3.5-- Simpler, Better Combat (PEACH)

[Grod_The_Giant]

This is an updated collection of a handful of tweaks I've posted piecemeal over the years. It's not going to address melee-caster balance, but it should make mundane combat a bit faster and more effective.

Damage
"Normal damage" is the weapon damage die plus your Strength (if melee) or Dexterity (if ranged). Add 1/2 your strength again if the weapon is a two-handed melee weapon.

Move Actions

Charge
As a move action, you may move up to twice your normal speed in a straight line. If you do, you take a -2 penalty to attack and AC until the beginning of your next turn. You must make an attack or bull rush attempt at the end of a charge, or an overrun attempt during the charge.

Feint
Add your BAB to your Bluff check, and do not suffer a penalty against nonhumans. (With the Improved Feint feat, you may feint as a swift action)

Standard Actions

Aid Another
Roll against an AC of 10, as normal. If successful, when the aided ally attacks, he and each ally aiding him roll 1d20. He uses whichever result is highest, adding his own attack modifiers as if he had rolled that die for his normal attack.

Attack
When taking a standard action to attack, add your BAB to the damage roll. In addition, for every 5 points of BAB you possess, roll your weapon damage die an additional time. Thus, a 5th level fighter with 18 strength and a longsword would deal 2d8+9 damage.

Bull Rush
Does not provoke an attack of opportunity, and you are not knocked prone if you fail. If you charged, you get a +2 bonus to the strength check.

Disarm
Does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Your attack roll isn't modified by your weapon size (smaller weapons are more maneuverable-- speed verses power comes out as a wash). There is no retaliatory disarm attempt on a failure.

Multiattack
As a standard action, you may attempt to attack multiple targets within melee range. You may choose to attack any number of targets; however, all attacks you make take a penalty to attack and damage equal to the number of targets you attempted to attack. This penalty is halved if you are wielding a weapon in each hand.

Note the this is not a standard attack option, and so you do not add your BAB to damage.

Thus, Bob the fighter may attack 3 goblins, but he takes a - penalty to attack and damage on each attack, and he does not add his BAB to damage.


Grapple
Does not provoke an attack of opportunity.

Overrun
Does not provoke an attack of opportunity. You opponent cannot attempt to knock you prone if you fail to push past him.

Sunder
Does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Your attack roll isn't modified by your weapon size (smaller weapons are more maneuverable-- speed verses power comes out as a wash).

Trip
Does not provoke an attack of opportunity. There is no retaliatory trip attempt on a failure.

Total Defense
When attacked, roll d20+your armor modifiers, instead of having a static AC of 10+armor modifiers. If your roll is less than 11, add 10.

Two-Weapon Fighting
You may attack with a weapon in each hand as a standard action. Make two separate attacks, each at a -4 penalty (-2 if your weapons are light). On a hit, each attack deals normal damage, plus one-half your BAB.



Notes

Missing Full Attacks
Feats and abilities like Rapid Shot, which normally allow you to make extra attacks during a full attack, instead give the following option:


Extra Attack
You may make two attacks as a standard action, each at a -2 penalty. On a heat, each attack deals normal damage, plus one-half your BAB.


Feats and abilities like Whirlwind Attack, which normally allow you to attack a number of foes within reach, instead eliminate the normal penalty for multiattacking.

Improved _____ Feats
Improved Bull Rush, Disarm, and so on allow you to add one-half your BAB to any checks made during the maneuver. They have a new prerequisite of 2 BAB, but no longer require feats.

[Yakk]

Damage
"Normal damage" is the weapon damage die plus your Strength (if melee) or Dexterity (if ranged). Add 1/2 your strength again if the weapon is a two-handed melee weapon.

Probably too complex, but:

1 Handed melee: Str-to-hit, Str-to-damage
2 Handed melee: Str-to-hit, 3/2 Str-to-damage
1 Handed Finesse melee: Dex-to-hit, 1/2 Dex + 1/2 Str-to-damage
2 Handed Finesse melee: Dex-to-hit, Str + 1/2 Dex-to-damage
Light Thrown: Dex-to-hit, Dex-to-damage
Heavy Thrown: Str-to-hit, 1/2 Strength +1/2 Dex-to-damage
Projectile: Dex-to-hit, Dex + 1/2 Strength to damage (slings, bows)
Mechanical: Dex-to-hit, Dex to damage (crossbows). Some have a min strength bonus, and grant half that as a bonus to damage. If you are below that min strength bonus, you can spend extra rounds "cranking" it. Really high min strength bonus requires magic and/or a fixed mount crossbow.

(Design: Str-based melee is stronger, and Dex-based range. Getting 1/2x of two bonuses is worse than 1x one bonus, because cost to boost two stats is twice the cost to boost one. Str based range option is "Heavy Thrown", Dex based melee is "Finesse". Two-handed weapons get an extra half-stat-to-damage: half-dex for ranged, half-strength for melee.)

Move Actions

Charge
As a move action, you may move up to twice your normal speed in a straight line. If you do, you take a -2 penalty to attack and AC until the beginning of your next turn. You must make an attack or bull rush attempt at the end of a charge, or an overrun attempt during the charge.
By this, Charge attacks are less accurate than normal attacks (-2 to hit)?

Feint
Add your BAB to your Bluff check, and do not suffer a penalty against nonhumans. (With the Improved Feint feat, you may feint as a swift action)
I'd include the full rules.


