Strike and counter-strike, strike and counter-strike: That's the formula for dull, mechanical combat, and it's no way to run the sort of swashbuckling, action-packed combat which should be the backbone of your AD&D® game adventures.
So here, we'll be describing all sorts of different combat maneuvers which your characters can perform in combat.
These maneuvers aren't limited to warrior-classes alone. Anyone can perform any of these maneuvers, provided he has the right weapon or equipment. Any priest with a shield can perform a Shield-Punch or Shield-Rush; any rogue or mage with a good attack can Disarm a foe. But warriors will be performing these maneuvers most often.
Each of these maneuvers, when used in combat, constitutes one Attack. Characters with multiple attacks per round can mix and match their maneuvers. A character with two attacks per round could perform one Strike and one Parry, for example, one Called Shot and one Disarm, one Pin and one Grab, two Strikes, two Parries, or whatever combination he wanted.
Called Shots[]
Take a look at Chapter Nine of the Dungeon Master's Guide, page 58.
As you'll see in those rules, when you wish to make a Called Shot, you announce this before initiative is rolled, and you receive a +1 penalty to your initiative. Then, when your turn comes up in combat, you suffer a –4 penalty to your attack roll. Naturally, you can take Called Shots with melee, thrown, and missile weapons, and even with weapon-like spells such as magic missile.
Called Shots can be used for a variety of purposes. The most important of these are: Disarming a weapon; striking a specific body part; smashing something being held; bypassing armor; and special results.
Disarming a weapon warrants its own maneuver, so you'll find "Disarm" below.
Striking A Specific Body Part[]
As it mentions in the DMG, again under "Hitting a Specific Target," the normal AD&D® game is not geared toward a hit-location system which chronicles where every blow lands and which body parts get injured. We'll be presenting some options for that sort of thing later in this chapter, but this section concerns something slightly different.
Monsters often have body parts or features with extraordinary or magical effects; examples include the eyes of the beholder, tentacles of the carrion crawler, individual heads of the chimera, and so on. Many animated statues are motivated by a medallion, inscription, or imbedded gem.
A hero can take a called shot to attack those very specialized locations; this is a very heroic thing to do. It's up to the DM to determine how much damage such body parts can take; some will take as little as 1 point of damage before being destroyed, while others may be expressed in fractions of the creature's normal hit point total.
Smashing Something Being Held[]
Often, an enemy will be holding something and a hero will not wish him to hold on to it. If the attacking character wishes to knock it out of his hand, that's the Disarm maneuver; if he wishes to destroy it in the opponent's hand, that's Smashing Something Being Held.
If an alchemist is holding a bottle of flammable liquid to hurl at the party, it's very heroic to swing a sword or throw a knife and smash it while he holds it up to throw: With one blow, you've protected your friends and immolated an evil enemy. If a demonic foe has finally gotten his hands on the Cursed Wand of Anti-Life, it's more than appropriate to fire an arrow or quarrel and smash it in the demon's hands.
Again, the DM decides how many points it takes to smash such things. In the case of a vial of liquid, it's not much—one or two at most.
Bypassing Armor[]
This option is not present to let heroes bypass or ignore the AC value of normal armor. If that were allowed, all PCs and all monsters would be using the Called Shots maneuver almost exclusively, which would be very annoying.
No, the Bypassing Armor option is used when the DM has introduced a monster or enemy which can't be beaten any way except through the discovery and exploitation of its "weak spot." Like Talos, the invulnerable bronze man of Greek myth, these monsters are impossible to damage (this is usually expressed as a monstrous AC and an invulnerability to any but the most powerful of magical weapons—+4 or better); however, each one has a weak spot.
These weak spots are always visible to the eye, if the hero thinks to look for it and can see the body part where it is. (For example, a dragon might not want to fly; this is so that it can keep its wings folded down over its unarmored spots.) A clever warrior will realize that it's covering up for something and try to trick it into moving its wings.
If a hero is bright enough to look for the weak spot, and perhaps trick a monster into showing the weak spot, the warrior can then take a Called Shot and hit it. He'll do the monster great damage (or perhaps kill it outright; that's for the DM to determine).
Examples: A dragon which has invulnerable hide (but which, suspiciously, never opens its mouth to breathe flame... because its inner mouth is not armored); a mechanical man with a small, nearly-invisible slot used by the inventor to open it up (but which a hero with a knife can use to damage its internal machinery); a warrior with armored skin but an unarmored ankle; a mummy which keeps one arm crossed over its chest to protect its otherwise undefended heart; a 9' high golem whose weak spot is the unseen top of its head. Again, this only works when the DM has created a monster which can (or must) be defeated in this very way. If a fight isn't going the characters' way but the characters are gradually doing damage to the monster, then the monster probably isn't one of these invulnerable-beasts-with-weak-spots, and it's pointless to take lots of called shots at random body parts "just in case."
