COMBAT
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The following combat rules
cover the special types of problems
that can occur while running
combat in an underground environment.
While the AD&D@
rules handle most situations relating to
underground combat (this
is, after all, the most common setting
for play), certain of the
following unusual situations will probably
occur as characters penetrate
farther underground and remain
there for longer times.
Specifically, this section
introduces rules for melee and missile
combat in unusual underground
terrain-while a character is
suspended midway up a sheer
wall, for example, or poised atop a
narrow bridge. And
what if a swimming character gets attacked?
Additional
clarification of the effects of darkness follows. The section <>
closes with some instructions
and modified rules for use of
the AD&DBATTLESYSTEM
Fantasy Combat Supplement in
the constricted conditions
of the underearth.
Fighting on Walls and Other Sheer Surfaces
The movement rules provide
a means for all characters to
scramble up and down sheer surfaces to
a limited extent, but
engaging in combat
while suspended on these surfaces is
another matter entirely. Characters who
engage in melee or missile
combat while on a sheer surface suffer
penalties to combat
abilities, and have an increased chance
of falling during the fight.
When climbing, a character loses all bonuses
to his Armor
Class that would come from a shield or
Dexterity
bonus. If the
character’s face is toward the surface,
he presents his back to
any attacker except one that is next to
him on the wall, with the
attendant penalties.
Additionally, such a character can only
face a foe to one side or
the other. Since at least one hand is
needed to hold on, the character
cannot use multiple weapons. Finally,
a -2 penalty is
assessed to all of the character’s attack,
damage, and save rolls.
If combatants are above or below their
opponents during a fight
on a wall, specific modifiers apply. The
higher character gains a
+2 “to hit” modifier in addition to all
other modifiers that apply,
while the lower character suffers a -2
modifier to his attack rolls.
If, in the DM’s judgment, the character
can reach a place of
some security before engaging in combat,
some or all of these
penalties may be cancelled out. An archer
who carefully selects a
ledge from which he can easily see his
targets and draw his bow
should be able to fire normally. Likewise,
a swordsman firmly balanced
on a large boulder should have an advantage
over opponents
who are scrambling up to reach him.
When a character on a sheer surface is
struck for any amount
of damage, the character must make an
immediate Climbing
Check. If the check succeeds, the character
remains in place; if it
fails, the character falls. A -10% modifier
applies to the check if
the damage inflicted by the attack is
equal to or greater than 1/2
of the character’s total hit points (rounded
up).
Creatures defending a wall or cliff often
roll or drop heavy
objects onto attackers below. An average-sized
boulder (three
feet in diameter) inflicts 2d8 points
of damage to anyone it strikes.
All victims are treated as AC10 for purposes
of these attacks. If
the creatures dropping the missile are
unable to pick it up and
hurl it (as a giant could), they suffer
a -8 modifier to their attack
roll. If thevictims are climbing a sheer
cliff, they could be knocked
off by this attack, as given above.
Fighting on Bridges and Ledges
The situations covered
in this section all assume that a character
has enough room to stand somewhere without
using his
hands to hold on. This rule is applied
if some sort of drop-off is
located within five feet of the character.
All of the difficulties associated with
this type of combat relate
to hits against the character; there are
no penalties for attacking
in this situation.
If a character gets hit by any attack that
causes a loss of hit
points or consciousness (such as a sleep
spell), he must make a
successful Dexterity Check
to avoid falling over whatever dropoff
is nearby. The character’s Dexterity,
for purposes of this
check, is increased by two for every foot
of distance between the
character’s feet and the drop-off.
The character’s Dexterity should also be
modified if the force of
the blow pushes him toward or away from
the drop-off. In melee
combat, a character with his back to a
wall receives a +2 modifier
to his Dexterity, while a character with
his back to a drop-off
receives a -2 penalty. During missile
combat, the path of the missile
serves as a good indicator of whether
a character is pushed
toward or away from a drop-off.
For example, a character who is standing
on a narrow bridge
and is struck by an arrow fired from his
left side will obviously be
propelled toward the drop-off on his right.
A character fighting on
a ledge, on the other hand, with his back
to the wall and his enemies
before him, is pushed back toward the
wall by the force of
any blow.
The modifier for such situations is a +
or -2 to the character’s
Dexterity, applied in addition to all
other modifiers.
If a character is fighting
in extremely close quarters and falls
from either a sheer surface or a narrow
ledge or bridge, he can
sometimes drag his opponent along with
him. This rule is only
used when at least one of the characters
is fighting with a weapon
of less than two feet in length, or when
the characters are grappling.
A character who falls while engaged in
such a fight can make
one attempt to grab his enemy as he falls.
