I’m still throwing the idea around of at least doing a one-shot of 4E once in a while. Maybe do another campaign if I can get some interested in giving it a go. So far they’ve been enjoying another setting and another game. One thing that I want to do is bring back the idea of using a basic attack or at the very least have it in place of an at-will.

Face it, a lot of at-will attacks have that generic option of a single target attack that simply uses a high ability score aligned with a certain class. As I mentioned way back in an old post, there is even a PHB2 feat that does something similar. So why not make a go of it and go full out? I think this actually might open up some classes to being able to focus on other abilities and not lag too behind other builds. Now I could have that CON-based fighter which could still be able to reliably roll out the basic attack damage. So here are my thoughts for a different basic attack-like ability.

All players at level 1 gain a trained basic attack. The player must select one option for this power at character generation, and cannot be re-trained.

A) The player picks a weapon group they are proficient with (ex. axes, bows, light blades, etc.). The player can use one ability score of their choice to be applied to that weapon group. If this ability replaces the default strength (melee) or dexterity/strength (ranged/heavy thrown) modifiers for that weapon, then the chosen ability score bonus is applied to both to hit and damage rolls. The power retains the martial keyword and weapon keyword. At 21st level, the power gains [2W] damage (plus appropriate bonuses).

B) The player gains a ranged basic attack that can target 1 creature. The power has a range and damage equivalent to a level 1 At-Will power of choice from their class. The power gains a damage keyword equivalent to the power source of the class (i.e. arcane, divine, primal, etc.) and the implement keyword. The power gains a bonus to hit and damage rolls based on an ability score of choice. At 21st level, the power gains one additional damage die, plus the appropriate bonuses (example, if the trained basic attack power does 1d8 + modifiers, at 21st level it will to 2d8 + modifiers).

Regular basic attacks are still in the game, but the player can have this listed first as their bread-and-butter attack. It’s the go to attack when they aren’t sure to pull out an encounter or daily power. A fall back choice for an attack and be comforted that they aren’t crippling themselves. I’ll have to tweak this some more, but looking forward to trying this in game.

So the gang is back together after an extended holiday and we’re discussing what to play next for our campaign. 4E is something still being considered. Think running with Savage Worlds will be the most popular choice, but 4E is still on the table. At the very least, it might be an occasional break from our regular game as a one-shot once in a while.

I’ve got some plans however to do some serious tweaking to the game. I’ve been thinking of some things to do for streamlining combat and speeding things up. I plan on still having a map, but throw out the grid. Also considering on really altering the number of powers players have in play and thinking of tinkering with the whole magic item power bit. More on that later.

One thing for certain, I want to get rid of the minor temporary bonuses that float around in the game. I want something with bigger effects. Static bonuses aren’t much of an issue, but all those little +1 bonuses seem rather fiddly. I’m thinking of a couple of options.

Make it all +2 – Not a groundbreaking change, but I’m liking the idea of making each bonus or penalty a +/- 2 and rounding things up. So that combat advantage with some temporary power boost might translate into a larger bonus to hit. That’s okay with me. I want the PCs to make those big rolls, the monsters are going to get the same thing.

Advantage/Disadvantage – The other idea I’ve had is using the advantage mechanic from DnDnext. Basically use simple color markers to indicate either a bonus or penalty to hitting a target. The marker with the highest total would grant either a disadvantage or an advantage.

This will likely make for some very chaotic combats, and I entirely expect my players to pummel the stuff I throw at them. However this might also put some hurt on them (given the proper circumstances), as I’ve just been able to double the chances of me critting my players. This might just make combats too wild and unpredictable, but of the two options I am leaning towards this more.

It’ll take a bit of playtesting. Fortunately I’ve got a patient group while I pull out the crazy houserule stuff. Honestly they haven’t been too keen on doing another fantasy campaign, but I might be able to get a one shot session in sometime. Certainly looking forward to trying this idea out.

For my game I wanted to try and have a pitched battle and struggled a bit to think about how I could run something like that on the tabletop. Some ideas were a combination of a skill challenge in tandem with a few fights. Successful (or failed) rounds for the skill challenge would result in advantages (or disadvantages) in the following fights of the battle. Although it still was a bit longer than I wanted, and I didn’t want to get bogged down in a massive combat with tons of participants on each side.

A long while back I touched on handling fights through an abstract way. Another past post of mine looked at randomizing attacks of opportunity. So looking at these ideas I whipped up some quick and dirty rules how I would handle a mass combat.

Players fight the leaders – Recreating a massive battle where players hacked through nameless throngs of minions would be boring. I wanted the PCs trading blows with the main villain as something heroic. The goal was simple, either they kill the lead baddies, or end up worm food themselves, or potentially so beaten and battered they surrendered and end up as captives.

In my game I had the players fighting against a wizard that had a huge golem in toe. These guys were the big threat. If the group took them out, the remaining forces would likely break and run. I think that is key to having this kind of engagement. Don’t just throw bodies at the players, give them a few personalities on the field. Maybe a general and a few commanders scattered about. If the players drop enough of them, morale for the opposing army will wane and eventually make them rout.

All sides suffer attacks of opportunity – I figured out the appropriate bonus for attack and typical minion damage for the player’s level and used this as a battle attack of opportunity. Then each turn, including for the villain NPC’s I employed the following rules:

1. At the beginning of the turn, they provoked a battle attack of opportunity.
2. If the players (or creatures) moved up to ½ their speed, each square of movement, ignoring shifts, would provoke a battle attack of opportunity on a 1 in 8 (using a d8).
3. If they moved greater than ½ their speed, they provoke a battle attack of opportunity for each square of movement on a 1 in 4 (using a d4).
4. Players make their move as normal, and then the battle attacks of opportunity are resolved.

