Ballista

Similar to a giant crossbow, the weapon relies upon two levers with torsion springs consisting of several loops of twisted skeins. The parts of the bow which form the ends bend towards one another by means of a short rope fastened between them; a shaft is placed into a groove, which is about one half the length of the missile fired, but four times as wide. As the missile is discharged from the shaft, wooden fletching produces a controlled ballistic; the missile hits objects with great force, commonly killing an ordinary person outright on a clean hit, even through armour.

Ballista can be mounted atop walls and on ships. Small ballista of special design, called carroballista, can be emplaced on large wagons.

Ballista bolts will split into dangerous splinters when hitting hard surfaces (applies only to missed shots), which creates shrapnel.

Heavy Ballista 

Weight: 500 lbs.
Minimum crew: 4
Range: 305 feet; short (4-14); medium (15-28); long (29-61)
Projectile weight: 7 lbs
Damage vs. h.p.: 3-24
Rounds to load: 4
Hardpoint cost: 15 tons

Light Ballista

Weight: 250 lbs.
Minimum crew: 3
Range: 350 feet; short (2-15); medium (16-32); long (33-70)
Projectile weight: 4½ lbs
Damage vs. h.p.: 3-18
Rounds to load: 3
Hardpoint cost: 8 tons

See Also,
Combat
Hardpoints
Naval Combat
Siege Engines

Mangonel

Also called the traction trebuchet, a siege engine used throughout Eurasia, particularly in backward regions bereft of the development of the trebuchet, which replaces it. The mangonel operates on manual force pulling cords attached to a lever and sling to launch projectiles. Less complex than the torsion-powered catapult, it was simpler and required less competence to build, while providing comparable range and power.

Weight: 800 to 1400 lbs
Minimum crew: 8
Range: 280 feet; short (12-15); medium (16-30); long (31-56)
Projectile weight: 11 lbs
Damage: similar to light catapult

Simultaneous Movement

The simultaneous movement table has been designed so that a creature with 10 action points (AP) per round would have the ability to move normally across one combat hex in each of ten SEGMENTS. As a round is 12 seconds long, each segment lasts 1.2 seconds. A normal humanoid moves at 5 AP.

Ships in combat, using the wind effects table, move anywhere from zero to seven ship hexes in that same amount of time. As an example, a ship moving seven ship hexes per round would move over water at the same speed that a creature with 7 AP would move over seven combat hexes. This way, ship movement and creature movement can both be resolved at the same time.

Numbers indicate the order of actions as determined by logged movement,
or the number of AP used to that point.

When moving ships that may interact with each other or collide, the fastest ship moving for each segment always has initiative, so that ships are moved upwards through each column.

Normally, D&D combat is carried out in turns, overlooking the irrationality of one side moving while the other stands still.  In naval combat, where the distances moved by ships is so great, we adopt simultaneous movement for the ships only so that opportunities for attacking with ship's weapons and missile troops are preserved.  It is not intended for individual combat to be likewise regulated by simultaneous movement.

When determining the actions of normal combatants, whether with ship's weapons, missiles or in melee, those with initiative (see boarding) are considered to move between segments 1 to 5, while those without initiative should move between segments 6 to 10.  This should be reset occasionally (compressing time for ordinary combatants as necessary) so that the integrity of the ship's movement remains stable, which may even change the order of initiative.

Take note that, if required, D&D combat could be carried out simultaneously, if that were needed at a particular moment during the naval combat.  In such a case, the creature with initiative who finished their AP attack cost in a given segment would roll to hit first.

See Also,
Movement Execution
Naval Combat

Throwing a Grapple

A grapple is a hook or claw used to catch or hold something. When tied to a rope and thrown to catch a grip, the grapple aids in climbing. A grapple may also be used to drag the bottom of a waterway, catch items floating on the surface of the water and be used to grapple vessels together for convenience or as preliminary to boarding.

Throwing a grapple involves hurling the claw outwards with success, then hooking the claw tightly against resistance by pulling the rope taut. Snagging off the rope to keep it taut is often needed if the rope is then used to retain its hold or to support weight. The process of throwing a grapple is not unlike rolling a d20 to hit. The table shown indicates the armor class that the thrower needs to hit for the grapple to be successfully hooked.

