Theatre of War by

<div class='cover-header'>Theatre of War</div>

<div class='cover-footer'>Additional rules, mechanics and options for cinematic combat encounters in Dungeons and Dragons</div>

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# Combat Options & Maneuvers
T*heatre of War* is a compilation of homebrew rules meant to give combat encounters a more cinematic flair by providing players and DMs with a rich tapestry of flavorful mechanics. The hope is that by providing players with compelling alternatives to standard attack actions, we can break the monotony of "roll to hit" gameplay.

Many of the rules provided by this supplement are inspired by the books and movies that thrill us and inspire our games, and our humble hope is to help bring that feeling to everyone's table.  Of course, these are all options to be used, discarded and modified to your heart's content.

And while we aspire to bring more dramatic action to your tables, the primary goal as always is to have fun.  Hope you enjoy it.

-DM Mars*

### Melee Attacks

#### Mark
When creature makes a melee attack, it can also mark its target. Until the end of the attacker's next turn, any opportunity attack it makes against the marked target has advantage. The opportunity attack doesn't expend the attacker's reaction. The attacker is limited to one opportunity attack per turn.

#### Short Draw 
As an attack, you may draw a sheathed one-handed sword and make an attack roll to strike the enemy with its pommel, leaving the target gasping for breath. This attack deals no damage, however, the next attack roll made against the target has advantage. You must have at least one hand free to take this action.

#### Opportunity Attacks (Expanded)
In a fight, everyone is constantly watching for a chance to strike an enemy who is fleeing, distracted, or passing by. Such a strike is called an opportunity attack.

To make the opportunity attack, you use your reaction to make one melee attack against the provoking creature in two scenarios:

* **Moving.** You can make an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach.  The attack occurs right before the creature leaves your reach.

* **Rising from a Prone Position.** A hostile creature who is getting up from a prone position within your reach will incur an opportunity attack before it can.

* **Use an Object.** Using an object while in a hostile creature’s reach will provoke an attack of opportunity as that action diverts attention away from threats in their immediate vicinity.

You can avoid provoking an opportunity attack by taking the **Disengage** action. You also don't provoke an opportunity attack when you teleport or when someone or something moves you without using your movement, action, or reaction.

#### Flanking
When a creature and at least one of its allies are adjacent to an enemy and on the opposite side’s or corners of the enemies space, they flank that enemy and each of them receives +2 to Melee Attack rolls against that enemy. Flanking a creature on both axis' grants a +5 Melee Attack rolls.

You can’t flank an enemy that it can’t see and all allied creatures flanking the enemy must be able to attack unimpeded (stunned, prone, blind or incapacitated allies do not count towards flanking).

#### Cleave

If a melee attack reduces an undamaged creature to 0 hit points, any excess damage from that attack can carry over to another creature within reach. If the original attack roll can hit it any remaining damage applies  to it. If that creature was undamaged and is likewise reduced to 0 hit points, repeat this process, until there are no valid targets, or until it fails to reduce an undamaged creature to 0 hit points.

#### Parry
As a reaction, when a creature attacks you with a weapon, you can choose to parry one melee weapon attack against you and add 2 to your AC against one melee attack that would hit you. To do so, you must see the attacker and be wielding a melee weapon.

#### Sap
Using a bludgeoning weapon, a creature may make a single attack roll with this weapon against an unaware, surprised target. If the attack hits, it does no damage, but the target must make a Constitution save with a DC of 8 + the weapon attack bonus, or be stunned until the beginning of its next turn.  If the save fails by 5 or more, the target is knocked unconscious.

#### Sundering
Heavy melee weapons can be used to overpower an enemy's weapon. As an action, make an attack roll with your weapon against a creature wielding a weapon. If the attack hits, the target is thrown off balance and any attacks rolls made with that weapon have a disadvantage until their next turn. If the attack is a critical hit, the weapon is damaged, and all attacks made with this weapon have disadvantage until it is repaired. Magical weapons cannot be permanently damaged.