Special Results[]
Finally, the Called Shot can be used for a variety of special results, especially neat and interesting results such as the ones you see in movies and fiction. Examples:
Carving Initials Into Someone. Each successful Called Shot will enable a character with a sharp blade to slice one letter or initial into a tabletop, a wall—or the flesh of an opponent. This does only one point of damage, and has one of two results: Against an enemy of equal or lower level or influence, it can cause the enemy to lose morale or surrender (DM choice); against an enemy of equal or higher level or influence, it will be considered such an insult that this enemy will not rest until you are dead. Thus, it is best performed against enemy minions to impress and scare them, to persuade them to run away or help you. Performed against enemies who are your equal in ability or status, this maneuver merely earns you a foe for life. Cutting Buttons Off. Each successful Called Shot will enable a character to snip off one button, brooch, gem or other sartorial element from an enemy's outfit. It can also be used to flip a necklace off someone's head, spring the catch on a bracelet, etc. This has the same good effects as carving initials into someone, but will not earn you the enmity of an opponent who is your equal.
Stapling. This classic maneuver is best performed with a thrown knife or with an arrow or quarrel, though it can be performed with sharp melee weapons. The target must be near some piece of furniture or wall, and that furniture or wall should be wood, plaster, or any other material that such a weapon will penetrate. With a successful Called Shot, you staple some item of the target's clothing (your choice) to that nearby surface. The target must spend a combat round getting himself free. (This does not require any sort of roll; it just takes a few moments to pull the knife free, tear the cloth of his garment, whatever it takes.) If someone attacks him while he is pinned, he suffers a –2 penalty to AC (i.e., a 3 becomes a 5) and attacks. If the target is stapled and must defend himself while trying to tear himself free, he suffers those AC and attack penalties but will be able to tear himself free after a total of three rounds.
Hostage-Taking. If a character successfully grabs a victim during one round (see the Grab maneuver, below), he may use a Called Shot on his next round to put his dagger to the hostage's throat. This does no damage to the hostage, but the attacker can then, at any time, drive the knife home for twice normal damage (which he will probably do if the hostage does not surrender, or if someone else he is threatening does not surrender.)
Disarm[]
The Disarm is a specific variation on Called Shots. With the Disarm, the attacker takes a Called Shot at the weapon his target is currently using.
Disarm vs. Single-Handed Weapons[]
With the basic Disarm maneuver, the attacker follows the normal rules for Called Shots (announcing his intention before initiative and receiving a +1 modifier to initiative, and then suffering a –4 attack penalty); if his attack is successful, he will (normally) cause his enemy's weapon to go flying from his enemy's hand.
Roll 2d6. The number rolled is the number of feet the weapon flies. Roll 1d6. The number rolled determines which direction the weapon goes. (This is described in terms of the attacker's facing. Straight Ahead means straight ahead from the attacker; Behind means behind the attacker.
| 1 = Straight Ahead |
| 2 = Ahead, Right 3 = Behind, Right |
| 4 = Straight Behind |
| 5 = Behind, Left |
| 6 = Ahead, Left |
This Disarm can also be used on magic wands, crystal balls, and any other sort of magical apparatus which is held in one hand. If the item is worn (like jewelry), it cannot be Disarmed. (Note: Weapons, when used, cannot be worn like jewelry.)
Disarm vs. Two-Handed Weapons[]
Disarm does not work nearly so well against two-handed weapons. If you perform a Disarm against a wielder of a two-handed weapon (including magical staves), it merely knocks the weapon out of alignment briefly; the weapon's wielder automatically loses initiative on the next round. However, two Disarms made against the wielder in the same round will knock the weapon free; roll only 1d6 to see how many feet it flies, and 1d6 to see which direction it goes.
Naturally, the two Disarm maneuvers don't have to come from the same character. Two characters can work together to disarm the two-handed wielder; or, one character with multiple attacks in a round can do the job himself.
If a character finds his two-handed weapon partially disarmed, and he still has at least one attack to perform this round, he can elect to forget about his next attack and may use that attack to recover his weapon instead.
Example: Torreth and Amstard are fighting, Torreth with long sword and shield, Amstard with two-handed sword. Both characters have two attacks per round. Torreth has initiative. He successfully Disarms Amstard, drawing his weapon out of line. Amstard now has his first attack of the round. He can either punch Torreth with his gauntleted fist, in which case his sword will still be out of line, or he can recover from the Disarm. He chooses to recover. He swings the weapon back into line and is ready for the next exchange. He suffers no initiative penalty on the next turn.
