Mighty Deeds of Arms: Outnumbered, Riposte

[Tokage]

Finding that the list of mighty deeds in the book is lacking, and taking advantage of the encouragement to make up some of our own, I thought I'd adapt two warrior maneuvers that I rather like into this system.

Being Outnumbered

As seen many times in heroic epics and even real-world history, no true warrior gets scared by the prospect of having to face overwhelming numbers - they are just mooks, after all! First edition AD&D had a rule, one I'm sure many of you are aware of, wherein a warrior could ignore his usual number of attacks and make as many hits as he had character levels, provided his foe had at most a single hit die. I miss that rule, and here make an effort to bring it forth to DCC. Obviously the Deed can only be activated if the warrior is outnumbered to begin with: if he charges into fight with all his friends and henchmen, it's not much of a heroic last stand, now is it?

Witness a 10th level warrior in action.

Deed Die at 3: The warrior gains additional attacks, equal to either his level or the number of enemies within his range, whichever is lower. He can attack each enemy once. He is allowed to make a single move action, provided he hasn't done one so far, in the middle of the fray: for instance, a 4th level warrior could hit three goblins near him, then move to strike an archer nearby. This bonus only applies to any enemies with less than a full hit die, such as those goblins (1d6-1): trying to attack an enemy with more than that causes the attack to miss and the Deed to end.

Deed Die at 4: The warrior can now apply this Deed to any enemy up to 1 full HD and an extra hit point - for instance, orcs (1d8+1 HD) are now free game.

Deed Die at 5: Any enemy with less than a full HD (like the poor goblins) may be automatically dispatched without an attack roll, only expending one bonus attack to each of them. Full-HD foes still require an attack roll. The warrior can move at most twice during the Deed, up to the maximum of his base movement - a level 6 dwarven fighter could first dispatch two bandits, then expend 10 move to strike down two more trying to get to his wizard buddy, then finally spend the last 10 move to still get an archer or two skulking in the back.

Deed Die at 6: Anything up to 2+2 HDs - such as giant beetles (2d8+2) - can be targeted with this Deed. A foe with up to 1+1 HD, like the orcs and the bandits, can be brought low without needing to bother rolling for attack.

Deed Die at 7: Any foe with HD 3+3 at most - like jungle ape-men (3d8) - is a viable target for this deed. The warrior can move as many times as he wants, provided the total does not exceed his basic move: witness the 9th level warrior charge his way through the battlefield, cutting foes down as he passes them by.

Deed Die at 8+: The Deed can be applied to anything up to 4+4 HDs, like bugbears (4d8+4). Anything up to 2+2 HD no longer needs to be rolled for.

Riposte

The foe, a giant with a club bigger than your whole body, leaps roaring down and smashes his weapon at you - only for you to almost casually step aside at the last minute, and bury your blade into his stomach now that his guard is down. Really hard to do, awesome if you can pull it off, probably going to get you killed if you can't.

The bad news is, you need to make yourself a target for this to work in the first place: all enemies attacking you this round gain a +4 bonus to their attack rolls - don't try to riposte outside duels, you moron! If your Deed fails, you don't get to hit anything at all this round, having essentially forfeited all your action dice in your reckless attempt. If you roll a natural 1, your enemy automatically crits you on a hit!

Now, the good news...

Deed Die at 3: The warrior guesses the natural attack roll his enemy makes, without any bonuses or penalties they might have. If your guess lands with a margin of 3 to either direction (for instance, you guessed 16 while the result turned out a 13), the riposte succeeds: you get to block him with your shields, move out of the way at a nick of time, or such. You now get to attack him, off-guard, at your leisure. If your Deed succeeded but your guess was way off, the enemy hits you but you still get to attack him as normal. If you guessed the exact number (like if your guess had been 13 in the above example), your warrior's threat range is doubled for all his attacks - i.e. threat range 19-20 becomes 17-20, 18-20 becomes 15-20, and 17-20 becomes 13-20 - or your dwarf, having no threat range to begin with, gets additional +4 to his attack and damage rolls, provided he has a shield.

Deed Die at 4: Your guess now has a failure margin of 4.

Deed Die at 5: The numbers above continue to increase - your failure margin becomes 5, you gain the threat/attack bonus even if you're off by 1.

Deed Die at 6: Failure margin is now 6. If you manage to guess exactly, all your hits - whether warrior or dwarf - are automatically crits. Dwarves, the supreme sword-and-board experts, still gain their +4 to hit and damage.

Deed Die at 7: Your failure margin is now 7 - which, assuming you guess 13 at most, is as good as an automatic success. You gain double threat range or attack/damage bonus on a guess margin of 2.

Deed Die at 8+: You drop the pretenses and automatically succeed in your riposte, gaining the double threat range or dwarf bonus on a margin of 3, and automatically crit on a margin of 1. If you guessed exactly, you not only crit automatically, but you also hit automatically - don't bother to roll.

[Max_The_Judge]

This is really good stuff! It's a shame that so many players don't take full advantage of the Mighty Deeds rule. It's such rife ground for imaginative ideas.