks once with a melee weapon at an enemy within 5 feet. If an enemy is more than 5 feet away, the character must use a weapon with reach (see below). When a character attacks an enemy with a melee weapon, he is considered engaged in melee combat with that enemy,
whether the attack hits or not. See below for special movement rules while engaged in melee combat.
Attack (Missile): The character attacks once with a missile weapon at an enemy. The character must have line of sight to a target to fire a missile at it. If a character does not move at all during his turn, he may fire two missiles (except if using a heavy crossbow, see crossbows below).
NOTE: Class-based attack matrices are provided below at the end of this section.
Banish Undead: (Repeated from the cleric class description.) The character tries to banish undead creatures. The character must present his holy symbol and be clearly visible to the undead creatures in order to banish them. A character can move before or after a banishing attempt.
When a banishing attempt is made, 2d6 + the cleric's level in HD worth of undead creatures must make a saving throw adjusted by the cleric's Wisdom modifier. Undead creatures are affected in order of lowest hit dice to highest, and any surplus HD are lost. Failure indicates the undead creatures are banished and flee (or cower) for 1d6 turns; success means nothing happens to them. A cleric who fails to banish undead creatures may not attempt to banish those particular creatures again for 24 hours. Starting at level 4, a cleric destroys undead creatures of 3 HD or less than his level (ignore HD "pluses") if the creatures fail their saving throws.
For chaotic-aligned clerics, the same total HD undead are forced to obey the cleric for 1d6 turns. If the undead are 3 HD or less than the cleric, they are commanded for 24 hours. Neutral clerics must choose at first level whether they act as lawful or chaotic clerics for the purposes of banishing or commanding undead creatures.
Cast a Spell: A spellcaster can cast any one spell he has prepared for the day. A spellcaster cannot move the same round he casts a spell. To cast a spell, a spellcaster must have one (at least) hand free and be able to speak clearly. Wearing any kind of armor or wielding a shield completely negates a wizard’s ability to cast spells. However, a cleric can wear any type of armor and wield a weapon or a shield (but not both), and cast spells.
Not all spells allow saving throws to resist them. Each spell description notes if a saving throw is allowed. If the target(s) of a spell is allowed a saving throw, it’s made immediately, unless noted otherwise in the spell description. Generally speaking, a successful saving throw reduces the damage caused by spells by one-half, or if the spell does not cause damage, its effects are negated.
Delay/Disrupt: A character delays his action, or “holds” it until later in the combat round. Alternatively, a character tries to ruin an enemy’s spell by disrupting it.
To delay an action, the player must specify the conditions which trigger his character’s action, or to what lower initiative number the action moves to. The action must occur by the end of the round. For the remainder of the combat encounter, the character acts each round at the new spot in the initiative order.
To disrupt an enemy spellcaster’s spell, the character delays and attacks the spellcaster at the very instant he is casting the spell. Resolve the disrupting attack first. If the attack deals damage—or harms the spellcaster in some way—the spell may be ruined. The enemy spellcaster must succeed on a system shock saving throw (modified by Constitution) or his spell is lost.
Interact: This is a catch-all action. Use it if a character searches through a backpack for a specific item, tries to parley with an enemy, or physically interacts in some fashion with the environment—such as climbing a rope, swinging on a chandelier, jumping from one airship to another, plucking a jewel from a statue’s eye socket, and so forth. The Referee determines how long such actions take to complete.
Use Magic Item: The character makes an attack with or uses a special power of a magic item. This action includes many things which are technically other actions—like making a melee attack with a magic staff, shooting a magic arrow from a bow, or casting a spell off of a magic scroll. All of the normal rules for those things apply. This action also covers unusual things like drinking a potion, blowing a magical horn, activating the power of a magic robe or ring, and other similar actions. Sometimes these actions take a full round to do, which means a character cannot move while performing them. A magic item’s description provides any pertinent details about how it is used in combat.
DAMAGE, DEATH & HEALING
Damage & Death: When a character's hit point total reaches 0, he suffers a grievous wound and falls unconscious. The unconscious character remains alive, but continues to lose 1 hit point per round, and must succeed at a "death" saving throw each round (modified by Constitution) or die. If a character receives magical healing while unconscious, the hit points are immediately restored, and the character regains consciousness if his hit point total rises to 1 or more.
Healing: Other than instant healing by magical means, a character recovers naturally at the rate of 1 hit point per day of uninterrupted rest. One month of uninterrupted rest will return a character to full hit points.
