Tactics & Weapon Effects for OSR Games
These rules are meant to enhance and differentiate melee weapons, so that weapon choice matters. The greater damage for two-handed weapons and better defensive value of smaller weapons are meant to make them more useful.
Additionally, heroes can perform daring feats with a bit of luck and skill or engage in hand-to-hand combat simply and easily.
Axes
| Weapon | Damage | Effects | Attack/AC | Traits | Encum. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Axe, 1-handed | 1d6 | Rend, Trip | +1/+1 | Parry | -- |
| Axe, 1 or 2 | 1d6/1d8 | Rend, Trip | --/+1 | Sweep | 1 |
| Axe, 2-handed | --/1d10 | Rend, Trip | --/-- | Sweep | 2 |
Swords
| Weapon | Damage | Effects | Attack/AC | Traits | Encum. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sword, rapier | 1d6 | Bonus | +1/+1 | Agile, Parry | 1 |
| Sword, short | 1d4 | Rend, Bonus | +1/+1 | Agile, Parry | -- |
| Sword, broad | 1d6 | Rend, Bonus | --/+1 | Parry, Sweep | -- |
| Sword, 1 or 2 | 1d6/1d8 | Rend, Bonus | --/+1 | Sweep | 1 |
| Sword, 2-handed | --/1d10 | Rend, Bonus | --/-- | Sweep | 1 |
Bludgeons
| Weapon | Damage | Effects | Attack/AC | Traits | Encum. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club, 1-handed | 1d4 | Knockback, Bonus | +1/+1 | Parry | -- |
| Club, 1 or 2 | 1d4/1d6 | Knockback, Bonus | --/+1 | Sweep | 1 |
| Club, 2-handed | --/1d8 | Knockback, Bonus | --/-- | Sweep | 2 |
| Mace, 1-handed | 1d6 | Knockback, Bonus | +1/+1 | Parry | -- |
| Mace, 1 or 2 | 1d6/1d8 | Knockback, Bonus | --/+1 | Sweep | 1 |
| Mace, 2-handed | --/1d10 | Knockback, Bonus | --/-- | Sweep | 2 |
| Flail, 1-handed | 1d6 | Knockback, Trip | +1/-- | No shield | 1 |
| Flail, 1 or 2 | 1d6/1d8 | Knockback, Trip | --/-- | No shield, Sweep | 2 |
| Flail, 2-handed | --/1d10 | Knockback, Trip | --/-- | No shield, Sweep | 2 |
| Warhammer, 1-handed | 1d6 | Knockback, Rend | +1/+1 | Parry | -- |
| Warhammer, 1 or 2 | 1d6/1d8 | Knockback, Rend | --/+1 | Sweep | 1 |
| Warhammer, 2-handed | --/1d10 | Knockback, Rend | --/-- | Sweep | 2 |
Picks
| Weapon | Damage | Effects | Attack/AC | Traits | Encum. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pick, 1-handed | 1d6 | Bonus, Trip | +1/+1 | Parry | 1 |
| Pick, 1 or 2 | 1d6/1d8 | Bonus, Trip | --/+1 | Sweep | 1 |
| Pick, 2-handed | --/1d10 | Bonus, Trip | --/-- | Sweep | 2 |
Miscellany
| Weapon | Damage | Effects | Attack/AC | Traits | Encum. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dagger | 1d4 | Bonus | --/+1 | Agile | -- |
| Spear | 1d6/1d8 | Bonus | +1/+1 | Reach | 1 |
| Quarterstaff | --/1d4 | Knockback | --/+1 | Parry, Agile | 1 |
| Staff | --/1d6 | Knockback | --/+2 | Parry, Reach | 1 |
Polearms
| Weapon | Damage | Effects | Attack/AC | Traits | Encum. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bec-de-corbin | --/1d8 | Knockback, Trip, Bonus | --/-- | Reach, Sweep | 2 |
| Pole-axe | --/1d8 | Rend, Bonus, Knockback | --/-- | Reach, Sweep | 2 |
| Halberd & others | --/1d8 | Rend, Bonus, Trip | --/-- | Reach, Sweep | 2 |
Ranged
| Weapon | Damage | Effects | Rate of Fire | Traits | Encum. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dagger | 1d4 | Bonus | 2 | -- | |
| Spear | 1d6 | Bonus | 1.5 | 1 | |
| Long bow | --/1d6 | Bonus | 2 | 1 | |
| Short bow | --/1d4 | Bonus | 2 | 1 | |
| Crossbow, latchet | --/1d4 | Bonus | 1 | 1 | |
| Crossbow, light | --/1d6 | Bonus | 1/2 | 2 | |
| Crossbow, heavy | --/1d8 | Bonus | 1/3 | 2 |
Weapon Traits
- Agile: You apply your dexterity modifier to attack and damage instead of your strength modifier.
- Parry: Spend a point of luck to parry an opponent's hit and take no damage from it.
- Disarm: If you hit for damage, spend a point of luck to make the opponent to drop their weapon; but you do only half damage.
- Ignore Shield: Ignore the opponent's shield for AC.
- Reach: One opponent's hits do no damage until you miss in the same round. Then, you must fall back 5 feet and either choke up--negating reach--or switch weapons.
- Sweep: Capable of the sweep fighting stance.
Weapon Quality
If circumstances dictate you might break your weapon, you must meet or beat an 8 on 1d20, or your weapon breaks. If you succeed, you merely drop it. Poor weapons get disadvantage; fine ones get advantage; magic ones get advantage plus their magic bonus. A broken magic weapon causes a minor wild magic effect to all in a 10-foot radius.
