Fight harder, fight smarter [D20]

Combat is usually a sequence of hits or misses, to defeat an opponent, in any way possible. 

Whatever changes to this is just another way to say "hit or miss", or "how much damage you deal". 
It's not the "what gives me the best ratio between the chances to hit and damage dealt" that's interesting, but the "it's better to fly and shoot with my shortbow, or stay on the ground and hit two times with my dagger and getting hit back?" that matters, and the choice between the two when you have a limited amount of moves.

Fighting should have the same weight and dynamicity that has adventuring, it shouldn't interrupt the flow of narration but must require the same level of planning of long term adventuring.
If sometimes the fight gets boring and requires the GM to change the stakes, to make "something" unpredicted happen, why not give the same opportunity to everyone?

Here's my take on how to make fight different, deadlier, and a bit more tactic (and since the last i played is d&d 5, I'm gonna use that as a base, but you can adapt it to any system with little tweaking).

• Initiative = Highest base score modifier

Initiative score is not determined anymore from dexterity, but from whatever is the highest base score modifier. Any other bonuses/maluses (proficiency for example) applies as usual. Same for monsters and NPC. Don't roll initiative.

Imagine a sorcerer getting ready to launch her spell while she's distracting the opponents with her body language, or a fighter charging in with the raw strenght of his leg, or a druid who doesn't need to take a breath and be ready for the fight before its opponents, or a monk who waits for that moment in which sun shines behind him before making a sprint.

• Stamina = Hit Dices (HDs)

Every PC has HDs up to their total level.

You can't have more HDs than your PC level (Max HDs).

Your HDs size are determined by your class.
Acting costs HDs.

If your HDs get to 0, you can consume your max HDs instead (it's called Straining).
If you have 0/0 HDs, you drop unconscious, wheter you still have HPs or not.
You return conscious after a long rest.

Fighting is all about resistance, not just giving and exchanging hits.
Planning the moves and exhausting the enemy sometimes is more important than making him go to 0 HP.
Sometimes fights can go on for days, break after break, chase after chase, before declaring the winner. 

• Recovering stamina

You naturally recover 1 HD at the start of each turn, and all HDs up to your max HDs, at the end of the fight.
Magical healing recovers the same number of HDs you roll to recover HPs, up to your max HDs.

Your max HDs return to normal after a long rest.
Max HDs don't recover with magical healing, it requires resting.

When you have a short rest and spend HDs to recover HP, your HD type decreases in size (d12 > d10 > d8 > d6 > d4). When you expend HDs to recover HPs, now you roll max. HD + your cons. modifier.
You don't automatically recover HPs anymore during a long rest, instead your HD type increases one size, up to your class dice type (d4 > d6 > d8 > d10 > d12). 
When your dice type becomes smaller than a d4, your short rest becomes automatically a long rest.

Very good resting conditions may let you recover max HDs and HD size after a short rest (For example a royal resting place, a very able healer, a good balm...). 

Very bad resting conditions, prevents the recovery (For example sleeping in the open in very bad weather conditions, being cured by someone who doesn't know what is doing, or being ill...).

• Step initiative

Identify the factions fighting, and their objectives.
Group together whoever is fighting who has the same initiative score.
The round starts with the group who has the highest initiative score.
The faction with the member who has more HDs is the leader faction and decides who goes first from the members in the group.
Once the member has been decided, it chooses what to do and pays in HDs.
Then another faction chooses which member is going to act and does the same.
This goes on until everyone in the group has acted once.
If more than one have the same HDs, compare max HDs, if equal then compare HDs size, if equal then roll a D20, and keep rolling until someone gets an higher score than the other.
Once everyone in the group has acted, include the 2nd group to the turn, and start again from the beginning. 
Keep going like this until everyone has acted, then everyone recovers 1 HD, and proceed to round 2.

Surprise rounds works as usual.
The surprising party acts as the first group and leader faction, during the first round.
Surprising the enemy, or having advantage on initiative, gives 1 more HD to spend during the first round.

Being surprised by the enemy, or having disvantage on initiative, give 1 less HD to spend during the first round.