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### Contests in Combat

#### Overrun
When a creature tries to move through a hostile creature's space, the mover can try to force its way through by overrunning the hostile creature. As an action the mover makes a **Strength (Athletics)** roll against the opposing creature's AC. The creature attempting the overrun has advantage on this check if it is larger than the hostile creature, or disadvantage if it is smaller. If the mover passes, it can move through the hostile creature's space once this turn.  If it fails, it can move no further that turn and falls prone in front of the creature if failing by 5 or more.

#### Tumble
A creature can try to tumble through a hostile creature's space. As an action (or a bonus action if using Cunning Action or something similar), the tumbler makes a **Dexterity (Acrobatics)** against the opposing creature's AC. If the tumbler passes, it can move through the hostile creature's space once this turn. If it fails, it can move no further that turn and falls prone if failing by 5 or more.

#### Shoving
Using the Attack action, you can make a special melee attack to shove a creature and push it away from you (Shove). If you're able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this attack replaces one of them.

The target must be no more than one size larger than you and must be within your reach. Instead of making an attack roll, you make a **Strength (Athletics)** check contested by the target's **Strength (Athletics)** or **Dexterity (Acrobatics)** check (the target chooses the ability to use). If you win the contest, you push the target 5 feet away from you.

#### Tripping
You can choose to knock a creature off its feat and leave it prone, as long as no more than one size larger than you and must be within reach. Using an Attack action, make a **Dexterity (Acrobatics)** check contested by the target's **Strength (Athletics)** or **Dexterity (Acrobatics)** check (the target chooses the ability to use). If you win the contest, the target is knocked prone.

Alternatively, a weapon can be used to trip an opponent instead and knock them prone.  To do simply make an attack roll against the target's contested by the target's **Strength (Athletics)** or **Dexterity (Acrobatics)** check (the target chooses the ability to use). If you win the contest, you knock the target prone. 
#### Climb onto a Bigger Creature

Instead of grappling, a suitably large opponent can be treated as terrain for the purpose of jumping onto its back or clinging to a limb. After making any ability checks necessary to get into position and onto the larger creature, the smaller creature uses its action to make a **Strength (Athletics)** or **Dexterity (Acrobatics)** check contested by the target's **Dexterity (Acrobatics)** check. If it wins the contest, the smaller creature successfully moves into the target creature's space and clings to its body. While in the target's space, the smaller creature moves with the target and has advantage on attack rolls against it.

The smaller creature can move around within the larger creature's space, treating the space as difficult terrain. The larger creature's ability to attack the smaller creature depends on the smaller creature's location, and is left to your discretion. The larger creature can dislodge the smaller creature as an action- knocking it off, scraping it against a wall, or grabbing and throwing it- by making a **Strength (Athletics)** check contested by the smaller creature's **Strength (Athletics)** or **Dexterity (Acrobatics)** check. The smaller creature chooses which ability to use.

#### Disarming

Using the Attack action, you can choose to target a creature's weapon, effectively disarming it.

The target must be no more than one size larger than you and must be within your reach. Make a standard attack roll contested by the target's own attack roll.  If you win the contest, you disarm the target sending the weapon 5ft away from the enemy.

The attacker has disadvantage on its attack roll if the target is holding the item with two or more hands. The target has advantage on its ability check if it is larger than the attacking creature, or disadvantage if it is smaller.

Rolling a 1 will cause you to be disarmed instead.

#### Blade Lock
When wielding a melee weapon, as an Attack action you can choose to lock blades with an enemy creature holding a melee weapon by making contested attack rolls against the target.  If you win, the enemy creature's weapon is "blade locked" by yours. If they make an attack with that weapon or perform an action that causes them to drop that weapon, they incur an opportunity attack from you.  Furthermore, any actions other actions they attempt with their offhand are performed at disadvantage.

As an action at the start of their next turn, the blade locked creature can attempt to wrest control of the blade lock and turn it to their advantage.  They may also choose to use the disengage action to leave the blade lock without incurring the opportunity attack.

