Speaking of a strange series of rolls, here's the rules I use for unarmed combat. I'm not entirely happy with them, but can't think of anything better right now.
UNARMED COMBAT
There are two basic types of unarmed combat; brawling and grappling. Brawling is similar to normal combat, but the unarmed fighters attempt to defeat their opponent by bashing, punching, gouging, biting, kicking, and so on. Grappling is more akin to wrestling and is used either in friendly wrestling contests or in earnest attempts to pin an opponent to the ground and render him helpless. The advantage of grappling one’s opponent is that damage is done regardless of armour and so is a good option to use if unarmed and facing a heavily-armoured opponent.
Brawling
This is resolved like normal combat. If the opponents are wearing metal gauntlets and armour, the damage they inflict is real, as if they were using weapons. If fighting bare-handed, a record of all damage inflicted in the combat must be kept and, at the end of the fight, only half the damage is permanent (round fractions up); the rest of the damage is recovered, being bruises that cause a certain amount of discomfort but no lasting damage.
Grappling
Dropping weapons and leaping on his opponent, a character attempts to obtain a hold on his foe and defeat him by brute strength. The first Round is fought as if using a weapon, but using fists instead (d3, 2 – like in Brawling). After a successful hit, an Armour Bypass Roll must be made to see if damage was inflicted, but a hold is obtained regardless of the result. Once a hold is established, an opposed Grapple Roll is made each Round; the winner inflicting damage on the loser. If one fighter didn’t obtain a hold, he must keep making a Hit Roll until successful or he does not inflict damage (even if he wins the Grapple Roll), as he is merely attempting to break his opponent’s hold.
Once a hold has been established on an opponent, a number of situations can arise depending on the result of the opponents’ Grapple Rolls, as follows. 1) Tie (rolls equal, or Critical Success vs. Critical Success) - No damage is done by either side. A stand-off. 2) Success vs. Partial Success - This is where both succeeded their Grapple Roll, but one was higher (the winner). The winner does normal damage to the loser. 3) Success vs. Fail - Not only does the winner do damage, but he pins his opponent; the pinned character can do nothing but struggle until he breaks the pin, which is achieved by winning a Combat Round. When he breaks the pin, the character does not inflict damage, he merely breaks out of an uncomfortable situation. Normal opposed Grapple Rolls are resumed… 4) Critical Success vs. Success - The winner inflicts normal damage and pins his opponent as in 3) above. 5) Critical Success vs. Fail - The winner inflicts double damage and pins his opponent as in 3) above. 6) Critical Success vs. Fumble - The loser has done something terribly wrong, just as his opponent performed all the right moves; the loser is pinned helpless below the victor, completely at his mercy. Vae victis... 7) Fail vs. Fail / Fail vs. Fumble - Neither opponent succeeds in damaging the other. Those characters who Failed retain their holds on their opponent, while those who Fumbled lose their hold and have to roll to hit again next Round. 8) Fumble vs. Fumble - Both opponents lose their holds on the other. Combat resumes from the start!
Damage inflicted during grappling is treated the same as if the opponents were fighting bare-handed; only half the damage is permanent, the rest is bruising. Of course, the character has the option of not inflicting any damage, merely holding his opponent helpless. This could be useful in restraining a friend who has been possessed by an evil spirit, perhaps...
Dropping weapons to tackle an armed opponent puts the character at a serious disadvantage. If the opponent is wielding a weapon longer than a shortsword, he gets a bonus of +2 to his Combat Initiative (this is cumulative with the Great Spear’s bonus to Combat Initiative). If this means the opponent gets to strike first, he may add his Rank to his ATTACK score for that strike, and any further strikes until the character attempting to grapple obtains a hold. If the character attempting to grapple still goes first despite his opponent’s bonus and succeeds in grappling him, then the opponent has no choice but to engage in grappling combat.
Example
Sir Richard is visiting Cantorbridge during the Feast of St Stephan. It is late, and he is returning to his lodgings when a drunken barbarian looms out of the shadows and swings a battle-axe at him!
As he was not expecting trouble, Sir Richard is not wearing any armour (AF 0) and is armed only with a dagger. His opponent, though hampered by drink, is wearing chainmail, is wielding a battle-axe and is too close to allow him time to draw his dagger (this would take one action, and the barbarian is already upon him). Sir Richard decides to leap at his opponent in a desperate attempt to make the fight more equal…
The barbarian has a Reflexes score of 12, and with the bonus for striking at an unarmed man with a long weapon this is increased to a Combat Initiative of 14. Sir Richard’s Combat Initiative (Reflexes) is 16 so he still attacks first; he lunges, but the barbarian side-steps and Sir Richard fails to grapple his foe. Now the barbarian strikes, adding his Rank to his ATTACK score; Sir Richard’s agility saves him as the barbarian’s axe misses by a narrow margin!
Next Round Sir Richard lunges again and hits; his punch is not able to inflict damage on the barbarian due to the chainmail, but he has obtained a hold on his foe. The barbarian is forced to drop his battle-axe and attempt to get a hold on this troublesome knight. The struggle continues, but now the odds are much more even...
If a character is grappled by two or more opponents, he is at a serious disadvantage and must split his Grapple skill between the number of opponents and fight each one every Round as though it were a separate fight. In return, the character can only attempt to grapple one of his opponents (but can take damage and be pinned by either, or both, of them). He can divide up his Grapple skill in any way against his opponents and can alter this allocation from Round to Round; though if an opponent achieves a pin, the character cannot change the Grapple skill he allocated against that opponent until he breaks free.
If two or more opponents succeed in having the character pinned at the same time, then the character may be rendered helpless, as both his arms are held tightly by his foes. The character may continue to struggle, but this is pointless unless his Grapple skill is higher than the combined Grapple skill of his opponents.
Example
Sir Gereint is set upon by two thugs who try to wrestle him to the ground. Gereint’s Grapple skill is 18 (equal to his Strength +2) and the two thugs both have a Grapple skill of 12. Gereint decides to split his skill equally between the two thugs.
In the first Combat Round all three achieve holds on each other. Next Round, one thug manages to pin one of Gereint’s arms, but Gereint in turn gets an arm-lock (a pin) on the other thug. Gereint has no choice but to keep the Grapple score of 9 against the thug pinning him, even though he would like to increase it (to improve his chances of breaking the hold). The next Round goes badly for Gereint; not only does he fail to break the hold on him, but the other thug manages to break free. It isn’t long before this thug also achieves a hold on Gereint, who now finds himself at the thugs’ mercy.
Sir Gereint continues to struggle, but his Grapple of 18 is less than the thugs combined Grapple of 24; his struggles are in vain. All Gereint can do at this point is shout for help, hoping that someone is nearby who can save him, or surrender to the thugs - not a pleasant situation to be in...
The Grapple skill is equal to the character’s Strength, modified by Strength bonus, but can be improved by training during the Winter Phase. If the character does not train any other skill he can improve his Grapple score by one point. Note that Grapple can only be improved during the Winter Phase; it cannot be improved on attaining a new Rank and does not get skill checks. The maximum score a character’s Grapple skill can reach is equal to his Strength X 2.
Last edited by Starkad on Wed Mar 07, 2018 10:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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