Player's Handbook Chapter 8

Now that we've got all that cumbersome 'character creation' stuff out of the way, let's get to everyone's favorite part of the game: Combat! This is a meaty chapter, with a bunch of new information that threw off 2e players, but it's a workable system (seeing as it's been in use now for a quarter-century with endless variants). Let's see what we have.

The chapter starts with what is basically a combat example using the characters from the NPC closeup archive that I mentioned in the Countdown articles: Tordek the dwarf fighter, Jozan the human cleric, Mialee the elf wizard, Lidda the halfling rogue. They're facing off against an equal number of orcs. The example runs through the various things characters can do in combat, and the elf nearly dies in the process. It's a quick fight that lasts four rounds and results in one surviving orc escaping as the party tends to the fallen elf. Pretty straightforward stuff.

There's a page that covers 'Combat Basics', explaining the different aspects of combat, including Initiative, AC, Spells, Movement, and everyone's favorite subject, Attacks of Opportunity. Oh, and there's a note that miniatures are a great idea (and available from WotC for affordable prices) for visualizing combat.

Next, we get definitions for the various combat statistics. These aren't that much different from what gamers were already used to; the main differences were Armor Class being ascending, and streamlined saving throws (three instead of five).

Initiative is next; I already mentioned that I don't like the 'one roll at the beginning of combat' idea, because it makes everything too predictable. Surprise is also covered, but it's not based on a surprise roll like it used to be; it's based on awareness, which may involve Listen and Spot checks (but might not; circumstances will dictate).

Actions in Combat is next; there are different types of actions depending on what you want to do (or what you're limited to doing based on your current condition). There are standard actions (move + act), full-round action (no movement in the round) move-equivalent (replaces your movement part of the round), free action (stuff that you can do while still doing other actions), and partial actions (standard action without the movement).

Next...we get to Attacks of Opportunity. I don't think there's been a more controversial topic from 3rd edition than this one; I've heard that it's killed entire campaigns due to players arguing for an hour or more about who gets the attack of opportunity against the other. And it's really not well-defined. Or rather, the definition is easy enough to understand, but implementing it...yikes. Basically, you have a 'threatened area' where if someone moves through it, you can automatically attack them in addition to whatever else you were doing in the round. This area is however long your melee attack reach might be. It also applies against you; if you are moving into or through a monster's threatened area, that monster can attack you. Most characters only get one such attack per round, but the Combat Reflexes feat allows for more. There are other ways to provoke an attack of opportunity, which are covered in the various combat actions descriptions throughout the rest of the chapter.

We then get a lengthy section on the different kinds of actions that can be taken in combat, including attacking, magic, movement, and miscellaneous. There's also a 'helpful' table that not only lists the possible actions and any movement allowed...but also a column for whether or not attacks of opportunity can be made in response to these actions. Four of them (unarmed attack, activate magic item, double move, and 'miscellaneous' actions) have 'Maybe' in that column. Well, that's useful.

I should note that the chapter is filled with illustrations that show how the different concepts work in the game. They are quite helpful, such as the picture showing ranged attacks and how they can be modified by cover or being in melee with another PC.

Full Attack is a new thing that deals with multiple attacks in a round, whether through high base attack bonus or by using a double weapon to its fullest capacity. Two-weapon fighting is a Full Attack action. I neglected to mention that as characters increase in level, their base attack bonus increases at varying rates depending on their class. Once they increase it by a factor of +5, they add an additional attack at +1 BAB (so a 6th-level fighter would have a BAB of +6/+1; a cleric or wizard would get the same benefit but at higher levels). At 20th level, a fighter (or barbarian, paladin or ranger) would have a BAB of +20/+15/+10/+5, meaning they can make four attacks in a single round using the Full Attack action. You are limited to a five-foot step for movement in any Full Attack action round.

Magic Actions are next, particularly spellcasting. There is a lot of detail on how to handle spellcasting in combat, which is a good thing considering how many more spells are likely to be flying around the battlefield in 3e than in previous editions. Spellcasting is a standard action, unless the spell's casting time says otherwise. This is much simpler than the old segmented casting time from 1st edition; everything can be cast in a very short amount of time, even high-level combat spells. A meteor swarm will take the same amount of time to cast as a magic missile. Beware high-level casters. That's always been good advice, of course, but now it's even more important.

It used to be that if you got hit while casting a spell, you automatically lost the spell. Now, you can make a special Concentration check to see if you can ignore whatever hit you or distracted you or whatever. Concentration is a skill, so your maximum ranks in the skill at 1st level is 4. It uses your Con bonus, so hopefully you've got that to help you. A Concentration check when struck during spellcasting has a DC of 10 + the damage you took. That can get nasty at high levels, so you'd better have a really good score.

