User:Spazalicious Chaos/The Book of Frenzied Warfare (3.5e Sourcebook)/Introduction
Reccomended Variants
Some of these variants are highly effective in this system, and are recommended to be implemented upon adopting of this combat system:
- Alternative Iterative Attacks (3.5e Variant Rule)
- User:SpazaliciousChaos/Wounds and Armor Reconsidered (3.5e Variant Rule)
- Taking Stock (3.5e Variant Rule)
- Races of War (3.5e Sourcebook)/Advanced Combat
- The Book of Splendid Performance (3.5e Sourcebook)
- Dungeonomicon (3.5e Sourcebook)
- Tome of Fiends (3.5e Sourcebook)
Granted, a lot of the above links are for flavor and are really recommended for anyone who even touches the dice of this game called D&D. But for this book specifically, there some issues you need outside homebrew to resolve:
- Iterative Attacks need work, more specifically the penalties on extra attacks. A third attack at +1 is useless as it is in D&D for the levels it is gained at, and a lethal flaw in this system. Links 1 and 4 recommended.
- Hit Points are dumb, at least as they currently stand. First off, a critical hit is not scary starting at 5th level, and a weak ability to gain more of them by 8th-10th doesn't help. Link 2 recommended.
- Actions and maneuvers are not comprehensive enough. This book is all about those, but there are some bleedingly obvious ones that don't exist. Links 3, 4, and 5 recommended.
Description
Describe your actions. Please. It makes combat way more interesting and not boring to listen to. "I hit him with my greatsword" could never compare to "I slash at him with my greatsword, screaming for blood", "I lunge at him with my greatsword, letting my blade spark on the ground as it slashes upward", or "White sparks screaming from my blade as it drags from the ground to my foe's ribs, I cry out, "DIE, GODS DAMN IT!", as my greatsword swings into a masterful uppercut intended to separate chest from stomach".
Here's some incentive: the more described your actions, the better your bonus. With the above examples, the sucky base description deserves a -1. Really, it is that dull. It should be the first "something better" that serves as the baseline. A better description uses the surrounding environment like the second "something better" did, netting a +1. Awesome descriptions like the third one can net anywhere from a +2 to a +5, but should always be put to vote by comment. As a rule, add +1 for every person at the table that says something along the lines of "dude, that is awesome." Include outside observers.
How to End Spaces
This is possibly the most annoying remnant of war gaming left in D&D. The world is not made of squares and hexes, it is way cooler than that. Fortunately, there exists a simple way to end that: draw to scale. You know that 1 inch= 5 feet, right? So draw tactical maps, areas of effect, etc. to that scale. Creature still take up the same space, and the irregular natural features of reality are more present. Movement is also measured in this scale, and can be represented in many ways better by a piece of string showing where you move. Same deal with ranged attacks. Effects that weird up movement fraction it still, but now you can have movement rates that resul in the actual fraction ratios instead of weird, uneven 5 foot breaks. It makes combat movement make way more sense.
