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COMBATin conjunction with a parry, and opponent creatures are able to follow ifnot otherwise engaged. Fleeing meads as rapid a withdrawal from combatas possible; while it exposes the character to rear attack at the time,subsequent attacks can only be made if the opponent is able to follow thefleeing character at equal or greater speed.Example of Combat:A party of 5 characters - a magic-user, a cleric, a thief, a human fighter,and a dwarf fighter surprise an illusionist with 20 arcs. The opponents are30' distant, and the magic-user immediately begins casting a sleep spell.The cleric also prepares to cast a spell, silence, 15'radius. Meanwhile, thethief darts to the rear of the party to attempt to hide in the shadows andattack from behind when opportunity presents itself; the human fighternocks an arrow and shoots it at the illusionist; and the dwarf hurls an axe.The surprise segment is over, and initiative is determined. Theillusionist/orcs win initiative, and while the former begins o spell of hisown, the latter rush to attack, hurling speors as they come. A spear hits themagic-user, so the sleep spell is spoiled. The orcs are attacked by thefighters, the cleric casts his spell upon the illusionist, and the magicalsilence both spoils his prismatic spray spell and enhances the chances forthe thief's attack, for he is successfully slinking and sliding around in theshadows. Thus, after surprise and 1 melee round, the party has inflicted 2hits upon the illusionist, spoiled his spell attack, and felled one orc andwounded another. They have taken 3 spear hits and had one of their spellattacks ruined.Initiative is now checked for the second round. The illusionist/orcs againwin initiative and attack first, 5 orcs going after each fighter to grapple, 6rushing the magic-user, and 3 heading for the cleric. The fighters arepulled down, as is the magic-user, but the cleric avoids their grasp. Theillusionist begins casting another spell, one which requires no verbalcomponent; he does not hear the thief behind him. It is now the party'sturn in the round. The cleric smites 1 of the onrushing orcs ond kills it, andthe thief stabs the illusionist from behind with his sword, killing him; thefighters and magic-user are held fost by orcs, so they can do nothing.Round 2 is over.The initiative roll in the third round goes to the party. The cleric killsanother orc, while the thief rushes at the orcs holding the nearest fighter. Itis now the orcs' turn, and as their leader is dead and they still face 2powerful opponents, they will check morale. It is probable that they willkill the pinned characters with dagger thrusts if their morale does notbreak, or that they will release the pinned characters and run away if theirmorale is bad.COMBAT PROCEDURESMost magical combat and breath weapons do not require the attacker todetermine if the weapon hits, but the target creatures are allowed savingthrows to see if they avoided the attack or at least partially negated it.Other attacks require a "to hit" dice roll by the attackers, ond damage isalways scored if the hit is made. A further saving throw might be requiredif the hit scored has other possible effects such as death due to poison,parolyzation, etc. Whether or not a hit is scored depends on the power ofthe attacker and the armor class of the defender. Each of these topics isdiscussed below:Saving Throw:The chance to avoid or partially negate magical and breath attack forms isknown as the save. (Note that magic items and even normal items andweapons must be saved for due to such attacks, falls or blows. Considerthe fate of a cloak when exposed to dragon fire, a suit of magic armorstruck by a lightning bolt, or a magic hammer flying through a cone of coldprior to striking its target.) Yeur Dungeon Master has tables which show thesaving throw scores for these attack forms, by class of character, by level ofexperience in class. These base numbers are modified by the power of theattack, and by magical protections and character class and race.Armor Class:The type of armor worn, the inclusion of a shield, magical factors, anddexterity are inclusions in overall armor class. The size ratio is alsoimportant at times, i.e. a dwarf adds 4 factors to his armor class if hisopponent is a giant. For example, splint mail is armor class 4, and if ashield is added the armor class becomes 3, but suppose it is a magical + 1shield; then armor class becomes 2. Now assume that the character has aHEALINGdisplacer cloak, so the armor class becomes 0, and furthermore, becausethe character has a 16 dexterity, a final bonus of +2 is given, and thearmor class of this character is -2. If the character is a dwarf, a giant attemptingto hit him or her would have to hit AC -6, because of the size differentialpenalty.Now let us take this character through a few attacks. First the dwarf isengaged in melee against a band of 7 hobgoblins. His shield bonus isgood only against a maximum of 3 opponents, so 4 hobgoblins wouldottack at armor class 0. Furthermore, as the dwarf can only see and react toopponents before him, these same 4 hobgoblins would also ottack thedwarf without the latter getting dexterity bonuses, so their attacks wouldbe against armor class 2. Similarly, if giants hurled boulders at the dwarf,rather than struck at him with their weapons, his dexterity and sizebonuses would not accrue to him, so instead of AC -6, the boulders wouldattack a target with AC 0.First Strike:The 1 minute melee round assumes much activity - rushes, retreats,feints, parries, checks, and so on. Once during this period each combatanthas the opportunity to get a real blow in. Usually this is indicated byinitiative, but sometimes other circumstances will prevail. High levelfighters get multiple blows per round, so they will usually strike first andlast in a round. Slowed creatures always strike last. Hasted/speededcreatures strike first. A solid formation of creatures with long weapons willstrike opponents with shorter weapons first, o rushing opponent will bestruck first by a pole arm/spear set in its path. Your DM will adjudicatesuch matters with common sense, When important single combats occur,then dexterities and weapons factors will be used to determine the orderond number of strikes in a round.Weapon Factors:You have already seen information regarding the damage each type ofweapon does, how heavy each is, how long and how much space eachneeds, and each weapon's relative speed factor. The some charts also giverelative efficiency ogainst armor types. Your referee will use these factorsin determination of melee combats by relating them to his Attack Matrices.Monster Attack Damage:Monsters with weapons will generally ottack much as charactersdo. Thosewith natural weaponry such as claws, talons, teeth, fongs, tusks, horns, etc.will use the matrix for monster attacks. There are exceptions to both casesAttack and Saving Throw Matrices:Your DM has matrices for each class of character by level groups, showingthe scores required to hit the various sorts of armor and armorclassifications. Normal men such as men-at-arms are always considered otlevel 0. Monsters are classed by their hit dice. All creatures use the samesaving throw matrices; the modifier is relative class, i.e. fighter, thief, etc.Items save on a special matrix.DAMAGEDamage is meted out in hit points. If any creature reaches 0 or negative hitpoints, it is dead. Certain magical means will prevent actual death, particularlya ring of regeneration (cf. MONSTER MANUAL, Troll).FALLING DAMAGEFalling into pits, from ledges, down shahs, and so forth will certainly causedamage unless the fall is broken. While such falls could break limbs andother bones, it is probable that your referee will simply use a hit pointsdamage computation based on id6 for each 10' of distance fallen to amaximum of 20d6, plus or minus adjustments for the surface fallen upon.This treatment gives characters a better survival chance, although it is notas "realistic" as systems to determine breaks, sprains, dislocations,internal organ damoge, etc.HEALINGThere are numerous ways to restore lost hit points. The most mundane is byresting and allowing time to do the iob. For each day of rest, 1 hit point ofdamage is restored. After 30 game days have passed, hit points accrue atthe rate of 5 per day thereafter. The "laying on of hands" by paladins,105