The Planar Vagabond's Guide to the Multiverse

Heroic Old-School Roleplaying
Core Rules: Combat

Combat Procedure

Adventurers tend to die easily, so most combat should be avoided unless the adventurers have a clear advantage.

That having been said, fights do occur, and when they do, the following steps are performed:

1. Declare Spells, Special Attacks, Defending, Retreats, and Versatile Weapons: Players declare if they will cast a spell, use a special attack, defend, or retreat this round (and, if so, which type of retreat), and characters wielding Versatile weapons declare if they will deal extra damage.

2. Roll Initiative: Each side that can attack rolls 1d20, highest roll attacks first.

3. Winning Side Actions: Each character or monster gets a move and an action, with either one occurring first.

   • Morale Check: Creatures who’ve been severely wounded or seen their leaders killed may flee.

     • Roll 2d6 under morale score or the monsters surrender / flee.
       • After 2 successes in a fight, no further checks.
     • When to check morale:
       • After the first death on a side, and
       • When a side is half killed or incapacitated.

   • Move: Move up to full speed

     • If prone, use 1/2 movement to stand up.
     • If engaged with an enemy at the start of the move, must make a fighting retreat or enemy gets free attack.

   • Action: Do something, like attack, defend, cast a spell, or stowe an item.

     • Spellcasters can’t move after casting a spell.

4. Change Sides: Opposing side becomes active.

5. Slow Weapons: Resolve any slow weapons or end-of-round abilities.

6. Repeat: Return to step 2 and repeat until only one side remains.

Readying Weapons

• Available weapons may be readied for free while moving (if hands are empty or currently held items are dropped).
• Stowing held weapons takes a full action.

Attacking

Roll 1d20 plus any appropriate modifiers. If it equals or beats the target’s AC, roll for damage (again including any appropriate modifiers).

• +2 bonus to hit from behind.

• When mounted, +1 bonus to hit most foes on foot.

AC

• Character AC is usually determined by type of armor worn.
• Shields grant +1 AC when used.
  • Can also be sacrificed (shattered) to prevent a hit from inflicting damage.

Melee Attacks

Melee attack rolls are modified based on the character’s Strength.

• Melee attacks are usually limited to 5’ range.
• Characters in melee combat with each other or other monsters are said to be engaged.
• Unarmed attacks do 1d2 damage by default.

Dual Wielding

PCs with DEX 13+ can dual wield certain weapons.

• When using 2 Light weapons, may make an attack with each one.
• When using a one-handed weapon and a Light weapon, may only make one attack, but +1 to the attack and damage rolls.

Ranged Attacks

Ranged attack rolls are modified based on the character’s Dexterity, the target’s cover, and the range to the target.

• -1 to -4 penalties may apply when attacking targets behind partial cover.
  • Targets behind total cover cannot be hit.
• Attacks beyond long range are not possible.

Critical Hits

A natural 20 on an attack is a critical hit. Roll 1d20 on the Critical Hit Table to see what additional effect occurs.

Fumbles

A natural 1 on an attack is a fumble. Roll 1d20 on the Fumble Table to see what additional effect occurs.

Defending

Spend a round fighting defensively (parrying, blocking, dodging, feinting, etc.). Gets +2 AC. Can be used with Fighting Retreat.

Movement

Most characters can move 40’ in a combat round.

• When Engaged: Can’t move away from foe without retreating.
• When Prone: Use 1/2 movement to stand up.

Retreating

Engaged characters that wish to move away can either make a fighting retreat, or a full retreat.

• Fighting Retreat: Can move backwards at 1/2 their normal movement rate and take an attack or defend action, while avoiding giving enemies a free attack.
• Full Retreat: Turning and fleeing from combat at their full movement rate, enemies can make a free attack at +2 bonus.

Weapons

Melee Weapons

Melee Weapon Details

• Blackjack: On successful hit, target must Save vs Paralyze or be knocked unconscious for 1d6 turns.
• Garotte: While target is entangled, inflicts damage automatically each round.
• Net: Big enough for 6’ humanoid creature, larger nets may require more handlers.
• Polearm: Includes any weapon with a long pole tipped with a cutting / spearing weapon (ex: Glaive, Halberd, Pike).
• Whip: On a successful hit, may either inflict damage OR entangle.

Ranged Weapons

Ranged Weapon Details

• Sling: Typically uses stones, bullets add +1 damage (1d4+1 total).

Weapon Properties

• Blunt: Can be wielded by cleric.
• Charge: Doubles any damage done after moving at least 60’ while mounted before attacking.
• Entangle: On successful hit, target must Save vs Paralyze to be able to move or attack.
  • Entangled victims can make new saves each round.
• Light: May be used in offhand when dual-wielding.
• Reach: Grants a extra 5’ reach for determining melee range.
• Reload: Takes a round to reload, can only be fired every other round.
• Slow: Always attacks last in a round.
• Stealth: May only be used to attack unaware humanoid creature from behind (4+1 HD max).
• Thrown: May be used as ranged weapon (short, medium, and long range indicated).
• Two-handed: Requires two hands to use.
• Versatile: May gain Slow and Two-handed to deal indicated damage.

Legal Information

This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

---

1. Automatic Hits: Roll 1d20 to check for critical, but ignore further fumbles. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

2. Target Fumble: Target must roll on fumble table ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

3. Target Blinded: Blood or debris blinds target for 1d4 rounds ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

4. Armor Damaged: Reduce target’s AC by 1 until armor repaired / healed ↩︎

5. Target Amputation: Target loses an appendage. ↩︎

6. Target Stunned: Blow stuns target for 1d6 rounds ↩︎