Post/Author/DateTime	Post
+10 holy club 09-28-04, 04:31 PM	Two things you must know befor you read any farther. 1: I am not opposed current D&D, nor any good simpler variants. 2: Yes, D&D does have some tactics in it, but admit it, its more chance then strategy. Basicly, If you have any variants,new rules,etc that would make combat in D&D take a little more thinking, this is the thread to post them on. I don't have any ideas, but the rule I like to use to test if a game takes some strategy is this: 1: Can you split the enemy in half, then concentrate all your forces on one half? (1 of the 13 rules/guidleines of war). This tactic a allows a inferior force to isloate and destroy part sof a superior force. 2: Can you use a distraction in the east to allow a sneak attack in the west? The rest of the 13 rules of war are in a book (forget name) somwhere...
Stuntman 09-28-04, 05:12 PM	2: Yes, D&D does have some tactics in it, but admit it, its more chance then strategy. I don't agree with this. I've seen enough good tactics and bad tactics to know strategy does play a part in how well an encounter goes. Basicly, If you have any variants,new rules,etc that would make combat in D&D take a little more thinking, this is the thread to post them on. Check out the Unearthed Arcana. I know it includes some additional rules like facing. 1: Can you split the enemy in half, then concentrate all your forces on one half? (1 of the 13 rules/guidleines of war). This tactic a allows a inferior force to isloate and destroy part sof a superior force. Try a wall spell. 2: Can you use a distraction in the east to allow a sneak attack in the west? This sounds like large scale battle rules to me. In a small battle with a party, I'd go with using feint. That allows you sneak attack if you are a rogue. I take it that sneak attack means something different than the rogue ability. What exactly do you mean by it? Cause the unit to be flat-footed? The rest of the 13 rules of war are in a book (forget name) somwhere... Art of War?
Kilamar 09-28-04, 05:45 PM	1: Can you split the enemy in half, then concentrate all your forces on one half? (1 of the 13 rules/guidleines of war). This tactic a allows a inferior force to isloate and destroy part sof a superior force. Works perfectly in D&D. In my opinion you can apply most small unit tactics to D&D. The system is already THAT detailed. If you add more detail it becomes a War Game and there are already much better ones out there (Advanced Squad Leader,...). Kilamar
blackprinceofmuncie 09-28-04, 05:56 PM	D&D isn't reality. There are plenty of strategy/tactics options available within the rules of the game. The disconnect is that something that might be good strategy IRL isn't necessarily translated well into the game mechanics. A good, knowledgeable DM can take tactics not covered directly by the rules and give them weight if that's the kind of game he wants to run, but it does take some work (and trust on the player's part). If you really want to cut down on the randomness of D&D, one thing you can do it substitute a 3d6 roll for all 1d20 rolls. This makes rolling average MUCH more likely, which makes a characters modifiers a lot more significant. For example, A character with a +5 attack bonus has a 5% chance of rolling an 8 (3+5), a 15 (10+5) and a 23 (18+5) with a d20 roll, the same character using 3d6 has only a 0.5% chance of rolling an 8 or a 23 and a 12.5% chance or rolling a 15. This means that small differences in abilities translate into much bigger differences in outcome.