How do you fight high armor with a low ST character?

[bluekitsune13]

I play with miniatures, so I've been rolling up a few characters and playing around in the system. I have some Warhammer figures, and I'm trying to figure out how to represent them in the system.

What I run into is you'll have these heavily armored knights that are also very skilled. This means they will have a high DEX to account for negative modifiers for wearing armor, but I also want them to have descent STR to be able to do good damage. Obviously these warriors will be fewer in number than other weaker characters. Then you have your rift-raff units like goblins who have low STR. If a Goblin can only even do 1d of damage, but he's attacking a warrior wearing plate that blocks 5 or 6 hits, how can he even do damage?

In another thread I was asking about hand to hand combat. It would make sense if in that situation that 2 or 3 goblins could try jumping onto that armored warrior and just taking him to the ground. Still, their daggers wouldn't be able to pierce his armor either.

Unless I'm missing something, if you just walk though some Goblins in plate mail you are invincible. Unless they get lucky with a crit or something, if they only roll 1d for damage, they can't touch you. I was thinking of maybe house ruling something where you can trade in a DEX bonus for a plus to damage. This would represent a sneak attack, or literally just piling on a downed enemy and stabbing for the joints in the armor.

I thought that any time you would gain a DEX bonus for an attack, you can forgo that bonus to gain that bonus as extra damage. So if you attacked a downed fighter, you would normally hit at +4DEX. If you wanted to use your regular DEX, you could add 4 to your damage roll. This means that you have a more reliable way of dealing damage to armored fighters.

I haven't tested it out, but it would be thematic for goblins and ratmen, and other small horde creatures.

[Shostak]

Going by the RAW, you could use pinning in HTH, aiming for the head, using nets, ...

[Kirk]

It seems TFT is new to you, if I understand your post.

It's basically true that a higher point character can beat lower point ones! ;)

If a character can afford to have heavy armor and a decent DX and ST, a small orc or such probably should lose.

Of course, definitely use tactics such as knocking them down to allow standing characters with average weapons to whack them while they are recovering their weapon and standing back up, if not in HTH with another orc.

There are also aimed shots, go for eyes, etc. with knives, stars, etc.

One can use MAGIC sometimes, or be really creative and use fire (my fave), spiders, insects, slime, or traps to take 'em down, since the armor protects differently in some of these cases.

And if the DX penalty isn't too bad, crossbows can be loaded with mechanical or personable help and fired, 3 dice damage usually will penetrate most armor setups. Petards, perhaps? Spiked drinks and spiked pits?

Attractive orcs of the appropriate gender can be disarming, as well...

[larsdangly]

The odds of double and triple damage hits are non-negligible (about 3 %, total), and even a 1d attack has a good chance of getting you in that case. Anyway, armor should be effective against light weapons. a person in full mail or greater armor is actually really hard to hurt.

[The Wyzard]

Well, this is why you use combined-arms tactics. A guy who has those good stats and that good armor is equal to several lesser fighters. One of those lesser fighters should be using a two-handed weapon or the like, and the other two are ready to hold him down. But an orc with a high ST, middling DX, low IQ, big heavy weapon, and no armor? That guy is your executioner. You lock the knight down with slightly more conservatively statted orcs, and then the executioner closes in for the attack while he's prone, or from the rear, or what have you.

If your knight has ST 16, DX 16, good equipment, and Warrior/Veteran, then damn son, he's *supposed* to be an absolute beast.

[flankspeed]

Replying to the original post by bluekitsune13:

I don't know how Steve may be changing the rules regarding charging with a pole weapon, but they can do double damage on a charge attack. This still may not penetrate, of course, but it is a dangerous attack for those who can wield at least ST=11 spears doing 1d+1 damage according to Advanced Melee.

[Skarg]

Yes, armor is very effective against weak opponents.

However, not wearing armor is also very effective against people wearing armor. Someone at MA 6 from armor often can't catch someone with MA 10. Numerous goblins using bows could pepper the armored foes with arrows. Eventually they're liable to hit for double or triple damage.

You can also stay just out of engagement range and when you win initiative, see if you can move up to range 2 for a 2-hex jab with a 1d+1 spear, then declare you are running to claim an automatic initiative win next turn, so you can get away.

It's easier to get people in HTH when you have higher MA, too. You can try to pin them (see Advanced Melee (AM)). When they're down, the goblins can hit them with heavier weapons, such as:

Spears will do 2d+2 in a charge.

Even as beginning goblins or hobgoblins they could also have some ST 13 or 14 friends who even if they were clumsy, could be reserved for hitting armored foes who have been tackled in HTH so you get a +4 to hit and can run away before being engaged.

In you have AM (hopefully a new edition with slightly nerfed peculiar weapons), you can use nets and ropes to ensnare them.

And of course, if you have wizards, you can cast spells on them.