This is my inaugural post on this blog. I'll keep it brief today and save the at-length introduction for another time. Inspiration struck before planning.
What is Tac n' Slash and why should you care?
Tac n’ Slash will be a series of articles laying out variant/house rules to facilitate a “tactical” combat style for OSR games. Eventually, I might collect them in some kind of tiny booklet. They will, of course, go through playtesting, get report-backs on how well they work at the table, and get patched, or pitched, accordingly.
I say it's for OSR games, which should be generally true. My personal target system is Old School Essentials, and that's where the playtesting will happen. Why OSE? Because I just think it's neat. It's also the one that most of my friends enjoy, and as any GM knows, you don't have a game if you don't have a group. I'm interested to see how these house rules might play out in other systems, retroclones or otherwise, but I doubt I'll test them extensively outside OSE.
But first, what do I mean by tactical?
For me, it means first and foremost that the choices available to a player once a combat encounter has begun matter significantly to the PCs’ chance of success. Note the emphasis: while character build choices are important, the goal is to give PCs options in the moment of combat. Arguably the more “tactical” aspects introduced by AD&D (weapon mastery, etc.) have more to do with the choices made in a character’s build than the choices made in a combat encounter. For this series, I want to keep the focus on combat tactics.
I intend this series to be almost entirely modular; one part of it can be implemented independently of others. This will not always be true, but it’s a design goal I want to stay in the neighborhood of.
The first two Tac n’ Slash house rules are an overhaul to the action economy (more radical and potentially imbalancing), a variant of speed factor initiative (Speed Dice Initiative), and a suggestion for variable monster hit dice.
1. Two-Action Turns
In combat, initiative is individually determined for each character in the scene (see Individual Initiative optional rule).
PCs can take up to two Actions on their turn. Actions are defined as:
- The same implicit definition in the game: anything (besides movement) which consumes a turn at the expense of other actions, such as attacking with a weapon, casting a spell, or other actions: drinking a potion, interacting with the environment in another way.
- Moving the same distance normally allowed on your turn. All restrictions normally present are still there, and apply to each move as it begins; if a character makes one move in melee, they must follow those restrictions. If they then make a second move that begins outside melee, they can make that move freely.
Only one spell can be cast on a turn. Other actions can be repeated on the same turn. On a single turn, a PC could move and attack, attack twice, move twice, move and cast a spell, attack and cast a spell, etc.
You can always choose to take only one action on a turn instead of two. Talking, in or out of character, is not an action, it's free.
Anything that affects the number of actions or attacks possible in a round now affects the number of actions or attacks possible in an action. For example, the Haste spell enables two attacks per action.
Monsters take their turns as normal. This includes their standard movement and all attacks they can take on a single turn.
1A. Two-Action Monster Turns
Forget the last part of what you just read (monsters take their turns as normal). If you want to live dangerously, you can allow certain monsters to take two-action turns and mix up their action routines as well.
Monsters eligible to take two-action turns are those with more than one attack or action option defined in their stat block. For these monsters, each attack/action option counts as an action, as does the monster's move. It can take any two actions each round, but can not repeat the same move, attack, or other action twice in a round, unlike PCs.
Monsters that make multiple attacks per turn (separated by commas in a standard stat block) still treat this attack routine as a single-action unit. Only different options (separated by an "or") count as separate action options.
For example, a red dragon has:
Att: [2 x claw (1d8), 1 x bite (4d8) or breath].
For the dragon, each of its attack choices costs 1 action, and moving costs 1 action. It could move and make its melee attacks, move and use its breath, or make its melee attacks and use its breath.
Humanoid NPCs and player-character-like humanoid monsters could be allowed to move or attack twice on a round. Which monsters can do this is at the GM's discretion. Suggestions:
- "Monsters" or characters with class levels, such as other adventurers.
- Monsters that use human-sized weapons and armor, and are intelligent (e.g. hobgoblins, but not skeletons).
What are the effects of a two-action turn in play? Player characters are deadlier than before, as even a humble mage can thwack their enemies with a staff twice per turn. However, a commitment to all-out offense comes with drawbacks, sacrificing the chance to move or take other actions. See? Already, some tactics. With the two-action monster turn variant in play, this also means players have to plan around their opponents having similar capabilities. This will get more significant with the addition of later Tac n' Slash house rules. Speaking of which:
2. Speed Dice Initiative
This is a variant of Speed Factor Initiative. As above, it requires that initiative is determined individually (see Individual Initiative optional rule).
Combat Sequence Per Round
1. Declare actions (up to two if using Two-Action Turns).
2. PCs roll the Speed Dice for each action and total them to find your Initiative.
3. Characters take turns in ascending order (1 is faster than 2, etc.) until all have taken a turn.
Speed Dice of different sizes are associated with each type of action:
- Move: 1d8 with standard move speed. Faster (longer distance): 1d6. Slower (shorter distance): 1d10 (e.g. encumbered).