The character must roll
a normal attack roll on 1d20, and get
a result that would hit the
other character. The target character
receives no benefit for
armor or shield. He is AC 10 minus Dexterity
bonuses. No magical
bonuses for weapons apply to this attack
roll; in fact, any
weapon held must be dropped for the attempt
to be made.
If the attack roll is successful, the character
has grabbed some
part of his opponent’s body. The character
who has been
grabbed must roll a Climbing Check (if
on a wall) or a Dexterity
Check (on a ledge or bridge) to see if
he accompanies his opponent
in the fall. If the check is successful,
the grabbed character
retains his position, with his opponent
clinging tenuously to his
leg (or whatever). If the check fails,
both characters plummet to
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the fate that awaits them below.
If the characters do not fall, the fight
continues. The character
who is hanging onto his opponent cannot
make any attacks.
Instead, he can make a Climbing Check
(with a -20% modifier) to
see if he can regain his hold on the wall
or his footing on the
ledge. If this check is successful, the
character has regained his
place; if unsuccessful, he remains clinging
desperately to his
opponent. The opponent, meanwhile, can
attack the clinging
character normally. Any successful hit
requires the victim to
make another Climbing Check with a -20%
modifier. Failure
means that he falls and his opponent remains
on the wall.
Of course, if anything else causes the
character who is retaining
his hold to fall, both characters fall.
Even if characters are
grappled together when they fall, they
separate immediately.
Thus, a magic-user might be able to cast
a spell before hitting the
bottom, while his less fortunate opponent
plummets to a hard
landing.
Characters occasionally fight creatures
that do not have Climbing
Ratings or Dexterity Scores. In these
cases, the DM should
assign a Climbing Rating to the creature
based on its natural abilities
or lack thereof. Monkeys, spiders, and
other natural
climbers should fall into the 80-95% range,
mountain goats and
llamas might rate a 70%, and clumsier
creatures could rate as
low as a 0.
Water interferes with the fighting effectiveness of characters
and creatures not
bred for that environment.
* If characters are standing in water that is less than waist deep, none
of these combat penalties apply.
* If the water is waist deep to chest deep, the penalties are halved.
* If the characters are swimming or standing in water that rises higher
than their chests, however, the penalties are fully in effect.
Attacks by creatures not at home in water suffer a -4 penalty on
the 1d20 roll used
to make the attack. If successful, such an
attack suffers a
-4 modifier to the amount of damage that it would
normally inflict.
Damage thus modified can be reduced to no less
than 1 point.
Any creature that spends part of its life in the water, or any character
with swimming
proficiency, is not penalized while fighting in
the water.
Grappling
in Water
This modification is suggested for use with the Weaponless
Combat System II listed on page 106 of Unearthed Arcana. Using
these rules, characters
can attempt to pull their opponents
underwater and hold
them under until they drown.
A grappling-in-water
attack can only be successful in water that
is at least as deep
as 1/3 of the victim’s height.
A character attempting
to grapple an opponent in the water can
make the attempt
without the penalties that would apply to an
attack with a weapon.
If the grapple is successful, both players go
under the surface
of the water. The character who performed the
grapple is assumed
to have taken a deep breath of air (as per the
swimming rules)
before going under. The grappled character
must make a saving
throw vs. paralyzation to get such a breath of
air; otherwise,
the character is assumed to have been dragged
under before he
could take a breath.
The characters remain
underwater until the hold is broken,
as explained on page 108 of UA.
See the Holding
Breath section (on page 12) for the length of time a character can
hold his breath.
A common defensive barrier
in caves is the bottleneck passage
where only one or two characters can hold
off a mob of
attackers. Pages 69
and 70 of the DMG provide players with a
description of how much combat frontage
one individual occupies.
This tactic limits the number of enemies
that can attack at
once.
This bonus is of course usable by monsters
and NPCs as well.
It reflects the fact that a fighting individual
can use such a location
defensively, as protection from the enemy’s
attacks, or
aggressively, as a means of striking the
enemy at an advantage.
The side claiming the bonus must have sufficient
room for all
fighting individuals to use their weapons
without interfering with
each other.
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BATTLESYSTEM GAME OPTIONS UNDERGROUND
| Extremely Narrow Frontages | Combat Modifiers | Morale Effects | Ventilation Effects | Flying Effects |
| Line-of-Sight Effects | Cave-ins on a Battlefield | - | - | Combat |
The AD&D@
BATTLESYSTEM
Fantasy Combat Supplement
contains combat rules for large groups
of creatures engaging in
battle. Such battles are every bit as
common underground as
they are on the surface. Whether a group
of characters is leading
an armed expedition to the underearth,
or two subterranean
races are vying for control of a key section
of tunnels, mass combat
can be an instrument of every underground
campaign.
