Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Delving into AD&D:How often you charge.

AD&D DM Guide is legendary in that you could read it today and still find something new that you missed the previous 99 times you read. I been running into this while particpating in Tim of Gothride Manor AD&D Campaign. I decided to collect these periodically into a series labeled Delving into AD&D. 

Page 66 DMG
You can only charge once a turn
If you set a polearm with a point or a spear  against a charging opponent and hit you do double damage.

More specifically once you charge you can't charge for 9 more rounds.


4 comments:

Greyhawk Grognard said...

Let's see. The negatives:

* Lose all DEX bonus to armor class (or drop 1 AC if no DEX bonus)
* Potentially go last in melee, depending on weapon length
* Potentially take double damage from someone who has set his weapon to receive the charge

All to get:

* +2 bonus "to hit" for one round

Nope. Can't say I've ever done it.

Roger G-S said...

Sounds like another one of those holdovers from the wargaming rules, that Delta has so capably analyzed (e.g. the completely wrong missile weapon ranges for skirmish encounters).

Me, I let a charging figure move double, give +2 damage with a pole weapon or spear and take +2 damage from a pole weapon or spear. The greater move is compensated by a +2 to be hit and no Dex bonuses.

Hedgehobbit said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lord Kilgore said...

Another positive, of course, is the ability to attack your target this round instead of having to wait until next round. Depending upon the situation, this could be important.

Charging surprised or unarmed opponents (most non-humanoid monsters) is a very solid option.