To help i suggest giving each player some sort of token each time their group is included in the turn 
The best way would be using playing cards. Give 1 card to the players for each turn they are going to play (so if there's gonna be 3 turn, the player playing from the 1st turn gonna receive 3 cards, the player in the 2nd turn 2, the player in the 3rd turn 1). Then start with who has more cards. Each turn they act, remove 1 card. Start again with who has the most cards, then remove 1 card from each of them. Go on until everyone has no more cards.

• New action rules 

You can only use as many HDs per turn as is your initiative score.
Attacking costs 1 HD.
If a class ability grants multiple attacks, they are considered as 1, and need only 1 roll to hit.

Moving costs 1 HD for each base speed increment for that type of movement. 

Moving changes, now each time someone is in the reach area of an enemy, his speed drops to 1 square, and goes back to normal when he's out of reach. 

Actions, abilities or spells that require an action, costs 1 HD.
Spells and abilities like these, need a turn to be spent preparing, and are launched the next turn.
Actions, abilities or spells that require a full round, cost 2 HDs.
Spells and abilities like these, need a round to be spent preparing, and are launched the next round.
Actions, abilities or spells that require a bonus action or less than action don't cost anything, don't need preparing time, but must be used together with another action that has a cost (their HD cost is included in that action).

Attacks of opportunity and reactions cost 1 HD.
Reactions can be...
Dodge: lets the opponent move 1 square in whatever direction (ducking costs as such).
Deflect: with a shield lets the opponent get minimum damage from the hit.
Counter with a weapon: lets the opponent deal minimum damage back (a ranged attack may be countered only with a ranged attack, a melee attack only with a melee attack).
Usually non-humanoids can dodge, deflect, and counter as they see fit.

When rolling to hit you can't miss anymore, instead something else happens. 
When rolling a critical 1 you do minimum damage, lose 1 more HD, and if that would not allow you to spend anymore HDs this round, your turn is interrupted. 
When rolling a critical 20 you don't spend HDs for this action, and it doesn't count to the initiative limit.
Rolls to hit above enemy CA causes the opponent to receive average damages, with no consequences.
Rolls to hit below enemy CA causes the opponent to receive average damages, and let the opponent react.

Advantage on a roll means you inflict maximum damages. 

Disadvantage on a roll means you inflict minimum damages.

Average damage is the average damage you can roll + the appropriate modifier (1d4 is 2, 2d6 is 6, etc). 

Minimum damage is the minimum damage you can roll + the appropriate modifier (1d4 is 1, 2d6 is 2, etc).

Maximum damage is the maximum damage you can roll + the appropriate modifier (1d4 is 4, 2d6 is 12, etc). 

Feats, bonuses, and maluses to damage apply as usual. 

Feats and abilities that let re-roll damages instead adds another damage die.

To help speed things up, since damage is fixed, you can write it as [min/ave/max], so [1d6+3] becomes [4/6/9].

• Optional: Excalation die [13th age]

Use a D6 starting from 1.
At the end of each round, the excalation die goes up 1.
This is added to the cost in HDs for each action.

The more the fight goes on, the more draining and difficult it becomes.

• Optional: Grittier stamina

You don't recover HDs at the start of each new turn.
You recover all HDs per short rest, and 1 max HDs as well as 1 HD size per long rest.

Fighting is excruciating, most of the times it's better to run away than to fight until one is too exausted to go on. I didn't want to use exhaustion rules because i think it's better to leave that to out-of-combat situations, or to special abilities.

That's war baby! [D20]

Recently a friend asked for help to design a war system for his homebrew dnd 5 campaign, and i'm a bitch for homerules on the fly.
Before going down, i want to clarify that this homerule is not intended to reproduce a 1:1 scale of war, but to integrate storytelling and already existing rules where there may be something missing.

So no more talk, here's the refined WYP:

• Army description:
  Each army unit must have
• Generic type of movement (land, sea, air):
  If they have more than 1 type of movement, split the units in whatever movement you chose to use mainly.
  