Standard Actions

Aid Another
Roll against an AC of 10, as normal. If successful, when the aided ally attacks, he and each ally aiding him roll 1d20. He uses whichever result is highest, adding his own attack modifiers as if he had rolled that die for his normal attack.
At small scales, this is better: at larger scales, worse.

Attack
When taking a standard action to attack, add your BAB to the damage roll. In addition, for every 5 points of BAB you possess, roll your weapon damage die an additional time. Thus, a 5th level fighter with 18 strength and a longsword would deal 2d8+9 damage.
Large numbers of dice get exceedingly flat. Instead of +BAB/5[W]+BAB damage, why not just +BAB/2[W]?

With a d8 or d10 weapon, yours works out to +1.9 to +2.1 damage/BaB. Mine works out to +2.25 to +2.75 damage/BaB, but with less static bonuses.

Bull Rush
Does not provoke an attack of opportunity, and you are not knocked prone if you fail. If you charged, you get a +2 bonus to the strength check.
Does the -2 penalty from charging apply?

Multiattack
As a standard action, you may attempt to attack multiple targets within melee range. You may choose to attack any number of targets; however, all attacks you make take a penalty to attack and damage equal to the number of targets you attempted to attack. This penalty is halved if you are wielding a weapon in each hand.

Note the this is not a standard attack option, and so you do not add your BAB to damage.

Thus, Bob the fighter may attack 3 goblins, but he takes a - penalty to attack and damage on each attack, and he does not add his BAB to damage.

Reach weapon abuse could be an issue.

If you go with the above +[W] per 2 BaB, you could make Multiattack read "you can attack one extra target for every 2 BaB you possess".

You could also allow movement between your attacks, allowing a fighter to move through a horde of goblins and cleave many of them down dead.

If so, a possibly useful general rule is "you do not provoke AoO from targets you have hit after you hit them: the attack that does the hit can still provoke an AoO.", which makes the "run through a swarm of foes, striking each with your sword, to escape" an emergent property.

Similarly, if you want to retreat, you can wait until you get a blow that connects, then use that blow to clear your way to disengage...


Grapple
Does not provoke an attack of opportunity.
After all this, you leave the Grapple rules alone? That mess?

On top of everything, the Grapple rules as written do not allow you to grab ahold of a dragon, and have it take you aloft, as you cling to its back and hack away at it, and it claws back at you trying to knock you loose.

Any Grapple rules where the above is not the optional option is lacking in awesome.


Total Defense
When attacked, roll d20+your armor modifiers, instead of having a static AC of 10+armor modifiers. If your roll is less than 11, add 10.
This is equivalent to having a +1d10 bonus to AC against each attack. But more complex.


Two-Weapon Fighting
You may attack with a weapon in each hand as a standard action. Make two separate attacks, each at a -4 penalty (-2 if your weapons are light). On a hit, each attack deals normal damage, plus one-half your BAB.
No extra [W]?

I assume this is featless. What happens with a feat?

Notes

Missing Full Attacks
Feats and abilities like Rapid Shot, which normally allow you to make extra attacks during a full attack, instead give the following option:


Extra Attack
You may make two attacks as a standard action, each at a -2 penalty. On a heat, each attack deals normal damage, plus one-half your BAB.
No extra [W]?


Feats and abilities like Whirlwind Attack, which normally allow you to attack a number of foes within reach, instead eliminate the normal penalty for multiattacking.
How about Cleave?


Improved _____ Feats
Improved Bull Rush, Disarm, and so on allow you to add one-half your BAB to any checks made during the maneuver. They have a new prerequisite of 2 BAB, but no longer require feats.
That will quickly become "auto-hit", won't it?

I'd be tempted to keep the bonus-to-check under control, and instead give a bonus-to-effect?

Disarm is also problematic, in that it makes any weapon-dependent critter (such as PCs) sort of crippled with a single check. The weapon-dependent critters tend to be weaker than their peers, do we really need a strong ability that shuts them down?

[DMMike]

"Different" combat? For simpler combat, I'd expect it to look more like this:




Damage
"Normal damage" is the weapon damage die plus your Strength.

Move Actions

Charge
In the first round of combat, you get +2 attack if you take -2 AC for the rest of the round.

Feint
If you wait one round to attack, gain +2 to hit on your first attack next round.

Standard Actions

Aid Another
Removed.

Attack
Removed.

Bull Rush
Roll opposing Str checks. Loser get moved 5 feet.

Disarm
Called shot: take -4 to you attack. A hit doesn't deal damage, but make you opponent's weapon drop.

[I]Multiattack
Removed.

Grapple
Called shot. -4 to attack.

Overrun
See bull rush.

Sunder
Removed.

Trip
Called shot.

Total Defense
See rulebook.

Two-Weapon Fighting
Fighting with a second weapon adds half of that weapon's average damage, rounded up, to your primary weapon.

Notes

Missing Full Attacks
Removed.

Improved _____ Feats
Called shot, but -2 instead of -4.

[Yakk]

TWF: Roll two black and one red d20.

Use your attack bonus on your main hand for the red d20, and for your off hand for your black d20s.

You suffer a -2 penalty to your off hand attacks if the weapon isn't an off-hand weapon. This is eliminated by the TWF feat.

If one red and one black hits, you get a main-hand hit.
If two blacks hit, you get an off-hand hit.
If all three dice hit, both hands hit.
If only one die hits, your everything misses.

This results in more hits if your chance of hitting is >= 1/3, and less if your chance of hitting < 1/3. Your main hand hits up to twice as often as your off-hand.

If you choose to target two different opponents, you can attack with each hand without penalty.