This is a project I hope to have out in the next year in PDF Format. It would be a major change to the base combat system, but still work with BAB, CMB/D and a majority of the core feats.
The Design Goals of this supplement:
* Create rules that work within the existing system to allow for truly cinematic combats within the metagame.
* Make each weapon balanced by changing the way iterative attacks work, through the creation of a speed system that isn't cumbersome.
(A dagger should be as dangerous in the hands of an expert as a Great Sword.)
* Make each weapon unique in what you can do with that weapon as your character advances from Proficiency to Mastery. (this weapon revision will also remove some abilities for those who are non-proficient, how can the untrained use a whip effectively to trip their opponents?)
* A picture of every weapon (In final edition, not beta.)
* The return of many weapons that have disappeared in newer editions of the game; including the pike, the broadsword and the military fork!
* (Tentative) If there's room, I'd like to include some real history of the origin and function of the weapons at least some of the more obscure weapons. (In final edition, not beta.)
Prior to publication I will need some external playtesters to evaluate the final workings of the rules.
(Name is still up in the air, as I keep running across others who have already used the names I'm coming up with.)
Ohh, sounds interesting! I like the current 3.x battle system only because it works ok and I haven't been able to come up with a better way of handling weapons in a D20 game myself. Some of those ideas sound like what I've been yearning for, though! Good luck getting this all together.
Thanks for the support, it's an all or nothing deal too, if I can't get it to work the way I think it should, I'll let it go...
I think I have some solid ideas, but playtesting and feedback will be where I make my final decisions.
If anyone has suggestions for "maneuvers" you'd like to see incorporated, let me know.
I'm hoping to emulate everything from Errol Flynn movies, Princess Bride, Conan movies, etc.
If it's done in "live action fantasy" movies, it should be able to be done in D&D...
|
I dont know how the ability would work but I would love it if a hit nearly missed you got a free unarmed hit against them. ( they defect the sword blow away but you sock them in the jaw with your free hand, or smash them with your hilt, or kick them in the shin, some minor attack) that would be alot more cinematic!
Nice suggestion, it would be very cinematic...and if I worked it into a maneuver, it wouldn't be player specific either...
Imagine a goblin missing with it's short sword and but cracking you in the face (kneecap?) with it's elbow.
Will you be adding a system for more story driven combat/less battlemap. My groups don't use a battlemap do to the headache involved with it but some parts fall by the wayside, like Combat Reflexes, which hasn't been used for a while as a cinematic style is harder to determine who passes through your threat range.
Will you be adding a system for more story driven combat/less battlemap. My groups don't use a battlemap do to the headache involved with it but some parts fall by the wayside, like Combat Reflexes, which hasn't been used for a while as a cinematic style is harder to determine who passes through your threat range.
I do plan on addressing that. I don't like battlemats that much either, as people see the figures on the board, and they tend to tune out, I know every time I have run a boardless combat, everyone is much more descriptive in their attacks.
Several feats will be reworked in my system (Including combat reflexes), one of the design ideas is that you can do the same maneuvers at level 1 that you can do at level 20, including spring attacks and multiple attacks, you will just be much less effective. The attack roll will be married to the damage you inflict. (How many times have you rolled a critical hit, and rolled minimum damage?)
That's enough teaser for now.
(I should put footnote in the book saying that basic math skills will be involved.)
Sample:
The Players
Xaane the Rogue (1/2 L1)
Xaane is armed with a dagger.
Mordakk the Fighter (Human L1)
Mordakk is armed with a great sword.
Mordakk, "I have tracked you down Xaane, you will pay for what you did to my family." Mordakk charges towards Xaane, eyes full of hate. Xaane counter charges, sidestepping Mardakk's blade and drawing a bloody line across Mordakk's arm as he continues past Mordakk.
Mordakk, "You slippery little thief, I shall cut you down." Mordakk, more cautiously approaches the halfling rogue, careful to not over-estimate his miniscule opponent again. Xaane launches his own attack at Mordakk, stepping up and launching 3 wild swings at Mordakk, one misses wildly as the other 2 merely deflect off the breastplate lacking strength or accuracy.
Mordakk steps up and kicks the little fellow square in the chest, knocking him backwards, as he steps in, and in a purposeful and powerful swing bring the blade down on the rogue, avenging his family.
If you read that carefully you may notice some oddities in the combat that give a glimpse as to the system I'm trying to represent.