The process requires the full movement rate of the thrower for that melee round. This includes testing the rope if successful, but not snagging the rope off, which requires 2 action points (AP). Failing includes the time needed to hold the rope until the grapple comes to a rest and avoid being hit (automatic) if relevant. It requires 2 rounds to ready a grapple to be used again.

A grapple can be taken as a proficiency. The non-proficiency penalty applies only when the grapple is used as a weapon; however, taking the grapple as a proficiency provides a +3 bonus in throwing. Further, because an emphasis in throwing the grapple can be put on either strength or dexterity, a bonus from one or the other can be applied when throwing a grapple. The strength bonus is applied when holding the grapple; otherwise, the dexterity bonus is applied.

Striking an enemy with a thrown grapple or one that is used in combat will cause 1-4 damage. The table below shows the grapple’s range adjustments.

See Also,
Campaign
Combat
Grappling & Ungrappling Ships

Submerged Combat

Combat while submerged underwater is, and should be, a very difficult thing for land-dwelling creatures ~ we need only consider how difficult it would be for a water-dwelling creature without legs or arms to participate in combat on the land. We should not expect it to be easy for players who choose to venture underwater ~ though we can certainly make the treasure worth their while (this being another subject).

There are many considerations that submerged combat begs us to consider; the content below occurs in no particular order, but it is all relevant, and should be understood completely before attempting to run an underwater scenario.

This is a placeholder for further content on this subject, though the bare bones of the rules I intend to create may be found discussed and part written out on this post, from the Tao of D&D.

See Combat

Fight while Unsteady

Most combat is perceived to occur upon a flat, reliable surface, but this is not always the case. It may happen that a combatant finds it necessary to fight while climbing, whether to reach a surface or against something while holding onto the side of a precipice, or when perched on high place, such as a ledge or to top of a structure. As well, combatants may be compelled to fight upon swaying bridges, upon logs or other natural traverses over drops, while standing up on a boat or upon the edge of a large floating vessel, in rainstorms and windstorms, or upon loose soil or slippery snow. All of these conditions can challenge the combatant to maintain their footing ~ however, the sage ability to fight when unsteady exists to mitigate these dangers and inconveniences.

Dexterity checks described below are made each round that the combatant is attacking under these conditions, or when the combatant has been stunned.

Untrained Combatants

We begin with recognizing that combatants with no special training in balance will find themselves in the above conditions without any special benefits from the study of balance. It is desirable that combatants see these situations as very dangerous, with the sort of penalty that causes them to retreat rather than risk fighting, except when retreat is impossible. Thus, a mere -1 or -2 penalty to dexterity for many of the above is not sufficient! An untrained combatant in such a situation should certainly have a greater chance of succumbing to the conditions than not, so therefore the penalties must be such that they cannot be easily ignored.

We can consider a template for those modifiers based on a number of categories:

• Perception of danger, in which the character's fall is an inconvenience (slipping on mud) compared to those that could mean damage and death (slipping from a height). A intense perception of danger increases fear, which increases overcompensation, which increases likelihood of falling.
• The narrowness of space (% of a combat hex) that the combatant's purchase occupies.
• The unsteadiness/slickness of the surface (a rolling barrel vs. a pinnacle of solid rock).
• Natural forces that affect the combatant, that are outside the combatant's control, such as a blasting wind or a seismic disturbance.

Suppose that in each of the above cases, rather than try to establish a complicated set of measurements, we describe the degree of these categories in terms of their threat-level: uncertain, risky, dangerous and suicidal (see below). An uncertain condition will force a normal dexterity check. A risky condition will give a -3 penalty to the character's dexterity. A dangerous condition will give a -6 penalty. A suicidal condition will give a -12 penalty. If a given circumstance seems variable (a cart starting and stopping, wind swinging wildly around, ship under random bombardment, etcetera), then an increased penalty of -1, -2, -3 and -4 should be given for each corresponding threat level.

It is important to note that, since the threat-level can be a composite of more than one category, in different degrees, the total penalty is the combined penalty for each individual conditional effect! Thus, a character standing on a moving horse, where the surface of the horse's body is the twice the character's own body size, high enough to take some damage, while a near gale is blowing, would have a total penalty of -18 to their dexterity check. Therefore, while none of the perameters are suicidal, the combatant would almost certainly fail their dexterity check.

