AD&D second edition - combat rules

Combat in the D&D franchise is a story of its own.

I will concentrate only on the part where my gaming circle have always been stumbling.

For a practising swordsman (one I once was) the whole hit roll concept in D&D was astounding.

I never had anything against Thac0, accepting it as an artificial attribute serving mathematical purposes. It is a fact it kind of puts all 4 classes in line in terms of melee skills. But there were some ways you could modify your character (specialisations, to hit bonus from stats etc.)

The concept of Armour Class (AC) however escaped my comprehension.

So now the game creators are telling me that in order to hit my opponent I need to "beat" his AC.

Fine, for now. But then if I hit I automatically deal damage unrestricted by the armour, regardless of whether the opponent is wearing full plate armour or a padded jack.

By combining a to-hit roll and penetrate-armour roll into one the TSR team stripped the game of a world's worth of possibilities.

Oh, and they added some dexterity dependence along the way ignoring the fact that better (heavier, more rigid) armour did mix well with your ability to dodge attacks.

And by gods, Strength bonus to hit? Argh!!! (Actually it works if we assume that the hit must penetrate armour simultaneously).

Despite some ornamental mechanics (Dex limits etc.) the core idea is ugly. And I refuse to accept the explanation that "it suits the character of the game". What character, pur-nonsense? That is some serious Fantasy folks. For god's sake...

So I sat down with my mathematically gifted chap (imagine rainman with more talkative demeanor) and we... well... figured it out. Hold on tight.

Again, the idea was not to reinvent the whole system (go play some Warhammer or Rolemaster if you want to) but to introduce slight corrections so that 90% of mechanics and rules are maintained. After all, we all love AD&D don't we?

AD&D second edition rules update - Combat

Defence Class (DC)

Just like with Thac0, every class has its DC rating which indicates how well it is able to defend in melee.

The value of DC is actually calculated as [DC=Thac0-10]. Consult the table below.

Defence Class / level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Warriors	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1	0	-1	-2	-3	-4	-5	-6	-7	-8	-9
Rogues	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1	0	-1	-2	-3	-4	-5	-6	-7	-8	-9
Clerics	10	10	9	9	8	8	7	7	6	6	5	5	4	4	3	3	2	2	1	1
Wizards	10	10	10	9	9	9	8	8	8	7	7	7	6	6	6	5	5	5	4	4

Armour Class (AC)

AC is given its rightful role. Its protects character from being wounded (not hit, mind the difference).

AC depends on the armour. Armour types and their attributes needed to be adjusted to fit the "new" system. 

The "to-hit" roll

In order to hit an opponent you need to roll a d20 against the difficulty check which is calculated as follows.

Hit check = Thac0 (+ hit bonus for Dexterity) - DC (+ armour penalty - Dexterity defence bonus)

For high dexterity stat the character gets not only a defence bonus, but also a offence bonus.

Dexterity	Offensive Adj.
17	+1
18	+1
19	+2

Also, each armour type has a negative adjustment to DC as the heavier and more rigid the armour, the less flexible and agile you are in it (verified in practice, many times).

Dealing wounds in melee

Now, once you have managed to hit your opponent (stand still I tell you!) you deal wounds with a weapon.

Roll for damage according to the weapon stats, add Strength regular bonus damage and subtract AC.

What does it result with in the game? Well, you can have a quite slow-moving Paladin in his plate armour, but well... you will not easily hurt him with a stick even if you keep bashing with it every round. Life.

New Armour statistics

These were reinvented, I admit. But knowing a bit about armours I prefer to stick to the reality and remove some utter nonsense. It so much adds to the general feel and drama of the game...

Armour type	description	new AC	slash	pierce	bludgeon	DC penalty
full plate	jack, chainmail, full plates	8	9	8	7	8
field plate	jack, chainmail, plate elements	7	7	6	6	6
plated mail	mail with embedded plates	6	6	5	4	5
scale mail	mail made of scales	5	5	4	3	4
chain mail	mail of small metal rings	4	4	4	2	3
brigantine	jack lined with metal plates	3	3	3	3	3
studded leather	leather enforced with studs	2	3	2	2	2
leather armour	thick leather	2	2	1	1	1
padded jack	multi-layered jack	1	1	1	0	0
none	naked or normal clothes	0	0	0	0	0

You will notice the distinction between the various types or damage you might take. Well, that part is optional, but it really widens your choice of weapons. Who in their right mind would use a hammer? Well not obviously someone who is just about to face an full plate clad opponent. Swords are no good against thick steel plate, trust me.

