Questions tagged [combat]
For questions primarily about combat, the systems used in roleplaying games to resolve conflict through violent means, often to the death of one or more characters. Combat often involves several subsystems that determine whether harm is inflicted (to-hit) and the extent of that harm (damage).
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How many opportunity attacks can you make per turn before becoming exhausted?
I am not a new DM! I started with the starter set by Gary Gygax in the mid '70s.
D&D 5e says you can make an opportunity attack when a creature leaves/moves out of your zone of control. So if ...
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Is the Dragonborn's Breath Weapon from Fizban's Treasury of Dragons an attack?
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons presents an alternative version for dragonborns. One of the features that have been changed is the Breath Weapon:
Breath Weapon. When you take the Attack action on your ...
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Can a Martial Adept Superiority die be used on a melee/ranged spell attack?
Say, you have a Hexblade Warlock, or a War Magic Wizard - or a melee/combat focused bard, any caster will do - and you take the feat Martial Adept, granting you a superiority die. If you use a spell - ...
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Ground glass to the eyes
There is a Combat Maneuver called dirty trick which allows a character to - amongst other things - throw sand at another character's face to blind them for some time.
A player wanted to throw ground ...
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How is an 'enemy' defined for the purpose of spell targeting?
What constitutes as an "enemy"? Can for some reason a PC declare another PC an enemy at any point?
For example, we will take this first level Warden spell which puts spikes around an enemy that will ...
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How does BAB from prestige classes stack with normal BAB?
I am at the moment playing 3.5 and in a discussion with my dm he told me that the increase in attack bonus granted for each level in a prestige class only applies to the first attack. For example, a ...
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Can I use a spell out of combat?
Can I use a spell out of combat? Another form of putting it would be using spells meant for battle during a non-combat scenario.
If so, what are the rules for doing so for casting the spell?
An ...
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Is an unarmed human with STR 7 incapable of killing someone? [duplicate]
A human has no natural attacks, so I'll use him, but any humanoid character without damage features works too. No magic. Let's exclude any character class that can earn a damage bonus. Monk, ...
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Move into nonhostile space attack and move
Moving Around Other creatures
You can move through a nonhostile creature's space [but] you can't willingly end your move in its space.
Is that "end your move" at the end of your turn or if you ...
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Diceless Pathfinder Combat Mechanic
I have been working on a diceless combat mechanic for Pathfinder (it could be applied to any system in which combat involves a roll to hit and a roll for damage, but Pathfinder will be used for ...
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Can my cleric with the War Caster feat use a mace to deliver Inflict Wounds?
My Cleric has the War Caster feat, a mace in his right hand, and a shield in his left. He casts inflict wounds, which requires a touch attack to be executed against an opposing enemy, a goblin for ...
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How many CR 1/4 does it take to challenge a level 3 party?
I'm running my first campaign and I'm confused about the CR of monsters. I started out with five level 2 characters. I have a few encounters that work so far, but theres one I'm confused about. If the ...
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How to prevent a stand-off because the player that moves opens himself up to attack
I am writing a RPG game handbook, and I am using an action point (AP) system for the game mechanics. Each turn, each character has 8 AP to spend in actions however he likes (moving costs e.g. 1AP per ...
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Combat system that is less abstract than hit points yet is not more lethal [closed]
I have a campaign based on battles with miniatures in mind, with my players controlling the standard "heroes". It should be possible for the players to keep their characters alive through the ...
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How do I calculate a suitable combat encounter under 5e based on the CR values in the Monster Manual?
In my 3rd ed book, there is a table of CR against the number of monsters a party can fight based on their level. In 5e I cannot find this table. There is some mention of encounters being based on the ...
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What is the best RPG system for realistic combat? [closed]
I'm a fan of D20 systems, but the way hit points works always seemed kind of odd. The characters obviously can't develop an ability to take more stab wounds as they gain experience. So that means ...
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How does Dominated work? Can it really make me attack allies or walk off a cliff?
In one of the games I was in, a creature was able to Dominate my friend and he was getting angry that the DM forced his character to attack and knock prone an NPC that we were trying to protect. They ...
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Can you jump in combat?
On page 182 of the PHB there are rules describing how far and high characters can jump. However, there is no mention of what type of action jumping is or how much movement it takes to initiate a jump. ...
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How long does "Joker" initiative in Savage Worlds apply?
I'm trying to learn enough Savage Worlds to start running a little experimental game. I keep feeling like the rules are explained poorly, but it may just be that my brain is not ready to learn.
The ...
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How does the Circle of The Star Druid's free guiding bolt work? [duplicate]
I am planning on using a Circle of the Stars Druid subclass, but I am confused about one of the features using their star map. All druids who pick this subclass automatically have the Guiding Bolt ...
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What is a damage roll?
How do the rules define Damage Roll?
Example, a Hexblade Rogue hits and rolls damage for attack with
a short sword (1d6 piercing),
as a sneak attack (2d6 piercing),
while Hex spell is active on ...
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Choosing the Ability for a Hex
The Hex spell allows afflicting a target with a Disadvantage on Ability checks. I'm having a hard time deciding which Ability to target when hexing a target. What factors are there that should ...
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How to make fighting a constantly-escaping enemy fun?
The trick here is I'm talking about something low-level, something the PCs should by all accounts be able to squash in a heartbeat...but it keeps escaping. Every time. And no matter how elaborate they ...
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How to prevent players from using guns in a particular combat?
I am running an adventure that is based on a Vampire-like universe, set in present-day Venice. It's a homebrew story telling system with just a bit of mechanics (the domains of vampires and k20 roll ...
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Creating rules for jumping or climbing onto monsters?
