| Turning Undead | Magical Control | Spell Combat | Breath Weapon Attacks | Magical Device Attacks |
| Missile Discharge | Melee Combat | Example of Combat | Combat Procedures | PH |
This broad heading covers
all forms of attack and fighting.
It includes clerical turning
undead, magical control, spell attacks, breath and gaze weapon attacks,
magical device attacks,
missile discharge, and melee (hand-to-hand combat).
Combat occurs when communication
&& negotiation are undesired or unfuccessful.
The clever character does
not attack first and ask questions (of self or monster) later,
but every adventure will
be likely to have combat for him or her at some point.
Turning
Undead:
Clerics are empowered with
the ability to TURN away undead creatures,
as well as certain lesser
demons, devils, godlings and paladins through
the power of their profession and holy/unholy
symbols.
The cleric's level of experience
dictates the level of success he or she can expect to achieve in this action.
As level of experience increases,
the cleric is actually able to destroy undead by the power of his or her
religion;
or in the case of evil clerics,
destroy or command to service such undead if they are of the same alignment
as the cleric,
or neutral such as skeletons
|| zombies.
Success also depends on
opportunity, of course. The cleric must be in a position to step before
the undead,
and he or she must have
time to speak and hold forth the religious symbol in order to turn (or
command) undead,
and this of course precludes
other spell activity.
Question: Can a Cleric
attack while turning undead?
What happens if he/she is
hit while trying to turn undead?
Answer: Clerics
are empowered with the ability to turn away un-
dead, the success of which
is dependent upon the Cleric’s level and
opportunity, since the Cleric
must be in a position to place him/herself
before the undead, have
time to speak and display a religious symbol.
This is his/her action for
any such segment or round, and therefore
prohibits also attacking
at the same time. If the Cleric is hit while at-
tempting to turn the undead,
damage will be taken, but if he/she is not
killed, the turning attempt
will continue — unlike the spoiling of a spell
that would occur if the
Cleric were struck while casting. — WN
Question: What happens
when a cornered (as in a deep pit)
undead
creature is turned?
Answer: The act of
turning undead (by a good Cleric)
compels the victim to TURN
directly away from the Cleric and
MOVE as FAST and as far
away as possible for 3-12 rounds. When
it is physically impossible
for the creature to keep moving away,
it will retreat to the most
remote (from the Cleric) location in the
area and continually face
away from the Cleric and his/her holy symbol.—
J. Ward, W. Niebling
* * *
<Is that the Cup of Al'Akbar?>
Magical control is given
over certain creatures by means of potions,
scrolls, rings and similar magical means.
A potion ingested will allow
a character a chance to control the actions of a dragon,
a scroll read will prevent
elementals from attacking, a ring will allow its wearer to command mammals.
All such actions affect
monsters encountered ond are part of combat.
Opportunity to employ the
magical means of control must be available, so surprise, initiative, and
melee situations must be considered. A potion cannot be found, opened and
swallowed while a giant is beating upon the character with a club. A scroll
cannot be read in the whirlwind of an air elemental's attack. And it is
too late to command a hungry weasel not to attack when it is already feasting
on prey!
Unless combat is spell versus spell, many such attacks will happen near the end of a melee round. This is because the spell requires a relatively lengthy time to CAST, generally longer as spell level increases, so high level spells may take over a full melee round to cast. Furthermore, if the spell caster is struck, grabbed, or mogically attacked (and fails to make the requisite save -- explained later), the spell will be spoiled and fail. Spell combat includes cleric and magic-user, as well as monster oriented spells. Curative spells are handled likewise.
Some creatures have breath
weapons - notably dragons, gorgons,
winter wolves, etc. - and some have gaze weapons - notably umber hulks,
basilisks, medusae, catoblepas, etc.
These attack forms will affect those in the area of breath effect or those
upon whom the gaze falls. Precautions can be taken to ovoid or minimize
breath and gaze weopons' effects. Most allow the victim a saving throw
which will reduce or negate the weapon effect if successful. These attack
forms are speedy, and they will usually be unpreventable if the creature
which generates them is alive when its action during a melee round occurs.