Disarm vs. Shields[]
Disarm is only of partial usefulness when struck against a shield. It won't tear the shield loose from the wielder's arm. However, it will draw it out (knock it out of alignment, so that the wielder is not protected by it). For the rest of the round, the shield-wielder loses the AC bonus of the shield (and any magical benefits, too). At the start of the next combat round, even before initiative is rolled, the character regains his shield's AC bonus.
If a shield has other properties, those stay in effect, even when the shield is Disarmed out of alignment. For example, let's say a shield radiates a protection from evil spell. If it's Disarmed, and drawn out of alignment, its wielder still gets the benefits of that protection from evil spell. Only when he drops the shield or has it forcibly wrested away from him does he lose that benefit.
As with the Disarming of two-handed weapons, if a character finds his shield disarmed, and he still has at least one attack to perform this round, he can elect to forget about his next attack and may use that attack to recover his weapon instead.
Example: At the start of the next round, Amstard's ally Jeter, carrying a halberd, joins the fight. Torreth wins initiative again. He takes an ordinary strike at Amstard and misses. Jeter chooses to Disarm Torreth's shield +4. He successfully Disarms it. Now, Amstard takes his shot, his chances greatly improved because Torreth's shield bonus to AC doesn't come into play. He smites Torreth with a mighty blow. Torreth has another attack this round: Realizing that he's going to get hurt if he doesn't have his shield up, he forgets about a second attack and uses that time to bring his shield back up.
Thrown-Weapon and Missile Disarms[]
You can perform the Disarm maneuver with thrown weapons and missile weapons.
When throwing small (S) weapons, you suffer an additional –2 attack penalty because these weapons don't have a lot of weight; it's harder for them to knock the weapon out of someone's hands. Medium (M) or larger weapons don't suffer this penalty, nor do arrows, quarrels, or sling stones.
Thrown-weapon and missile Disarms may only be performed against single-hand weapons. They automatically fail vs. two-hand weapons and shields.
Expert Disarms[]
If you're a very experienced fighter, and are willing to suffer a serious penalty in order to impress your enemy, you can perform an "expert disarm" against single-hand weapons only. This suffers the penalty of two Called Shots: Announce intent before initiative, then suffer a +2 to initiative and a –8 to attack rolls.
But if it does hit, when you Disarm the weapon, you can send it pretty much where you want it to, within 12 feet of the target. If, for instance, one of your allies has lost his sword, and your enemy is wielding a comparable sword, you might wish to Expertly Disarm your enemy's sword to land right in front of your friend. Or, if you're fighting with a dagger and your enemy has a sword you want, you might Expertly Disarm his blade to fly up into the air; you drop your knife and the sword drops right into your hand.
This is an almost preposterously heroic sort of thing to do (it only happens in the most swashbuckling fiction and movies, after all) so the DM may not wish to allow this option in a more gritty or realistic campaign. On the other hand, he may grant bonus XP to characters with the temerity to try it... and succeed!
Grab[]
The Grab is another type of Called Shot. To perform it, you must have at least one hand free; two hands are better if you're grabbing and trying to hold a person.
When performing the Grab, begin as with a Called Shot (announce before initiative, +1 to initiative, –4 to attack rolls).
If you hit, you've gotten your hand on whatever it was you were trying to grab: It could be an enemy's weapon, an important item you're trying to retrieve, or any such thing.
However, just because you've grabbed hold of the object doesn't mean that you're in control of it. If some other person already has hold of the object, he's going to struggle with you for control.
In the same round that you performed the grab, roll 1d20. Your opponent will do the same.
Compare the number you rolled to your Strength ability score. Whichever one of you rolled better against his score won the tug-of-war contest.
For purposes of the Grab, all 18 scores (01–50, 51–75, etc.) are just 18. However, in case of a tie, a higher-percentile 18 beats a lower-percentile 18. (For instance, an 18/40 beats an 18/30, an 18/00 beats an 18/99, etc.) Example: Rathnar the Barbarian tries to grab the Ruby Orb of Blassendom from the hands of his enemy. He successfully rolls to attack rolls and gets his free hand on the Orb. Rathnar is Strength 17. His enemy is Strength 15. Both roll 1d20.
Rathnar rolls a 10. He's made his roll by 7. His enemy rolls a 9. He's made his roll by 6. Rathnar snatches the Orb away.
If you grab something and then fail your Strength ability roll, then you've lost: Your enemy has snatched the object back out of your hand.
A tie (for instance, if both of you made your roll by 5, or both missed it by 2, or came up with any other identical answer) means that you re-roll, during the same round. Treat this second roll as if it were a second attack in the same round for determining when in the round it takes place (in other words, it will take place after all other characters have performed their first maneuvers for the round).