  (Galleons are comprised of sailors, but are still considered a sea unit, not a land/sea unit. Dragons and their riders would be considered an air unit, not a land/air unit. Different species of quadrupeds controlled by a druid would be seen as a land unit, not as a separate ones).
• Wants:
  Each time the unit fights for something that isn’t its objective, the unit starts a clash with a lesser quality (d8 becomes d6, d4 becomes 1).
  This is a way to encourage players to not think of the army as another ability they have gained, but as a collection of individuals that want to reach a set goal. The more specific it is, the better.
• Weakness:
  What can be used by its enemies against it, and that can reduce its quality dice by 1 (d8 becomes d6, d4 becomes 1) when exploited by them in combat. The unit gets a weakness based on their nature. The more specific it is, the better.
• Player characters and Aces:
  Each player can have under his control whatever number of generals/commanders/captains/whateveryoucallthem (for commodity we'll use the term Ace), as long as the sum of their levels is equal or lesser than their character level (Ex. Caius lv.9 commands 2 Aces: Brutus lv.5 + Tiberius lv.4, for a total of 9).
• Aces can be whatever NPC that for any number of reasons decides to take the task (And as such, may be trustworthy, or betray you based on the relation with the character), so the last word goes to the GM. Aces have their own stats as every NPC.
• Player character can be their own Aces but they must completly commit to the army or it will not act, and it may even disperse.
• The minimum level for a player character to control an Ace must be lv.4.
• Size:
  Each unit starts with 1 dice at least in it.
  Each army unit can have as much dices in it, to a max. of the Ace lv. (So an unit controlled by an Ace 4 can have no more than 4 dices in it). 
  An army unit gains and loses dices with the story, by defeating strong enemies and being defeated, gaining respect and losing it allies, convincing others to join their cause with money, strenght, or pacts. You get the idea. 
  The sheer scale of the unity is as follows:
• = 1: You won't even consider it an army (Ex. A bunch of bandits)
• = 4: You can count each element in it (Ex. Squad)
• = 6: You can see it from afar (Ex. Troop)
• = 8: You can't see where it ends (Ex. Company)
• = 10: You know of its arrival days before (Ex. Cohort)
• = 12: You know for sure that this is the last battle (Ex. Legion)
• Quality:
  Each army unit is represented with a dice, starting with a d4 and ending with a d12. The dice represents the average quality of the members of the unit based on the setting and the type of unit you decided it to be, and should not have a specific definition, but to get an idea here’s some examples:
• d4: rookie soldiers, zombies, brigs, or dragon wyrmlings
• d6: experienced soldiers, skeletons, fluts, or young dragons
• d8: elite soldiers, ghouls, frigates, or adult dragons
• d10: veteran soldiers, wrights, galleons, or old dragons
• d12: heroic soldiers, liches, line ships, or ancient dragons
• The minimum level for an Ace to control a unit must be lv.4.
• Each Ace  level must be equal or greater than the size dice of the unit. So a d4 unit requires at least an Ace of lv.4, and a d12 unit requires an Ace at least lv.12.
• If for any reason the Ace has a lower lv. than the quality/quantity, after each clash reduce the size dice of the army by 1 until it's again equal or major than the quality/quantity dices (The inadequacy of the Ace convinces some to mutiny, other to flee, others to betray...).
• Turns and Movement:
  Each army gets 1 movement per turn. Usually 1 movement means 1 hex, and 1 turn means 1 day, but  it can be whatever you have decided to use in your setting (1 mile, 1 half day, 1 whatever).
• Tactics:
  Each army has a number of moves, called Tactics, equal to the size dice of the unit (d4 = 4 moves, d6 = 6 moves, and so on).
  
