Actions in Combat

Combat Actions

In a combat round, characters can perform a wide variety of actions. Every possible action, however, can be categorized in one of the five types of actions that can be performed during combat, which all have a chance of failure. The five possible actions are: move, attack, cast a spell, use an ability, use an item.

Movement in Combat

All combatants can move ten times their movement value in feet during a single round.

Combatants engaged in melee will turn to face their opponents if possible. Combatants can block the movement of their targets if they both share the same movement type (someone fighting on the ground cannot block the movement of a flying creature). Combatants cannot move through opponents unless they are able to push or knock them aside.

Retreat

There are two methods for retreating from combat; a careful withdrawal or haphazard fleeing.

Withdraw: A character can carefully withdraw from an opponent that he is fighting in melee, while moving his full movement value in tens of feet.

Flee: Fleeing means that a character drops all defenses to move as far away as possible. A fleeing character moves at his full, normal movement value in tens of yards. When a character flees, all adjacent enemies can make as many melee attacks as they have in a given round against that fleeing character. These attacks do not count against their normal limit per round and are made the instant their opponent turns to flee.

Attack

The act of attempting to strike a target, whether it’s with a weapon or just tossing them an object to catch is considered an attack. To make an attack your character must be capable of hitting his opponent (this means striking distance with most melee weapons). The target’s AC is subtracted from your character’s THACO (giving a modified THACO). Then a d20 is rolled. Add or subtract all attack roll modifiers from the d20 roll, including those from Str and Dex. If the modified d20 roll is equal to or greater than the modified THACO, the attack hits and damage is rolled.

There are two main types of attacks: melee and ranged.

For special combat maneuvers, see Combat Maneuvers.

Facing and Space

All combatants are assumed to have a front, flank, and rear. Up to eight attackers of equal size to the defender can attack. For each size category larger than the defender, the attacker takes up one extra space. For each size category smaller than the defender, the attacker takes up half the space.

Additional attackers fill up the front, flank, and rear in that order. New attackers cannot attack a defender who’s completely surrounded. When fighting multiple opponents, the defender can switch his facing once per round as they choose. Defenders cannot choose to face opponents they’re unaware of.

Characters attacked from the rear lose their dexterity bonus to AC and the attacker gains a +2 bonus to attack.

Cast a Spell

Casting a spell adds to the caster’s initiative, delaying his action. If the casting time of a spell is less than 1 round (represented by a simple number in the casting time) then that number is added to the caster’s initiative. Spell casters begin casting before initiative is rolled and resolve on the caster’s modified initiative (or at the end of the round or turn as the case may be for longer spells).

Casters cannot move while casting spells and lose their dexterity bonus to AC, if any. If a caster takes damage or fails a saving throw while casting a spell, his concentration is ruined causing the spell to fail and that casting to be wiped from his mind.

For more details on magic, see Magic Overview.

Use an Ability

A character or monster may perform one class or racial ability each round. Some abilities, like spells, take more than one round to complete. Some monsters can perform more than one ability per round. Ability may involve movement, but in most cases the movement will not exceed the normal movement rate. Otherwise, the Dungeon Master retains discretion as to whether any ability use involves movement.

Use an Item

An item that is carried and readied can be used. The most common actions in this category are using or activating a magic item or piece of equipment. Such actions include, but are not limited to, drinking a potion, using a wand, casting a spell from a scroll, or casting a grappling hook. In most cases, no movement will be involved or allowed when using an item. Readying an item is not difficult, as long as it is easily accessed. Usually, the item must be on a belt or hanging from a pack, and readying it should not take more than a few seconds. Whereas, if an item is in a backpack, it would take at least a round to take off the pack, dig through it, and retrieve the item. The Dungeon Master and players must use common sense in deciding whether an item is readily available. In some cases, the Dungeon Master may require the players to indicate on their character sheets which items are readily available or how and where an item is being carried.