Telak vs. Zantar

Having now reached 12th level, there are obvious differences between Telak and Zantar. In combat, they seem to be equally effective. However, I think it would be interesting to look at the outcome in a one-on-one battle. Ideally, Telak should win quite handily, as the single-class Fighter should be the best combatant in the game. However, will this actually be the case?

Basic Attacks

Normally, Telak has an armour class of 28 (Full plate +3, Heavy shield +1, Amulet +2, Ring +2). He has three attacks, at +22/+17/+12, and does 1d8+12 damage per hit (+2d6 vs Evil). He crits on a 17+, for double damage. Telak has 122 hit points.

Zantar has an armour class of 27 (Breastplate +2, Heavy shield +2, Dex +2, Amulet +2, Ring +2). He has three attacks, at +20/+15/+10, and does 1d10+1d6+6 damage per hit. He crits on a 20, for triple damage. Zantar has 135 hit points.

This means that Telak does an average of 32.67 points of damage per round (Zantar isn't evil). Zantar, by contrast, does 18.48 points of damage per round. Therefore, Telak kills Zantar in 5 rounds. Zantar kills Telak in 7 rounds. So far, so good. (Note that if Zantar were evil, the battle becomes even more one-sided, with Telak killing Zantar in 3 rounds.)

Rage

Ah, but what if Zantar rages? Well, in this case, his armour class drops to 25, his attacks change to +23/+18/+13, damage to 1d10+1d6+9, and his hit points increase to 171. Since rage lasts 8 rounds, and the fight will be over in less than this, we don't need to worry about the consequences of it ending.

In this case, Telak now does 38.61 damage per round, killing Zantar in 5 rounds (54.99, or 4 rounds, if Zantar is evil). Zantar does 30.855 damage per round, killing Telak in 4 rounds.

Other Tactics

Of course, Zantar has now used his best weapon, so it's hardly surprising that this swings the fight. He can now add Power Attack, and switch to a two-handed axe grip, but otherwise, that's it. Telak's primary options at this point are much the same, but he can also use Combat Expertise if desired. If this can drag the fight out to more than 8 rounds, he's almost guaranteed to win.

Switching to a two-handed grip reduces Telak's AC to 25. His damage increases to 1d8+15 (+2d6). By contrast, Zantar's AC drops to 21 (in rage), and his damage increases to 1d10+1d6+12. Telak now hits on a 2!

Of course, you don't switch to a two-handed grip without also using Power Attack, for some serious damage benefits. A quick (okay, slow) analysis indicates that the optimum Power Attack value for Telak is 3, and for Zantar is 4. In this case, Telak does 55.08 damage per round, ending the fight in 4 rounds. Zantar does 55.44 damage per round, ending the fight in 3 rounds.

The other option is for Telak to fight fully defensively, increasing his armour class to 33. In this case, Telak reduces to 29.7 damage per round (and shouldn't use any Power Attack). Zantar drops to a mere 13.2 damage per round (and also shouldn't use Power Attack). In this case, Telak needs 6 rounds to kill Zantar, while Zantar needs 10 rounds to kill Telak (and since he must kill him in 8 rounds, or be effectively dead, he's stuck).

Of course, Zantar's best response to Telak going full defensive is to resume shield use, which changes things again. In this case, Telak drops to 17.82 hit points per round, while Zantar sits at 11.22. Telak now wins at the end of the 8th round, when Zantar comes out of rage, and drops dead.

Conclusion

None of this amounts to anything, except in this: the system mostly works. Telak vs. Zantar is a very intriguing match-up, and the results are almost exactly what would be expected. Since the Fighter is basically just a combatant, while the Barbarian has other advantages, you would expect the Fighter to come out on top. However, it's a very close thing, and could go either way. All of which is good - it requires the players involved to think, and not just rely on "I'll attack him again" as the limit of their tactical thinking.

Of course, I didn't take into account time taken switching weapons and stances. Neither character has Quick Draw, so switching from weapon-and-shield to two-handed takes time. Likewise, once a character has shed his shield, he effectivelly cannot get it back for the duration of the combat. So, if Telak can dupe Zantar into going two-handed, and then switch to full-defence himself...

Edit: Damnit! I forgot to include the Barbarian's damage reduction! Fortunately, I don't think it makes a huge difference to the results - Telak is probably better using Power Attack 4 instead of 3, but is still even better to use full Expertise anyway. The couter-balance to this is that Telak is not optimised to fight a non-Evil Zantar. Against Evil Zantar, the DR 2/- is more than countered with those extra +2d6 damage.