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View Full Version : Favorite Combat System(s) - what's important to you?



SpectralDerp
2015-03-30, 04:18 PM
Kinda self-explanatory:

Which RPGs (where combat isn't rare) have you played and in which did you find combat to be most enjoyable and why?

Beta Centauri
2015-03-30, 04:32 PM
4th Edition. Not because of the movement or the tactics, but simply because I don't have to ask the GM's permission to do something cool. One can, of course, reach the same state in any game, as long as everyone trusts each other not to do anything that's unfair. But until that happens, I like a game that tells me what's fair and gives me a lot of cool fair things to do.

Broken Twin
2015-03-30, 06:37 PM
Savage Worlds currently has my favorite combat system.

It's fast, any hit can potentially kill you, but the Benny mechanic ensures that the players aren't spending their time constantly fearing death.

I've been meaning to look at Riddle of Steel as well, as I've heard good things about it.

Magic Myrmidon
2015-03-30, 06:58 PM
My favorite is Legend from Rule of Cool. I like it because every character ALWAYS has options on their turn, and they have options for their 3 actions per turn. Use your move to move, or use some of it to generate temp HP or give debuffs. Use your standard for attack, spells, the usual. Your swift for whatever unique abilities you have. It's like 4th in that every character does cool things, but better, because those cool things are unique to each character, and each character has a clear identity.

themaque
2015-03-30, 07:29 PM
I try not to play in games where I don't like such a major part of the system.

I really enjoy the Deadly nature of L5R.
I like what feels smooth and fun of 5e.
I feel Powerful in Pathfinder.

I think Savage worlds has potential but have yet to play it.

Knaight
2015-03-30, 07:34 PM
The big three for me are Fudge, Burning Wheel, and the ORE. For Fudge, it's the simultaneous action system. It's really fast, it handles well, and it basically just gets in there and works without slowing the game down. It's not super-detailed, but I find that the biggest impediment to a frenetic action scene is it going on really slowly in real time. Burning Wheel is on another extreme - it's very slow, but it's also deeply tactical and surprisingly good from a simulation perspective. It makes a duel between two people interesting, and works best for games where combat is rare, but very high stakes and a big deal when it happens (though there is another system for quick, minor fights built into it). As for ORE, I just really like the core mechanic, and combat works with that as well as everything else does to get a surprising amount of variety.

Mr.Moron
2015-03-30, 08:03 PM
This really depends what kind of game I'm looking to run. A hard-hitting gritty campaign is going to need something very different than a over-the-top Super Hero game, which is going need something different than a cooperation-based fantasy monster hunting game. I can't say I have a favorite it's all about using the right tool for the right job.

Vknight
2015-03-30, 08:07 PM
One Roll Engine. It makes order fun in a lot of ways. You know what others will attempt to do to if they have lower(sense or brains or equivalent stat)
So you can guard against a opponent because you know they will throw a punch meanwhile they have to declare to guard without knowledge if someone will throw a punch there way.
Along with how declarations works there is more fun.
Everyone rolls and biggest width(then height when width matches) goes first for that round. So a great roll can make someone get the sucker punch on a speedster etc. It also means it's easy to figure out who goes first in a round.
Takes a bit to get used to but in the end it can become real smooth.

Player 1 : I declare X
GM : Villain 1 declares this
Player 2 : I do this
Player 3 : I do this!
Gm : Villain 2 declares this.

*Rolls*

Players : I got this
Gm : Villains got this so.
Villain 2 gets punch before he can stop you from doing your thing player 2.

It looks complicated but I love it

That or the FATE combat system

(Hahaha! I survived the Shark pit I was thrown into and return~!)

DigoDragon
2015-03-30, 08:08 PM
I've played in lots of systems (d20, Shadowrun, Whitewolf, GURPS, etc) and my favorites tend to be ones with a bell-curves.

VincentTakeda
2015-03-30, 11:39 PM
ad&d 2e and ninjas and superpies/heroes unlimited (old school palladium) are my go to systems.

