Combat Rules (D&D)

Unofficial rules compendium

Flanking

Group Flanking

When an creature is flanked, all enemies striking that target get the flanking bonus, not just the those causing the creature to be flanked.

Flanking Oversize Opponents

When you are occupying the same square as another creature that is sufficently larger than yourself so that you can do so legally, you get some bonuses to flanking. As long as the creature is in the strike zone of any other creature, you count as flanking. Your presence does not let other creatures flank your opponent, unless they are also occupying the same space as the enemy.

Dodge

Out of Turn Dodge

Any time you are about to be attacked, you can give up your next turn to gain the bonus for full defense (usually a +4 dodge bonus to your AC). You must be able to apply your Dexterity bonus to AC against the attack (so you can't use it when flat-footed, for instance), and you declare this before the attack roll is made. Your initiative does not change; you simply do not take an action on your next turn. You gain this dodge bonus until the next time your initiative comes up.

When your next turn comes up, you can make a move action and a swift action, but no standard action and not a full-round action.

This rule gives a character the option of defending himself, providing an additional element to combat tactics. It also provides adventurers with additional tactical options, such as a "wolf pack" tactic: When a group attacks a single target, whoever the target retaliates against uses the out-of-turn dodge to aid his AC, while each of the others attacks the opponent on his or her turn.

Critical Hits

Extended Range of Creatures

Everything in the game takes critical strikes - including objects. This means that Sneak Attack is more efficient than usual. The only things that protect are fortification (which stops both critical hits and sneak attack) and concealment and incorporeality miss chance (which only protects from sneak attacks).

As many creatures now do not ignore critical hits, powers and spells that emulate the abilities of such creatures no longer ignore critical hits either.

Improved Critical Feat

The Improved Critical feat stacks with other effects that improve the crit range of a weapon, but other such effects do not stack with each other.

Death

It is generally harder to die than normal.

• A failed death save does not kill you; it merely reduces you to -10 hit points.
• A player character dies when negative hit points exceed one-half your normal hit point capacity or -10, whichever is better.
• NPCs die when the DM says they die. This means they usually do die unless measures are taken to save them. Maltreating a fallen body is only a cause for alignment change.

Size in Combat

Size and Space

Two hostile creatures can occupy the same space if they are at least two size categories apart or if either of them is tiny or smaller. It is also possible to occupy the same space as a hostile creature that is prone.

Overrun

A larger creature can freely enter the space of smaller creatures. This triggers an attack of opportunity as normal, but does not cost any extra movement. If you are in an illegal position at the end of the larger creature's movement (which generally means that the larger creature is only one size category larger), you have the option to either fall prone or to move to the closest legitimate space. If several spaces are equidistant, you select which one to move to. You cannot move further than your base speed this way; if there is no legitimate space within this distance, you instead fall prone. This movement does not trigger any attacks of opportunity, but is affected by terrain.

Size and Grappling

The normal grappling rules give the wrong sort of benefits to large creatures. While large creatures should be pretty much immune to the grapple attempts of smaller creatures, they should not be as able to maintain a grapple as they are now.

Grapple Rolls

Grapple checks do not use the values given in the monster blocks or calculated in the normal fashion. Instead each creature uses the attack bonus of whatever attack caused the grapple for grapple checks, and defenders always use their best attack bonus. Add any grapple-specific modifiers to this.

Once a grapple is underway, only weapons you're allowed to use in the grapple can be used as the basis of the grapple check.

Grapple Results

While large creatures do not get any benefit on grapple rolls for size (actually getting the size attack penalty instead) larger size offers significant advantages once you have been grappled. A larger creature is hardly inconvenienced at all by having smaller creatures in grapple.

Same Size or Smaller

The standard effects of grappling apply, namely:

• No Threatened Squares: You don’t threaten any squares while grappling.
• No Dexterity Bonus: You lose your Dexterity bonus to AC (if you have one) against opponents you aren’t grappling. (You can still use it against opponents you are grappling.)
• No Movement: You can’t move normally while grappling. If grappling an opponent of the same size, you may make an opposed grapple check to move at half speed.
• Action Restrictions: Your choice of actions is severely limited. When you are grappling an opponent of the same size category or larger (regardless of who started the grapple), you can perform any of the following actions. Some of these actions take the place of an attack (rather than being a standard action or a move action). If your base attack bonus allows you multiple attacks, you can attempt one of these actions in place of each of your attacks, but at successively lower base attack bonuses.
  • Activate a Magic Item You can activate a magic item, as long as the item doesn’t require spell completion activation. You don’t need to make a grapple check to activate the item.
  • Attack Your Opponent You can make an attack with an unarmed strike, natural weapon, or light weapon against another character you are grappling. You take a -4 penalty on such attacks. You can’t attack with two weapons while grappling, even if both are light weapons.
  • Cast a Spell You can attempt to cast a spell while grappling or even while pinned (see below), provided its casting time is no more than 1 standard action, it has no somatic component, and you have in hand any material components or focuses you might need. Any spell that requires precise and careful action is impossible to cast while grappling or being pinned. If the spell is one that you can cast while grappling, you must make a Concentration check (DC 20 + spell level) or lose the spell. You don’t have to make a successful grapple check to cast the spell.
  • Damage Your Opponent While grappling, you can deal damage to your opponent equivalent to an unarmed strike. Make an opposed grapple check in place of an attack. If you win, you deal damage as normal for your unarmed strike (Normally nonlethal damage: 1d3 points for Medium attackers or 1d2 points for Small attackers, plus Strength modifiers. If you want to deal lethal damage, you take a -4 penalty on your grapple check.)
  • Draw a Light Weapon You can draw a light weapon as a move action with a successful grapple check.
  • Escape from Grapple You can escape a grapple by winning an opposed grapple check in place of making an attack. You can make an Escape Artist check in place of your grapple check if you so desire, but this requires a standard action. If more than one opponent is grappling you, your grapple check result has to beat all their individual check results to escape. (Opponents don’t have to try to hold you if they don’t want to.) If you escape, you finish the action by moving into any space adjacent to your opponent(s).
  • Retrieve a Spell Component You can produce a spell component from your pouch while grappling by using a full-round action. Doing so does not require a successful grapple check.
  • Pin Your Opponent You can hold your opponent immobile for 1 round by winning an opposed grapple check (made in place of an attack). Once you have an opponent pinned, you have a few options available to you (see below).
    • You can attempt to damage your opponent with an opposed grapple check, you can attempt to use your opponent’s weapon against him, or you can attempt to move the grapple (all described above). At your option, you can prevent a pinned opponent from speaking.
    • You can use a disarm action to remove or grab away a well secured object worn by a pinned opponent, but he gets a +4 bonus on his roll to resist your attempt.
    • You may voluntarily release a pinned character as a free action; if you do so, you are no longer considered to be grappling that character (and vice versa).
    • You can’t draw or use a weapon (against the pinned character or any other character), escape another’s grapple, retrieve a spell component, pin another character, or break another’s pin while you are pinning an opponent.
  • Break Another’s Pin If you are grappling an opponent who has another character pinned, you can make an opposed grapple check in place of an attack. If you win, you break the hold that the opponent has over the other character. The character is still grappling, but is no longer pinned.
  • Use Opponent’s Weapon If your opponent is holding a light weapon, you can use it to attack him. Make an opposed grapple check (in place of an attack). If you win, make an attack roll with the weapon with a -4 penalty (doing this doesn’t require another action). You don’t gain possession of the weapon by performing this action.

Larger

None of the above effects; you are hardly considered to be grappling at all. You can act normally, with these additional options and consequences.

• Ignore opponent If you do not attack a smaller creature you are grappling for one round (including grapple attacks and pin attempts), that creature has the option to automatically escape the grapple as an immediate action at the end of your turn.
• Move Freely If you move, any smaller creature in grapple with you also moves.
• Grapple for Damage You can damage your opponent by grappling, you deal damage equivalent to an unarmed strike or natural attack. Make an opposed grapple check in place of an attack. If you win, you deal damage as normal for your unarmed strike.
• Escape from Grapple You can escape a grapple by winning an opposed grapple check in place of making an attack. You can make an Escape Artist check in place of your grapple check if you so desire, but this requires a standard action. If more than one opponent is grappling you, your grapple check result has to beat all their individual check results to escape. (Opponents don’t have to try to hold you if they don’t want to.) If you escape, you finish the action by moving into any space adjacent to your opponent(s).
• Pin Your Opponent You can hold your opponent immobile for 1 round by winning an opposed grapple check (made in place of an attack). Once you have an opponent pinned, you have a few options available to you (see below).
  • You can attempt to damage your opponent with an opposed grapple check, (described above). At your option, you can prevent a pinned opponent from speaking.
  • You can use a disarm action to remove or grab away a well secured object worn by a pinned opponent, but he gets a +4 bonus on his roll to resist your attempt.
  • You may voluntarily release a pinned character as a free action; if you do so, you are no longer considered to be grappling that character (and vice versa).
  • You can’t draw or use a weapon (against the pinned character or any other character), escape another’s grapple, retrieve a spell component, pin another character, or break another’s pin while you are pinning an opponent.

Size and Range

The range increment of ranged weapons are affected by a character's size. The given range of each weapon is for a Small or Medium-size character. The following table give range multipliers for characters of different size.

Size Code	Range Multiple
Fine	x1/4
Diminutive	x1/3
Tiny	x1/2
Small	x1
Medium	x1
Large	x2
Huge	x3
Gargantuan	x4
Colossal	x6

First Combat Round

If both sides are aware of each other at the start of a combat, neither side is flat-footed. The mutual flatfootedness that is the default only applies when two sides encounter each other without being prepared, such as after opening a dungeon door.

You can take a full rounds worth of action in a surprise round. This is not so much a rule as a retraction of a rule.

Concealment

Concealment miss chance does not prevent accuracy-based damage like sneak attack.

Being Prone

A character that is prone is considered to be in difficult ground and moves at half speed, provoking attacks of opportunity just like regular movement does. This is not cumulative with other difficult ground. It is not possible to take a 5-ft.-step in this situation, but it is possible to withdraw. Tumble works normally.

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