Magical device attacks include
rods,
staves, wands, some rings, and a few other miscellaneous items.
These devices are similar
to breath and gaze attacks in that their AREA of effect is usually large
and affects multiple creatures, saving throws apply, and the attack is
quickly accomplished by pointing the device and discharging it.
This aspect of combat includes
catapult missiles, giant-hurled rocks,
the discharge of spikes
from a manticore's tail, throwing such
things as flasks of oil,
torches, vials of holy water,
bottles of poison, magic weapons (javelins of lightning, fireball missiles
from a necklace, etc.),
poison spitting, the hurling
of axes, hammers, javelins, spears, etc.,
and shooting sling missiles, arrows,
bolts and so forth from
slings and bows.
Question: Can you shoot arrows at someone attacking you in hand-to-hand combat?
Answer: No.
This form of fighting includes
the use of hand-held weapons, natural weaponry (claws, horns, teeth, etc.),
grappling,
and special or magical touch attacks, i.e. poison,
petrification, paralysis, energy level loss, etc.
As with most other combat
forms, the first "blow" will be struck by the side gaining initiative during
the round.
Surviving opponents will
then be allowed their attacks. Note that haste and slow spells will have
the effects heretofore mentioned. Fighters able to strike more than once
during a round will attack once before opponents not able to do so,
regardless of initiative,
but if fighter and fighter melee, initiative tells.
Position and weapon length
will sometimesoffect the order of attack in melee combat.
Participants in a melee
can opt to attack, parry, fall back, or flee.
Attack can be by weapon,
bare hands, or grappling.
Parrying
disallows any return attack that round,
but the
strength "to hit" bonus is then subtracted from the opponent's "to hit"
dice roll(s),
so the character is less likely to be hit.
Falling back is a
retrograde move facing the opponent(s) and can be used in conjunction with
a parry,
and opponent creatures are
able to follow if not otherwise engaged.
Fleeing meads as
rapid a withdrawal from combat as possible;
while it exposes the character
to rear attack at the time, subsequent attacks can only be made if the
opponent is able to follow the
fleeing character at equal
or greater speed.
A party of 5 characters -
a magic-user, a cleric, a thief, a human fighter, and a dwarf fighter surprise
an illusionist with 20 orcs.
The opponents are 30' distant,
and the magic-user immediately begins casting a sleep spell.
The cleric also prepares
to cast a spell, silence, 15' radius. Meanwhile, the thief darts to the
rear of the party to attempt to hide in the shadows and attack from behind
when opportunity presents itself; the human fighter nocks an arrow and
shoots it at the illusionist; and the dwarf hurls an axe. The surprise
segment is over, and initiative is determined. The illusionist/orcs win
initiative, and while the former begins a spell of his own, the latter
rush to attack, hurling speors as they come. A spear hits the magic-user,
so the sleep spell is spoiled. The orcs are attacked by the fighters, the
cleric casts his spell upon the illusionist, and the magical
silence both spoils his
prismatic spray spell and enhances the chances for the thief's attack,
for he is successfully slinking and sliding around in the shadows. Thus,
after surprise and 1 melee round, the party has inflicted 2 hits upon the
illusionist, spoiled his spell attack, and felled one orc and wounded another.
They have taken 3 spear hits and had one of their spell attacks ruined.
Initiative is now checked
for the second round. The illusionist/orcs again
win initiative and attack
first, 5 orcs going after each fighter to grapple, 6
rushing the magic-user,
and 3 heading for the cleric. The fighters are
pulled down, as is the magic-user,
but the cleric avoids their grasp. The
illusionist begins casting
another spell, one which requires no verbal
component; he does not hear
the thief behind him. It is now the party's
turn in the round. The cleric
smites 1 of the onrushing orcs and kills it, and
the thief stabs the illusionist
from behind with his sword, killing him; the
fighters and magic-user
are held fast by orcs, so they can do nothing.
