I ran a google search and a search here but did not come up with exactly what I was looking for and am apologizing in advance if this has been gone over before.
I’m running a homebrew game for my husband and daughters so I’m learning as I go. Neither my girls or myself have played before and my husband played 2e “way back in the day”. I thought this would be a fun way to spend time together and make a great gift for my husband for Father’s Day. I’ve read the core books and watched a lot of YouTube videos on “how to”. We had a session zero and ran our first game session this last weekend. It went pretty well overall and they all had a good time.
This weekend I’m planning on having them enter a mostly dwarf village where they need to interact with several characters in order to advance the plot. One of the characters they will encounter is a seasoned dwarf fighter who is in charge of the village watch and is a veteran. This dwarf will aid the PC’s to a greater extent if my husband’s character, Hector (human fighter), can put up a good fight against him and show he’s up to the task that lays before him.
I made a lvl 1 character sheet for the dwarf as, I assume, this keeps the fight more evenly matched. What I want to do is have a scenario where the dwarf and Hector face off wearing their armor but use wooden practice weapons since this isn’t a death match. I don’t know if I should run as usual on damage or maybe halve it since it isn’t blows won’t be as bad? I wanted to add a part near the middle where it gets down to fists, using the guide of -1 HP per hit and stop the fight when one or the other reaches half health.
Is there something dictating damage for wooden weapons? Any advice on how to handle the conflict? Also, what would be a fair XP reward?
One option would be to run it as normal combat but when one party reaches zero, you return them to one hitpoint, having them collapse and remain conscious. It's particularly tricky with level one characters because they're VERY squishy and if either combatant has good modifiers to throw into the mix the combat may hardly last any time at all. It also sounds like it's requiring you to stat this seasoned veteran as a level one character which might not be quite the impression you want if he hits the ground too quickly.
Others may have systems they use for practice fights. I'd recommend being careful with the fists part in the middle, depending on how you intend to present it. For example, if the dwarf puts down his weapon and opens a challenge to a fist fight, that could work. If a hand of the DM intervenes and both combatants lose their weapons without a say, that might not be such a fun experience.
I'd say if you best the NPC, you get the same XP you would for killing him. There are good examples in the some of the adventures for differences between "partially defeat the monster" and "kill the monster" but when we're talking about the amount of XP you get against a level one character, I'd award at least that much. I'd probably also stat the wooden sword as a club with 1d4 bludgeoning.
If I may, I would make the encounter a little more open than you've described it. Instead of requiring your husband's character to fight, allow anyone to fight the veteran. The scenario will probably go the way you envisioned it with your husband's character involved, but it's better to not be "locked in."
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C. Foster Payne
"If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around."
Thank you. That gave me some things to consider with using a 1d4 bludgeoning mechanic. I can probably play with some rolls and numbers and see how that might work out and experiment with how to use it.
I was planning on rollplaying this as this veteran dwarf playing with the PC and testing out his mettle. The bare hands fighting would be situational to how the fight was going or would be the dwarf throwing down his wooden maul and moving into a grappling fighting style. Hector’s background should dictate that he take up the change in style and roll with it. If not, I’ll be thinking on my feet. 😊
If I may, I would make the encounter a little more open than you've described it. Instead of requiring your husband's character to fight, allow anyone to fight the veteran. The scenario will probably go the way you envisioned it with your husband's character involved, but it's better to not be "locked in."
Thank you. I was initially planning this encounter for him but that will probably work. I seriously doubt the teenage half-elf sorceress is going to want to face that dwarf, although the half-giant Druid of the party could be feeling herself. 😉
The other thing to note here, you can have combat play with all standard numbers and no adaptation to damage rolls or anything else, instead you implement what is referred to as Non-Lethal or Subdual damage.
In melee combat it's very easy to manipulate in this manner, a rogue sneaks up on a foe and rather than sticking the pointy end into the kidney, he slams the pommel of his dagger into the base of the skull, knocking the opponent unconscious.
Non-Lethal damage can be handled in one of two ways. First: just drop HP like you normally would during combat, at 0 or less HP they fall unconscious. Second, subdual damage is a separate damage type that is added to any lethal damage caused, whichever is more dictates whether they fall unconscious or need to make death saving throws. In either situation all non-lethal damage is removed completely after a short/long rest, though you could indicate a headache or knot in the back, or cramp in the thigh.
You could run the combat as a skill challenge instead of combat.
In things like olympic martial arts, you are awarded points for hitting the chest or the head or things like that. In this duel, it could be that the rules state that only head or chest hits count, and that it's "first to three" or yielding. Now, it's substantially more difficult to only hit certain areas than the whole body. You could make saves to parry and so forth. Also, you could suggest that the dueling characters could use other skills like perception to spot tells, investigation to work out tactics, performance to play to the crowd, deception for feints, etc. This could be done in game by having a preliminary unrelated fight as they meet the dwarf at the "arena" or some such. "Putting up a fight" may then mean, that the character scored X number of hits, lasted X number of rounds, or something along those lines.
