Learning combat

[johndallman]

There are, indeed, several things to think about. It is worth playing out some practice combats with your players, to get things grooved in a bit.

[Tinman]

I highly recommend both the GURPS GM screen & GURPS combat cards.
They have a lot of the information you'll want for combat. Combat options, maneuvers and modifiers. They really help a lot.

Yes, once you get the basic options down (it only takes using them a bit) combats become much faster. Also, you can layer on additional options like deceptive attacks, which help get around enemy defenses.

The combat cards are free & the screen only $6.00
http://www.warehouse23.com/products/...n-combat-cards
http://www.warehouse23.com/products/gurps-gms-screen-2

[mlangsdorf]

Originally Posted by Densar

I also thought about acrobatic dodge, but that seems more risky, since it can give a penalty. From looking online, though, it seems that the odds of rolling 13 or less on a 3d6 is 83%, which seems pretty good and high enough to warrant the risk...

With a base Dodge of 10, Retreating brings Dodge up to 13, a successful Acrobatic Dodge to 12, a Retreating Acrobatic Dodge is 15, and a failed Retreating Acrobatic Dodge is an 11. As long as a retreat is part of the acrobatic dodge, even a failed Acrobatics roll gives a better result than the basic Dodge.

Two knife fighters on an infinite white plain have almost no reason not to retreat, and as long as they're not suffering shock penalties, to not attempt acrobatic dodges. When you have to deal with terrain and multiple attackers, choosing how to allocate defenses and defense boosting options becomes much more complicated.

[Densar]

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

With a base Dodge of 10, Retreating brings Dodge up to 13, a successful Acrobatic Dodge to 12, a Retreating Acrobatic Dodge is 15, and a failed Retreating Acrobatic Dodge is an 11. As long as a retreat is part of the acrobatic dodge, even a failed Acrobatics roll gives a better result than the basic Dodge.

Two knife fighters on an infinite white plain have almost no reason not to retreat, and as long as they're not suffering shock penalties, to not attempt acrobatic dodges. When you have to deal with terrain and multiple attackers, choosing how to allocate defenses and defense boosting options becomes much more complicated.

You're right. Even with their dodge down (when they get very low on HP), it is still good odds that it will help. I find it a little weird that this is entirely based on the Acrobatic skill -- I would think that if the character is down to 1 HP, with lower move and speed and such, that doing acrobatics might become a bit of an issue, but as far as I can tell, this still works just as good as at full HP.

I'll redo my example with retreat and acrobatic dodge and use imp damage instead of cut and see how that goes.

[Densar]

I did a second version of my combat example, using retreat, impaling damage and acrobatic dodge.

According to the book, you can only do acrobatic dodge once per turn, so to defend against all-out attack, I guess I can only use acrobatic dodge for one of my two defenses (p.375 in Basic Set Campaigns)?