2e D&D, Epic Fray

[Shpadoinkle]

My DM brought this option up a few sessions ago, but he can't seem to find the rules for it anywhere. Would anyone happen to know what book it's in? Supposedly it doubles your attacks per round, but you MUST fight to the death. Having this available would have been really nice in the last game.

[Thane of Fife]

Not quite sure. I think Combat and Tactics (or maybe the Complete Fighter's Handbook) has some rule allowing a fighter double attacks against opponents of less than some number of hit dice (1, maybe?). But that's the only thing I can think of close to what you describe.

[aaron_the_cow]

The way that my group dose it is you gain your level in attacks against less than 1 hit die monsters.


Combat and Tactics sayes when fighting hordes of idiviguialy weak monsters you can dobble your atacks. less than one hit die monsters of your level minus ten hit dice

[Matthew]

The description sounds like one of the "beserk rage" kits (Orcslayer from Demi Humans of the Realms, in fact). However, the name likely refers to this Combat & Tactics optional rule:

Heroic Frays

The most heroic and inspirational stories of battle are about the stand of the few against the many. The legend of Roland holding the pass of Roncesvalles, or Davy Crockett at the Alamo, or Tolkien's tale of the Fellowship standing against the orcs of Moria in Balin's tomb—these stories live forever in the imaginations of people everywhere.

In a heroic fray, the PCs are fighting against hordes of individually weak monsters such as goblins, kobolds, or giant rats. Warriors facing adversaries far less skillful than themselves can double their normal rate of attack. This only applies to their primary weapon; if the character is fighting with a weapon in each hand, the secondary weapon still adds only one additional attack per round. Any attacks of opportunity the heroic warrior receives must be counted off against these additional attacks, however.

In addition, warriors gain one extra attack per round which may be used to perform a shield-punch, shield-rush, unarmed punch or kick, or grab maneuver against any opponent that they threaten when they begin resolving their attacks for the round. The normal penalties for these attacks don't apply, so the shield maneuvers don't cost the warrior his AC bonus, and the unarmed maneuvers don't provoke attacks of opportunity.

Characters can only engage in a heroic fray against creatures of 1–1 Hit Dice or less, or creatures whose Hit Dice or levels are 10 less than the hero's. A 12th-level fighter can declare a heroic fray against monsters of up to 2 HD, a 13th-level fighter can stand against 3-HD monsters, and so on.

The other requirement of a heroic fray is numbers. The hero's side must be outnumbered by the enemy for the warrior to gain his extra attacks. If there are fewer monsters left than attacks available, the excess attacks are lost.

Nothing about having to fight to the last, though.

[Shpadoinkle]

Hmm... that may be what he was thinking of (it's entirely possible he was misremembering, as he hadn't played in several years prior to running the game we're in now.) I'll show it to him and see if that's it.

[hamlet]

For the record, the rule first appeared in the AD&D 1e PHB wherin fighters fighting creatures of less than one hit dice could gain extra attacks per round equal to their level. It's the simplest variant of the rule out there, and IMO the best. The player's option version of it that Matthew quoted reads like a Sony manual.

[bosssmiley]

And here was me hoping for some "Carpet People" references.

[Matthew]

And here was me hoping for some "Carpet People" references.

Watch out for Mouls!