Round 2 is over.
The initiative roll in the
third round goes to the party. The cleric kills
another orc, while the thief
rushes at the orcs holding the nearest fighter. It
is now the orcs' turn, and
as their leader is dead and they still face 2
powerful opponents, they
will check morale. It is probable that they will
kill the pinned characters
with dagger thrusts if their morale does not
break, or that they will
release the pinned characters and run away if their
morale is bad.
| Saving Throw | Armor Class | First Strike | Weapon Factors | Monster Attack Damage |
| Attack and Saving Throw Matrices | - | Combat | - | PH |
Most magical combat and breath
weapons do not require the attacker to
determine if the weapon
hits, but the target creatures are allowed saving
throws to see if they avoided
the attack or at least partially negated it.
Other attacks require a
"to hit" dice roll by the attackers, ond damage is
always scored if the hit
is made. A further saving throw might be required
if the hit scored has other
possible effects such as death due to poison,
parolyzation, etc. Whether
or not a hit is scored depends on the power of
the attacker and the AC
of the defender. Each of these topics is
discussed below:
The chance to avoid or partially
negate magical and breath attack forms is
known as the save. (Note
that magic items and even normal items and
weapons must be saved for
due to such attacks, falls or blows.
Consider the fate of a cloak
when exposed to dragon fire,
a suit of magic armor struck
by a lightning bolt,
or a magic hammer flying
through a cone of cold prior to striking its target.)
Your DM has tables which
show the saving throw scores for these attack forms,
by class of character, by
level of experience in class.
These base numbers are modified
by the power of the attack,
and by magical protections
and character class and race.
Question: Does one
saving throw, apply to multiple attacks
(e.g. If three ghouls
hit one character simultaneously are
three saves necessary to
negate paralyzation?)?
Answer: The act of
rolling a saving throw is the end result of the
concept that there is a
chance for an occurrence to not adversely influ-
ence a character for one
reason or another. In the case of three ghouls
making paralyzation attacks,
there are three separate chances to be in-
fluenced by the magic of
the ghouls and thus a need for three separ-
ate saving throws. Just
because a character is lucky enough to resist
the influence of two ghouls
does not mean that the luck he has will or
will not run out with that
third attack. —J. Ward, W. Niebling
The type of armor worn, the
inclusion of a shield, magical factors, and dexterity are inclusions in
overall AC.
The size ratio is also important
at times, i.e. a dwarf adds 4 factors to his armor
class if his opponent is a giant.
For example, splint
mail is armor class 4, and if a shield is added the armor class becomes
3,
but suppose it is a magical
+ 1 shield; then armor class becomes 2.
Now assume that the character
has a displacer cloak,
so the armor class becomes 0, and furthermore,
because the character has
a 16 dexterity, a final bonus of +2 is given,
and the armor class of this
character is -2. If the character is a dwarf, a giant attempting to hit
him or her would have to hit AC -6, because of the size differential penalty.
Now let us take this character
through a few attacks. First the dwarf is engaged in melee against a band
of 7 hobgoblins.
His shield bonus is good
only against a maximum of 3 opponents, so 4 hobgoblins would attack at
armor class 0.
Furthermore, as the dwarf
can only see and react to opponents before him,
these same 4 hobgoblins
would also attack the dwarf without the latter getting dexterity bonuses,
so their attacks would be
against armor class 2.
Similarly, if giants hurled
boulders at the dwarf,
rather than struck at him
with their weapons,
his dexterity and size bonuses
would not accrue to him, so instead of AC -6, the boulders would attack
a target with AC 0.
Question: I have a
MU
who has bracers of defense
armor class 2,
a +2 protection ring and
a dexterity of 16 giving
him the armor class of -2.
This is wonderful, but the fighters
want to hide behind me and
use me as a shield because of my
great armor class. I don’t
think this is fair. They say they can
shoot arrows around me and
we will all be safe. They also say
that since I have the best
armor class I should be out in front.
The DM is no help, they
just bully him. What can I do?