Binding Wounds: At the end of a combat encounter, a character can try to bind another conscious character’s wounds. Binding wounds takes 1 turn (10 minutes) per character and restores 1d6-1 hit points. Only hit points lost during the recent combat can be restored, and only one attempt per wounded character can be made.
GENERAL COMBAT NOTES
Attacking from Behind: All attacks made from the rear gain a +2 bonus to hit. You can only attack someone from behind if you surprise them or if you and an ally "team up" and attack them from the front and rear.
Burning Oil: Flasks of oil can be lit “Molotov cocktail” style and thrown at targets. Hitting a target with flaming oil requires a missile attack roll. On a miss, the flask of oil scatters (see Scatter below) and possibly explodes in a random 5-foot area. There is a 1-in-6 chance the stray flask doesn’t ignite upon contact. Flaming oil causes 1d6 damage per round on a direct hit to a creature, and burns for 2 rounds. A flask of oil poured and lit covers a 10-foot square area, and burns for 1 turn.
Critical Hits & Misses: A natural attack roll of '20" is always a hit and maximum damage is automatically inflicted. A natural attack roll of '1' is always a miss, but nothing exceptionally bad happens.
Crossbows: A light crossbow may be fired and reloaded as part of the same attack action. A heavy crossbow requires separate actions to fire and reload. A character may use his "Move" action during the same round to reload a heavy crossbow, but he cannot fire twice for "not moving."
Engaged in Melee: A character is “engaged” in melee combat if he attacks an enemy with a hand-held weapon or his fist. Once engaged in melee combat, a character’s movement options are limited to:
- Fighting Shift. The character moves 5 feet in any direction, except into an enemy’s space. Switching places with an adjacent ally is allowed. The character may move before or after his attack. A fighter may use his defensive stance ability while shifting (but loses his attack).
- Fighting Retreat. The character makes a melee attack and then moves up to one-half his combat move rate backwards. The enemy decides to pursue or not on his turn in the combat round. A fighter may use his defensive stance ability while retreating (but loses his attack before retreating).
- Flee! The character runs (moves up to double his combat move rate) directly backwards but loses his attack for the round. The character also loses any shield benefit to AC and the enemy gains a free attack against him with a +2 bonus to hit from behind. A fighter cannot use his defensive stance ability while fleeing.
Holy Water: Like oil, holy water can be thrown at foes as a missile. Throwing holy water requires a missile attack roll. On a miss the holy water scatters (see Scatter below) and splashes a random 5-foot area. Holy water deals 1d6 damage on a direct hit to undead, demons and devils.
Holy water is normally only available from specially blessed and sanctified fonts in sacred temples. In a pinch, though, a cleric may create holy water by casting
Bless upon a vial of clean, drinkable water. The water remains “holy” until dawn the next day.
Invisible Opponents: An attacker must be able to sense where an invisible target is located to be able to attack him. Regardless, an attack against an invisible opponent suffers a -4 penalty, and an invisible opponent cannot be specifically targeted with spells (although he may fall within a spell’s area of effect).
At the Referee's discretion, powerful monsters (6+ HD) can automatically detect invisible creatures. Monsters with special senses may detect invisible creatures on a range of 1-5 on a d6 according to their HD (1 HD = 1 on a d6, 2 HD = 1-2 on a d6, and so on).
Missile Fire into Melee Combat: If an attacker fires a missile weapon at a foe engaged in melee with an ally (or multiple allies), the attack roll suffers a -4 penalty. The to-hit penalty is only -2 if the ally is engaged with a foe one size category larger than him. If the foe is two size categories larger than the ally, the penalty is negated.
A missed attack may accidentally hit an ally. If the attacker misses, roll 1d6; if the roll turns up a 1 or 2, the ally takes a shot in the back. Roll randomly to see who is accidentally hit if there are multiple allies engaged with the target. If the 1d6 roll turns up a 3 to 6, the shot misfires harmlessly.
Monster Initiative: The referee adjusts monster initiative rolls for combat based on their size. The following table is a rough guide.
