Sunday, January 5, 2014

Combat in Empire of the Petal Throne

Art by Dave Sutherland

As might be expected, combat in Empire of the Petal Throne is handled much like combat in Dungeons & Dragons.  For a character to successfully strike an opponent, the player must roll a certain number or higher on a d20.  The specific number is found by consulting a table that indexes the attacker's experience level against the defender's “armour class.”  Non-human attackers instead consult a table that indexes hit dice against the defender's armour class.

Also like D&D, armour class in EotPT is descending; lower numbers represent a greater amount of protection.  Whereas armor class in D&D ranges from 9 (no armor) to 2 (plate armor & shield), in EotPT it ranges from 9 (no armour) to 1 (plate armour and shield of iron/steel).  On the world of Tékumel, iron is scarce; as a substitute, Chlén-hide is used.  A Chlén is “a great, slow moving hippopotamus like animal.”  The tanners' clan is able to alter Chlén-hide so that it is “harder than bronze but slightly softer than iron.”  Weapons and armour made of iron are rare; also, they are heavier and more expensive than their Chlén-hide counterparts.  In fact, metal items are not presented on the equipment list.  So, in EotPT, armour class 2 represents “Plate armour and shield of Chlén-hide.”  Armour classes 9 through 3 are the same in both systems.  Other than armour class 1, all references to plate armour, chainmail, and shields on the EotPT table presumably refer to Chlén-hide.  One could assume that metal items have the next 'better' armour class yet the rules do not state this.  In EotPT, magic armour does not improve armour class, instead it increases the “to hit” number by an amount equal to the bonus.

The chance of a successful hit by an EotPT character is usually slightly less than that of his D&D counterpart.  For example, a first level D&D character needs a result of ten or greater in order to hit an armor class 9 defender, but an EotPT character needs an eleven.

In D&D, the columns of the 'Attack Matrix' represent six 'steps' of three levels each:  levels 1-3, levels 4-6, levels 7-9, levels 10-12, levels 13-15, and levels “16 & +.”  The structure of the EotPT table is the same except the last column is “13-up.”  In D&D, the stated levels are for Fighting-Men; Clerics have 'steps' of four levels and Magic-Users have 'steps' of five.   So, for instance, a tenth level Cleric would use the “7-9” column while a tenth level Magic-User would use the “4-6” column.  In EotPT, the 'steps' are the same for all three professions; a fourth level Magic User has the same “to hit” number as a fourth level Warrior and a seventh level Priest has the same chance of success as a seventh level Warrior.

Priests and Magic Users have restrictions with regard to armour and/or weapons but it is still counter-intuitive that they should fight with the same expertise as Warriors.  As mentioned previously, Warriors have various weapon skills available to them.  Weapon skills are not among those available to Magic Users and Priests, yet those professions are capable of using (some) weapons.  This would seem to suggest that a Warrior's weapon skills allow for greater proficiency than someone without such skills; the rules, however, provide no enlightenment.

Rolling a “natural 20” when attacking means that damage is doubled.  (Damage bonuses are not doubled, however.)  Additionally, the d20 is rolled again.  If the second roll results in 19 or 20, “the opponent is instantly dead, whatever his hit dice may be.”

Sufficiently high scores in the 'talents' of Strength, Intelligence, Constitution, and Dexterity can provide bonuses to hit and damage.  Likewise, sufficiently low scores impose minuses.  None of the talents affect armour class.  Although Dexterity is described (in part) as “one's ability to parry blows,” the rules do not explain how this is accomplished.

Most weapons inflict 1d6 damage; however, “daggers, thrown rocks, and miscellaneous light missiles” cause 1d4 damage.  Some weapons – “battleaxes, flails, morning stars, maces, halberds, poleaxes, and pikes” – inflict 1d6+1 damage, but have a Strength requirement of at least 81.  “The great two-handed broadsword favoured by the barbarians of N'lýss” causes 1d6+2 damage, but it requires a Strength of at least 90 and – of course – cannot be used in conjunction with a shield.

As they advance in level, characters can inflict multiple dice of damage upon opponents (depending upon the hit dice of said opponents).  For instance, a fourth level Warrior rolls two dice of damage against opponents with one hit die; a sixth level Warrior rolls three dice of damage against opponents with one hit die and two damage dice against opponents with three hit dice.  The following table conveys the same information as the EotPT chart, albeit with a different presentation.

