Morale in combat, and a back-door solution to the 'mook' problem

[larsdangly]

Posted below are some experimental house rules I'm trying out in play, describing morale rules in combat. (I intend to generalize them for use in other situations, but for now I'm just seeing how they work in fights). The idea is that combatants have a Bravery attribute, which normally ranges from 2-12 (this is directly from optional RAW from p.14 of the Legacy Edition ITL). Any time you experience some triggering situation, at the start of the following turn (before any other activiities or rolls), you have to make a save vs. this Bravery stat, on a number of dice determined by the severity of the challenge. If you fail, you bolt, surrender, or whatever. Bravery can rise through experience, fairly quickly if you emphasize it, so you can plausibly create NPC's with very high scores, and if you use it for PC's they have the capacity to have very high scores (at least, once they have a few adventures under their belts).

I have used these rules in one session of play, and so far I like what I'm seeing. Combat is less predictable and more dynamic, with a greatly increased chance of outcomes other than 'everyone got murdered!' It is quite fun to play out what happens when first one and then another and then everyone on a team 'cracks'.

Another interesting thing these rules create is a mechanism for 'mooks' who conform to all the standard rules but are push-overs. A group of NPC's with Bravery scores of 3 or 4 will scatter or give up very quickly when confronted by anyone who means business.

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Bravery Checks in Combat: Any combatant that experiences one of the following situations must make a Bravery check at the very beginning of the subsequent turn, on a number of dice indicated. On a failed roll, the combatant may not move or act on that turn (they briefly freeze in shock), and on subsequent turns must attempt to escape combat by fleeing, surrendering, or feigning death or incapacitation.

First turn of any close combat: 1d (note this roll can fail if your Bravery is 5 or less; this is an exception to ITLp9)
Receiving a significant wound (5 pts for normal-sized humanoids): 2d
Defeat, flight or surrender of a comrade within your MH or the adjacent MH: 2d
Confronted by a horrifying or eerie foe: 2d
Receiving a grave wound (8 pts for normal-sized humanoids): 3d
Reduced by injury or exhaustion to 3 or fewer ST: 3d
Confronted by a seemingly insurmountable foe: 3d
Defeat, flight or surrender of your leader: 3d

If multiple causes apply, roll only once using the highest required number of dice. If a combatant passes a bravery check, there is no need to roll again in response to that same threat or injury on subsequent turns; i.e., each specific cause can inspire only one Bravery check.

[JimmyPlenty]

It does make for a realistic session! I like it. Although, care would have to be taken not to make every battle anticlimactic. Truly an old school function!

[larsdangly]

We'll see how it plays out; I suspect the 'feel' of these sorts of rules will depend a lot on the spread of Bravery scores on the field. The same troop of 32 point fighters might refuse combat completely or fight to the last drop of blood depending on how steely their nerves are!

[HeatDeath]

This should be a Hexagram article.