Quick combat rules

[PDV]

Hi!
Does anybody have homerules for quick combat resolution for 4ed? I'm thinking now about some sort of modification Tournament Combat (MA, 134-135) for this.
Maybe someone already have such rules and want to share them? :)

[Kenny]

How about just using the basic rules found in GURPS Lite rather than the more complicated rules in the Basic set?

[copeab]

Here's an old Roleplayer article for 3e that you might be able to adapt to 4e:

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/Rolepla...asicMelee.html

[OldSam]

A very quick solution is to just go for a contest of weapon skills... This could either be a quick contest or a regular contest, though I'd prefer the latter in that case, anyway this is a bad way for tanks or other characters not optimized for skills.


But actually combat in GURPS is really fast if everyone knows the rules (combat cards can help) and if you're using hit locations (bypassing armor, crippling injuries) and deceptive attack (to decrease the opponents defense).

Anyway, you should probably try to avoid to let PCs fight till -x HP because this really slows things down. You could disallow advantages like Hard to Subdue and Hard to Kill and you could set a limit for the HT-Attribute e.g. max. 13 or something like that. Make sure that at 0 HP a HT-Roll to stay conscious is required at the beginning of each round etc.
Or as a simple house rule, just declare in advance (before character creation) that generally a fighter loses consciousness at 0 HP.

[pyratejohn]

I think the quickest I ever came up with was, "roll 3d6. Oh, look, that's low enough to be a hit. And he's down." Seriously, you can dial it down to that, if you really want to speed things up. I don't often use this combat variant, but it comes in handy for special occasions.

[LemmingLord]

I dream of a day when I can get combat resolved by a quick contest of combat skills so the important stuff can be played out and the combats quickly resolved. Of course there would be bonuses to the effective skills based on surroundings and such. Maybe let the players come up with the bonuses they should get...

Ok quick contest between you and Darth Vader... "Hey he's gotta have some vision penalties in that thing." "True, that should give him a -4, but he does have the force which mitigates that." "ok, well that suit must be very heavy right?" "True, he does have a mobility issue.. but it is armor that will protect him so that should offset that." "Armor? Against a light saber??" "Well there are materials that can protect against light saber attacks.. but yeah, i'll say it nets Darth a -1 total for his armors toughtness - its encumbering nature." "Oh, there are lots of heavy objects all around.. Darth will get a +2 bonus because he can use his force telekinesis in combat to great affect." "Why don't I get a +2 bonus?" "Because you aren't a jedi... yet."

(five minutes later, we end up with Luke with an effective skill of 14 (12 for his melee light saber skill, +1 for combat reflexes, +1 for having super jump) and Darth with an effective skill of 16 (15 for his melee light saber skill, +1 for combat reflexes, +2 for having TK, +2 for knowing his battlefield and preparing it, but a -4 because he is trying to "capture" rather than kill.

Luke rolls a 10, doesn't like it and uses his force aspected luck to give him a 10, 13, and 8.
Darth rolls a 9, and I as the GM decide I'd rather go for a bigger victory and use HIS force aspected luck to give him a 9, 13 and 7.

Darth has won by a margin of 5 (margins 9 vs 4). A margin of 0-1 means very minor victory; 2-4 means moderate victory; 5+ means decisive victory. As a consolation prize, the player gets to come up with the decisive victory.

"Ok, Luke was definitely too head strong to go in this alone... Although he gets in a few glancing blows, Darth's armor deflects them.. Darth Vader toys with him some, putting him down, talking about Obi Wan to see if he can encourage Luke to lose his control. The duel traverses over the whole station."

"Yes, and he tries to freeze you, I mean "Luke," to take you back to his master, but we already have one frozen character so you must have escaped that fate."

"right.. But then Darth got serious and threw machinery at him until he was weak and battered and then finally disarmed him."

"Literally...Arms off..."

"Uggggh... ok.. I can get a bionic hand later right."

"Of course. So I guess we are out of combat then... back to good dialog.. Darth has you on a gratouitous platform conerned over a bottomless pit. 'Join me... "

"I'll never join you!"

"Obi wan never told you what happened to your father..."

"He told me enough... He told me YOU killed him."

"No....I....AM your father..."

"No way! I mean... NOooo that's not true... That's impossible!!"

"Search your feelings Luke, you KNOW it to be true."

"Nooooooooooooooo"

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by PDV

Does anybody have homerules for quick combat resolution for 4ed?

If combat is no more important to the game than any other skill, you can reduce it to a contest of weapon skills, as OldSam said. If you do this you must modify or remove those advantages and skills that impact combat. For instance, the +1 to active defenses granted by Combat Reflexes has no place in a contest of weapon skills, so you must either remove Combat Reflexes from the list of available advantages or you must change Combat Reflexes to have some impact on the weapon contest.

If combat is important, or if you're not willing to make changes to a lot of advantages and skills, do the following:

• Do not use hit locations, except for called shots or determining cover. All attacks hit the torso.
• Don't use anything in the chapter on tactical combat options.
• Try to avoid close combat. It gets fiddly.
• Use the Cannon Fodder and Infinite Ammunition rules from page B417. Avoid the other cinematic options if you can, as they tend to prolong the lives of player characters. Kill 'em! Kill 'em all!!
• Make morale checks for the enemies. Combat ends a lot sooner if the bad guys stop fighting.

I haven't read Martial Arts, so I can't advise you there.

[Stormcrow]

Oh, and make sure they understand Aim and Evaluate. Taking an extra turn to say "I'm aiming at so-and-so" is so much quicker than many turns of missed snap shots.