Combat Stunts for Swords and Wizardry and 5th edition D&D

Thanks to my friend +Daniel McEntee and +Douglas Cole of Gaming Ballistic for asking tough questions that clarified my thoughts on this.

Combat Stunts
There are times where a player as his character will want to inflict on the target an adverse result other than dealing hit point damage.

The general rule is that a to-hit roll is made. Depending on the difficulty of the stunt there may at times a negative modifier of -2 or -5. If the attack succeeds the target rolls a saving throw. If the target fails his saving throw the adverse result takes effect.

If a natural 20 is rolled on the attack the adverse result takes effect with no saving throw. Furthermore the attacker can roll again to see if another critical occurs.

• If the second roll fails then just the adverse result takes effect. 
• If the second roll would normally hit the target then normal damage is rolled in addition to the adverse result taking effect.
• If the second roll a critical then the maximum damage is inflicted. The attacker may continue roll for additional critical hits until he fails to roll a natural 20.

In general combats stunts not likely to affect high level characters or high hit dice creatures due to their good saving throws. This is by design and reflects the fact that Hit Dice and Level is a measure of experience and ability. Also the stunt represents not a single maneuver or swing but rather a series of moves, feints, and swings over a six second period where the attacker is deliberately trying to achieve the adverse result.

The following are rulings for the more common stunts.

Head Shot
The attacker may elect to try a head shot on helmless target. The attack is a -2. Due to the skill absorbing damage the target makes the saving at +2. If the target fails his saving throw, he falls unconscious. If the target is unaware or surprised the attack is normal.

If the target is significantly larger than the attacker then the target is +5 to his saving throw. If the target is significantly smaller than he is at -5 to his saving throw. Targets 10 times the size of the attacker are not effected by head shots.

Face Shot
The attacker may elect to try a head shot on target not wearing a Great Helm. The attack is at -5. If the target fails his saving throw, he falls unconscious. If the target is unaware or surprised the attack is normal.

If the target is significantly larger than the attacker then the target is +5 to his saving throw. If the target is significantly smaller than he is at -5 to his saving throw. Targets 10 times the size of the attacker are not effected by head shots.

Disarm
The attacker may elect to disarm his opponent of a chosen weapon at a -2 to hit. If the target fails his saving throw he loses the weapon as if he fumbled it. This has no effect on natural weapons like claws.

Trip
The attack may try to knock the target prone through a combination of maneuvers by making an attack roll at -2. If the target fails his saving throw his knocked prone.

If the target is significantly larger than the attacker then the target is +5 to his saving throw. If the target is significantly smaller than he is at -5 to his saving throw. Targets ten times the size of the attacker are not effected by trips

Changes for 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons.
This can be useful if you are using 5th edition DnD especially when you confine yourself to just the basic rules. Note if you have the PHB there is the battle master option which could be adapted into a stunt system.

The main difference is how modifiers saving throws and critical hits are handled.

For 5th edition
All positive modifiers are ignored. Grant advantage instead.

All negative modifiers are ignored. Grant disadvantage instead. Yeah this makes the no difference between a head and face shot. You may opt to decide a head shot is a normal attack and a face shot is at a disadvantage.

Ignore the critical rule. If a critical hit is scored then roll normal damage in addition to the adverse result. Instead of doubling the dice of damage, the attacks gets his adverse result and normal damage.

The target must make a dexterity saving with a DC of the attacker's to hit roll. For example Marcus the Paladin is trying to head shot the poor orc that forgot his helm in his cave. Marcus rolls at a disadvantage and manages to hit the orc with a 15. The orc now has to make a dexterity save versus at DC 15.

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So why bother with this at all? I think it is reasonable for players to try to attempt things that are known to be possible in real life. Disarming an opponent is difficult but we know some skilled fighters can do it. Shoving and pushing happen all the time in fights. The question for me was how to allow be consistent in my rulings and yet not turn the game into a pseudo GURPS, Harnmaster, or Runequest.

DnD has several tools to use to make a ruling in combat, the to hit roll, hit points, armor class, and saving throws are some of them. For this I elected the retain the basic to-hit roll. However I want to make sure that beating an opponent down to zero hit points was the optimal path to victory as that is a core DnD mechanic. So I elected for stunts to give the target a defense.

We know that saving throws were developed to allow character to avoid something really bad happening to them. So as a defense roll I felt Saving Throws are the way to go and still keep the game recognizably DnD. It also has the virtue of scaling as the character levels unlike something based on attributes. Also it doesn't require the addition of a skill system.