I like thaco and I like the swingyness of d20's for attack
If attack rolls can be mitigated I like for them to take up attacks per round as it forces the defender to commit attention to defending himself, particularly since the system gives out a lot of attacks per round fairly early. A guy with a lot of attacks per round gets the agency of commiting to out devastating his attacker in simultaneous attacks or presenting the defensive wall until his attacker runs out of incoming, establishing the 'rythm of a superior combatant' sort of conversation.

Lacco
2015-03-31, 01:16 AM
Without any thoughts - Riddle of Steel. The fights are intense, fast and deadly, the mechanics are quite simple. The learning curve can be quite easy (simple manuevers for first fight, then adding 1 or 2 manuevers per fight). Each weapon is dangerous, some are more advantageous.

Several fighting styles are available. Player can make his own style more defensive, more offensive, more stealthy, more focused on footwork...

Footwork, ranges of weapons, feints, stealing of initiative, disarms, counters...that is all included in the basic "package".

Optional rules include advanced stances, weapon/armor degradation, armor vulnerability against specific types of attacks (piercing/slashing/blunt).

Grappling rules take only about 1/2 page in original rules and 4 pages in extended.

However, the "I do the cool thing I saw in the ninja movie" is discouraged if you play the "gritty" version. It's possible for the GM to reward/encourage such actions for more "cinematic" feel.

And the rules are not very well suited for battle mat/miniatures type of play. We use miniatures to show relative positions.

The fights use d10 dice pool, GM also needs 2 d6 for some rolls.

@BrokenTwin - I was thinking about doing an RoS pbp - at least something like gladiator arena for fights. Interested?

Firest Kathon
2015-03-31, 04:11 AM
Depends on what I'm looking for. For fantasy, it's Das schwarze Auge (The Dark Eye), due to the many options you have in combat beyond "I hit it". It's certainly not simple, but I like it.
If my mind is more set on fun, I like New Hong Kong Story (which is not released yet, but I had the chance to playtest it), because of the ridiculous stunts you can pull. It plays like a Hong Kong action movie.

Lacco
2015-03-31, 04:15 AM
Depends on what I'm looking for. For fantasy, it's Das schwarze Auge (The Dark Eye), due to the many options you have in combat beyond "I hit it". It's certainly not simple, but I like it.

Are the rules available in other than German? I always wanted to try it. I also favour systems that have other than "my turn, I attack him, his turn, he attacks me".

Broken Twin
2015-03-31, 06:17 AM
@BrokenTwin - I was thinking about doing an RoS pbp - at least something like gladiator arena for fights. Interested?

I haven't done much in the way of pbp, but I would be interested in giving it a shot. RoS has been on my to-try list for a while now. It's a no/low magic system, correct?

Edit: Also, I read that Blade of the Iron Throne is a spiritual successor to the system. Do you have any experience or commentary in regards to it?

Lacco
2015-03-31, 06:37 AM
I haven't done much in the way of pbp, but I would be interested in giving it a shot. RoS has been on my to-try list for a while now. It's a no/low magic system, correct?

Edit: Also, I read that Blade of the Iron Throne is a spiritual successor to the system. Do you have any experience or commentary in regards to it?

No much experience with pbp too, but I think it's worth a shot. But I think that we should get this discussion to PM or a separate thread.

Yes, it's a low magic system. In my games, magic is never in hands of PCs, except through items of power (rare), artifacts (extremely rare), miracles or minor "powers".

Blade is a spiritual successor, I have the rules, read the rules quite some time ago. Not many changes to the combat system though (I was curious mostly about these). Band of bastards (another spiritual successor) should have some changes, but it is stuck in development currently.

Thrawn4
2015-03-31, 06:46 AM
Are the rules available in other than German? I always wanted to try it. I also favour systems that have other than "my turn, I attack him, his turn, he attacks me".
The basic rules are available in English, but I doubt that the advanced combat rules are included.
http://www.amazon.de/Dark-Eye-RPG-Fanpro/dp/1932564020/ref=sr_1_1?s=books-intl-de&ie=UTF8&qid=1427801983&sr=1-1&keywords=the+dark+eye

SpectralDerp
2015-04-01, 02:46 PM
I guess I should give my own opinions as well :smallwink:

Things that appeal to me are:

- Cooperation is important

- Positioning is important

- Actions have simple rules

- Relatively short turns

- Easy math

My group is currently playing a homebrew that does some of these right. We started off playing DnD 4e together and we liked how well it did the first 3 points. The second two, not so much. Other editions I personally found don't get too many of these right.

