Pierce Inverarity
SOC-5
The Melee rules in BBB1 pp.202-203 aren’t Traveller5’s finest hour. I want to describe the problem, then suggest a provisional alternative.
To recall the Melee task statement in the RAW:
2D < Attacker MN – Defender MN + Mods
MN is Str plus Skill plus Knowledge
The problem here is that evenly matched opponents will cancel each other out. If both opponents have Str 7 (or 5, or B), the attacker needs to roll 2D < 0 plus Mods to land a blow. The result is the pointless shadow boxing match that’s described in the example on p.203.
To remedy that problem, characters get to draw on their Dexterity as a “point pool” for positive Mods to the Target Number.
Say a character has Str 7 and Dex 8, and is facing an opponent with Str 7. He invests 8 out of his 8 Dex points in order to improve his task roll to 2D < 0 + 8 = 8. He may well land this one blow, but now his Dex pool is exhausted and the shadow boxing match commences.
He now has two options:
1. Ask his opponent to switch from bare fists to plasma rifles;
2. Ask him to switch to Pierce Inverarity’s alternative melee combat rules instead.
In this alternative system, which I spent all of 30 minutes devising, the Dex point pool is retained but is used differently. The task statement now looks like this:
(2+n)D < Attacker MN
n is the number of Dex points expended by the defender in the current melee round.
The defender is pitting his Dex against the attacker’s Str even as the attacker is rolling to hit. The defender decides how much fancy footwork he wants to employ to make himself harder to hit. In the next round, switch roles, then rinse and repeat.
Players will spend Dex points tactically from round to round based on the relative Str and Dex of the parties involved. Puny but dextrous characters will choose one tactic, brawny klutzes will choose another.
I’m using (2+n)D rather than just nD because I don’t want to deplete the Dex point pools too quickly.
Your thoughts, critiques, alternatives?
To recall the Melee task statement in the RAW:
2D < Attacker MN – Defender MN + Mods
MN is Str plus Skill plus Knowledge
The problem here is that evenly matched opponents will cancel each other out. If both opponents have Str 7 (or 5, or B), the attacker needs to roll 2D < 0 plus Mods to land a blow. The result is the pointless shadow boxing match that’s described in the example on p.203.
To remedy that problem, characters get to draw on their Dexterity as a “point pool” for positive Mods to the Target Number.
Say a character has Str 7 and Dex 8, and is facing an opponent with Str 7. He invests 8 out of his 8 Dex points in order to improve his task roll to 2D < 0 + 8 = 8. He may well land this one blow, but now his Dex pool is exhausted and the shadow boxing match commences.
He now has two options:
1. Ask his opponent to switch from bare fists to plasma rifles;
2. Ask him to switch to Pierce Inverarity’s alternative melee combat rules instead.
In this alternative system, which I spent all of 30 minutes devising, the Dex point pool is retained but is used differently. The task statement now looks like this:
(2+n)D < Attacker MN
n is the number of Dex points expended by the defender in the current melee round.
The defender is pitting his Dex against the attacker’s Str even as the attacker is rolling to hit. The defender decides how much fancy footwork he wants to employ to make himself harder to hit. In the next round, switch roles, then rinse and repeat.
Players will spend Dex points tactically from round to round based on the relative Str and Dex of the parties involved. Puny but dextrous characters will choose one tactic, brawny klutzes will choose another.
I’m using (2+n)D rather than just nD because I don’t want to deplete the Dex point pools too quickly.
Your thoughts, critiques, alternatives?
