This did not stop me from re-reading my LBBs with Chainmail in mind, however. As a result I ran into a very interesting tid-bit:
All attacks which score hits do 1-6 points damage unless otherwise noted.On its own, this is not earth-shattering; however, this appears as part of the Alternate Combat System. This got me thinking — what if variable damage was not used if the Chainmail combat rules were in place? Rather than doing d6 hp damage per hit, everyone (unless noted — more on that later) would simply do 1 hp damage per hit.
Without having play tested this idea, there are some immediate consequences that come to mind:
- On average I would expect combat to last a little longer.
- Tactics would prove vital — figuring out how to focus attacks on a single target (and getting the right type of weapon vs. armor to increase the chance for a hit with a Weapon vs. AC table) would be key.
- Morale would play a much greater role in combat (and might actually help keep combats short).
- Creatures such as Ogres, Giants and Dragons would be truly terrifying, because they are capable of doing variable damage per hit.
- Having a +1 damage on anything would be a huge bonus.
- And most importantly, hit points outpace damage beginning at first level. Combat is still deadly, but no one is going to die from a single hit unless they have 1 hp (or are stupid enough to take on an Ogre, Giant or Dragon).
I never liked the man-to-man combat table in Chainmail. The probabilities seemed to have been arrived at willy-nilly. Having said that, I would love to see a weapon vs. armor table that "made sense".
ReplyDeleteI liked the Magic Realm combat system, as it recognized that armor reduced the effectiveness of edged weapons, but role-players are typically looking for a little more nuance that that.
Forget Dragons and Giants, trolls in this system would be nigh unstoppable killing machines.
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