Note that for any person able to obtain a permanent hand-hold, one that is not moving in relation to the character (though it might be moving in relation to the world around, such as a horse's pommel), the total threat-level will be reduced by half. This applies to both trained and untrained combatants alike. Note also that for those able to ride an animal such as a horse or a camel, actually riding the animal gives no penalties to dexterity (though an untrained rider must roll dexterity when attempting to ride and fight ~ treat as risky).

Perception of Danger

• uncertain ~ the character will slip and fall to the ground.
• risky ~ the character risks less than half their hit points, maximum, if a fall occurs.
• dangerous ~ the character risks all, or perhaps a little more, of their maximum hit points if a fall occurs.
• suicidal ~ the character will die if a fall occurs.

Narrowness of Space

• uncertain ~ half the space of a combat hex.
• risky ~ approximately twice the size of the character's body (for an average human, about a third of a combat hex).
• dangerous ~ exactly the area of the character's body.
• suicidal ~ substantially less than the area of the character's body.

Unsteadiness/Slickness of Surface

• uncertain ~ the surface is flat and will shift slightly, or if the surface is naturally slippery.
• risky ~ the surface is wobbly and can randomly dump the combatant, or if the surface is magically or unnaturally slippery.
• dangerous ~ the surface is wobbly as well as rounded or spiky, or is flat and moving steadily in a predictable manner (standing on horseback, a cart/wagon over a road, a boat over a lake or flat sea, etcetera).
• suicidal ~ the surface is wobbly, moving, rounded or spiky, and entirely impossible to predict due to waves, terrain or internal mechanism.

Natural forces

• uncertain ~ a moderate or a fresh breeze; a earthquake that can be distinctly felt but which will cause no measurable damage (none of the results on the table shown on the right).
• risky ~ a strong breeze; an earthquake up to 3 on the table.
• dangerous ~ a near gale or a gale; an earthquake up to 7 on the table.
• suicidal ~ a strong gale, storm, violent storm or hurricane; an earthquake of 8 or more on the table.

See Also,
Balance
Combat
Firm Footwork

Using Poisoned Weapons

Weapons may be poisoned using specific insinuative poisons (such as bikh) that are applied carefully to a weapon prior to combat. It requires 5 rounds to prepare a weapon with poison. Weapons must be bladed or tipped: swords, daggers, the ankus, spears, bladed polearms, javelins and so on.

With arrows, the amount of poison (and its deadliness) will be limited by the surface space of the point that is prepared. So with arrows, a poison strength of no more than vex is possible.

Once a weapon is coated, it is very easy for the wielder to error in its use and be poisoned by drawing the blade against themselves. This will happen any time that a 1 or a 2 has been rolled on the attack die, whereupon the user of the weapon must make save versus the poison. Assassins can used a coated weapon safely without needing to make save whatever the attack roll, as they have been trained to fight so as not to touch the blade.

See Attacking in Combat

Grenade Missiles

A grenade is an explosive object, typically thrown, the descriptive originating with the word 'pomegranate' and influenced by Spanish granada - the many-seeded fruit suggested the fragmenting of a broken vessel, filled with liquid or powder. Grenades can cause area effect damage due to shrapnel or due to the splash caused by flammable or acidic liquids. Unlike the spread caused by siege and ship's weapons, however, most grenade-like missiles affect an area of only 4 hexes:

As the grenade shatters in the targeted hex occupied by Albert [A], in darker green, it causes full damage. At the same time, the three hexes behind Albert, one of which is occupied by Bertram [B], suffer from splash damage only. Depending on the particular kind of grenade missile being used, full damage and splash damage will vary.

Certain magical grenade weapons, such as chromatic orb, will affect a radial circle around the targeted hex - this is because the effect does not obey the laws of momentum as would objects such as flasks of oil or thrown acid would.

Roll to Hit

Grenade weapons are not hurled at opponents but at the opponent's hex, either with the intention of breaking a vessel to scatter its contents or the shards of the vessel itself. Some grenade attacks involve scattering liquid into a hex. In all cases, if there is more than one creature in a given target hex or splash hex, both will be equally affected by the grenade missile.