However, all these Strength rolls resulting from a single Grab maneuver are counted as one "attack;" if a character can make two attacks in a round, and his first attack is a Grab, and the grab leads to two or three Strength rolls due to struggling, that's all still only one attack. The character still gets his second attack later in the round.
Grabbing A Person[]
If you're Grabbing someone to hold him against his will, you need to consult the Wrestling rules from the Player's Handbook, pages 97-98. Also, see below under ``Punching, Wrestling, and Martial Arts.
If you're Grabbing someone and you use only one hand, you have two strikes against you. First, the attack is treated as a Called Shot, with the usual penalties; second, you're treated as if your Strength ability score were 3 less. If you have a Strength of 15 and grab someone one-handed, you make your Strength roll as if you had a Strength of 12.
(Strengths of 18 aren't automatically dropped to a 15; it depends on the 18 Strength's percentile bonus. An 18/00 drops to an 18/51. An 18/91–18/99 drops to an 18/01. An 18/76–18/90 drops to a plain 18. An 18/51–18/75 drops to a 17. An 18/01 drops to a 16. And the plain 18 drops to a 15.)
If you use both hands, you don't have to use the Called Shot rules; you can make a Wrestling attack without announcing it far in advance, and don't suffer the +1 initiative or –4 to attack penalty. Also, you get to use your full Strength score. Determine the results of your attack as a Wrestling attack.
If your opponent has any attacks left this combat round, he can respond with a Wrestling, Punching, or other attack (such as stabbing you with a short weapon, for instance). If your Wrestling attack roll resulted in a hold of some sort (any result on the ``Punching and Wrestling Results chart with a "*" beside it), he has a –4 penalty to attack rolls with any attack but another Wrestling attack. However, he can use his attack to try to break your hold (using the Strength roll tactic described above, under the description for Grab).
Grabbing a Monster[]
The same rules apply to grabbing monsters... but there are a couple of other things to consider.
No Strength Ability Score. Most monsters aren't listed with a Strength ability score. This makes comparisons a little difficult. In general, if the situation ever comes up, the DM should decide for himself what Strength a specific monster has.
Here's one rough rule of thumb to approximate a Strength score: Determine how much damage the monster can do with its single largest attack. That's your starting number. (In other words, if it does 1–8 damage with its worst attack, you start with the number 8.)
If the monster has multiple attacks, add 1 to the starting number per extra attack the monster has.
Add 8 to the number if the monster is an animal known for its ability to carry weight (horses, pegasi, camels) or contains parts of such a monster (as the hippogriff does).
The DM may further adjust this number as he desires.
The result is a rough measure of the monster's Strength.
(Yes, there will be many examples which don't adhere well to that rule of thumb. But it's someplace to start.)
Example: The Nightmare has attacks of 2–8/4–10/4–10. Its largest possible attack is 10 (our starting number); it has two extra attacks per round (for a +2 to that starting number); it's a horse-like animal (for a +8). Final Strength score: 20.
Size Difference. Also, the relative size of the two combatants is important. Humans are medium-sized (M) ``monsters. They have an advantage when grabbing small monsters (such as goblins, imps, and children, for instance) and a disadvantage when grabbing large ones (dragons, golems and hippopotami, for example).
Treat a character's Strength as 3 higher when he is grabbing and struggling with a smaller monster, and 6 lower when grabbing and struggling with a larger one. (This bonus or penalty is halved with player-character races and demihuman NPCs. Thus, halflings, goblins, kobolds and gnomes are at a –3 when wrestling with Medium-sized opponents such as humans; Dwarves, because they are so close to human-sized, are not. Humans are at a mere +1 bonus to Strength when wrestling with halflings, goblins, kobolds and gnomes.)
Grabbing is performed with hands only. The character may be wearing gloves or even the Cestus described in the Equipment chapter of this book, but may not be holding any other weapon in his Grabbing hand.
Hold Attack[]
This is a sort of non-attack maneuver.
The Hold Attack maneuver is a way for a character to delay making his attack until later in the combat round. It's usually performed when the character is hoping that battle circumstances will change so that he can get a shot in somewhere that is currently too well-defended. Archers use this maneuver a lot, so that they can snipe more effectively.
To perform the Hold Maneuver, the character, when it's time for him to announce his intention, says "I'm holding my maneuver." Combat proceeds to the next character.
Then, once everyone has gone in the round, as secondary attacks are being determined, the DM again asks the character what he's going to do; he can take his action then. If he does not, he forfeits that attack.