Table shows number of d6 to be rolled for damage

Warriors are better than the other professions in this regard; for damage increase purposes, Priests are treated as one level less and Magic Users are treated as two levels less.  If a character is combating several opponents equivalent to one another, damage in excess of what was needed to kill one opponent is automatically applied to another.  In this way, several opponents may be slain with one attack.

A character using a broadsword and a dagger “can strike two blows per combat round.”  (Presumably, one attack per weapon.)  For these attacks, the die result needed to hit is increased by one.

A character may attempt a “physical action” instead of 'attacking' a foe.  Attempting to 'capture' an opponent (instead of inflicting damage) is an example of a “physical action.”  Such an action requires a percentile dice roll; if the result of the roll is less than the average of the character's Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence, the action is successful.  If the result “is within 20 points of its maximum,” the victim should be allowed a saving throw against paralysis.

9 comments:

  1. I think that the scaling damage is a great idea, and it always surprises me how that never really seemed to catch on in other games. Having never actually read Ept, would it be remiss of me to ask you to provide the damage scaling table, or a concise reproduction?

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    1. At your suggestion, I have included a table in the post.

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  2. If i read your post correctly, would it be accurate to surmise EoPT was the first rpg to posit grappling rules that do not suck/require 2 tables? Score one for EoPT!

    -Prince

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    1. EotPT actually predates the DMG by four years. Evidently, Gary didn't think that Barker's solution was 'realistic' enough.

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    2. This system does look like it would save butloads of time(this is a good thing!), compared to the nine step program required for AD&D 1e, and the vagueness of grappling rules in EoPT should allow for a lot of leeway, which i can only endorse. I don't know what it is with RPG's and grappling rules, but somehow, no matter what the system, there are always some grievous flaws associated with them. Even Rules Cyclopedia, which to my mind has the finest grappling rules in all of DnD land, fails to take into account strength, allowing a paraplegic nine year old girl the same chance of pinning a burly peasant as the burly peasant has of pinning the nine year old. 3.5's treatment was alright, if a bit heavy on the modifiers.

      One possible drawback to the EoPT method is that this approach would pose serious drawbacks in a game like AD&D, where monsters on the whole, do not have stats. Is this true for EoPT also?

      Best,
      PrinceofNothing.

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    3. Barker did not provide EotPT monsters with stats. (Presumably, stats for intelligent creatures can be generated just as if they were PCs.) However, I would not bother generating 'physical action' scores for monsters; I would have PCs make all 'physical action' rolls. For instance, if you want to avoid being grappled, you would have to roll under your 'physical action' score. Modifiers may be appropriate if there is a difference of hit dice between the combatants.

      You no longer need to fear nine-year old paraplegic girls. The Rules Cyclopedia (pg. 112) states that a character's Strength modifier is factored into 'Wrestling Rating'. Of course, should you encounter a high-level nine-year old paraplegic girl, you may want to keep your distance.

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  3. I do agree with all the ideas you have presented in your post. Theyre really convincing and will certainly work. Still, the posts are too short for beginners.Top Ten Web Hosting Reviews

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    Replies
    1. Too short?

      Dang, I thought size didn't matter.

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    2. You should have taken lessons from the master Perdustin, but your posts are just too short for beginners. Helen hits it right on the spot. Your ideas will "work" but they are just too short, though they are convincing. It is like that scene in Total Recall where Douglas Quaid has to remove a tracker from his nose and gets through airport(marsport? Mars does not technically have air, though it has a very low density atmosphere) security with an explosive middle aged lady mask. Your 'ideas', represented in this example as the tracker, are too short, but they 'work', and Helen agrees with all of them(her agreement representing the exploding woman face foiling the security guards, or maybe that scene with the cab driver and the drill-tank). In fact, she personally guarantees they 'work', indicated by use of the word 'certainly,' which in Total Recall, a superb Paul Verhoeven adaptation of the short story We Can Remember it for You Wholesale by Philip K Dick that sublimely captures the essence of many of his earlier works, if not the content, represents the single scene where Quaid questions whether his life is real or hallucination.

      Helen, you are obviously a knowledgable Empire of the Petal Throne Scholar and OSR buff, perhaps you alone will appreciate the fine craftsmanship that went into this post from a scholar in the genre whose vast insight and boundless wisdom exceeds even that of yourself. I absolutely one hundred percent guarantee that these posts are not too short for beginners(or anyone).
      http://tao-dnd.blogspot.nl/2011/12/how-to-dungeon-master-10000-word-post.html

      -Prince

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