The target of a blade lock advantage on its contested check if it is larger than the attacking creature, or disadvantage if it is smaller. Creatures have advantage on blade lock checks when wielding a versatile or two-handed melee weapon, or if they use both dual wielded weapons during the lock.

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### Grappling

When you want to grab a creature or wrestle with it, you can use an action to make initiate a grapple. If you're able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this attack replaces one of them.

The target of your grapple must be no more than one size larger than you and must be within your reach. Using at least one free hand, you try to seize the target by making a grapple check instead of an attack roll: a **Strength (Athletics)** check contested by the target's **Strength (Athletics)** or **Dexterity (Acrobatics)** check (the target chooses the ability to use).

If you succeed, you subject the target to the grappled condition (see below). The condition specifies the things that end it, and you can release the target whenever you like (no action required). If the target is larger than you, the roll is made at a disadvantage.

#### Revised Grappled Condition 
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- A grappled creature’s speed becomes 0, and it can’t benefit from any bonus to its speed.

- All creatures in the grapple have a disadvantage on Dexterity Saving Throws and their Attack rolls have disadvantage unless they are using a melee with the **light** property or make an unarmed attack.

- Creatures in a grapple cannot cast spells that require somatic components.  
    
- The condition ends if the Grappler is incapacitated (see the condition) 
- If an effect removes the grappled creature from the reach of the Grappler or Grappling effect, they can attempt to escape the grapple at an advantage.

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##### Escaping a Grapple 
A grappled creature can use its action to escape. To do so, it must succeed on a **Strength (Athletics)** or **Dexterity (Acrobatics)** check contested by your **Strength (Athletics)** check.

##### Moving a Grappled Creature
When you move, you can drag or carry the grappled creature with you, but your speed is halved, unless
the creature is two or more sizes smaller than you.

##### Overbearing
Sometimes, it's not how strong you are but how many friends you have. For each additional allied creature involved in a grapple, receive a +1 bonus (to a maximum of +5).

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#### Chokehold
As an action, you seize a target by the throat by making a **Athletics** check contested by the target's **Athletics** or **Acrobatics** check.  The target of your chokehold must be no more than one size larger than you and within your reach.  While performing a chokehold you have a disadvantage on Dexterity saves.

If the target fails they take bludgeoning damage equal the attacker's Strength Bonus, have disadvantage on Dexterity saves, their movement is halved and they are **Silenced**.

At the end of their next turn, the target must then make a Constitution Save with a of DC 8 + the attacker's Strength Bonus.  If the target fails the save by 5 or more, they are rendered unconscious for 1d4 minutes. Every subsequent round that a choke continues increases the DC by 1.

A choked creature can us an action to escape a chokehold by making a **Athletics** or **Acrobatics** check contested by your **Athletics** check.

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## Ranged Attacks

#### Trick Shot 
As an standard action (not an attack action), make a single stylish ranged attack with disadvantage. If the lower roll would also hit the target, you automatically score a critical hit.

#### Pinning
When you make a ranged attack with a piercing weapon, you may attempt to pin a Large, or smaller creaure to a wall or surface.  Make an attack roll, if the attack hits, the target must make Strength save with a DC of 8 + your weapon attack bonus.  On a failure, the target's speed is reduced to 0 until the weapon is removed.  The target can make another Strength Saving throw at the beginning of its next turn or spend an action to remove itself.

#### Long Shot
You meticulously aim at a target by compensating for distance, wind, and other variables allowing you to fire beyond your optimal range. As an action in a turn that you have not moved, make a single ranged up to your maximum distance without incurring penalties.

#### Cover Fire
As an action, make a single ranged attack. You intentionally miss your target but leave them distracted. Until the beginning of its following turn, the target's next attack roll is made at a disadvantage.

#### High Ground

Controlling the high ground allows you a better vantage point on your opponent, allowing you to fire on them at a better angle, including over cover. When targeting a creature with ranged weapon from an elevation of 10ft or higher, you can make the attack with an advantage.  If the target has gone prone, however, the attack is still at a disadvantage.

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### Cover
Walls, trees, creatures, and other obstacles can provide cover during combat, making a target more difficult to harm. A target can benefit from cover only when an attack or other effect originates on the opposite side of the cover.

