WFRP 4e House Rules: Combat

The Combat Round

A round lasts about 10 seconds. During that time all combatants who are capable may Move and perform both a Full Action (i.e. attack) and a Fast Action (draw a weapon).
If one side is Surprised, only their opponents get to do anything in the first round. Circumstances dictate surprise, die rolls may be called for to avoid, or Talents employed (i.e. Sixth Sense).

In a normal combat round combatants with loaded ranged weapons may use their Full Action to fire their missiles first, starting with those with the highest Initiative attribute (use Agility in the case of ties). Note a thrown weapon counts as loaded if in hand.
Once all loaded missiles are launched the round proceeds according to Combat Initiative.

Combat Initiative

Combat Initiative is group based.
Generally speaking the side who initiated the combat get to go first, with each character performing their actions in turn (in order of Initiative attribute if required) before play passes to the opposing side.
If it is unclear who should have the initiative, draw a card or roll a die at the start of the combat, highest wins.

Taking the Initiative

One side may take the initiative if one of their number spends a Full Action attempting to do so and succeeds at a Leadership test. Modified as follows:

• More/Less fighters than opponents +/-10
• More/Less total Advantage than opponents +/-10*

*Only apply if one side clearly have more Advantage than the other, if it’s necessary to count don’t bother
The opponent can try to oppose this with the Leadership of one of their own provided they commit a Full Action to it.

Delayed Initiative

If their side has the initiative a character can choose to delay their action until some condition is met, at the risk of potentially losing their action for that round. For example someone may wish to fire on an enemy who crosses their line of sight, or move to intercept an enemy charging at a weak ally. To do so requires winning an opposed Initiative test. Success stops or interrupts the opponent’s action, which they can resume afterwards if capable. Failure results in losing one’s action for the round.
Bonuses or penalties may be applied depending on how precise the condition is.

Moving & Actions

I will write all the details out properly later, for now just noting changes or rules we’ve rarely used.

• You can Move your Move rate in 2 yard squares (walking) and perform a Full Action.
• You can move up to 2 times your move rate in 2 yard squares (running) at the cost of your Full Action, this still leaves you a Fast Action.
• You can move up to 4 times your Move Rate by sprinting, this is all you can do in the round and requires an Average Athletics test (+20) with failure deducting the negative SL in yards from the move.
• You can Charge into combat gaining 1 Advantage provided your enemy is more than your move rate distance away but less than twice your move rate
• See 'Disengaging from Combat' here for Disengaging & Fleeing.
• You can elect to perform a Fighting Retreat, moving half your movement rate backwards with your only action being to oppose attacks (this is a combined Move & Full Action).
• You cannot move after attacking unless you are no longer Engaged (i.e. your attack knocked your opponent Prone)

Full Actions

Full Actions include any which require a die roll and some which don’t

• Melee Attack
• Ranged Attack
• Cast a spell/pray
• Reload Action (crossbow, blackpowder etc)
• Leadership Initiative test
• Fight Defensively
• Fighting Retreat
• Aim
• Pick up a dropped weapon
• Remove an item from a backpack

Fast Actions

• Draw a Weapon
• Drop an item
• Take an item from a worn pouch or pocket
• Reload a Sling or Bow if you only Move or Fire

Opposed Combat Tests

In Melee you can oppose one attack with your primary weapon, one with a secondary weapon (i.e. shield) and oppose one with Dodge, but for every test after the first subtract -10 cumulatively (i.e. the 3rd roll is at a -20 penalty). Whoever scores the highest Success Level wins (even if its a negative). Success Level is the degree to which a roll is less than the fighter's relevant combat skill counting only the 10s die, so a roll of 32 on a Melee (Basic) skill of 51 would yield 2 SL. 

Using a shield to oppose a (point-blank) ranged attack counts as one of these opposed actions.
An unopposed melee attack is effectively an automatic hit where a failed roll merely reduces the damage done by the negative Success Level.

Damage

In order to reduce the amount of arithmetic in the game we’re dropping Toughness as a damage soak and Strength as a damage bonus, unless a character has greater than 50 Strength in which case they do +1 damage. From now on weapons only do their base damage plus the Success Level of the attack. As per the original rules a successful attack will always inflict one wound (unless supernatural traits etc stipulate otherwise).

Crits & Fumbles

In order to reduce the amount of criticals and fumbles I want to switch to a more traditional, simpler method:

• Criticals happen on 01, 02 & 03
• Fumbles happen on 98, 99, 00

Note this applies to all rolls, including opposed defensive and non-combat tests.

Shields and Helms can be sacrificed to prevent a critical, but this must be called before the critical is rolled. The armour is ruined, but so is the entire hit, not just the critical component of it.

Shields

Only provide Armour Points to the portion of the character that they cover, this is based on the Defense Rating of the shield:

1. Shield Arm
2. Shield Arm and Body
3. Shield Arm, Body and Head

Advantage

Advantage is now limited to a maximum of the tens unit of the skill being used, so a Melee (Basic) skill of 34 limits Advantage to 3. If a combatant changes weapon their maximum Advantage may change as a result.