Because of the constricted nature of the
underground environment,
a whole new set of tactics is necessary
for warfare in the
underearth. In addition, darkness and
restrictions on flying create
situations not commonly encountered above
ground.
These optional BATTLESYSTEM rules are designed
for the
unusual battlefields of the underearth.
They also serve to clarify
other types of combat, such as indoor
or house-to-house warfare.
If all players are agreeable, these rules
can be employed during
any BATTLESYSTEM scenario.
Underground battlefields often possess
terrain bottlenecks
that allow a single 11/2”or 3/4“-wide
figure to hold a gap against a
long column of attackers. Designed for
combat between several
figures at a time, the BATTLESYSTEM
rules should be modified if
only one or two figures face each other
in combat.
When the dice of damage delivered to a
figure is calculated,
mark a figure as wounded if 10% or more
(as opposed to 25% or
more in the standard rules) of the figure’s
Hit Dice are removed.
Thus, an orc figure representing 10 orcs
(with a total of 10 Hit
Dice) is marked wounded if an attack inflicts
1-9 dice of damage
to it. If the attack inflicts less than
one die of damage, the orc figure
is not affected. If the attack inflicts
10 or more dice, the figure
is removed.
Movement through winding tunnels and narrow
passages is
difficult for military units in formation.
Therefore, such units generally
move as long, thin columns. This column
formation has the
following characteristics:
* A column formation is displayed as a
line of figures, one figure
wide and as long as the number of figures
in the unit.
* A column formation is considered to
be in its leader’s command
radius if the figure at its head is in
the leader’s command
radius.
* A column pays no movement penalty for
changing facing; as
the tunnel winds around, the column winds
around with it and can
still move a distance equal to its movement
rating.
* A unit in column formation is considered
in open formation for
purposes of morale checks.
Often a tunnel is too narrow to allow
a figure to actually occupy
it. Remember that the BATTLESYSTEM
game scale is 1 “ equals
10 yards-not even a 112” halfling or kobold
figure could normally
occupy a 1 O-foot-wide corridor.
Of course, the individual creatures making
up the figure can
still fit into the area, so the figure
is assumed to change its shape
to fit into such tight confines. Thus,
the figure actually occupies
more space front to back than it does
from side to side.
This condition requires the figure to
occupy twice as much
space lengthwise as it normally would.
The extra space is always
considered to lie to the back of the figure.
Thus, a 3/4”figure in a
1/3”corridor can be placed adjacent to
an enemyfigure in front of
it. If another figure, either friendly
or enemy, approaches from the
rear, it can only move to within 3/4“
of the original figure.
This restriction can affect column formation
as well: If a
column, or a portion thereof, occupies
a corridor that is narrower
than the figures in the column, these
figures must be placed
twice as far apart as they normally would,
doubling the length of
the column.
Units in closed
formation can suffer harmful morale effects if
forced to break into open formation in
an area where they do not
have sufficient room. If a closed formation
unit must break into
open formation for any reason, it can
expand to the sides or to the
front or rear. If it does not have enough
space to expand fully in at
least one direction, however, it automatically
routs.
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If a routing formation is prohibited from
performing its routing
movement because of the presence of a
friendly unit ( if there is
no possible retreat path around the unit),
the unit blocking the
path of retreat is automatically routed.
This automatic routing can
turn into a chain reaction of whatever
length is required to clear a
path for the routing units.
If an underground battlefield is subject
to unusually good air
circulation by natural or manufactured
means, the provisions of
the following rule should not be used.
In most cases, however, air
circulates much more slowly underground
than it does in the outside
world. Consequently, it takes much longer
for the effects of
gases and smoke to disperse.
Any poisonous gas lasts much longer in
an underground setting.
The duration of all such gases is doubled
when released
underground. In addition, the smoke caused
by fires can create a
major problem underground. See the Underground
Environment
section (page 36) for a description of
smoke
effects upon creatures
and characters.
If a gaseous spell effect is in a windy
area, but the area is relatively
small, the gas can be moved by the wind
and still retain its
potency. This can only occur in a tunnel
or passageway that is no
more than 11/2 the diameter
of the spell’s area of effect. If this is
the case, wind blowing through the cave
does not disperse the
gas until twice the normal duration of
the gas. In addition, the gas
is carried along by the wind and affects
all susceptible creatures
in its path.
While the dimensions of many underground
battlefields prohibit
the use of flying creatures, certain extraordinary
caverns
and realms are large enough to allow flight.
If an area has a ceiling of 240 feet or
higher, use the normal
BATTLESYSTEM flight
rules. Remember, however, that a flying
creature might not be able to escape the
battlefield by flying up
and away.
If the ceiling in an area falls between
60 feet and 240 feet, use
the normal flying designations of low,
medium, and high altitudes.