Characters With Multiple Attacks[]
If a character already has multiple attacks in a round, he can still perform the Hold Attack maneuver with any or all of his attacks. This can make things a little complicated, but it's not a lot of trouble.
Example: In this fight, Rathnar the Barbarian (who has one attack per round), Drusilla the Spear-Maiden (who has two per round), and Lacksley the Archer (who has three per two, and has two this round) are fighting a jungle warrior (two attacks per round) and his monstrous jaguar ally (three attacks per round).
This round, Lacksley wants to shoot the jaguar; but he's still caught in a spring-loaded animal trap, and Drusilla is between him and the jaguar.
The player-characters win initiative. Drusilla uses her first attack to spear the jungle warrior. Rathnar uses his sole attack to swing his axe at the jaguar monster. Lacksley announces that he's holding his maneuver. Now it's time for the monsters to respond; the jungle warrior attacks Drusilla with his own spear, and the jaguar-monster jumps on Rathnar and uses one of its two paw hits.
It's time for secondary maneuvers. Drusilla misses her second strike. Rathnar has no second strike. It's time for Lacksley to act. He asks the DM if Drusilla has moved out of position yet, and the DM rules that she has. He fires, scoring a hit on the jaguar monster. The jungle warrior stabs Drusilla again with his second strike, and the jaguar latches hold of Rathnar with his second paw strike.
It's time for tertiary maneuvers. Lacksley, because of his Hold Attack maneuver, now takes what would have been his secondary maneuver. He shoots the jaguar again, killing it; it rolls off Rathnar before it can inflict its third attack, a deadly bite or an even more deadly rake.
Parry[]
Take a look at Chapter Nine of the Dungeon Master's Guide, page 61, at the Parrying optional rule. That's one way to simulate a fighter going on the defensive; the optional Parry maneuver presented here is done a different way.
To perform this Parry, you must announce before initiative is rolled that you're going to Parry. (If you have more than one attack per round, you must announce how many of them are going to be Parries.)
Then, during the round, the first time an attacker strikes at you (even if it's before your turn to strike), you roll your Parry. Roll to attack rolls your attacker, and roll vs. his AC (including all bonuses for shield, magical items, etc.). You can use your weapon at its normal chance to attack rolls, or your shield at a +2 to your chance to attack rolls (plus any magical bonus the shield confers). If you hit, his attack is parried and does you no damage.
You can Parry thrown weapons, but not missile attacks (quarrels, arrows, sling stones, magic missiles, etc.).
Choice of Parries[]
You don't necessarily have to Parry the very first attack made against you... though that is the simplest way to do things. If you prefer, you can choose which attacker you're going to Parry.
Example: Amstard is fighting an ogre and its idiotic goblin jester. Before initiative is rolled, he announces that he'll be using one of his two attacks to Parry.
The NPCs win initiative and attack. The jester attacks first. Amstard announces that he's not Parrying this attack. The jester hits him, doing minuscule damage. Then the ogre attacks. Amstard announces that he is Parrying this attack. The ogre rolls an attack, and succeeds; Amstard rolls to attack, and succeeds in Parrying the attack.
Then, it's the player-characters' turn. Amstard still has an attack left, and so swings at the ogre. If a character Holds his Parry, anticipating that some other attacker will swing at him, but that attack never materializes (for example, because that specific opponent went somewhere else), and he's still suffering attacks this round, he can use that Parry against one of these other attacks. He may not, however, apply it against an attack that has already taken place.
Polearm Parries[]
If you're wielding a polearm, you can parry an attack from another character wielding a polearm, even if that character is attacking someone else. To do this, you must be within range either of that attacker or his intended victim.
Example: Amstard is wielding a halberd from behind the shield-wall his friends are holding. Amstard announces, before initiative, that he'll use one of his attacks for a Parry and the other for an attack. After initiative, an NPC with a glaive takes a swing at Drusilla. Though the glaive-wielder is out of Amstard's range, Drusilla is right in front of Amstard, easily within his range. Amstard rolls his Parry, rolling against the glaive-wielder's AC, and hits; he parries the attack. When it's time for the PCs to attack, Drusilla puts the glaive-wielder down and Amstard swings his halberd against another enemy.
Missile Weapon Parries[]
In desperate situations, a character can parry with a missile weapon he is holding (bow, crossbow, or staff sling, but not sling). If he is successful with his parry, though, his weapon is ruined; the enemy's attack has destroyed it. He may continue parrying with it until it is completely destroyed (rules for destroying weapons and armor appear in the Equipment chapter of this book), but it may never again be used for its original purpose.
Parrying from the DMG[]
Even if you use this Parry maneuver, you can still use the Parrying option from the Dungeon Master's Guide, page 61.