Lacco
2015-04-02, 01:56 AM
I guess I should give my own opinions as well :smallwink:

Things that appeal to me are:

- Cooperation is important

- Positioning is important

- Actions have simple rules

- Relatively short turns

- Easy math

My group is currently playing a homebrew that does some of these right. We started off playing DnD 4e together and we liked how well it did the first 3 points. The second two, not so much. Other editions I personally found don't get too many of these right.

An idea - most of the people here know how D&D combat is handled. Would anyone else than me also be interested in more info about the less-known combat systems/homebrews?

Basically, could you/anyone with specific other-than-d&d combat system post a short example "in play" or at least basic points the combat in other games is based on?

...also: I second all the points that you wrote. My additional points would be - tactics influence the fight quite strongly (I like the random factor of dice, but prefer if I can move the odds significantly), choice of weapons/armor has to have more impact than only more/less damage, different fighting styles are possible and encouraged.

Altair_the_Vexed
2015-04-02, 04:28 AM
I like our group's Pathfinder hack / house rules:

Combat manoeuvres have been tweaked to make them more attractive. Here's how:
Opened the mechanic up to allow players to describe their own Manoeuvre
The players can describe any cool combat action they want, and we use the Combat Manoeuvre rules to resolve it
Only provoke an Attack of Opportunity on a failed attempt
Instead of being penalised for trying to be cool (you either take an AoO, or take a feat), players can risk being inventive in combat

Added the Squad template from Star Wars SAGA Clone Wars
Small groups of mooks are treated as one gestalt larger creature - massively reducing the number of attack rolls

Players roll all the dice
Instead of the GM rolling to hit the PCS, the PCs roll to defend against a fixed attack number - keeps the players engaged when it's not their turn


In summary: More player agency! More options! Still the generally familiar d20 system.

JeenLeen
2015-04-03, 09:28 AM
EDIT: main answer: ease of math (including not taking a lot of time), and the ability to do cool things

My favorites are nWoD (well, a homebrew system that uses the combat mechanics of nWoD) and Exalted. I think high-power D&D 3.5/PF is my least favorite.

I like how it's just one roll to see if you hit someone and how much damage you do. d10s with modifiers are easy to add up.
Exalted has a bit more math, but it's not too bad, and I like how cool and powerful the characters can be. Better than oWoD where it's 4 rolls (accuracy, dodge, damage, soak) to see if you hit them. I know it has a lot worse mechanics in other ways, although houserules solve that okay and so far we've avoided 'this kills you' vs 'perfect defense' fights thus far.

I dislike how, in high-power D&D/PF, it can take so long to add up all your buffs. This sour tastes comes from a game with four player-gamers (myself included, and I was a War Weaver giving massive buffs to the party), when the buffs could change every few rounds, and it took over a minute to figure out what applied and what didn't in a given round. Sometimes more, given situations and chat. We round up retiring the game and hearing the rest of the plot from the DM, since it felt like we were just wasting time fighting between cut scenes. (We've become better roleplayers since then, but in that game we were happy to go along with the story's rails, and it was a good story.)
Even at low-level, it's still annoying.

Jay R
2015-04-03, 09:44 AM
One aspect I really enjoyed about Flashing Blades was the fact that there were five different dueling styles, and which way you learned could affect how you fought. Italian Style gave a +1 on thrusts and lunges; Spanish Style gave +1 on slashes.

The kicker is that your opponent gains +6 on his parry if he successfully predicts your mode of attack, so it often makes sense to avoid your ideal attack, if your opponent knows how you trained. (This can be true in real fencing, too.)

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Chivalry and Sorcery had the most lavish, realistic, carefully-laid out, unplayable mess of a combat system I've ever seen.