Answer: The first
thing you can do is stand up for your rights. Your
armor class is not due to
the armor you wear, but your ability to dodge
blows and missiles. They
can be hit by what you have just dodged. Also
tell them they are cowards
and have no right to call themselves fighters!
I would not go adventuring
with a group of people who used a
magic-user for a shield.
That is disgusting. They should be thankful you
have such a good armor class.
It means that you, being the weakest in
hit points, won’t be getting
hit as often and the party won’t greatly risk
losing their most powerful
character, their spell-caster. Tell your fighters
to wise up. If they lose
their magic-user, they have lost their most potent
weapon.
Tell your DM not to let
them bully him around. His word is final,
PERIOD.
ADQ: Are the magickal
protection
bonuses from: a Cloak of
Protection,
Ring of Protection, Displacer
Cloak,
and Ioun Stones cumulative?
ADA: YES, all are
cumulative except the
cloaks, because a creature
may only wear
1 cloak at a Time.
(Polyhedron #16)
Q. What are the effects on
AC
of wearing magickal protection
devices
in combo, or wearing such
devices with armour?
A. The cumulative effects
of magical
devices and armour are summarised
below:
Potion
ov Invulnerability. AC bonus
always applies. The effect
is cumulative
with other devices.
Ring
of Protection. No AC bonus if
magickal armor is worn.
The effect is
cumulative with other devices
(except
other rings of protection).
Bracers
of Defence. No AC bonus if
any armour is worn.
The effect is
cumulative with other protective
magickal devices.
Cloak
of Displacement. AC bonus
always applies. Effects
are cumulative
with other magickal devices.
Cloak
of Protection: No AC bonus if
magickal armor, metal armor
or
shield are used. Effects
are cumulative
with leather armor or other
magickal devices.
(Imagine #2)
The 1 minute melee round
assumes much activity -- rushes, retreats, feints, parries, checks, and
so on.
Once during this period
each combatant
has the opportunity to get
a real blow in. Usually this is indicated by
initiative,
but sometimes other circumstances will prevail. High level fighters get
multiple blows per round,
so they will usually strike
first and last in a round. Slowed creatures always strike last.
Hasted/speeded
creatures strike first.
A solid formation of creatures
with long weapons will strike opponents with shorter weapons 1st,
a rushing opponent will
be struck first by a pole arm/spear set in its path.
Your DM will adjudicate
such matters with common sense.
When important single combats
occur,
then dexterities and weapons
factors will be used to determine the order and number of strikes in a
round. <note the reference to DEX>
You have already seen information
regarding the damage each type of weapon does,
how heavy each is, how long
and how much space each needs, and each weapon's relative speed factor.
The some charts also give
relative efficiency against armor types.
Your referee will use these
factors in determination of melee combats by relating them to his Attack
Matrices.
Monsters
with weapons will generally attack much as characters do.
Those with natural weaponry
such as claws, talons, teeth, fangs, tusks, horns, etc.
will use the
matrix for monster attacks.
There are exceptions to
both cases.
Attack and Saving Throw Matrices:
Your DM has matrices for
each class of character by level groups,
showing the scores required
to hit the various sorts of armor and armor classifications. <x>
Normal men such as men-at-arms
are always considered at level 0.
Monsters are classed by
their HD.
All creatures use the same
saving throw matrices; the modifier is relative class, i.e. fighter,
thief,
etc.
Items save on a special
matrix.
orgcandman wrote:
3) Why weren't any combat
rules, saves, to-hit, etc.. included in the player's
handbook?
-Aaron
3) Players should be concentrating
on enacting the role of their in-game persona.
not looking at charts and
tables to study probabilities.
The game form is about that,
not combat simulation 
Cheers,
Gary
<nice image, but Hackmaster combat (with it's detailed crit charts) might not be really like abstract AD&D combat. perhaps save the image (Otus), and, use it elsewhere.>
<Gary's comment is VERY IMPORTANT, and, it is the basis for one of my biggest criticisms of the 1eo site. Heavy sage fees, indeed! - Pres>