Alter the actual heights, however, so
that low altitude covers
the bottom third, medium the middle third,
and high the upper
third of the available flying space.
If the ceiling is greater than 30 feet
but less than 60 feet, only
medium and low altitudes are used. Again,
the available flying
space should be evenly divided between
the two elevations. Ceilings
lower than 30 feet allow only low-level
flying creatures to
take flight. It is important to remember
that flying underground is
very tricky and maneuverability is critical.
If a battle is fought in the inky blackness
of the underearth, the
effects on vision are even more extreme
than those listed for
Night Battles [BATTLESYSTEM game case
12.5].
Unless fire,
magical light, or a patch of phosphorescence
somehow illuminates
the field, creatures without infravision
are at a great disadvantage.
Creatures without infravision fighting
in darkness suffer a penalty
of +6 to the unit’s Attack Rating. This
penalty reflects the
combined effects of -4 to attacks and
damage applied to blinded
creatures. In addition, the saving throws
of such individuals are
affected by a -4 penalty, and the Armor
Class of the creatures is
raised by four against all melee attacks.
The movement rating of
such a unit is reduced to 1/3 of its original.
If a unit that is unable to see encounters
any sort of unexpected
obstacle such as a pit, pool of mud, or
anything else that could
trap the leading rank, the entire first
rank of the unit is automatically
affected by the obstacle. This accounts
for the fact that,
even at a slowed movement rate, the first
individuals in a unit are
not able to communicate information about
an obstacle before
the ranks behind push them into it.
If torches, light spells, or any other
source of illumination is
employed to aid a unit in finding its
way around the battlefield, some
or all of these penalties are cancelled.
At least one light source must
be employed for each figure in the unit
in order to negate the penalties.
Thus in a unit of 24 figures, at least
24 individuals must be
equipped with torches or magical sources
of light.
A unit that is carrying its light source
moves at its normal rate. It
performs melee attacks normally and makes
saving throws with
the usual percentage chance of success.
The unit cannot fire
missiles at targets that it cannot see,
however, nor can it initiate a
charge against a unit that is out of its
range of vision.
Moreover, a unit thus illuminated is easily
seen by all forces on
the field. If missiles are fired against
it, the Attack Rating of the
missile-using troops receives a +2 benefit
in addition to any
other modifiers that apply.
Skirmishers can find valuable employment
in such battles by
advancing before a formation with torches
and illuminating an
enemy unit or target, or by marking the
terrain for a unit soon to
come that way. In addition, because they
are spread so, skirmishers
with torches do not suffer the +2 penalty
against them when
fired at with missile weapons.
Cave-ins On a Battlefield
Because of the massive.weight of stone
looming over the
heads of the underground combatants, spells
and other effects
that can bring this weight crashing down
on foes are in high
demand. The damage wrought by such a collapse
is devastating.
Spells such as earthquake and transmute
rock to mud are
commonly used for this purpose. If a ceiling
collapses, the area
affected on the ground is the same as
the area of the ceiling collapsed,
plus 1 “ in all directions. Such a collapse
does 6d8 hit
points of damage to all creatures in the
area of effect; a saving
throw vs. spell reduces the damage to
half. Thus, an orc figure
representing 10 orcs suffers 60 dice of
damage, and is automatically
destroyed whether it saves or not.
A similar weight of mud falling on a unit
inflicts only 4d8 points
of damage, again halved if the saving
throw is successful.
An additional hazard of underground battle
is that of unstable
bridges, ledges, or other rock formations
subject to unusual stress
when large numbers of heavy creatures
move across or next to
them. The exact nature of the threat posed~bsyu
ch activity is left up
to the DM’s discretion. However, along
with bridges and ledges, the
collapse of narrow columns or arches,
and even worn and cracked
sections of cavern ceilings, can also
be catastrophic.
The base chance of a frail feature collapsing
is 1% whenever
marching or melee combat occurs nearby.
Spells such as lightning
bolt or earthquake can also trigger the
collapse. The DM (or
neutral referee) should make a secret
check whenever stress is
applied to a fragile formation. If a formation
is checked once and
does not collapse, but the resulting d100
roll was less than 25,
the chance of the feature collapsing should
be raised 4%. This is
a cumulative effect, so the feature could
grow increasingly fragile
as the battle continues. The presence
of heavy units, such as
heavy cavalry, chariots, or large creatures,
doublesthe chance of
a collapse; thus a bridge that has a 13%
chance of collapse has a
26% chance if a heavy cavalry unit gallops
over it.
The formation’s chance of collapsing should
also be doubled if
an explosive spell such as a lightning
bolt strikes it directly, or if
an earthquakeor similar effect causes
the rock immediately adjacent
to the threatened area to collapse.
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