Because of its form of attack, the thrower need only hit AC 10 when attacking. A failure to roll AC 10 will result in a miss, noting that even misses have the potential to hit and scatter the effects of the grenade missile.

When a miss occurs, the attacker must make a dexterity check; a successful check will indicate that the thrower has achieved a near miss; a fail to succeed at the dexterity check will indicate a bad miss.

Near misses indicate that the the grenade has deviated one hex from the target. A d6 is rolled, with a given surrounding hex designated as '1' and moving in a clockwise circle around the desired target. This becomes the target hex and the full damage and splash damage is then calculated.

Bad misses indicate that the grenade has deviated two hexes from the target. A d12 is rolled, with a given surrounding hex designated as '1' and moving in a clockwise circle around the desired target.

Note that with a miss, it is entirely possible for the target hex to be designated as a hex containing an ally; the targeted hex may even be determined to be in back of the thrower, or in the thrower's hex. This may be due to the user's hand being knocked during melee or otherwise losing balance; in any case, such circumstances should be treated as a fumble. Actual fumbles, where the thrower rolls a natural 1, will indicate that the grenade has definitely fallen into the combatant's own hex. Splash damage will then affect the three hexes in front of the thrower.

Forms

The most common forms of non-magical grenade weapon:

• lamp oil, contained in a flask of clay or glass, with a sufficient wick that can be lit before the grenade is tossed. The vessel is meant to shatter and cause fire damage. The flask must be full. Attacks with this weapon require a hard surface for the flask to be thrown against, so that it will break and shatter, typically a stone flooring, wall or ceiling. The flask must fail save against the surface it is thrown against. If the flask makes save, the flask will roll and the wick will be considered to have gone out; thereafter, half the oil in the flask will drain out harmlessly. Full damage for a lamp oil grenade will be 2-8, with 1-4 points of splash damage.
• holy water, which may be contained in a thrown glass vessel or held and flung at undead or other worldly opponents (evil in nature), in order to cause damage. Like lamp oil, the vessel must break against a surface. A 4 ounce vial is assumed. If holy water is thrown, it will cause splash damage to both the targeted hex and splash hexes. Full damage can only be achieved if the holy water is opened, the vessel held by the attacker and the liquid within is hurled against an opponent within a 1 hex distance, causing splash damage to others in the area of effect. Full damage for holy water is 3-8, with 2 points of splash damage.
• acid, which can be employed as a weapon similar to the manner of holy water, conforming to the rules described above. Acid will affect most creatures. Full damage for an acid grenade is 2-8, with 1-3 points of splash damage.
• glass objects, describing any highly breakable object that will release shards when breaking. These objects will cause full damage of 1-3 points to the targeted hex, with 1 point of splash damage.

See Attacking in Combat

Rouse Sleeping Creatures

Creatures in normal sleep may be aroused by noise or physical interaction, the result being dependent on how much noise, how specific the noise is and how physical is the effort of waking. Creatures are divided into three groups: heavy sleepers, normal sleepers and light sleepers. The effect of stimuli on each kind of sleeper is as follows:

• Heavy sleepers must be aroused by shouting that is done very close or by rough shaking. This requires 3 action points (AP) expenditure from an outsider, who must enter the sleeper's hex first (which counts as an additional AP cost). Loud sounds such as combat or shouting that happens around the sleeper will eventually awake the sleeper in 2 to 3 rounds (with a 50% chance of each). For 1 round after waking, heavy sleepers are -3 to hit in combat and cannot spellcast. Treat as fully awake thereafter.
• Normal sleepers can be aroused by shouting their name or giving a single kick costing 2 AP, either of which can be done from an adjacent hex. If done from 2-3 hexes away, normal sleepers will awake upon hearing their names on the second attempt (in the next round), or from hearing the sound of fighting. For 1 round after waking, normal sleepers will be -1 to hit in combat and can spellcast only cantrips or 1st level spells. Treat as fully awake thereafter.
• Light sleepers will be aroused by hearing any non-stealthy stranger moving within one hex of their person, upon hearing their name hissed from two hexes away, or upon being touched. This last requires 1 AP expenditure from an outsider in an adjacent hex. Additionally, the sound of a weapon leaving its scabbard, a crossbow being loaded, an arrow whizzing past or any weapon contact will awake them. Light sleepers should be treated as fully awake at once.

