d20 combat

I've come to two conclusions as regards d20 combat:

- Straight combat on a featureless plain is deadly dull. This was the big mistake I made in the first week of the campaign (made worse by the fact that no-one could hit reliably, and when they did hit the bad guys needed exceptional luck to get past the PCs hardness), and also last week when I really botched the assault on the city.

- d20 combat needs the possibility that either side can win to be exciting. This links to what was mentioned before: if the NPCs can't realistically damage the PCs, there's no point in rolling the dice, unless some other factor is at work.

Fortunately, I have a few suggestions for how this can be improved.

Firstly, DMs should stop looking on combat as being the core of the game, or as being a convenient way to stretch out the game. It should be the most exciting part of the game, and that requires more than a little planning. For instance:

- Set the combat in an unusual battlefield. For instance, having the mecha dodging in and out of a planetary ring system was better than simply having the combat take place on a featureless plain, although it wasn't entirely successful.

- Exert an outside pressure on the combatants. For instance, the battle must be completed within a tight time deadline, or something bad happens. Or, some non-combatant must be protected or destroyed by one side. Or, the PCs won't have the chance to heal/repair after the combat is over.

- Ensure the bad guys make use of appropriate tactics. For instance, they should flank PCs where possible, or bull rush them into hazardous terrain features, or whatever.

- Reduce the number of combats found in the game, but increase the relative importance of each. So, when running through a dungeon, the PCs shouldn't have to fight their way through each room in turn. Instead, they should expect to find the denizens of the dungeon assembling a conherent strategy to repel them - fewer, more vicious combats.

Secondly, the enemy must be a credible threat.

- If the average AC in the group is 30, the average to-hit bonus of the villains should be at least +15, and probably closer to +20.

- If the PCs have hardness, or defences against particular attack forms, the villains should either be able to punch through these defences, or be able to bypass them. So, if the character has hardness 30, there's absolutely no point in the NPCs using a piercing attack that does 6d6 damage. Instead, it should do at least 9d6. Alternatively, they should use laser weaponry.

However...

While the DM is responsible for ensuring that the combats have meaning, and this requires ensuring the villains are at least meaningful, the DM is also not present to screw over players. What this means is that if a player goes out of his way to ensure his character has fire resistance 15, on the grounds that most of the opponents to date have used fire attacks, the DM shouldn't have those villains immediately switch to cold-based attacks. Instead, the player should be allowed to reap the benefits of his choice, at least for a while. This is particularly important if the character has had to give up some other option in order to get this additional defence.

As regards Mecha...

I think it is a weakness of the Mecha Crusade rules that mecha grant characters an AC bonus AND hardness AND additional hit points. Any two of these three would be enough. Were I running the campaign again, that would be the key modification that I would make.

This would also save me from constantly having to have the enemy develop "Advanced Targetting Systems" and "Advanced Weapon Systems" just to make them a credible threat.

Star Wars Starship Combat

The way I think Star Wars combat should work (at least on the starship scale) is basically the way that combat in Mecha Crusade is handled. Ships should provide characters with their own movement rate and weapons.

The Defense bonus should be 10 + (character's total Pilot skill) + (small equipment bonus for ship, based on maneuverability).

The ship should use the character's own hit points, possibly with a bonus for the vessel itself. (When a character gets out of the vessel, his hit points will return to normal - the reduction only matters if the character is reduced to 0 while in his ship)

Combat then works pretty much as normal.

So, consider two characters - Pilot1 and Luke. We'll say that Pilot1 is a 2nd level character with 12 hit points, BAB +2, Dex 16 and 5 ranks in Pliot. Luke, meanwhile, is 18th level, with BAB +17, 16 ranks in Pilot, 112 hit points, and Dex 15.

Let's assume that an X-Wing grants 20 hit points, energy resistance 15, no Defense bonus, and 4 lasers doing 8d6 damage each. An A-Wing would most likely not grant any additonal hit points, maybe energy resistance 10, a +4 defence bonus, and have 2 lasers each doing 4d6 damage.

So, in an X-Wing, Luke would have 4 lasers at +19/+14/+9/+4 to hit, each doing 8d6 damage. He would have 132 hit points, energy resistance 15, and defence 26.

In an A-Wing, Pilot1 has 2 lasers at +2 to hit, each doing 4d6 damage. He would have 12 hit points, energy resistance 10, and defence 19.

Clearly, this provides a huge benefit to high level characters, and also provides a huge benefit to those whyo max out their Pilot skill. However, I don't see a huge problem with this. It does fit with the feel of the movies, where only 3 characters ever survive an attack on their starship - Luke, Wedge and Darth Vader. The other pilots, being much lower level, die with a single hit - the result of massive damage against a low hit point total.

This system is extremely fragmented. It doesn't handle anything other than starfighters, doesn't deal with the effects of linking weapons (I suggest -2 to hit, + 1 dice of damage for dual-linked, -4/+2 for quad-linked), doesn't cover fighter wings, and doesn't deal with the question of why Luke doesn't just turn his ship around and take out Vader in the trench. So, more work would be required. Still, I think the core of the system is usable. Certainly, I think it's better than the mess that was in the first edition of the Star Wars d20 game. (I guess I really need to check out the revised version)