Incidentally, since the DMG's Parrying counts against all attacks coming in on the fighter that round, the fighter needs to announce, before initiative is rolled, that he is performing the Parrying maneuver for the AC bonus.
Pin[]
With the Pin maneuver, you move close to your enemy (right up in his face) and use either a weapon or your shield to pin, or trap, his weapon—usually by pressing it against him so that he can't move.
This is like a Called Shot, except that you don't have to announce it before initiative and you don't suffer a +1 to initiative. You do still suffer the –4 attack penalty.
If you successfully hit, the victim can't use his pinned weapon until the pin is broken, and you can't use your pinning weapon or shield until the pin is broken.
When the pin is first performed, the victim gets one chance to struggle, using a Strength roll exactly as described for the Grab maneuver, above. If he succeeds, he yanks the weapon free; if he has attacks left this round, he can use all of them. If he fails, the weapon remains pinned for the rest of the round; the victim loses one of his attacks for the round (if he only had one, he's out of luck until next round); but next round and in succeeding rounds, his first struggle attempt each round does not count against his available attacks. (Subsequent ones in the same round do count as attacks.)
It is possible to Pin someone with the missile weapon you are carrying (except for the ordinary Sling). While it's being used to Pin, it may not be used as a missile weapon. If it was armed (an arrow was nocked, a quarrel was in place, or a stone was in the staff-sling's pouch), it loses that missile in the struggle; the character must reload it later.
Pull/Trip[]
This maneuver is designed to knock opponents down.
When using the Pull/Trip maneuver, the attacker announces his intention when it's his turn to attack. He describes how he's performing the maneuver to the DM, who may rule that it's impossible.
If it is possible, though, the attacker rolls vs. the target's AC as with any normal attack.
The target then rolls 1d20 against his Dexterity. If he succeeds, he stays on his feet. If he fails, he falls down. Modifiers to his Dexterity include:
+6 Target Was Not Moving
–3 Target Was Unaware of Attack
The Pull/Trip maneuver is best performed on someone who is moving and unaware of you. A target who is standing still (not walking or running) and is aware of his attacker is very hard to knock down.
Use of Polearms[]
Polearms (and any other weapons with long staff-like elements—quarterstaves, lances, spears, etc.) are good weapons to have when you're trying the Pull/Trip maneuver.
You can Pull/Trip someone at the maximum range of your weapon, for instance, with no additional penalty to attack rolls.
You can Pull/Trip moving animals with a polearm; this is at a –6 penalty to attack rolls if the animal is Large (but you can't even try it on a Large animal without a pole of some sort).
And, finally, they are very useful for knocking riders off their mounts. With a mancatcher or polearm (though not with a quarterstaff, lance or spear), you can attack a mounted rider and have a good chance of pulling him from his horse. The Dexterity modifiers listed above also apply to the rider's chance to stay mounted.
Sap[]
Sapping someone—i.e., hitting him over the head in order to knock him out—is a maneuver you undertake when you wish to capture an enemy alive (or just incapacitate him without killing him).
To do this, the attacking character makes a Called Shot at an additional –4 to attack rolls (so it's –8 total, plus the usual Called Shot penalties of having to announce your maneuver before initiative and suffering a +1 to initiative).
If the attack hits, the character rolls ordinary damage for the weapon. He gets a 5% chance of knockout (as per the Punching and Wrestling rules) for every point of damage he does, up to a maximum of 40%.
Example: Sir Amstard wants to knock out a noble opponent rather than kill him. He attacks to Sap the opponent. Luckily, even with the –8 to attack rolls, he successfully hits his foe. With his sword, he rolls 6 points of damage. This gives him a (6x5%) 30% chance of an instant knockout. On his percentile dice, he rolls 42; he has failed this time. He'll try again. The damage done by Sap attacks is the same as that done by Punching; in other words, only 25% is normal, or "permanent," damage. The other 75% is temporary, and wears off after a short while, as we'll discuss later in this chapter.
When using a special or magical weapon to perform the Sap, you do not count the weapon's attack or damage bonus. You're not using the weapon the way it is meant to be used; you're hitting your target with the flat of the blade, with the hilt or pommel of the weapon, etc. Therefore, those bonuses don't count for anything.
When performed on a character who is asleep or magically held, the Sap maneuver automatically hits. The chance for knockout goes up to 10% per point of damage done, up to 80%. However, if the subsequent percentile die-roll is 81 or higher, the victim is not knocked out—he's been awakened by the attack. (Why try a Sap maneuver on an already-asleep target? Because you may want to kidnap him or smuggling him out of a cell and can't risk him waking up and alerting the guards.)
The Sap maneuver can only be performed with melee weapons or bare hands; it cannot be performed with missile weapons.
