2d6 Combat in OD&D

[Wothbora]

I made the jump this past weekend to using the Man-to-Man Melee Table from Chainmail as my Primary Matrix for determining combat. I must say that it worked much better than I anticipated it would. Also, one can definitely see the advantage of having one of those +1 Swords (+3 vs. Trolls) mentioned in Monsters & Treasures (V2).

To get the ball rolling I want to first give you the odds so that you can see the differences between the two systems. And also, state right from the beginning that I hope that this doesn't digress into whether a Hero can strike 4 times during melee or not. Please, just assume for discussion's sake that a Hero cannot unless weapon's rank determine that it is possible.

This is how I've used the 2d6 Combat:

• Man-to-Man Melee Table is used for all combat
  
• Various Weapons work more effectively against various Armours than others
  
• +1 is added for increased character levels as per M&M guidelines (see below)
  
• Weapons have a rating from 1 (Dagger) to 12 (Pike)
  
• Any weapon that is 4 classes lower gains an additional strike per melee round (1 vs. 5; 2 vs. 6) and if a weapon is 8 classes lower gains 3 strikes (1 vs 7, etc).
  

Man-to-Man modifications for Level Advancement:

Fighter Man:	+1 at Levels 4, 7, 10 & 13
Magic Users:	+1 at Levels 6, 11, & 16
Clerics:	+1 at Levels 5, 9, & 13

Okay, now the tricky part... Here are the odds for using 2d6 and 1d20. Yes, it is a different flavor than I was used to, but it seemed to work out well in our initial combats this past weekend.

Table of Probabilities for Rolling 2d6

Results of Rolling 2d6	Chance to Roll Result Exactly	Chance to Roll Result or Less	Chance to Roll Result or More
2	2.78%	2.78%	100.00%
3	5.56%	8.33%	97.22%
4	8.33%	16.67%	91.67%
5	11.11%	27.78%	83.33%
6	13.89%	41.67%	72.22%
7	16.67%	58.33%	58.33%
8	13.89%	72.22%	41.67%
9	11.11%	83.33%	27.78%
10	8.33%	91.67%	16.67%
11	5.56%	97.22%	8.33%
12	2.78%	100.00%	2.78%

Table of Probabilities for Rolling 1d20

Result of Rolling 1d20	Chance to Roll Result Exactly	Chance to Roll Result or Less	Chance to Roll Result or More
1	5.00%	5.00%	100.00%
2	5.00%	10.00%	95.00%
3	5.00%	15.00%	90.00%
4	5.00%	20.00%	85.00%
5	5.00%	25.00%	80.00%
6	5.00%	30.00%	75.00%
7	5.00%	35.00%	70.00%
8	5.00%	40.00%	65.00%
9	5.00%	45.00%	60.00%
10	5.00%	50.00%	55.00%
11	5.00%	55.00%	50.00%
12	5.00%	60.00%	45.00%
13	5.00%	65.00%	40.00%
14	5.00%	70.00%	35.00%
15	5.00%	75.00%	30.00%
16	5.00%	80.00%	25.00%
17	5.00%	85.00%	20.00%
18	5.00%	90.00%	15.00%
19	5.00%	95.00%	10.00%
20	5.00%	100.00%	5.00%

There you have it...

[Zulgyan]

Big work there Wothbora, get an EXALT:

First, always made question:
How do you deal with monsters that don't wear men armor?

[Wothbora]

Well, so far the characters have encountered only Demi-Humans, Orcs, Goblins, Kobolds and such, but so far this is what I've been following:

Up to 1: No Bonus
1+ to 3: +1
4 to 6: +2
7 to 8: +3
9 to 10: +4
11 and up: +5

Armour Class for Creatures is based on the AC's listed in the LBB's unless they are wearing Armour.

[Zulgyan]

Are you feeling the Morningstar is the best weapon?

[dwayanu]

It certainly works, but the results may seem a bit curious!

Versus anything less than mail, a dagger is at least as good as a hand axe, mace, sword or spear. The sword on average is worse than the mace. The mace is at a slight disadvantage versus no armor, better versus mail with shield, and much better versus plate.

Against a mace, plate without shield is actually worse than any other panoply -- and only leather plus shield is better than no armor at all.

Plate is also a death-trap versus a battle axe (against which only mail gives any defense). It's almost a toss-up between mace and battle-axe, depending on whether mail or plate is more common. One might prefer a mace if (as on JG's Ready Ref Sheets) the battle axe is two-handed.

The two-handed sword is across the board even more outrageously powerful than the morning star. Historically, I think it was even less commonly used in actual combat.

Basically, whether costlier armor or a shield is a boon depends on the weapon.

One way to use 2d6 is to compress the range of Armor Classes. Count leather or shield as equivalent, both together the same as mail, and mail plus shield as plate. This can yield a rough approximation of the D&D probabilities.

Most of the monsters in Vol. 2 have ACs in the (D&D) 8-4 range. IIRC, none but some men have AC9.

None (but men) with AC 3 or 2 have literal "plate armor." Rather, they tend to be of especially magical nature.

IIRC, the Greyhawk mods often yield lower hit chances than Chainmail -- but the latter makes ACs corresponding to metal armor types on average notably (especially with swords and daggers) harder to hit. As a consequence, fights can drag on for several times as long.

When I used the "Man to Man" rules, I treated claw and fang as dagger.

Initiative, parrying and multiple attacks tend to favor the lighter weapons.

[thorswulf]

I think the reasons for why the weapons are as effective or ineffective is based on historical evidence. Maces are d**n scary because the damage they do is blunt trauma that can cause internal injuries that turn septic. Axes, particularly the danish war axe was very good at sheering through mail, and helmets. Check out the skull of some poor sucker at the battle of Visby. It almost sheared his skull cap off! Daggers are nasty because they can find weak spots in armor and be exploited. I hope you are using the rules about getting unhorsed and being prone!

[Wothbora]

Yes! We're definitely using the rules for Unhorsed and Prone.

On a side note, I ran the beginnings of a Dungeon Crawl in a collapsed Keep last night. It worked like a charm. However: an observation is that sometimes a battle lasts a bit longer, but all-in-all I think that the 2d6 method really holds up well. (Although, sometimes it can take forever with a d20 as well now that I think about it).

One thing I've started doing for "Hoards of Low-Level Critters" is using them like Mooks in Pulp RPG's. One hit and they're down/dead ... it's the sheer number that makes things interestingly difficult for the PC's.