- Attack: Equal to the weapon's base damage die.
- Two-weapon fighting: roll once for each weapon, keep the lowest.
- Magic weapons: subtract 1 for each +1 to their damage roll. A sword +2 would roll 1d8-2 (minimum 1).
- Bare hands: 1d4.
- Cast a Spell: 5 + the spell's level (don't roll). This applies to any means of spellcasting (magic user spells, use of a scroll, wand, etc.).
- Other Action: 1d8. Faster (e.g. Haste spell): 1d6 to 1d4. Slower (e.g. Slow spell): 1d10 to 1d12. Multiple sources of slowness or speed increment the die by multiple steps up/down from 1d8.
The total of all dice rolled for declared actions on a turn is your Initiative. It has a minimum of 1. Smaller numbers are faster, and take turns earlier in the round.
Characters in the scene take turns starting from the lowest initiative and moving to the highest initiative. The round ends once all characters have taken a turn.
In case of ties, characters with higher HD/Level take their turn first. If ties remain, PCs take turns before monsters/NPCs. Further ties between PCs are resolved by their players, and further ties between monsters/NPCs by the GM.
When a PC's turn begins, they can only take actions that are still possible with the current configuration of characters on the battlefield. For example, if a PC declared two attacks on their turn, but the only monster in range left their 5' attack range, they could not make the attacks.
Mounts share a turn with their riders (not vice versa).
Monster Initiative is static. Monsters take their turns on the initiative count equal to the maximum die roll on their hit die. Most monsters use 1d8, taking their turns on initiative count 8. Monsters with 1/2 hit dice roll 1d4 for HP, and take their turns on initiative count 4. Monsters with 0 hit dice and a fixed amount of HP take their turns on the initiative count equal to their HP.
Monsters that always win initiative rolls (such as Pit Vipers) take their turn before initiative count 1. Monsters that always lose initiative rolls (such as Zombies) take their turns after the last other character or monster has taken a turn. Monsters with modifications to their initiative (such as Wood Golems) treat the modifier as if it was inverted (subtract a positive modifier, add a negative modifier).
Suggested format for monster initiative in stat blocks: IN X, placed between Saves (SV) and Morale (ML).
2A. Monster Speed Dice with Two-Action Monster Turns (Variant)
When using both rule 1A. Two-Action Monster Turns and rule 2. Speed Dice Initiative, you might allow certain monsters to roll speed dice each turn for their initiative number. Generally, the same monsters that can take two-action turns can roll speed dice if they so choose.
Monsters that roll speed dice follow the same rules as PCs that roll speed dice. The GM must declare their actions at the start of a round, the same as PCs. If using rule 2C. Changing Declared Actions, monsters can also change their actions, and must reroll and add the result, the same as PCs.
If their damage is assigned by weapon, they use their damage dice as speed dice, as PCs do. Otherwise (such as with natural weapons like claws and teeth), they roll their hit die for attacks' speed dice rather than using the weapon damage dice.
This accounts for monsters with very large damage dice or multi-attack combos, which would normally take their turns last. They are proficient enough with their bodies and with large weapons made to match their size not to be slowed excessively by them.
2B. Monster Quick Actions with Two-Action Monster Turns (Variant)
This is a simplified version of the above, which applies to the same monsters.
In this variant, monsters still have static initiative. The GM declares their actions, the same as PCs. If they take two actions, they use the maximum result of their hit die as their initiative, as in the base rule 2. If they take only one action, their initiative is half that (4 for a monster with 1d8 hit dice that would normally act on initiative count 8, etc.).
2C. Changing Declared Actions (Optional)
PCs can change their declared actions during the round, but before their turn starts. If this happens, the PC rolls the speed dice for all new actions they intend to take, and adds the result to their initiative, taking their turn on the new total. This represents the moment of hesitation that affects the character as they change their plans.
For example, a PC declares that they intend to move (1d8, rolled 5) and attack (sword: 1d8, rolled 2), and have a final initiative of 7. After a monster takes their turn, this PC realizes that a first-level spell scroll they carry might be particularly effective in this scenario. They change their plan to move and cast a spell. Because they are still moving, there's no need to reroll the 1d8 for movement. They add 6 to their initiative (5+1 for a first-level spell), and have a new initiative of 13. They will then take their turn on initiative count 13 in the same round.
This rule is a little more lenient on player actions that are made impossible by movement and/or their targets dying off, punishing it by delaying their turn, rather than robbing them of an action entirely.
