Null Result

A couple days ago I saw video by MCDM, discussing removing the "Null Result" - that thing that happens when you roll under the goblin's AC and just pass the turn forward with a sad sigh and a "I missed. Next". It's lame and bad and terrible.

Others have tackled the problem in different ways already; Chris McDowell discusses his solution in this post. He cuts the attack roll in favor of just rolling for damage. In his games that follow up on this design (ItO/EB), Health is split with a Grit/Meat distinction (that's what I call them, not Chris), where Grit is a quick-to-recover measure of turning hits into near misses, and Meat is harder-to-recover abstraction of actual body health. Hit 0 Grit and damage goes into Meat, hit 0 Meat and you die.

I don't quite like the solution because it feels difficult to scale slowly for gradual progression (without resorting to some sort of esoteric damage and armor bonuses), an issue Chris' games solve by not tackling it in the first place. I wanted to take my own crack at condensing combat and pulling out that nasty Null Result.

Clashing 101

I go about removing the Null Result by keeping the to-hit roll, allowing for the dragon game fighter to-hit progression to be kept, but making something happen on the "miss" result. Specifically, the defender gets to hit the attacker.

The basics: On their turn, a creature may initiate a clash (attacking). If so, they are named the attacker, and roll d20 + relevant offensive modifiers; The defender rolls d20 + relevant defensive mods. Ties always go to the attacker.

If the attacker wins (rolls higher), they roll damage and deal that amount of damage to the defender. If the defender wins, they instead are the one to roll damage, dealt to the attacker obviously.

That's it. That's the mechanic.

Clashing 102

Some developments and elaborations on the basics that I have been thinking about.

Endure: The defender in a clash may instead choose to Endure, rolling d20 + any relevant Endure bonuses. If the defender wins, the attacker still rolls damage, but it is reduced by [Defender Roll - Attacker Roll].

Missiles: Missile (ranged) attacks by default require the defender to roll to Endure. A defender forced into a clash with a missile attack cannot use a melee weapon to respond, but may clash with a ranged weapon if desired; if so, both sides roll and apply damage, the winner of the clash gaining bonus damage equal to [Winner Roll - Loser Roll].

Weapon Types: Melee weapons are classified into 3 main categories by their damage type. This decides the bonuses they offer to clashes:

• Slashing weapons open wounds and splay blood. ++ attack, -- counter, OK Endure.
• Blunt weapons crush hopes, dreams and enemy momentum. -- attack, OK counter, ++ Endure.
• Stabbing weapons find gaps in armor and enemy stances. OK attack, ++ counter, -- Endure.

++ = large bonus, OK = moderate or little bonus

AoE: Area of Effect attacks are resolved with the attacker rolling their attack, all defenders roll to Endure against the attacker's roll result. AoE can't be clashed with anything other than Endure.

Dual Wielding: If you wield two one-handed weapons, you may choose which one's bonus to apply in clashes. A sword to attack with, a shield to endure assaults with.

Other Ideas

I still have a few ideas that I haven't yet condensed into proper rules. Armor split into organic and inorganic, the former offering bonuses to Endure and the latter just plain DR, with the trade-off of bulkiness and cost. DR applies always, even when you have your clash countered, but Endure bonuses are only helpful when you are on the defender's end of the stick.

Grappling and other combat tricks should be reasonably easy to work into this. Derive bonus from how good you are at grappling stuff, then roll to see if you beat the opponent.

Really, you can abstract this to "whoever rolls higher is the one who decides what they do", so there's potential for really really weird attacks with magic or something.

At the end of the day

There's still a chance for a Null Result - if the defending character rolls well on their Endure, they might negate all attacker damage. Still, I think that the odds for this should be quite a bit lower than the odds of just swinging under the AC of a creature.

Unsure how this will impact combat speed, player engagement, balance and other whatnots. I'll try to cobble together a playtest and force a few poor souls into it this weekend...