One of the particular rules from D&D 3rd edition that I really like is the attack of opportunity, which solves a lot of concerns about how to solve the issue of people drinking potions, casting spells, or using missile weapons in combat; and also enables the GM to penalize people who try to run away. Of course, in its direst incarnation it really slows the game down, since multiple people get multiple attempts at anyone who does anything not combative, but in essence I think it’s an excellent idea. I’ve adapted it for use in enhancing the effect of weapons with long reach, and I think it’s generally an excellent idea. I’ve noticed in reading the Warhammer 3 rulebook that there are hints that attempts to disengage from combat should incur some kind of penalty and risk provoking an attack, but there don’t appear to be any rules for it. So, in the interests of furthering the influence of D&D in the universe, I’ve come up with an action card for attacks of opportunity. The card is presented here, but here’s the outline idea:
- unlike in D&D, one person can only ever suffer one attack of opportunity, so the party chooses which person will do it, and then adds a fortune die if they outnumber their opponents
- you can’t do multiple attacks of opportunity in a round, which is handled by giving the card a recharge value
- it’s harder to hit with an attack of opportunity than an normal strike (+1 challenge die)
- if you get a bit lucky you should be able to escape the engagement without provoking an attack of opportunity, in order to pursue/reengage your opponent
- if you get really lucky, you prevent your opponent disengaging, but only if you’re in a reckless stance
So here are the card’s two faces, conservative:
Note that the damage is lower than for a normal melee strike, and there is a risk of fatigue, but no other serious effects. The reckless face:
My thinking here is that, if you really get lucky you can stop the enemy escaping. So if the person escaping is your target in the adventure, you choose your most reckless and skilled fighter, he or she loads up with fortune points, and you go all out to either stop the enemy getting out of the engagement, or at the very least the chosen attacker is likely to get out of the engagement as well.
I’m not sure if this card is relevant in one-on-one engagements, or even one-vs.-many. A few notes on the conditions:
- I have required weapon skill be trained for this action, in order to a) restrict the number of times it happens (since the downside of attacks of opportunity is that they really slow the game down, and prevent people being creative in combat or trying to escape) and b) reflect the fact that, actually, when you’re in the middle of a battle, taking time out to just whack a passer-by is not as easy as it looks
- The conditions also only allow the card to be used when someone is attempting to disengage from combat, so the card can’t be used against someone casting a spell or using a potion
- The conditions don’t state this, but if the target is taking advantage of a “disengage freely” outcome from another action, this card can’t be used
I’m going to translate this to Japanese and try using it in combat in my session this week. Comments would be appreciated…
August 30, 2010 at 7:27 am
Do you really mean “attempt to leave a disengagement”? Is disengagement a warhammer 3 term? Or do you mean “leave an engagement”?
August 30, 2010 at 8:01 am
pedant!
yes, it should be “leave an engagement.”
In warhammer 3 an engagement is a group of characters/npcs/monsters within striking range of each other. The game uses abstract distances, so you never get to the point of drawing out who is where in the engagement unless it is necessary for some terrain or other reason. I like the abstract distances in warhammer 3, and it’s nice to see a game that does what I do – completely ignores placement and miniatures rules.
August 30, 2010 at 9:54 am
My general thoughts on disengaging is that you need help from someone else, a distraction or terrain to really do it. Otherwise your attacker is just as likely to run you right into the ground. All it takes to keep them engaged is one determined opponent, although that opponents defenses are certainly lowered while they’re in pursuit.
August 30, 2010 at 10:10 am
I agree, and this card is basically useless in a one-on-one or one-on-many scenario; you disengage, and then your opponent can just close the range on you again. I think practically in warhammer this means you have to use a fatigue to catch up with your opponent, which seems reasonable (your opponent moved first). This card enables you to whack them instead of chasing them, but if you’re lucky you get to whack them and chase them; to do this, however, you need to be trained in weapon skill and you do risk a fatigue (or provoking an attack from their allies).
The main benefit of the card compared to say, just disengaging from the combat yourself, is that you get to whack the guy for free, and possibly also chase him, even when he’s surrounded by allies. I don’t in general like people to be able to disengage from combat for free but I like them to always have the choice, because swapping the risk of a single blow for the chance to escape seems like a good choice (whether or not it’s realistic). The way this works in warhammer 3 I think is, if they disengage successfully the GM makes up some terrain-based/ally-based explanation for their success; similarly if they get trapped in combat the GM makes an explanation for why.
Bear in mind that, as I’ve said previously, combat in Warhammer 3 is really nasty, with even large battles coming to their bloody conclusion in 3 or 4 rounds. Most beginning PCs are dead in 2-3 blows, and even if successful in combat are carrying significant wounds (my PCs are currently in this situation and aren’t happy about it!) So opting to suffer an extra blow in escaping is a big risk.
The other two benefits of having an opportunity attack in warhammer 3 are:
However, I don’t want to slow down combat the way sometimes happens in D&D3.5, where a single person can attract opportunity attacks from multiple people, for multiple reasons. Hence the recharge time on the card. Only one of my PCs has weapon skill trained, so he will be the only one who can use this card, which means that the party can only deliver an opportunity attack every other round (though actually, the soldier uses a spear, which is “fast,” so he will be able to use it every round; but that’s only because of his weapon choice). Even with his fast weapon, he can only do it once a round so, for example, if they ambush a party of NPCs with 2 spell-casters, one of those spell-casters will definitely be able to disengage for free; and if that spell-caster is nasty, then one of my PCs will have to risk this card to disengage and follow them.
The warhammer rules define an “engagement” in order to trap the PCs in combat, but they don’t appear to give any particular rules governing the entrapment process. So, unless one has a card like this, one has to make it up as one goes. Up until now I’ve just allowed anyone to use a basic attack, with an extra challenge die (the purple diamond in the corner). This card is an attempt to formalize that.
September 8, 2010 at 5:45 pm
[…] My opportunity attack action card worked, and I managed to get through one big battle, a small battle and the conclusion in one 4 hour session, which I think is okay – especially since a lot of faffing with decision-making, rules and interpretation is still going on. Having now spent 4 experience points by the beginning of this session, I was worried the PCs might not be getting challenged by the adventure any more, but this was not the case at all, and they came out of it very worried about their future. I suggested they could follow the beastmen to their lair and kill a wargor chieftain for treasure if they wanted, but they definitively declined the opportunity, on account of accrued damage. I don’t think this kind of decision would have been made in D&D – having a cleric in the group, they would naturally have decided to follow the beastmen the next day, after healing their wounds. […]
April 28, 2020 at 9:50 am
I really like this card and might lift it for my group. The free disengage just feels so wrong and has bothered me for years. There should be some risk vs reward for fleeing or getting out of range. Nice work!
April 28, 2020 at 7:26 pm
This card worked really well for me!