Also the DC penalty column shows you the negative effect of armour on your ability to move around. Yes, it is not so hard to hit a guy in a plate. But good luck bashing him to death with that club of yours.

Weapons table

Well, weapons needed some refurbishment too. Not that TSR themselves refrained from it every now and then (I have the Arms&Equipment guide to prove it - in your face)

Weapon	1h/2h	type	damage	speed
dagger	1h	Slash	1d6	2
short sword	1h	Slash	1d8	3
scimitar	1h	Slash	1d10	5
long sword	1h	Slash	1d12	5
bastard sword	1h/2h	Slash	2d6/2d8	6 or 8
2-h sword	2h	Slash	3d6	10
handaxe	1h	Slash	1d8	4
battle axe	1h	Slash	1d12	7
warhammer	1h	Bludgeon	1d12	7
battle hammer	2h	Bludgeon	2d8	10
flail	1h	Bludgeon	1d10	7
mace	1h	Bludgeon	1d10	7
morning star	1h	Bludgeon	1d10	7
staff	1h	Bludgeon	1d6	4
Pollaxe	2h	Bludgeon	2d6	8

Probably not much explanation needed. The speed factor is an optional rule. Add this to your initiative roll. And start asking "why does my barbarian with a 2-h sword always strikes last?

Shields

Another good one. Shields are not really a part of armour. They help you to defend yourself. Anyone who ever used shield in a real life situation will tell you that. Why should we treat them as armour then? Rubbish.

Shields' ratings add to your DC. Assuming of course that the opponent is in front of you. From the rear shield will don't do you much good...

Shields	Melee DC bonus	Missile DC bonus	Weapon proficiency	speed
buckler	-1	0	buckler prof.	0
parma (round)	-2	-1	shield prof.	1
heater/kite (medium)	-3	-2	shield prof.	2
scutum (body)	-4	-3	heavy shield prof.	4

And mind that you need to know how to use a shield. Without a proficiency the Melee DC bonus is halved, round down (sinister laughter ensues).

Monster conversion

Well, we now know everything we need to handle mano a mano combat.

But what about non-humanoid monsters? A Dragon does not wear chain mail. His scaly hide does the trick.

So if you just happen to have your Monstrous Manual at hand...

Monster DC = Monster Thac0-10 (easy, see?)

Monster Armour=10-old AC (as a pie)

The rest can stay. For now.

Missile combat

One of my all-time favourites.

I used to shoot bow and crossbow (flatbow?). It is a tremendous weapon. A lethal weapon - that bow.

And you don't really get to dodge an arrow, unless you are a ninja elf (errr...).

Missile DC

Depending on the range your target's at you get different DC's.

There's basically 3 types of ranges S - small, M - medium, L - long

The ranges depend on the weapon you use, just like in real life (imagine that).

Mind, that this already takes into account that the target is moving, not still.

Missile "to-hit" roll

To hit a target with your missile propeller you roll a d20 against the difficulty check calculated in the following manner:

Missile check=Thac0-missile DC-shield DC bonus

All additional information to determine missile combat are reflected in the following table:

			DC	7	5	2	9
weapon	damage	speed	ROF	range S	range M	range L	point blank*
light bow	1d6	6	2/1	0 - 50	51 - 100	101 - 150	0 - 30
regular bow	1d8	7	2/1	0 - 60	61 - 120	121 - 180	0 - 30
longbow	2d6	8	1/1	0 - 70	71 - 140	141 - 210	0 - 30
composite bow	1d8	6	2/1	0 - 60	61 - 120	121 - 180	0 - 30
hand crossbow	1d6	5	1/1	0 - 20	21 - 40	41 - 60	0 - 60
crossbow	2d8	7	1/2	0 - 60	61 - 120	121 - 180	0 - 60
heavy crossbow	3d8	10	1/4	0 - 80	81 - 160	161 - 240	0 - 60
* specialisation effect
crossbows gain +1 attack roll
still target = +2 attack roll

Additional comments:

Ranges are in metres.

You get point blank range if you specialise in that weapon.

If the target is still (unlike the usual case in combat) add 2 to your attack roll.

If you choose to try and evade the missile shot at you add your defence bonus from Dexterity.

Such feats are available only to the mist agile of people. And Neo from Matrix.

Conclusion:

This system makes the game for me and my fellow gamers. It still allows for heroic fantasy situations, especially on higher levels. But on the lower levels it helps us get that more realistic feel as we strive towards hero-ship.

Frankly speaking it adds some depth to the combat system and though I strongly believe that good role playing is much more that combat it is an essential element which if neglected spoils the whole party.