There are three degrees of cover. If a target is behind multiple sources of cover, only the most protective degree of cover applies; the degrees aren't added together. For example, if a target is behind a creature that gives half cover and a tree trunk that gives three-quarters cover, the target has three-quarters cover.

* A target with half cover has a +2 bonus to AC and Dexterity saving throws. A target has half cover if an obstacle blocks at least half of its body. The obstacle might be a low wall, a large piece of furniture, a narrow tree trunk, or a creature, whether that creature is an enemy or a friend.

* target with three-quarters cover has a +5 bonus to AC and Dexterity saving throws. A target has three-quarters cover if about three-quarters of it is covered by an obstacle. The obstacle might be a portcullis, an arrow slit, or a thick tree trunk.

* target with total cover can't be targeted directly by an attack or a spell, although some spells can reach such a target by including it in an area of effect. A target has total cover if it is completely concealed by an obstacle.

#### Hitting Cover
When a ranged attack misses a target that has cover, you can use this optional rule to determine whether the cover was struck by the attack.

First, determine whether the attack roll would have hit the protected target without the cover. If the attack roll falls within a range low enough to miss the target but high enough to strike the target if there had been
no cover, the object used for cover is struck. If a creature is providing cover for the missed creature and the
attack roll exceeds the AC of the covering creature, the covering creature is hit.

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# Meaningful Damage

### Impactful Crits

Nothing is more underwhelming than a low critical damage roll.  To counteract this, instead of doubling the damage dice, simply add the maximum value from the attack’s normal damage dice, then roll the additional critical dice and add any damage bonuses.

### Critical Armor Damage
 Everything breaks, especially the objects that take the greatest beating in an adventure...armor. 
 
 Whenever an enemy creature scores a critical hit, as a reaction a you may choose to sacrifice your armor to bear the brunt of the hit. Doing so cancels out the additional damage at the cost of a -1 penalty to AC for each damage source negated (weapon, magical, poison, smite, etc.)
 
 Once the armor loses all of its bonuses it is completely destroyed and is unusable. This option cannot be used against a sneak attack.  Magical armor can ignore one critical damage source per magical armor bonus.

### Alternative Damage Effects

With the exception of how they interact with damage resistances and vulnerabilities, damage types are often mechanically identical, offering no tactical difference between one another. Under this optional rule, before rolling damage after an attack, spell or ability, a player can instead opt to use the 'alternative effect' for that damage type based on the list below:

##### Acid 
The corrosive spray of a black dragon’s breath and the dissolving enzymes secreted by a black pudding deal acid damage.

**Consumed** - Acid eats away at the targets’s defenses, reducing AC by -1 until they can repair the damage.

##### Bludgeoning 
Blunt force attacks—hammers, falling, constriction, and the like—deal bludgeoning damage.

**Pummeled** - The attack overwhelms the creature, knocking it prone.

##### Cold 
The infernal chill radiating from an ice devil’s spear and the frigid blast of a white dragon’s breath deal cold damage.

**Frostbitten** - Cold creeps into the creature's muscles and its movement is slowed by 10ft for until the end of its next turn.

##### Fire 
Just as red dragons breathe fire, many spells conjure flames to deal fire damage.

**Set Ablaze** - The target catches fire and takes additional burning damage (1d6) at the start of the next turn unless it uses an action to put itself out. Flammable objects may also be destroyed.

##### Force 
Force is pure magical energy focused into a damaging form. Most effects that deal force damage are spells, including magic missile and spiritual weapon.

**Pushed** - the target is pushed back back 10ft by telekinetic energies.

##### Lightning 
A lightning bolt spell and a blue dragon’s breath deal lightning damage.

**Shocked** - The target is shocked by the attack can’t take reactions until the end of its next turn.

##### Necrotic 
Necrotic damage, dealt by certain undead and a spell such as chill touch, withers matter and even the soul.

