Combat in Crowfield

When I think of the ideal D&D combat, I think of the iconic sword fight between Inigo Montoya and the Dread Pirate Roberts in The Princess Bride. (In a close second place is the street brawl between Nada and Frank in John Carpenter’s They Live, but that’s another story for another day.)

Just in case you want a refresher:

This is what I think we should be trying to emulate.

How long is a combat round?

1 minute.

In the Wizards of the Coast editions of D&D, a combat round is 6 seconds. That means that the sword fight above lasts for 30 combat rounds.

From memory, can you list 30 interesting things that happened in that fight?

Neither can I.

In all the TSR editions, a combat round lasts 1 minute. By that reckoning, Inigo and Roberts have a fight that lasts for three rounds. Without thinking too hard, I can easily list the top three points of that fight:

1. “I’m not left handed!”
2. “I’m not left handed, either!”
3. “Kill me quickly.”

The important takeaway is that a combat round is not a single exchange of blows. Rather, the combat roll represents the totality of actions taken over a minute. And this makes sense when you think about the word “round.” A real-world boxing round lasts between one to three minutes (depending on the “level” of the fighters), and you fully expect each fighter to throw more than one punch during the round.

Why does every weapon do 1d6 damage?

To be technical, even attacking with no weapon does 1d6.

As we pointed out above, a successful attack roll does not represent a single blow but a full minute’s worth of actions. Furthermore, as the next question will point out, “damage” doesn’t (necessarily) represent physical injury. In a real fight there are very many factors to consider, but doing so would drag down the game into a never ending series of charts and tables. So we abstract it.

In essence, seeing that the normal human has 1d6 hit points, we’re saying that a successful attack roll is about enough to kill the average person. The only question the damage roll is answering is “did it?”

What do hit points represent?

Just like people seem to think that a combat round represents a single blow, they also seem to think that hit points are the measure of how much physical injury someone can withstand. This is not the case. Instead, they are an overall measure of a character’s fighting ability and adventuring skill. Consider the following:

It is quite unreasonable to assume that as a character gains levels of ability in his or her class that a corresponding gain in actual ability to sustain physical damage takes place. It is preposterous to state such an assumption … Why then the increase in hit points? Because these reflect both the actual physical ability of the character to withstand damage — as indicated by constitution bonuses — and a commensurate increase in such areas as skill in combat and similar life-or-death situations…

–E. Gary Gygax. “Damage” in AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide, p82. TSR, 1979.

Thus when someone gets “hit” they are not necessarily taking a physical blow. Indeed, it might be something as simple as being forced to give up favorable footing or some such. Consider again the fight between Inigo and the Dread Pirate:

• Round 1: Inigo scorse a minor “hit”–the Dread Pirate is forced to retreat a little. But then the Dread Pirate scores a hit and does a lot of damage–Inigo isn’t injured but he’s forced back to the edge of the ruin’s wall and forced to switch hands.
• Round 2: The Dread Pirate misses completely and spends the whole round retreating from Inigo. Clearly Inigo scores a “hit,” but the hit and the damage aren’t physical, they’re positional. Roberts is forced against the tower’s crumbling wall and must switch hands.
• Round 3: This time Inigo misses completely, and Roberts hits. The damage is massive, but again not a physical injury. Instead Roberts disarms Inigo.

If “damage” isn’t physical, why does it need to be healed?

The easiest explanation is loss of confidence, being “shaken” by a close call, etc. This is even shown in the movie! Even though he wasn’t (severely) injured physically, after the battle Inigo is so shaken that he quits fighting and turns to the bottle. Defeated, he isn’t the man he was before.

What about initiative? and
Why should I buy a sword if a dagger does the same damage?

Initiative is the term used to determine who attacks first. I don’t think it’s the right term to describe that, but it’s well established in the game.

People who think that there needs to be initiative are falling into the “a combat round is a single blow” trap. Remember that the die roll for the round represents all the activity over a full minute. There is no “single blow” to go first. Everyone is acting at the same time.

The original (1974) game didn’t have initiative. Everyone just attacked and did damage.

But players want initiative, and they want weapon choices to matter, so…

You should use a sword because it gives you reach and the character with the higher reach goes first. In fact, we’ll modify the Judge’s Guild rule:

Combat Speed = (Dex Bonus + Weapon Factor) - Armor Penalty

(Higher Speed attacks first)

Weapon Factor	Attack
1	Read Scroll
2	Unarmed attack, Spell (Level 10 - 12)
3	Short Weapon: Dagger, Hand Axe, Mace
4	Medium Weapon: Sword. Hammer, Battle Axe
5	Long Weapon Morning Star, Flail, Spear, Pole Axe, Halberd, Two-Handed Sword
6	Very Long weapon: Mounted Lance
7	Spell (Level 6 - 9)
8	Extreme Weapon: Pike
9	Missile Fire
10	Spell (Level 1 - 5)
11	Breath Weapon
12	Gaze: medusa, basilisk, etc.

Armor Penalty	Attack
1	Leather
2	Chain
3	Plate

Note: Armor penalty does not apply if you are proficient in that armor.

Do NPCs/monsters always fight to the death?

No!

Monsters and NPCs (including those hired by the party members) are subject to morale checks.  A failed morale check will lead to fleeing or surrender.

In fact, this is how the fight in The Princess Bride ends.  Inigo isn't killed – he's just disarmed.  He could have tried to pick up his sword, or to jump the Dread Pirate unarmed.  Instead, he fails his morale check and surrenders.

Should I retreat?

That's up to you, but you'll live longer if you do!

There will be combats where you're in over your head. I do not give monsters a free attack if you decide to high-tail it out of there. Some won't even chase you, though some might. But even then you have a chance of outrunning them!

Can I surrender?

That's between you and the monster, but many intelligent monsters will accept your surrender. Some will want treasure to let you go. If you do not have it, they might hold you for ransom and the party can free you in the future. Or they may put you to work as a slave, and maybe someday you can escape.

Or maybe your rescue will be next week's adventure!

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That’s all!

That’s it for this week. Sorry if this reads as if it was rushed. My first draft was lost when my editing software crashed because it didn’t like the embedded YouTube video.

I’m also sorry that there was no post last week. For those that don’t know, I work two jobs. Sometimes the schedule falls such that I work 12 eight-hour days in a row. Last week it so happened that I was in a stretch of 19 work days in a row, so I wasn’t up to writing.

Anyway, I look forward to hearing your comments about combat.

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Edit 27 Jul 20: Fixed typos submitted by Zomus.  Added morale, retreat, surrender questions.