Advanced Rules: Combat

OSE AES CHAR · p.49

Open source p.49 Also in: Advanced Player's Tome p.234

Attacking with Two Weapons

Characters with DEX or STR as a prime requisite may choose to wield two one-handed weapons, as follows:

  • The secondary weapon must be of small size (e.g. a dagger or hand axe).
  • Attacks with the primary weapon suffer a –2 penalty.
  • The character may make one extra attack per round with the secondary weapon, at a –4 attack penalty.

Charging into Melee

Once per combat, a character may charge into melee and attack, as follows:

  • The character moves at least 20’ (20 yards in the wilderness) before attacking. There must be a clear run.
  • The character gains a bonus to attack this round.
  • The character’s AC is penalised by 1 this round.
  • Weapons that may be braced against charging monsters are also effective against charging characters.

Missile Attacks on Targets in Melee

The constant and unpredictable movement of characters in melee makes firing or throwing missile weapons at combatants an uncertain proposition.

When this happens, randomly determine which character in the melee is actually targeted by the missile attack before making the attack roll.

Typically, all characters involved in the melee have the same chance of being targeted, but especially large creatures may count as two or more characters.

Parrying

Characters with a STR of 13 or above may opt to act purely defensively in melee, forfeiting their attack that round. When parrying, the character’s STR bonus to melee attacks is applied as an Armour Class bonus that round.

Splash Weapons

Targeting a Surface

Characters may attempt to throw a splash weapon so that it smashes on a hard surface close to one or more creatures. This is handled as an attack against AC 9 [10]. If the attack succeeds, all creatures within 5’ are splashed with the liquid and, if it is harmful to them, suffer damage.

Misses

When an attack with a splash weapon misses its target (whether a character or a surface), it lands in a random location:

  • Roll to determine the direction, interpreting the roll as a clock-face direction.
  • The container smashes 5’ from the intended target in the specified direction.
  • Creatures within 5’ of this location are splashed with the liquid. If it is harmful to them, they suffer damage.