The Sap maneuver is usable only on Small (S) or Medium (M) monsters; it will not work on Large (L) or bigger monsters such as dragons. They just can't be knocked out with this maneuver.
Shield-Punch[]
The shield-punch is a very basic maneuver. If you are using a buckler, small shield, or medium shield, you can use it to attack with as well as defend, by slamming it into your target's body.
When your turn to attack comes, simply announce that you're shield-punching and make your attack roll. You get no attack bonus from the shield, regardless of its size or magical enchantment.
A shield-punch does 1–3 damage, plus your Strength bonus. Once you have performed a shield-punch, you lose the AC bonus of the shield for the rest of the combat round from now until your next attack. (If you have an attack later in the round, you regain the AC bonus then; if you don't have an attack until next round, you regain the AC bonus at the very start of the next round.)
This is a good maneuver to perform when you've dropped your weapon, as it will do somewhat more damage than a barehanded attack.
Shield-Rush[]
This maneuver is like a combination of the Pull/Trip and Shield-Punch maneuvers.
The attacker must start at least 10 feet away from the victim, and must have either a medium or body shield. Basically, he runs at full speed up to his victim, slamming full-tilt into him, hoping to injure him or knock him down.
As with the Shield-Punch, the attacker gets no bonus to attack rolls from the shield, nor does he get the AC bonus of his shield from the time he starts the maneuver until his next attack.
If he hits, he does damage equal to the Shield-Punch, and the target must make a 1d20 roll against Dexterity to stay on his feet. The target applies these modifiers to his Dexterity:
- +3 Target Was Moving Toward Attacker
- +3 Target Was Not Moving
- –3 Target Hit From Behind
- –3 Target Was Unaware of Attack
As you can see, it's more reliable a knockdown than the Pull/Trip.
However, the attacker also has a chance to be knocked down.
If he misses his roll to attack, he slams into the target anyway, and does no damage to his target. He must make his Dexterity ability check at a –6 penalty; if he makes it, he is still standing, but if he fails it, he is knocked down. Either way, his target remains standing.
Even if he succeeds in his attack roll, he still has a chance to fall down. The attacker rolls 1d20 against his own, unadjusted Dexterity. If he fails it, he falls down, too.
Strike/Thrust[]
This is the basic combat maneuver, and is included here just for completeness.
With the Strike/Thrust maneuver, the attacker uses the weapon he has in hand and strikes, swings, or thrusts it at the intended victim. If it hits, the attack does the damage appropriate to the weapon and the attacker's Strength bonus.
"Striking" with a Missile Weapon or Thrown Weapon constitutes firing it/throwing it at your target. Usually, you just say "Shoot" instead of "Strike" when announcing your maneuver.
Surprise and Flash Maneuvers[]
All of these maneuvers, and the many possibilities they provide for characters to customize their fighting styles, should give you the idea that the DM should be encouraging wild, extravagant, interesting maneuvers and styles in combat. This is a lot more entertaining than ordinary, plodding swing vs. swing combat.
Therefore, the DM should reward intelligent, creative efforts in combat by granting them bonuses to attack rolls and damage.
Examples:
A lightly-armored hero with the Acrobatics nonweapon proficiency could charge a foe, then use his Acrobatics to flip over him and strike him from the rear; the DM might give him a bonus to attack rolls in addition to striking at a part of the target's body that is unprotected by a shield.
A crossbowman could use a Called Shot against the rope holding the chandelier, causing the chandelier to come crashing down onto the villain's head; instead of suffering a massive attack penalty for such a preposterous shot, the DM might give the player an attack bonus for the surprise value of the attack, plus a percentage change for knockout, as per the Attacking Without Killing section of the Player's Handbook.
A swashbuckler running up a flight of stairs with guardsmen in hot pursuit could tumble a stack of casks down the stairs behind him; the DM could give him a Pull/Trip maneuver against each one of those guardsmen, and even an improved chance to attack rolls, for attempting this classic move. On the other hand, a player might come up with a plan or maneuver that is merely foolish or abusive to the campaign. The DM can assign such a maneuver minuses to attack rolls and damage.
Examples:
Rathnar's player decides that if Rathnar makes faces at an orc he is fighting, then the orc will become spooked and run away. When Rathnar attempts this, the orc proceeds to make faces right back at him, then begins the process of cutting Rathnar to ribbons.
Later, after some time at the healer's guild, Rathnar is in better armor and is in dire combat with another orc. Rathnar decides that he'll tuck and roll between the orc's legs, stand up behind him, and cleave him in twain from behind. However, his player has failed to consider that Rathnar is in bulky plate mail and knows nothing about acrobatics. The DM assigns Rathnar a stiff penalty to his Dexterity roll when Rathnar tries the maneuver. Rathnar ends up flat on his back, banging against the orc's legs with the orc looming over him, and the DM assigns the orc a bonus to attack rolls Rathnar because of the hero's clumsy position.
