Since it’s been a long time since I posted anything (only 4 months – yikes!), I’m going to share some of my progress on a vehicle combat system for D&D 4th Edition. Today I’ll talk about one I call the Lightning Battle.
The Lightning Battle is a type of combat in which the vehicles are moving at speeds and trajectories too difficult to match. The most common scenarios for this sort of battle are aerial battles, in which gravity is a complicating factor. Space battles can also easily turn into this sort of combat. The Lightning Battle is the easiest type of battle to track, requiring only a sheet of paper and a pencil.
Rather than tracking or mapping vehicle flight paths, this method assumes that the vehicles have not matched trajectories, and can engage in combat only during the brief (one round) interval during which they are in range. There are two alternating types of rounds in a Lightning Battle: Combat and Recovery.
Combat
Initiative is rolled at the beginning of each combat round. During a combat round, a vehicle (or rather its pilot) may perform a standard, a minor, and any number of free or immediate actions. Move actions may not be spent, except with the use of an action point or by sacrificing a standard action. Saves are made at the end of combat rounds only. If an effect with a stated duration of until the end of your next turn is used during a combat round, it persists until the end of the next combat round.
Recovery
During recovery rounds, vehicles get one action. This is typically a minor action, as there are no targets are in range of attack powers. Persistent effects, such as regeneration or ongoing damage, are applied at the beginning of the recovery round only. If an effect with a stated duration of until the end of your next turn is used during a recovery round, it persists until the end of the next recovery round.
Initiative
(Download the Lightning Battle Initiative Tracking Chart.)
In a Lightning Battle, a vehicle’s distance from another is determined by its place in the initiative order (relative to its own allies only). If Fighter A rolls a 14, Fighters B and C a 17, and Fighter D an 18, then Fighters B and C are considered to be one space apart from Fighter D. Fighters B and C are considered to be flying side by side, and will both be affected by any area affects centered on the other. Also, any area affect powers targeted at initiative 17 could potentially hit Fighter D as well, depending on the specific range of the power.
Ally
14 Fighter A
15
16
17 Fighter B, Fighter C
18 Fighter D
If Bogey F rolls a 14 and Bogey G rolls a 17, they are considered to be three spaces apart. An area affect which would hit Bogey F has no affect on Fighter A, which is in a separate initiative line.
Enemy
14 Bogey F
15
16
17 Bogey G
Vehicles may move up and down in initiative either by normal means (delays, feats, powers) or by use of a shift (such as those granted by many class powers). Initiative may be tracked on paper or by placing vehicle tokens in two numbered lines on the gaming table or on this tracking chart (provided for personal use only).
That’s it for today; keep an eye out for future posts about more styles of vehicle combat.
I like this, I can see how it would make the combat frantic and fast paced, very cool for a fighter battle!