Table 36: MONSTER INITIATIVE
Monster Size
|
Example Monster
|
Initiative Modifier
|
Tiny
|
Bat, imp, pixie
|
+2
|
Small
|
Giant rat, kobold
|
+1
|
Medium
|
Dwarf, human, orc
|
None
|
Large/Giant
|
Demon, giant, ogre, owl
bear
|
-1
|
Huge
|
Dragon, purple worm
|
-2
|
Morale Tests: The Referee might call for a monster or NPC morale test if:
*Monster is surprised
*After first devastating attack
*Leader is slain
*Surrounded or outnumbered
*Half the group is slain
*Offered chance to surrender
When a monster or NPC’s morale is threatened, roll 2d6 to determine what happens. Exceptionally cowardly or aggressive individuals might have a modifier ranging between -2 to +2. If the NPC is a PC's hireling, or if a group of monsters has a particularly charismatic (or not so) leader, modify the result by the PC or leader's Charisma Loyalty/Morale Modifier.
Table 34: COMBAT MORALE TESTS
Roll
2d6
|
Affect on Morale
|
2
|
Flees. Free attack to each adjacent foe at
referee's discretion.
|
3-5
|
Surrenders. Warily lays down arms or demonstrates
submission.
|
6-8
|
Fighting withdrawal. Seeks best means of retreat but
continues to fight.
|
9-11
|
Hold the line. Fighting spirit endures.
|
12
|
Never surrender! Next morale check gains a +1 bonus.
|
Reach Weapons: Some melee weapons can reach targets more than 5 feet away. For example, spears and polearms wielded by combatants in the second rank of a battle formation can attack targets up to 10 feet away by reaching through the first rank.
Scatter: A grenade-like missile scatters if it misses its intended target. Roll 1d8 (or a “scatter” die) to determine the scatter direction, and 1d6 to determine the distance (1-2 = 5 feet, 3-4 = 10 feet, 5-6 = 15 feet) away from the target. On the scatter diagram, 'X' represents the intended target.
Spacing & Size: A medium-size, or human-size, combatant “occupies” an area about 5 feet square for combat purposes. Large-size creatures occupy 10 square feet, and huge creatures occupy 15, 20, or more square feet, at the Referee’s discretion. Combatants cannot move through a space occupied by an enemy.
Terrain Features, Tactics & Cover: The Referee assigns situational bonuses or penalties for utilizing terrain features, cover or concealment, or any other creative combat tactics. Most modifiers fall within a +/- 1 or 2 range, depending on the circumstances. Trying to hit an invisible creature imposes a -4 penalty, so +/- 4 is a good "maximum" range for any combat modifiers.
Two-Weapon Fighting: Fighting with a weapon in each hand provides a +1 bonus to hit only—it does not provide two separate attacks. Fighting with two weapons merely increases the likelihood of landing a successful blow. The secondary weapon must be the same size or smaller than the primary weapon, and damage rolled on a successful hit is based on the primary weapon.
CLASS ATTACK MATRICES
Table 22: CLERIC ATTACK MATRIX
Target’s
Armor Class or [Target’s Ascending Armor Class]
|
AC
|
9
|
8
|
7
|
6
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
-1
|
-2
|
[AAC]
|
[10]
|
[11]
|
[12]
|
[13]
|
[14]
|
[15]
|
[16]
|
[17]
|
[18]
|
[19]
|
[20]
|
[21]
|
Level
|
Attack
Roll (d20) Needed to hit Target’s Armor Class
|
1
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
2-3
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
4-5
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
6-7
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
8-9
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
10
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
Table 23: FIGHTER ATTACK MATRIX
Target’s
Armor Class or [Target’s Ascending Armor Class]
|
AC
|
9
|
8
|
7
|
6
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
-1
|
-2
|
[AAC]
|
[10]
|
[11]
|
[12]
|
[13]
|
[14]
|
[15]
|
[16]
|
[17]
|
[18]
|
[19]
|
[20]
|
[21]
|
Level
|
Attack
Roll (d20) Needed to hit Target’s Armor Class
|
0*
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
1
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
2
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
3
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
4
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
5
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
6
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
7
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
8
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
9
|
2
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
10
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
*
0 level used for basic hirelings, common NPCs, and otherwise “normal” people.
Table 24: WIZARD ATTACK MATRIX
Target’s
Armor Class or [Target’s Ascending Armor Class]
|
AC
|
9
|
8
|
7
|
6
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
-1
|
-2
|
[AAC]
|
[10]
|
[11]
|
[12]
|
[13]
|
[14]
|
[15]
|
[16]
|
[17]
|
[18]
|
[19]
|
[20]
|
[21]
|
Level
|
Attack
Roll (d20) Needed to hit Target’s Armor Class
|
1-3
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
4-6
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
7-9
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
10
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
Hey folks, sorry I'm a couple days late with this map!
