Lord Tataraus
2008-09-08, 08:47 AM
There is a houserule that I have been tossing around for awhile wondering if I should implement it. The problem is that it does have the potential to really break the game. This idea originally came about when I was thinking about designing a different D20 combat system that allowed more tactical movement but retained the same combat effectiveness (i.e. full attacks). Basically I created 4 layers of action rather than the 3 in normal D20 (full round, standard/move, and free). The four layers were simply full-round, half, quarter and free. A standard or move action is a quarter action and a most D20 full round actions became half actions. Basically, a standard attack takes a quarter action, a D20 full round attack or maneuver (grappling and such) takes a half action. Spells however are mostly half actions and full round actions stay full round actions. There are also some limits, such as you cannot take more than 2 attack actions or cast more than 1 spell per turn (quickened spell allows for a second spell).
So, would this break the game? With the limit in place of no more than two attacks per round it might not be too powerful, alternately the rule could be no more than a half-action equivalent attack or maneuver thus you get one D20 full-round action or 2 standard action attacks plus 2 move actions of movement or other maneuvers. I also would add in universal stances that take up a quarter action, mostly to do with shields, kind of like using a tower shield as cover, but not that powerful. Basically stances would be defensive parry (you must have a one-handed or two-handed weapon and you gain +2 AC), block (50% shield AC as DR X/-), feint, aggressive shield play (lose shield bonus to AC, but gain it to attack), etc.
So, what do you guys think, does it sound interesting and plausible or would it break the game and/or make combat too complex?
So, would this break the game? With the limit in place of no more than two attacks per round it might not be too powerful, alternately the rule could be no more than a half-action equivalent attack or maneuver thus you get one D20 full-round action or 2 standard action attacks plus 2 move actions of movement or other maneuvers. I also would add in universal stances that take up a quarter action, mostly to do with shields, kind of like using a tower shield as cover, but not that powerful. Basically stances would be defensive parry (you must have a one-handed or two-handed weapon and you gain +2 AC), block (50% shield AC as DR X/-), feint, aggressive shield play (lose shield bonus to AC, but gain it to attack), etc.
So, what do you guys think, does it sound interesting and plausible or would it break the game and/or make combat too complex?