Touch spells are discussed as well. The nice thing about touch spells is that you don't have to worry about the target's armor; the target gets no armor, shield, or natural armor bonus to their AC. If you're trying to touch a rogue, though, they still get their Dex bonus, as does anyone else. Still, it's a lot easier to touch a knight's plate mail armor than it is to get through it. The disadvantage to touch attacks is...well, you're trying to touch an opponent who is in combat and doesn't want you to touch them. Touch attacks don't invoke an attack of opportunity, but wizards should not be messing with melee anyway. Fortunately, there are also ranged touch attacks, such as ray spells.

Then we get to Miscellaneous actions, and there's another table listing a LOT of such actions and whether or not they provoke AoOs. And wouldn't you know it, we've got another 'maybe' and, even better, two 'usuallys' related to skill use. Why you are using a skill in combat is beyond me, but there it is. Fortunately, the rest of the list is unambiguous with 'yes' or 'no' answers for everything else.

Hit Points are next. This is pretty straightforward; if you're dropped to 0 hit points, you're disabled and restricted to partial actions. If you're between -1 and -9, you're dying and can't do anything except bleed and hope you stabilize (10% chance per round, otherwise you lose another hit point). At -10, you're dead, and all your friends can do is go through your pockets and look for loose change.

Okay, next up is Movement. And my, that is a very nice and useful picture that shows the different sizes in comparison. Ogres are aboutt wice the size of a human, and giants are twice that size (Huge). A purple worm is Gargantuan, and a big nasty dragon is Colossal. This is good to help visualize some of the creatures we can expect to encounter in the upcoming Monster Manual.

So, movement includes a few things such as Flanking, in which two or more characters can gain a bonus on their attack rolls (and rogues can sneak attack their targets) when in melee against the same opponent from opposite directions. Ganging Up is when up to eight opponents can attack at the same time. The best defense against that is to find an ally or a wall. Doorways are useful as well, since it not only reduces the number of attackers that can come at you, but also gives you one-half cover (and an AC bonus).

Combat modifiers include things such as cover, flanking, prone attacker or defender, invisible attack or defender, and grappling. Cover comes with a handy table and an illustration showing the different levels of cover and the bonuses the defender gets. Concealment isn't as good as cover, since you don't get an AC bonus, but you do get a miss chance, where the attacker has a chance of missing altogether even if they roll high enough to hit you.

Subdual damage is covered as well; basically, it's where you try to knock out instead of kill the opponent, and it's most often used for things like tavern brawls. Note that there's no mention of subduing dragons here; anything can be subdued, even a dragon, but good luck with these dragons. Subdual damage is tracked separately; it isn't 'real' damage, so you don't actually lose any hit points.

Striking an object has a comprehensive writeup as well, nearly a full page. Objects have a hardness rating, which reduces the damage they take from blows. Again, there are tables to help figure out how hard and tough an object is so players can bash away to their heart's content.

Bull rushes and disarming attacks get a quick mention, and then we get to the ultimate horror of any game's combat system: Grappling attacks. Actually, the 3e rules seem reasonably concise, which is a rarity when it comes to grappling systems in any RPG. Mounted Combat, Overrunning, and Tripping are also outlined. Note that many of these combat actions have an associated feat (Improved Trip, Improved Bull Rush, etc.) that eliminates the risk of triggering an attack of opportunity when you do them. Which means that if you don't have the feat, you will trigger an attack of opportunity when you attempt these actions in combat. You have been warned.

Finally, there's turning (and rebuking) undead. Clerics and paladins can do this; clerics get a special bonus to turning certain undead as a granted power if they choose the Sun domain. Basically, turning is a Charisma check. If Elvis Presley was a cleric, he'd have a very good turning check number. The type of undead you can turn (based on their hit dice) depends on your level; higher-level clerics and paladins will turn more powerful undead. If you're high enough level (double the undead's hit dice), you destroy it instead of turning it. Evil clerics can instead make undead tougher by bolstering them, or command them to obedience. Neutral clerics can go either way, but they have to choose it at character creation, and can't change it afterward.

Oh, I forgot about Unarmed Attacks. Unless you're a monk, don't bother; you won't do much damage, it's subdual, and you'll get pummeled by attacks of opportunity.

So, that's the brief overview of the combat chapter. We're motoring along here. Next up, Adventuring!