Combat
Weapon Attacks
To attack, roll 1d20 and add any bonuses to your attack roll. If your modified roll is...
- Equal to or greater than the opponent's armor class, you hit for damage.
- Less than the opponent's AC, your attack is blocked (shield, parry, armor, or hide) but still does 1 hp damage.
If your natural roll is...
- Less than natural 5, you miss entirely.
- A natural 1, your weapon may break (see Weapon Quality). The GM also gets 1 point of luck for the opponents. For ranged weapons, the arrow, etc., is merely dropped. For unarmed attacks, you fall down.
- A natural 20, you score a critical hit. Your damage is automatically maximum.
- A natural 19 or 20 hit for damage, you can choose an effect based on your weapon.
Tactics
Each round, you can decide on your tactics:
- Aggressive: If you hit for damage and your opponent misses entirely, you can force your opponent back 5 feet, if your size or smaller. If you are also charging and hit for damage with your first attack, you deal double damage.
- Defensive: You fall back 5 feet, and all melee hits against you from your front do half damage. You cannot also be forced back by an aggressive attack.
- Sweep: You swing your sweep weapon at up to three enemies nearby for half damage with one attack roll, as long as you move at least 10 feet from your start.
Weapon Effects
In addition to damage, your weapon has certain effects associated with it that you can trigger by rolling natural 19 or 20 on an attack. Or you can choose to bank 1 point of luck instead. And you can use a point of luck to trigger an effect on any hit for damage.
- Knockback: Knock a same-sized opponent back 5 feet; a smaller opponent is also knocked prone.
- Rend: Rend the opponent’s armor or hide for -2 AC (or chops off a tentacle, tendril, tail, etc.)
- Bonus: +2 damage.
- Trip: Same or smaller size opponent takes half damage and falls down (or is unhorsed).
- Grapple: Regardless of weapon, if you have one hand free, you can choose to deal normal damage and still achieve a grapple hand-to-hand combat maneuver.
Great Blows
If you kill a creature with an attack that does at least 10 hp damage, you chop off its head, spear it in the throat, crush its skull, or otherwise kill it in a way that is appropriate for your weapon.
Notes and Exceptions
- You must hit for damage to get a weapon effect. It is possible to roll a natural 19 and not hit for damage. For example, if your opponent has an AC of 20, and you do not have an attack bonus, your attack is a blocked hit. Likewise, if your opponent has an AC of 19 but you have a -1 attack penalty, your attack is a blocked hit.
- Critical hits are precision strikes. Many non-humanoids, especially oozes and such, are immune to precision damage due to their body structure and take only normal damage.
- Rend: A PC with sufficient tools can repair rent armor during a short rest, eliminating the -2 to armor class.
- For especially quick or slow creatures, such as flitting fairies and plodding zombies, the natural 5 blocked hit number can be higher or lower. A blocked hit still counts as a hit for "touch" attacks.
Daring Feats
At 5th level, you can declare the daring feat, spend 2 points of luck (1 point for warriors), then hit for damage:
- Swap: You put yourself between an opponent and either an ally or something they are protecting.
- Mount: You do half damage but get the opportunity to leap onto a rock or piece of furniture and fight from the high ground. Or you leap onto the opponent, if larger than you, where your blocked attacks count as hits for damage.
- Target: You do half damage but hit a specific body part (such as the hand) that is not typically a target (like the head).
- Spoil: You do half damage but spoil an opponent’s next attack or attempt to chase you by throwing sand or dirt, knocking over barrels, toppling a brazier, etc.
- Taunt: You display skill at arms that rattles same-size opponents and causes them to make a morale check (describe the display).
Hand-to-hand Combat
If you have at least one free hand, roll 1d20 against the target listed for the maneuver. Strength bonus applies. For creatures one size smaller, you get advantage. For creatures one size larger, you get disadvantage. You can’t fight most non-humanoids this way.
- Tackle: On a 6 or better, you tackle your opponent and go down together. Fail: only you go down.
- Plow: On an 8 or better, you plow your opponent back 5 feet and go with them. Fail: you go past them.
- Grapple: On a 10 or better, you get a hold on your opponent. The next round, you can make an opposed strength check to move the opponent 5 feet in any direction or (if you have two hands free) do 1d6 hp damage plus strength bonus. Failure (or being hit for damage) means the hold is broken.
- Knockback: On a 12 or better, you shove or kick your opponent back 5 feet. Smaller opponent is also knocked prone. Fail: do 1 hp damage plus strength bonus.
- Knockdown: On a 14 or better, you knock your opponent prone. Fail: do 1 hp damage plus strength bonus.
Luck
You can spend a point of luck to reroll a die roll, perform a daring feat, or trigger one of your weapon effects on any regular hit for damage (instead of waiting for a natural 19 or 20).
You gain luck every adventuring day or by banking it on an attack roll of natural 19 or 20 (instead of using a weapon effect) as well as by carousing (see separate carousing rules).
- Rogues: 1 point per day at levels 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15.
- Warriors: 1 point per day at level 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14.
- Clerics: 1 point per day at levels 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15.
- Wizards: 1 point per day at levels 4, 8, 12, and 15.
Luck resets at the end of the adventuring day, which occurs when you reach or create a place of safety, such as town or camp. Therefore, any luck you gain from carousing after the end of the adventuring day is kept for the next day.
For example, a 5th-level thief gets 3 points of luck every day. When stopping at an inn for the night, any unused luck is lost. But if the thief does some carousing and gains 2 points of luck, they get added to the new day's 3, and the thief will go to bed with 5 points of luck for the next day.