**Withered** - The target is overcome with death and decay and can't regain hit points until the end of its next turn.

##### Piercing 
Puncturing and impaling attacks, including spears and monsters’ bites, deal piercing damage.

**Pinned** - The attack pins the target, and it suffers disadvantage on dexterity saving throws until the end of its next turn or until the weapon is removed.

##### Poison 
Venomous stings and the toxic gas of a green dragon’s breath deal poison damage.

**Weakened** - The attack strikes right at the vein, and must make their next poison save at a disadvantage.

##### Psychic 
Mental abilities such as a mind flayer’s psionic blast deal psychic damage.

**Dumbfounded** - The target’s mind is overwhelmed and it has disadvantage on ability checks until the end of its next turn.

##### Radiant 
Radiant damage, dealt by a cleric’s flame strike spell or an angel’s smiting weapon, sears the flesh like fire and overloads the spirit with power.

**Dazzled** - An intense flash temporarily blinds the target granting advantage on next attack against them.

##### Slashing 
Swords, axes, and monsters’ claws deal slashing damage.

**Hamstrung** - The attack at a tendon, rendering their next attack ineffective and at a disadvantage.

##### Thunder 
A concussive burst of sound, such as the effect of the Thunderwave spell, deals thunder damage.

**Disoriented** - The sudden boom of sound throws the target off balance and deafens them until the end of them next turn.

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# Rest & Recovery
In roleplaying games, your characters life is measured using Hit Points (or HP). A character's HP is an abstraction of their health, endurance, experience and what can sometimes be described as "plot armor".

The options below seek to capitalize on that armor by giving it narrative weight and making them feel less like empty numbers. After all, what is a knife wound when one can just "sleep it off".

### Long Rest
Once every 24-hour period, a character may take long rest. During this 8-hour downtime, a character sleeps or performs light activity: reading, talking, eating, or standing watch for no more than 2 hours. If the rest is interrupted by a period of strenuous activity the characters must begin the rest again to gain any benefit from it.

While long rests do not automatically heal your character, they can spend Hit Dice to heal at the end of a long rest, just as with a short rest.

At the end of a long rest a character regains spent abilities and spell slots.  They also recover hit dice depending on the conditions they are resting in:

##### Dangerous Terrirotory
Sleeping in an area surrounded by enemies, even in the relative safety of a locked room or a tiny hut spell, does not help characters recover hit dice.  The stress of the situation makes it too difficult to get any rest.

##### Camping
Setting up a decent camp with a warm fire, food, tents and no immediate threats will help your character recover half of their maximum hit dice (at a minimum of one).

##### Comfortable Lodgings
A comfortable bed, a decent meal, and safe environment go a long way to making someone feel rested.  A character who that spends a long rest in an inn, home, or other lodging of at least “modest” level regains all hit dice at the end of an 8 hour period.

##### Medical Facilities
Characters who spend their long rest at a healing center like a clinic, hospital, or healer's den regain all of their hitpoints at the end of their long rest.

The facilities must contain ample medical or healing equipment and the character must be attended to during their rest. There is usually a steep fee associated with the service as it is labor intensive.

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### Short Rest
A short rest is a period of downtime, at least 10 minutes long, during which a character does nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, and tending to wounds.

A character can spend one or more Hit Dice at the end of a short rest, up to the character’s maximum number of Hit Dice, which is equal to the character’s level. Each Hit Die spent in this way takes 10 minutes to use, so a character who spends 3 hit dice will stop and take 30 minutes to treat their wounds.

##### Skilled Care
If a character is healed by someone with a proficiency in the Medicine skill and expends a use of a healer's kit, they receive a bonus equal to healer’s Medicine Bonus for each hit die healed this way.  If there are no healer’s kits available, then the healer may attempt to heal the injured character after a DC 15 Medicine check, giving them a bonus of half the healer's Medicine Bonus (rounded down).

### Battle Fatigue

In standard Dungeons and Dragons when dropped to zero hitpoints, characters can quickly get back to their feet with a simple level 1 spell. The battle fatigue option changes that. When a creature drops to 0 hit points and is healed back to consciousness, they suffer a level of exhaustion to reflect the injuries they've sustained and the shock of being forced back up. This level of exhaustion can also stack, making falling unconscious more perilous to the character.