Partly inspired by this thread's discussion about creative role-playing and one answer there referring to stunts, I wanted to adapt a similar concept to the fairly rules-strict D&D 4th Edition.
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How can TL3 basic combat be sped up?
GURPS, 4th Edition melee engagements between evenly matched TL3 combatants seem to go on forever. Because of the game's focus on realism, even without top-quality armor (but with some luck) sword-and-...
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Is there any reason a charcter with enough movement should not always approach enemies from the rear, gaining +2 to attack rolls?
I am a little bit confused about the combat rule concerning rear attacks from the Player's handbook. If I have enough movement, why wouldn't I go straight to the rear side of an opposing creature to ...
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How do you come up with attribute values and skills for your NPCs [closed]
I have been playing PnP for some years now and also had one session GMing (my first) and I discovered that my biggest problem wasn't creating a world, inventing scenes or reacting fast if my players ...
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What's the Perception DC to hear a creature dying from sneak attack?
I make a sneak attack against a lone target, with a spell or bow, killing the target in one hit.
How difficult is it for the target's allies in the next room to notice?
The Perception DC to hear the ...
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What is the current status of official 5e Naval Combat?
In May of 2019, Ghosts of Saltmarsh was released bringing official rules for naval combat in the form of Appendix A: Of Ships and the Sea. This appears to be the culmination of the published "...
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Frequency of combat encounters in Pathfinder
I'm starting a new self-designed Pathfinder campaign as the DM and I'm unsure how many combat encounters I should plan each session.
The characters will start at level 1. The group consists of 4 ...
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What is the advantage of wielding two swords as an ambidextrous combatant vs. wielding a single sword?
In Vampire: The Masquerade, one of my NPCs was a dual-sword-wielding Assamite with the ambidextrous merit.
In the rules, I did not find specifics about dual-wielding in melee other than a short ...
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How strong are elite mortal troops in Vampire: the Masquerade?
In Vampire: the Masquerade (5e), how strong would be a mortal NPC who specializes in combat? Think "spec ops" who are ready to fight vampires but without true faith or other mystical ...
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What does HP represent? [closed]
What is HP? Of course we are all familiar with it just being a numerical value that counts down when you take "damage." But, how much of your HP is fighting spirit or the will of a character to stay ...
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Multiclassing - Extra Attacks and Sneak Attacks
So, I'm playing a level 5 Fighter Battle Master. I'm thinking about multiclassing with Rogue, for the Sneak Attack. I'll use a rapier, since it has 1d8 damage and acuity. At level 5/1 (Fighter/Rogue)
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How can creatures fight in cramped spaces like on a boat?
The rowboat in the core rules is stated to weigh 100 pounds. It is further described in Ghosts of Saltmarsh to be large enough for 4 creatures (2 crew, 2 passengers), and sized 10 feet by 5 feet. This ...
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Reducing enemy HP by half to speed up combat
Lately, I've been feeling like combats in my 5e game have been taking too many rounds. Once the novelty of the situation is established, the fight eventually becomes a slog as the players grind away ...
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Is there any good place on the internet that hosts monster playtests? [closed]
I've been a DM for a while for 3.5. I've run many NPC characters, however only a small fraction of monsters out of the books (comparatively). Also, I like to use templates liberally as well as advance ...
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What is the total net bonus when attacking an unconscious creature?
I've been thinking about unconsciousness and performing a a coup de grâce lately. It came up in our game this past week and I want to make sure I'm understanding it correctly.
Unconscious reads:
...
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If a mount without a saddle dashes does the rider need a saving throw?
If a mount without a saddle dashes does the rider need a saving throw? Specifically if the mount is a player controlled dire wolf and another character hops on his back. The mounted combat rules are ...
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When can a Barbarian go into a Rage?
How exactly does Barbarian rage work in 4E? Is there a prerequisite they have to meet to be able to rage, for example only after using certain powers, or can they rage whenever they want to?
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Countering a concentration spell while concentrating on darkness
I had a recent rules argument with a couple of fellow players during a spellcasting tournament. I'm a warlock/monk with the concentration spells silence and darkness, as well as the devil's sight ...
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Can you attack while using Echo Avatar?
Using Echo Avatar, you:
can temporarily transfer your consciousness to your echo. As an
action, you can see through your echo's eyes and hear through its
ears. During this time, you are deafened and ...
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What is the penalty for fighting while blind?
What happens when an enemy is blinded and wants to fight? What penalty does the enemy get when he wants to attack?
Is the enemy flat footed?
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How do damage types affect HP?
Played my first game of D&D5e last weekend, and the DM kept referring to different damage types (Necrotic, Slashing, Bludgeoning, etc.).
Do these damage types affect HP differently, or do you just ...
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How does Blink work when not in combat?
The rules for Blink specify that you come back to the material world at the end of each turn and when the spell ends. So what happens if the spell is used out of combat, since there are no turns? Do ...
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Equation to generate Rolemaster combat tables results
Rolemaster combat tables present very different results depending on armor type and weapon, but are those results generated by some type of equation or algorithm? Maybe a different equation/algorithm ...
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False Appearance, Movement, Surprise, and the Unseen Attacker bonus
Related to How should I implement False Appearance? but that does not answer my questions about surprise and movement...
A Darkmantle has the "False Appearance" property which allows it to be ...
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Do you gain combat advantage from a flanking charge?
Can you gain combat advantage from flanking as the result of a charge? For example, if I charge an enemy, and will end my charge opposite an ally, do I get +2 for CA from flanking in addition to +1 ...
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Does Full Defense assume you're also Defending?
The Full Defense action is, mechanically, somewhat unreliable compared to the Defend action: Defend gives you a straight +2 Parry, while Full Defense lets you roll Fighting+2 to set your Parry. Since ...