Examples of 4e Combat

[mook]

Originally Posted by Daverius

Good call. Sorry about that. BTW your website is really cool.

Thanks for saying so, glad you like it - no 'sorry' needed, I'd rather have folks err on the side of pointing out something they think is wrong and being mistaken than not mentioning something because they don't want to be wrong.

Originally Posted by griffin

This is a great idea. I'd be most interested in cinematic combat examples. Whenever GURPS Action! gets written, I'd like to see it contain a few good cinematic combat examples - one fantasy, one modern/supernatural, and at least one SF.

The scope of the examples will, at a glacial pace, be expanding - I think the most basic mundane situations are ... well, certainly not "covered", but at least solidly begun so that I can start adding some new situations.

[The Bearded One]

My example is finally finished and emailed to themook. The humans were just in over their heads, and the mage was slower than I thought he'd be. Unless a spell is at skill 20+, there is still one full second of concentration to prep and the next action to "fire" the spell.

IE: Mage turn one, Concentrate to prep spell.
Mage turn two, Concentrate to spend FP and make the roll for spell success.
Mage turn three, Concentrate on prep for next spell.
Mage turn four, Concentrate, spend FP, roll.
Repeat for all non-Blocking spells.

Did I get this wrong? That's how I read the first two paragraphs of pM7.

-- The Bearded One

[mlangsdorf]

Check the last paragraph on p7, "Time Required"

You roll for the spell at the end of the active part of your turn. A 1 second spell takes 1 second to cast.

So if the wizard wants to set everything on fire, the sequence is:

Turn 1: Concentrate on Create Fire. Roll dice, spend fatigue. Things are on fire.
Turn 2: Concentrate on Fireball. Decide to make it big.
Turn 3: Concentrate on Fireball. Roll dice, spend fatigue.
Turn 4: Aim fireball.
Turn 5: Throw fireball.

An enemy archer cannot disrupt the casting of Create Fire without taking a Wait maneuver. He can disrupt the Fireball by attacking in between the wizard's Turn 2 and Turn 3, and spoil the wizard's aim by attacking in between the wizard's Turn 4 and Turn 5.

[The Bearded One]

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

Check the last paragraph on p7, "Time Required"
Turn 1: Concentrate on Create Fire. Roll dice, spend fatigue. Things are on fire.

Cr@p on a stick! Somehow I missed that last paragraph. I'll have to redo the magic part of the example completely since I treated 1 second spells as if they took 2 seconds each. No wonder that mage seemed incompetant.

-- The Bearded One

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Ranged #1

Spear: 1d+3 imp; Acc: 2; Range: 14/21; RoF: 1; Shots: T(1); ST: 9; Bulk: -6 (4 lbs.) [snip]

TURN THREE [snip]

Zach Red HP: 14
Maneuver: All-Out Attack (Determined) (Arthur)

Rolls 3d6 against his effective Thrown Weapon (Spear) skill of 13 (+1 for All-Out Attack (Determined), +2 for Accuracy, -6 for 20 yard range) and gets 12 - a possible hit. [snip]

Since he didn't specify a Hit Location, the attack defaults to the Torso (B369). Zach rolls 1d+3 for damage and gets a total of 6.

Zach's damage should be halved in the example above, as Arthur is only barely within his max range.

[The Bearded One]

In the newest example, Melee #4, we find this paragraph at the end of Turn 5:

As this is a Major Wound (more than 1/2 HP injury from a single blow), Zach must check for Knockdown and Stunning (B420). He rolls 3d6 against his effective HT of 15 (+3 for High Pain Threshold) and gets 13 - he suffers no penalty beyond ordinary shock.

Since Zach has High Pain Threshold, the last part should say something closer to " - he suffers no further penalty." No shock applies to him.

-- The Bearded One

[mlangsdorf]

In Example #4, one of the characters has Fast-Draw (Axe/Mace), which isn't a legal specialty of Fast-Draw. He doesn't use it, so it doesn't matter, but it should be removed.

[mook]

Ranged Four, Turn Six

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

In the above passage, Arthur's effective skill would be 10 rather than 12 if his base skill is 22 and he was at a total of -12 in penalties. He should be at a total of -14 in penalties for effective skill 8, however, because Zach was crippled in the leg and knocked down prone in Round 5. This would turn Arthur's hit in Round 6 into a miss with a roll of 11.

Ranged One, Turn Three

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

Zach's damage should be halved in the example above, as Arthur is only barely within his max range.

Melee Four, Turn Five

Originally Posted by The Bearded One

In the newest example, Melee #4, we find this paragraph at the end of Turn 5:

Since Zach has High Pain Threshold, the last part should say something closer to " - he suffers no further penalty." No shock applies to him.

Melee Four

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

In Example #4, one of the characters has Fast-Draw (Axe/Mace), which isn't a legal specialty of Fast-Draw. He doesn't use it, so it doesn't matter, but it should be removed.

All fixed - thanks for the corrections folks! (The online examples have been fixed, I haven't redone the PDFs yet.)

[pecete]

Not sure about this, but in melee 4 turn 2 Zach Red tries to parry the shield rush of Arthur Green, my question is is the slam atack of AG considered a Heavy weapon for parry purpouses(B376)? Zach is using all his mase and velocity for the attack. In case it is zach should have doned a feverish dogde and retreat as I see.

[Ragitsu]

Examples of combat sound great. Now, if you can get narrative to accompany the mechanics, it will be even better.