### Living Enemies

Player Characters have a key advantage over enemy creatures: death saves.  Death saves allow PCs to (under most circumstances) return from the dead - they get knocked down to 0 HP and have 3 chances to come back to life.  The living enemies mechanism gives the same general consideration to enemy creatures.

Simply put, this rule assumes that enemies who are dropped down to 0 HP are not killed outright.  The creatures are instead rendered Unconscious unless they take additional damage, or are resuscitated by another creature.

Characters who wish to slay enemy creatures must use an additional attack action after the creature has been downed in order to kill it. This adds narrative and moral weight to combat by making a distinction between the act of defeating an enemy versus taking effort to murder them. It also "murder hoboism" less incidental and more deliberate.

There are, however, circumstances that lead to the immediate death of a creature.  If the last attack on a creature is a critical hit, or if the amount of damage of the final attack is at least twice their total HP, they die.

If you combine this rule with something like 'Lingering Injuries' and you could have narrative situations where a downed enemy can survive, and re-emerge with battle scars from their last encounter with the party. Whether they are back for revenge or grateful for the mercy is entirely up to the DM...

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## Hit Dice Redux

If hit points are a reflection of your character’s health, resolve, wellbeing and importance to the plot, then Hit Dice should be the font from which those things are recharged.  This means making hit dice a commodity for more than just healing, and turning them into stack of your character’s inner reserves, that they can call on in a pinch.

The following are suggested ways in which you can choose to expend hit dice:

- **Healing.** As usual, characters can expend their remaining hit dice during a short or long rest to recover hit points.

- **Spell Slots.** Spellcasters can summon up the magical forces within them to cast spells when they are out of spells slots.  Spell slots used this way cost 1HD per spell slot level.  So in order to cast a 4th level spell using HD, a character would have to expend 4 hit dice for that spell.

- **Special abilities and powers.** Class/Racial abilities or feats with a set number of expenditures can called upon again by expending 2 hit dice per use.  Examples of this include Ki Points, Bardic Inspiration dice, Wild Shapes, and Superiority Dice.

- **Paying for flashbacks.** Whenever you invoke a flashback (below), the GM sets a “stress cost” in the form of a Hit Dice expenditure.

### Flashbacks
Inspired by Blades in the Dark, a flashback is a roll for an action in the past that would impact your current situation.  When you invoke a flashback you essentially interrupt the story, giving a character an opportunity to approach a challenge from a different position, or change their circumstances by suggesting that something they had done in the past that could help now.

Bear in mind that a flashback is not time travel. It can’t “undo” something that just occurred in the present moment, it can just add to what has happened.

#### HD Cost
Whenever you invoke a flashback, the GM sets a "stress cost" in the form of a Hit Dice Expenditure:

- **1 Stress** --- An ordinary action for which you had an easy opportunity

- **2 Stress** --- A complex action or unlikely opportunity

- **3+ Stress**--- An elaborate action that involved special opportunities and/or contingencies

After the stress cost is paid, a flashback action is handled just like any other action. Many times a flashback won’t call for a roll at all because the character has already paid the stress cost to accomplish it. However, sometimes it will involve a Skill Check, because there’s some danger or trouble involved. Or it could involve some other kind of roll (attack, saving throw, or simple ability check) because we just need to find out how well (or how much, or how long, etc.) it went. 
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### Flashback Examples

> “I want to have a flashback to earlier that night, where I sneak into the stables and feed fireweed to all their goats so they’ll go berserk and create a distraction for our infiltration.”

> “Ha! Nice. Okay, that’s seems a bit tricky, dealing with ornery goats and all... 1 stress.”

> “Should I roll Prowl to sneak in and plant it?”

> “Nah. Their goat stable security amounts to a stable boy who is usually asleep anyway. You can easily avoid their notice.”

> “So it just works?”

> “Eh... not so fast. When you want the distraction to hit, let’s make an animal handling check to see if the goat acts as you had anticipated.”

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