Topic: Combat Rundown

Hi there!

I fairly new to the rpg hobby and I am really liking the old-school LotFP-approach. But although the rules are really light, I am a bit overwhelmed by the combat rules or rather the resolution of a combat. So I have some questions for you!

1. The bit in the rulebook about "attacking from behind" states that there is a attack bonus when the victim is unaware of the attacker. So when someone is clearly attacked from behind but also is aware that there is a person potentially attacking him, there is no bonus?

2. A magic-user and a fighter stand ca. 10' apart and the fighter is attacking him, can the magic-user cast a spell on him without getting interrupted or something? Doesn't a spell take a whole round?

3. Ok, the big one: Say I have a party of adventurers (1 missile fighter, 1 melée fighter, 1 magic-user) having a hostile encounter with two bandits, I roll surprise, then distance. Say no surprises and distance 60'. Then initiative is rolled (d6 vs d6) and the party wins. Assuming that's right, what next? Can someone give me a short simple rundown of the first couple of rounds, with movement, missile, melee and magic order?

Re: Combat Rundown

1. I think you are correct, I can't find anything that says differently. However, you can decide to give a rear attack a bonus if you think it's fitting for the situation.

2. M-U declares spell, fighter makes attack roll. If fighter misses, then the spell succeeds at the end of the round. If the M-U takes damage from the attack, the spell is interrupted (and lost).

3. People handle this in different ways. Here's what I do:

M-U declares which spell they are casting.
Bandits "declare" spells if one or both happen to be M-U.

Missile fighter makes attack.
Bandits who are using missile weapons (and did not declare a spell) make attacks.

Melee fighter makes attack.
Bandits (who have not done anything yet) now make melee attacks.

M-U spell goes off, assuming they took no damage.
Bandit spell goes off, assuming they took no damage.

I'm pretty loose if players want to move in or out of melee, for example, someone can run up and engage in melee, while another stays put and shoots with a gun, staying at ranged distance. Of course, the one who ran up will most likely be attacked by the enemy.

Re: Combat Rundown

Thank you very much! That helped me quite a bit.

Crunk Posby wrote:

2. M-U declares spell, fighter makes attack roll. If fighter misses, then the spell succeeds at the end of the round. If the M-U takes damage from the attack, the spell is interrupted (and lost).

So, when I have, for example, 3 level-1 characters that gang up on a powerful wizard, they have a good chance to down him, without him getting off a spell?

Re: Combat Rundown

Ulukai wrote:

Thank you very much! That helped me quite a bit.

Crunk Posby wrote:

2. M-U declares spell, fighter makes attack roll. If fighter misses, then the spell succeeds at the end of the round. If the M-U takes damage from the attack, the spell is interrupted (and lost).

So, when I have, for example, 3 level-1 characters that gang up on a powerful wizard, they have a good chance to down him, without him getting off a spell?

Check out the rules on bottom of page 57 and top of 58: it's done a bit differently than I've described. Instantaneous or permanent spells take effect right away, so depending on the spell, you may have them declare it first, but then cast it either during the melee or ranged portion of the turn if they haven't been hit yet.

This allows M-U to get a spell off if they win initiative and cast something like, say, Death Spell on a character during the ranged attack phase.

So, to revise my earlier response:

M-U declare spells.

Instantaneous and permanent spells with range occur in initiative order during the ranged portion of combat.

Instantaneous and permanent spells with a touch requirement occur in initiative order during the melee portion of combat.

Then all other spells take effect.

Re: Combat Rundown

Ah, ok. That makes sense! I think I get a handle on things wink . Thanks!

Re: Combat Rundown

Crunk Posby did say this is how he handles combat, but just bear in mind that (rules as written) there is no "ranged portion of combat" or "melee portion of combat" in LotFP. All characters act on their initiative, whether they are firing a bow or swinging an axe.

Last edited by UncaringCosmos (2017-10-18 23:14:58)