Next Topic: SPECIAL ATTACKS

This is still under heavy development, but it will affect the way combat works. A special attack is something like trip or feint – it uses one or more of your regular melee attacks to perform a special attack that can have some other effect.

Old system: Special attacks are tied in with skills and must be learned. The only check is your skill %.

New system: Special attacks are always available to everyone, but it uses skills/attributes and performs an opposed check against the opponent.

With the removal of the skill system and the introduction of feats, a new method was needed for managing special attacks like trip. As with many other decisions we have made, we looked to see how it was done in the D&D SRD – and that is with opposed attribute/ability checks. The terminology may be a bit confusing in relation to Luminari MUD so an example is in order.

Most special attacks are based on two things, an attack roll and an attribute or ability check. I will use trip as an example:

I have Bubba, a level 10 orcish fighter. He is fighting Allionwe, a level 10 elvish fighter. Bubba, being a huge brute of an orc, has a strength score of 20. Allionwe only has 15 strength, but she has 20 dex. Bubba wants to trip Allionwe and issues the trip command while in melee.

The first thing that happens is that bubba performs an ‘unarmed touch attack’ roll vs Allionwe, meaning that he must be able to grab that durned elf, ignoring Allionwe’s armor when calculating her armor class. In doing this, Bubba allows a free shot (an attack of opportunity, or AOO) from Allionwe. If Bubba had the improved trip feat, he would not have allowed this attack.
Let’s assume that Bubba is successful with his attack roll, even though Allionwe stuck him good with her rapier as he approached. Now Bubba needs to make an opposed strength check against Allionwe. Allionwe uses either strength or dexterity, whichever has the highest bonus. So – Bubba has a +5 bonus for his strength of 20, while Allionwe has a str of 15 for a +2 bonus. Her dex is 20, with a +5 bonus, so she uses that to oppose bubba’s strength. Bubba is one monster of an orc, and as such has a size of large, giving him +4 to his check. So bubba has a total of +9 to Allionwe’s +5. Let’s assume Bubba makes his roll and throws Allionwe to the ground.

If Bubba had not been successful with his trip, Allionwe would have had one chance to counter-trip him by winning an opposed strength check. This trip attempt would not have provoked an AOO from Bubba as it was taking advantage of his compromised position after failing his trip attempt.

So this is what the trip attack now looks like. We don’t have a % check against a skill anymore – The entire build of the character has more to do with success and failure, rather than just a single skill. Note, also, that wizards would have a particularly poor chance of tripping and monks would have a much better chance, due to the reliance on unarmed attacks. This just makes more sense overall and allows us to make all of these special attacks available without trashing balance.