Determining if a creature is a heavy, normal or light sleeper is as follows:

• Magical creatures of all forms, including undead, faeries, creatures from the outer planes and dragons, should be counted as light sleepers. This group will also include beasts with an intelligence greater than 7 (average), along with animal felines and canines.
• All other non-humanoid creatures should be counted as normal sleepers.

Humanoids are calculated as follows:

• When known, add intelligence, wisdom and constitution to obtain a sum.
• For monster humanoids where wisdom and constitution are not known, double the monster's intelligence and add the equivalent of the humanoid's probable strength. For example, a bugbear's intelligence is 8 and it's strength is considered to be 17. This produces a sum of 33. Where applicable, make estimates based on this principle.
• For monster humanoids, add 1 point per hit die above the first. A bugbear would add 2 points.
• For player demi-humans and humans, add 1 point per level.
• Thieves, assassins and monks should add an additional 3 points.
• Mages, illusionists and bards should subtract 3 points.

If the sum is 36 or less, the humanoid is a heavy sleeper. If the sum is between 37 and 45, the humanoid is a normal sleeper. If the sum is 46 or better, the humanoid is a light sleeper.

This system is deliberately designed to be prejudiced against humanoids, for game-playing purposes.


See Also,

Campaign

Combat
Helpless Defenders

Fight While Immersed

For the purpose of these rules, "immersed" is distinguished from "submerged," in that the combatant is not fully beneath the surface of the water and still standing on the surface. If the character has no footing and is completely submerged, see Swimming Combat.

If the combatant is engaged in melee while immersed, that is standing in water that is above half-way up the character's calves, then both movement and the combatant's attack dice will be affected.

Penalties are adjusted at five points up the body: at the knees (mid-calf to knee-cap), at the hips (thigh to groin), at the torso (across the belly), at the chest (above the belly to the arm pits) and at the neck (submerged shoulders and up). In each case, use what seems the best description of the water surface as compared to the body. If the surface is below the level of the eyes, enabling the combatant to see, treat this as the neck. Immersion above the level of the eyes (and above the ability to push off the ground to temporarily gain vision), should be treated as submerged.

Adjustments to Movement

As parts of the body are immersed, a certain amount of the body becomes buoyant; additionally, movement through the water becomes a matter of pushing an additional weight of water in order to thrust the body forward, thus increasing the expenditure of action points (AP) for the combatant.

In the interest of establishing a universal impact on creatures of all sizes, movement through water (or thicker liquid) will be treated as an increase in encumbrance ~ or rather, a decrease in the base mass of the combatant due to buoyancy. Whether or not this is scientifically true (and I don't know that it is), the overall effect should be that the combatant's number of AP should fall as the combatant's immersion is increased.

This will mean that the character's encumbrance must be recalculated when entering the water for a loss in weight; it will also mean that the character's movement can be restored somewhat by dropping equipment once entering water. Below is given the amount of mass lost at each point of immersion, for this calculation:

• Knees = 10% loss.
• Hips = 25% loss.
• Torso = 50% loss.
• Chest = 80% loss.
• Neck = 90% loss.

Note that the above movement can be counteracted while swimming; however, when swimming the character should treat their effective encumbrance mass at 5%, if they do not wish to sink or drown.

If the character is immersed in something thicker than water, then compare the specific gravity of the liquid with water and increase the loss of body mass by that degree. For example, quicksand has a specific gravity of 1.156, or 15.6% higher than water. This would mean that a character immersed to their belly would lose 57.5% of their body mass for encumbrance purposes, not 50%.

If, then, encumbrance was so much that the character had no AP on account of it, the character would drown in quicksand in a completely helpless manner. As well, if the character could not effectively unload their gear, due to their lack of AP, in order to reach an edge, while sinking steadily 1 foot per round, the character would again succumb.

Adjustments to Attack Die

If the combatant is fully submerged, the adjustment to attack dice is -8. Therefore, the effects of immersion are staggered to compare with this extreme. Attacks performed while sunk to the knees are done at -1; at the hips, -2; at the torso, -4; at the chest, -6; and at the neck, -7.

See Also,
Combat
Mariner Combat