3. Variable Monster Hit Dice
This is a corollary to the way static monster initiative works in rule 2. Speed Dice Initiative. It's meant to introduce more variety into the enemy turn order when used alongside speed dice initiative. It's hardly "my" house rule, and there are plenty of variants of it out there, but I'm going to number it for consistency. Here's my plan for my home games:
Monster hit dice are based on the monster's size:
- Small: 1d6 hit dice. Dwarves, halflings, gnomes, goblins, and smaller.
- Medium: 1d8 hit dice. Humans, elves, orcs, hobgoblins, and similar.
- Large: 1d10 hit dice. Apes, bugbears, rideable animals, and larger.
Exceptionally small creatures (pixies, etc.) can use 1d4 hit dice and exceptionally large ones (giants, etc.) can use 1d12 hit dice. I prefer not using these and sticking to the three sizes initially used by AD&D monster entries.
Why only three sizes? When using them in conjunction with the speed dice initiative rule above, it means that at initiative count 6, 8, and 10, most creatures will be taking their turns in the middle of the initiative order, which means it's still an open question whether they can be beaten be most PCs. If I extend it to 4 and 12, tiny creatures with initiative 4 will almost always go before PCs, and and giant ones with 12 almost always after. If this sounds appealing, use it! I prefer the variability in turn order (and slightly less variability in HP).
Why use static initiative for monsters?
First, it's work-saving on the GM's part. Re-rolling initiative for every creature every round is impractical. But more importantly, it is predictable, "open" information for PCs.
When two numbers are compared to each other in an RPG context, only one or the other needs to be randomized. PCs' turn order is randomized by the speed dice, so there's no need to randomize the monsters' initiative. I think letting it be fixed works better, because:
1. It gives players a "target" to beat. If they know most monsters in a scene will take their turn on initiative count 8, they can consciously plan to beat initiative count 8 with their own action (if necessary). This isn't "metagaming" or putting rules before fiction, to me; it's like observing how fast your enemy swings a sword and trying to bring up your parry faster. It's natural, dramatic, and just works.
2. It clusters monsters' turns together. In an encounter with a large group of the same type of monster, this almost works like side-based initiative. If you beat them to it, you can prepare for the onslaught; if you don't, you have to face the horde. Whether a given PC moves before the attacking group is a more urgent question than whether a given PC moves before a given monster.
3. It draws attention to the exceptions. A monster that's slightly faster than others is more noticeable when most other monsters take their turns on the same initiative count. This goes hand-in-hand with the below:
4. Initiative count 8 is kind of the perfect place for monsters to take their turns, in that it's slightly faster than the "average" expected PC turn. Here are some likely PC turns and their average initiatives:
- Move (1d8, avg. 4.5) and attack (1d4 to 1d12; assume a sword: 1d8, avg. 4.5). Average initiative 9.
- Move (1d8, avg. 4.5) and any other action (1d8, avg. 4.5). Average initiative 9.
- Attack twice (assume 1d8, avg. 4.5). Average initiative 9.
- Move (1d8, avg. 4.5) and cast a spell (assume 1st level: 6). Average initiative 10.5.
- Cast a spell only (assume 1st level: 6). Average initiative 6.
Putting it all Together
Let's look at some effects of using these rules in conjunction.
1. "Lighter" weapons strike faster. Because a weapon's speed die is tied to its damage die, less-damaging weapons like daggers (1d4) and hand axes (1d6) are more likely to get damage in before a monster's turn, preventing it entirely if you land a kill. Wielding or even switching to a lighter weapon is a legitimate tactical choice that players will have to weigh. Attacking more slowly but dealing more damage with heavy weapons like a two-handed sword or a polearm are the other side of that trade-off.
2. The choice between one and two actions is a simple "light/heavy attack" system. Should you attack twice to maximize your damage, at the risk of taking some yourself, or a potentially valuable quarry getting away? Or, should you attack only once for a better chance to beat your opponent to the punch?
These are really the same choice expressed two different ways (a trade-off between damage and speed). One is more on the "strategic" scale, the way I've been using the term, while the second is more on the "tactical" scale.
3. Movement matters more. This one is particular to rule 1A., the two-action monster turn variant. If a monster has the choice of either attacking with two different attack routines (such as a vampire with Att: 1 x touch (1d10 + energy drain) or 1 x gaze (charm)), it can opt to do both in the same turn at the cost of movement. If it does, PCs that move before the monster could move out of range of one or more of these attacks. It's a simple "dodge" system: just don't be there to get hit!
On its own, these two house rules and the variants that come with them hardly turn old-school D&D combat into a detailed tactical system, but it's a start that I hope to playtest and expand on. I have big plans for more drastic overhauls of the combat system ahead (automatic hits! damage-reducing armor! reactions! a new weapon chart!), but they'll rest on this foundation, while hopefully standing on their own as well.
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