Don't Say No; Determine Difficulty[]
A good rule of thumb to use, when a player-character tries something strange or daring in combat, is this: Don't say no to his proposal; just determine the difficulty of the maneuver in your head, give him a general idea of that difficulty, and let him try it.
An easy way to do that is arbitrarily to assign a "difficulty number" of 1 to 10 to any special maneuver. Then, have the character roll against whichever of his abilities (Strength, Dexterity, etc.) that seems most closely to pertain to the task... and subtract that difficulty number from his ability. If he succeeds in rolling equal to or less than his modified ability, he has succeeded in his task.
Example: Drusilla wants to try the same maneuver Rathnar was going to pull. She, too, has no acrobatic training, but is in light leather armor. The DM thinks that this will be pretty difficult for her (though not as difficult as it was for Rathnar), and assigns the maneuver a difficulty factor of 5 if she leaves her spear behind. It'll be an 8, if she tries to take her spear along on the maneuver. He tells Drusilla's player that it is difficult but possible, though it will be nearly impossible if she uses her spear. Reluctantly, she drops the spear and pulls out a short sword before attempting the maneuver.
Her Dexterity score is 13; with the –5 penalty, it's modified to an 8. On her combat action, she attempts the maneuver, and rolls 1d20 against her modified Dex. She rolls an 8, and achieves it exactly; Drusilla rolls between the orc's legs, stands up behind him, and drives the short sword home before he knows what hit him. The DM gives her an arbitrary +4 to attack rolls for the surprise value of the maneuver. Someone with Acrobatics nonweapon proficiency might be able to perform that same tuck-and-roll with no penalty, or with a penalty dictated only by the type of armor he is wearing. See the "Armor Modifiers for Wrestling Table" on page 97 of the Player's Handbook; those modifiers would work equally well in this situation.
Another thing to do when a maneuver will probably work automatically if the intended target doesn't see it coming, is to assign a difficulty number to the target's chance of seeing it. This difficulty could be a penalty or a bonus, depending on how obvious the maneuver is, and so could be from 1 to 10 in either direction. The DM would have the intended target roll 1d20 against his modified Intelligence, and if he rolled equal to or less than that number, he'd see the maneuver coming and be able to avoid it. If he failed, the DM could give the attacker ordinary chances of success, or even make the attack an automatic success.
Example: Amstard is in a street brawl with a big brute of a warrior; they've been punching the daylights out of one another, and Amstard has just been knocked down. His player announces that he's trying a classic trick: He'll inconspicuously pick up a handful of sand and, as he's rising to return to the fight, he'll dash the sand into his opponent's face, blinding him.
That's a reasonable trick to try. The DM decides that the brute's chance to figure out Amstard's maneuver is directly proportional to Amstard's finesse in scooping up the sand. He tells Amstard to roll against his Dexterity, unmodified, when picking up the sand—and the number he makes his roll by will be the brute's difficulty number in seeing it coming.
Amstard's Dexterity is 13. He rolls a 10 on 1d20, making it by 3. The brute's Intelligence is 10; with the difficulty of 3, his modified Intelligence is 7. Secretly, the DM rolls 1d20 for the brute, achieving an 8; the brute doesn't see the maneuver coming. But Amstard's player can't be told that until Amstard is committed to his maneuver.
Amstard now throws the sand; this counts as an attack. The DM gives him an ordinary attack roll to succeed. Amstard successfully hits vs. the brute's AC, and now the brute is temporarily blinded... That's how the thought process works, anyway. The players should have the opportunity to try just about any maneuver or approach they can imagine, and the DM should figure out how likely each try is of success. Nothing should be impossible to try just because it isn't specifically covered in the rules.
Maneuvers In the Campaign[]
All of the above maneuvers and approaches can be used in any AD&D® game campaign. There are a couple of things you should realize about them.
First, they'll add a lot of richness of detail to your combat. Using them, you can do just about everything in combat that you can imagine your character doing. However, the flip-side of that benefit is that it adds a level of complexity to your combat; the players and DM have to do more thinking about individual maneuvers and combat situations. Therefore, we don't recommend you use these maneuvers until you already have a firm grasp on the combat system, and can run basic combats with little or no difficulty.
Second, they'll allow the player-characters to be more colorful and efficient in combat. But the flip-side of this benefit is that the NPCs and monsters can be equally colorful and efficient. It will be a rude awakening for the player-characters when they run across a band of evil fighters as diverse and accomplished as they are.