  It’s implied that every unit is capable of at least 4 basic moves, and the other ones can be chosen each time the quality increases or decreases (Quality of the members composing the unit decides if they're capable to make some more complex maneuvers, or if it's even possible to make them with such resources). Every unit is composed of many individuals with different experiences and abilities, so if there’s enough members that share a skill, they can use it as a whole. 
  Moreover, 1 of those tactics must be something linked with the Ace in command. Some example of basic moves can be:
• Frontal attack: Enemy army loses 1 more dice.
• Settle: For 1 turn you will recover, and improve the quality of 1 dice you will roll your next turn. If you get attacked before your next turn, decrease the quality of 1 roll.
• Defend: Protect 1 dice from being lost from 1 enemy attack.
• Retire: Pay 1 more dice, but get away from the fight and don't lose any more dices.
• Duel: Before starting the clash, the two Aces duel like any other NPCs. The winner of the fight launches 1 dice as if it’s improved (1d4 > 1d6, 1d12 > auto 12). The loser launches 1 dice as if it’s worse (1d8 > 1d6, 1d4 > 1 auto).
• Forced march: Army can make 1 more movement but loses 1 quality dice until recovery.
• Diversion: Army lets another allied army in the fight get the use of 1 more tactic.
• What skill would siege weapons give? Barbarians? Mages? Rocs? Galleons? Use the rule of +/- 1 dice, and let me know.
• Clash between armies:
  When two or more armies clash, they launch as many dices as their size permits. Once decided, roll the size dices + the lv. of the Ace in command (That's a crude count of the Morale of the unit). Once those dices are used, they can’t be reused until the army rest, except if a special ability says so. Like in Risiko, compare the dices with the ones of your enemy:
• When a dice gets the max. result (Ex. 6 on a d6), it explodes and you can launch another separate one.
• For each dice an army wins, it can use 1 Tactic.
• Dices lost, are forever discarded.
  Dices won, get back in the reserve after the clash, when the army has rested.
• Write down the tactics you want to use in secret once you have established how many dices you have won against your enemy, then show together each other your lists, and apply the effects.
• When an army loses all its dices, it begins decreasing its quality dices instead.
• An army surrenders or gets defeated when its quality dices gets lower than a d4 for whatever reason (defeat, or general defection).
• A clash usually takes 1 turn, and then each Ace decides if keep fighting, or retreat and move away.
  There may be scenarios in which both armies want to retreat and return home, and ones in which an army retreats while the other chase it.
• Individuals against an army: Individuals must be treated as a single army, with quality 1, size 1, and morale equal to their lv. or CR (The higher between them). So a peasant or a fisherman boat can still try to attack and be crushed, but an high lv. group of Player character, or an high CR enemy, can still be a challenge.

Army examples:

Ace:	Necromancer Gustav lv. 15
Unit:	Undead army
Movement:	Land
Wants:	Destruction
Weakness:	Sacred
Size	10
Quality	D12
Morale	+15
Tactics
Frontal attack

Ace:	Desert barbar Cervantes Yrafel lv. 8
Unit:	Fire elementals
Movement:	Land
Wants:	Freedom
Weakness:	Cold
Size	5
Quality	D4
Morale	+8
Tactics
Frontal attack

Ace:	Sky knight Morzan lv. 12
Unit:	Dragon knights
Movement:	Air
Wants:	???
Weakness:	Necrotic
Size	10
Quality	D10
Morale	+12
Tactics
Dive attack

Ace:	Cassius Ternan lv. 16
Unit:	Soldier legion
Movement:	Land
Wants:	Law and order
Weakness:	Magic
Size	15
Quality	D12
Morale	+16
Tactics
Defensive attack

I hope you liked it, feel free to suggest how it can be improved.

Sources used: 7th sea 2nd ed.; Patfinder (mass combat system); D&D 5 homebrews; Gorgonstar - Titan rules; and most importantly this blog Titan scale mass combat

A call for help

Like every blog born late at night, even this one is born for relieving the boredom caused by the absurdity of being unable of finding someone to play with, and stick to it.

So what do we do now?
This may be a start for working on the rpg ideas i "cogito".
This may be my roleplaying journal.
This may be the start for some fundraising project.
This may be yet another failure, something i forget in a month.
We'll see.



So don't mind me while i pour my thoughts and ten years of experiences on roleplaying like the old rambling man i am, after three shots of whisky, ashaming myself.

xoxoxo
Wish i was playing instead
Love