All sides can suffer combat advantage – At the end of their turn players (or monsters) may be in a poor tactical position. On a 1 in 4 all opponents have combat advantage against them. If they moved less than half their speed (including shifts), they suffer combat advantage on a 1 in 8. Players offer combat advantage until the beginning of their turn.

Narration, Narration, Narration – The most important part of the fight is describing the scene. Players are going to see very few tokens and monsters on the map. Effectively, they are going to pair off against a handful of monsters at most representing the main villains and command elements of the enemy army. However it’s important to stress that there are others all around them. Every one of them are in a pitched battle, parrying attacks and making several attacks themselves, but all of these actions are never rolled.

It’s important to paint a picture that the players have fellow soldiers flanking them, and if they are lucky, find their opponents distracted by unnamed foot soldier giving them an opportunity to effectively land a powerful attack. Be graphic and try to paint a scene. If a player runs across the battlefield to engage an orc commander, quickly count the squares, roll all the dice and describe the action.

If a player gets suffers a few attacks and takes a bit of damage, describing how a brutish orc hurled a spear at them, catching them in the side as they bolted across the ground to face the orc leader, is engaging. Just telling the player they opened up three attacks of opportunity, with two hitting for 12 points of damage just doesn’t cut it. Frequently remind the players they are darting and weaving, parrying attacks and aiding fellow comrades, even if there is nothing on the map to show these other participants in the battle.

What comes out of this is that players are under constant threat of attack. It’s assumed that surrounding them are allies and enemies alike. If they are moving slowly, they maintain some form of rank with allies and suffer less attacks of opportunity. If they break ranks and whirl around the battlefield, they have less companions watching their back.

Finally, throughout the battle they could be dodging missile fire, or having their attention split among several attackers. The greater the movement their turn, the more likely they will allow opponents to have combat advantage against them. If they stand firm, or move little during their turn, it’s less likely that someone can flank them.

For my group it worked well. Constantly having an attack against them, right at the start of their turn, having the potential of offering combat advantage, all the while trying to take out the main villains made for an exciting fight. It takes a lot of handwaving and describing the action, but in the end I think my players had a memorable fight of a large battle that worked using a few additional rules and a lot of narrative action.

A common complaint about 4E is the length of fights. There are a lot of suggestions to curb combat length, but something I often see neglected is the variation in damage that PCs do. To me it has always been an odd mechanic that how well you hit has no effect on the damage inflicted. You can just barely hit a creature and max out damage, or get a solid hit (just below a critical) and flub your damage roll with a 1.

How minions deal damage has a nifty idea there. Minions do a steady amount of damage per hit. No die rolling. Perfect for the 1 hit creatures they are, but that concept of a steady state of damage output with less overhead in running them has some appeal when streamlining combats.

Another game comes to mind where damage output was less random is Star Fleet Battles. This was a tactical space combat game set in the Star Trek universe that first came out in the late 70s and hit its stride in the early 80s. What was interesting about the game was that many weapon systems had a flat damage rate, it just depended on whether you hit based on a D6 roll. Other systems (like phasers) had effectively no ‘to hit’ roll at all, they just did a random amount of damage. However the closer you were the less random the damage output was, effectively shifting a damage roll from 1-4 at long distance to 5-6 at broadside range.

What I particularly liked was that certain ranges had a sweet spot where the variation in damage output was minimized, and got better as you closed the distance. It was very predictable. Risky long range shots sniping at a target across the map was exactly that, risky and did little damage. Closer in, you could predict how much damage you could inflict (and take yourself). The game came down to pre-planning moves, maneuvering, and efficient energy allocation.

So with D&D I found it odd there is this huge disconnect with damage and to hit rolls. They are completely independant from each other. On top of that a series of rolls is needed with each effective strike. It’s a lot of manhandling of dice and steps to resolve combat. So why not consider dropping the idea of random damage altogether if fights are dragging?

Write down 4 typical damage rolls beforehand – Take the normal die roll a player would make and replace it with an average damage, or a simple mean of the potential die outcomes. Additionally make a limited damage value being 25% of the potential damage from the same die, and an improved damage value calculated as 75% of the potential damage. Don’t forget to include the max damage roll from critical hits too.

With those 4 values, add the bonuses to damage due to feats, enhancements, ability scores, etc. and you’ve got a simple list of damage numbers a PC does with each attack. If extra bonuses come in from other player’s powers they can quickly add it to those totals.

Average damage is the default – Any powers or abilities that do multiple weapon hits are just multiplied by this number, just follow up and add the various bonuses to damage from feats, etc. This is the bread and butter output from attacks.

Critical hits work as before – Roll a 20 and you max out damage. Nothing changes.

Limited Damage on an even hit – If a player scores a hit roll that evenly matchs a creature’s defense, he uses the limited damage value. Just a little variation to the damage. You barely get a hit and in turn do less than average damage.

Improved Damage at one less from a critical hit – Typically on a 19 (but may be different for some characters that can expand the range of successful critical hits), but this is a hit that would do a bit more damage from normal yet still not quite the max damage from a natural 20.

With a little prep time, the players have their turn streamlined a little. Additionally, there is a small amount of variation in their damage output. The big, and less than optimal, hits are there. More importantly, they are tied to how well you roll to hit. Also, different damage output is tied to some simple conditions (i.e. score an even hit roll with a monster’s defense and you do less damage). If anything, I think this could work out well on the DM side of the screen for handling monster damage.

I’ve yet to to try this out with my group. I expect most players will balk at the idea of dropping an opportunity to roll a damage die. I think most will still want to roll that 1D12 rather than agreeing to constantly hit at 6 damage (plus all the bonuses). Still, if combats are dragging this might be something for groups to explore.