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I ran a google search and a search here but did not come up with exactly what I was looking for and am apologizing in advance if this has been gone over before.
I’m running a homebrew game for my husband and daughters so I’m learning as I go. Neither my girls or myself have played before and my husband played 2e “way back in the day”. I thought this would be a fun way to spend time together and make a great gift for my husband for Father’s Day. I’ve read the core books and watched a lot of YouTube videos on “how to”. We had a session zero and ran our first game session this last weekend. It went pretty well overall and they all had a good time.
This weekend I’m planning on having them enter a mostly dwarf village where they need to interact with several characters in order to advance the plot. One of the characters they will encounter is a seasoned dwarf fighter who is in charge of the village watch and is a veteran. This dwarf will aid the PC’s to a greater extent if my husband’s character, Hector (human fighter), can put up a good fight against him and show he’s up to the task that lays before him.
I made a lvl 1 character sheet for the dwarf as, I assume, this keeps the fight more evenly matched. What I want to do is have a scenario where the dwarf and Hector face off wearing their armor but use wooden practice weapons since this isn’t a death match. I don’t know if I should run as usual on damage or maybe halve it since it isn’t blows won’t be as bad? I wanted to add a part near the middle where it gets down to fists, using the guide of -1 HP per hit and stop the fight when one or the other reaches half health.
Is there something dictating damage for wooden weapons? Any advice on how to handle the conflict? Also, what would be a fair XP reward?
Thank you for any input you can offer!
One option would be to run it as normal combat but when one party reaches zero, you return them to one hitpoint, having them collapse and remain conscious. It's particularly tricky with level one characters because they're VERY squishy and if either combatant has good modifiers to throw into the mix the combat may hardly last any time at all. It also sounds like it's requiring you to stat this seasoned veteran as a level one character which might not be quite the impression you want if he hits the ground too quickly.
Others may have systems they use for practice fights. I'd recommend being careful with the fists part in the middle, depending on how you intend to present it. For example, if the dwarf puts down his weapon and opens a challenge to a fist fight, that could work. If a hand of the DM intervenes and both combatants lose their weapons without a say, that might not be such a fun experience.
I'd say if you best the NPC, you get the same XP you would for killing him. There are good examples in the some of the adventures for differences between "partially defeat the monster" and "kill the monster" but when we're talking about the amount of XP you get against a level one character, I'd award at least that much. I'd probably also stat the wooden sword as a club with 1d4 bludgeoning.
If I may, I would make the encounter a little more open than you've described it. Instead of requiring your husband's character to fight, allow anyone to fight the veteran. The scenario will probably go the way you envisioned it with your husband's character involved, but it's better to not be "locked in."
C. Foster Payne
"If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around."
Thank you. That gave me some things to consider with using a 1d4 bludgeoning mechanic. I can probably play with some rolls and numbers and see how that might work out and experiment with how to use it.
I was planning on rollplaying this as this veteran dwarf playing with the PC and testing out his mettle. The bare hands fighting would be situational to how the fight was going or would be the dwarf throwing down his wooden maul and moving into a grappling fighting style. Hector’s background should dictate that he take up the change in style and roll with it. If not, I’ll be thinking on my feet. 😊
The other thing to note here, you can have combat play with all standard numbers and no adaptation to damage rolls or anything else, instead you implement what is referred to as Non-Lethal or Subdual damage.
In melee combat it's very easy to manipulate in this manner, a rogue sneaks up on a foe and rather than sticking the pointy end into the kidney, he slams the pommel of his dagger into the base of the skull, knocking the opponent unconscious.
Non-Lethal damage can be handled in one of two ways. First: just drop HP like you normally would during combat, at 0 or less HP they fall unconscious. Second, subdual damage is a separate damage type that is added to any lethal damage caused, whichever is more dictates whether they fall unconscious or need to make death saving throws. In either situation all non-lethal damage is removed completely after a short/long rest, though you could indicate a headache or knot in the back, or cramp in the thigh.
You could run the combat as a skill challenge instead of combat.
In things like olympic martial arts, you are awarded points for hitting the chest or the head or things like that. In this duel, it could be that the rules state that only head or chest hits count, and that it's "first to three" or yielding. Now, it's substantially more difficult to only hit certain areas than the whole body. You could make saves to parry and so forth. Also, you could suggest that the dueling characters could use other skills like perception to spot tells, investigation to work out tactics, performance to play to the crowd, deception for feints, etc. This could be done in game by having a preliminary unrelated fight as they meet the dwarf at the "arena" or some such. "Putting up a fight" may then mean, that the character scored X number of hits, lasted X number of rounds, or something along those lines.