DnD Basic - Level 1 Combat

Previously I shared about creating characters using the steps from the DnD Basic Rules Cyclopedia, available at https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/17171/d-d-rules-cyclopedia-basic. My eventual goal is to run these characters through a combat with a beholder, but I thought it might be worthwhile to see what they can do at level 1 first. So I did a mock combat with them - mock because I controlled all characters and all monsters, so not quite the same as having a dedicated DM or separate players. Here's how it went:

II.                       Level 1 Combat

For this level 1 battle, I decided to use the Wandering Monsters (Dungeon) table provided in the Cyclopedia. To do so, I rolled a d20 and checked the results  against the table. The result was 12, which is a gecko lizard. Next I roll a d2 to determine how many – one or two. Since a d2 doesn’t exist, I just used a d4 and said 1-2 is 1 and 3-4 is 2. The result was 1 on the die, and therefore 1 gecko.

The next step is to roll Initiative. Rather than every character rolling initiative, Basic rules are to have each side, players and monsters, roll. And they don’t roll a d20, they roll a d6. The side with the highest number goes first – they get to act by taking the next several steps.

Then we make Morale checks, a concept that is acknowledged as optional in the Cyclopedia, and is completely gone in 5e. The Cyclopedia describes it as “a convenience for the DM, to give him a quick way to decide how creatures react.” Further, it is explained that high morale indicates that a creature will generally fight to the death, while low morale might indicate that the creature runs away from combat at the earliest opportunity. These kinds of reactions tend to be written into modern adventure modules – though I am not aware of any means to guide the DM other than their own vision of the creature if they are not using a pre-written adventure. I decided to at least try it out as it’s an interesting thing that doesn’t exist in any modern system I’m aware of.

The morale phase is followed by the movement phase, in which characters who wish to move do so.

This is followed by the missile combat phase – that is, ranged combat. Then we move on to magic, in which any magic using characters may cast their spells. Then, finally, we reach the hand-to-hand combat phase.

After this, the next side takes their turn, performing the same five phases just mentioned.

While there are mechanics for surprise, I opted to ignore them for this encounter and skip straight to the combat, as surprise may or may not factor into a real in-game encounter.

Here’s how the combat went.

Initiative

Monsters 5

Party 6

The party gets to go first. PCs do not have to worry about morale, even in the optional rules, as their players determine their reactions based on their vision of the character. So we move on to movement.

I am doing this all in theater of the mind, so I did not use a grid and movement, but I’m going to assume that the gecko appears well within range of character’s movement. So I’ll have my fighter move into melee range, in preparation for an attack during the hand to hand phase. The cleric will do the same, as right now, her only recourse is hand to hand combat (she could use her Turn Undead ability, but that will not work against a very much alive gecko lizard). At this point, though, I am wondering if the gecko has the ability to climb walls. It would make sense if it does – but I’ll check. The answer is yes, they can climb walls. In which case, I really should have used surprise.

Since this is my combat and my writing, I’m going to retcon it and say that as the party passes beneath the gecko’s position, it springs on them, targeting the front-line fighter first. This would trigger the surprise mechanics. This means that I need to roll 1d6. The rules state that any side that rolls a 1 or 2 is surprised. That’s actually kind of fair – the gecko might not be expecting a troupe of adventurers to come through it’s lair, so it could just as easily be surprised by the party as the party could be surprised by it. The party did, in fact, roll a 1, so my original idea of the gecko springing upon the fighter unexpectedly holds.

I’m not entirely sure how this should play out. I’d like the gecko to drop down from the ceiling onto my fighter, but if it does so, does it get hurt? I’m going to decide that it can leap from the ceiling and not get hurt.

So the lizard makes an attack against the fighter. Now this is going to be tricky as the system for attacks is confusing. I don’t have a handy table for the gecko’s attack rolls. I consult the Rules Cyclopedia and find that the same table I used to determine the abbreviated attack rolls table on my character sheet can be used for both PCs and NPCs. Does that include monsters? No, BUT there is an “Attack Rolls – All Monsters” table! Aha! There is a monster Hit Dice column. I check the Gecko’s Hit Dice in its entry: 3+1. I scan the column and find “3+ to 4” and then the list of Acs from 20 to -20. My fighter’s AC is 6. It looks like my monster needs to roll a 10 or higher. I roll 1d20 and get 12. A hit! A most palpable hit!

The gecko takes a big old bite out of my fighter, dealing 1d8 worth of damage. I roll 1d8. 7. Yikes! Poor Dum! He is actually down! I don’t know yet how death works in this game, but from what I’ve heard, he might very well be dead right out of the gate! Turns out that yes, he could be dead, but potentially resurrected by magic. Optionally, I could use an early version of the death saving throw that I’m familiar with from 5e. For now, I’m going to move on.

We’ll go back to the initiative rolls we had before. The party is surprised to see their fighter fall immediately, but able to recover quickly enough to avenge him. Claire the Cleric moves into position for a melee strike later in the round.

Since the gecko sprang upon them unexpectedly, I imagine the party was all huddled fairly closely together. So the magic user and the thief, armed with ranged attacks, decide to move back a few feet.

That takes care of the movement phase. Now for the missile attacks. The Thief draws his shortbow, nocks an arrow, and fires. He rolls to attack – monster’s AC is 5, which means Guero needs 19-5 (the THAC0 system seems way easier than checking a table every time!), or 14 or more to hit. I roll: 9. Miss. My fighter had a ranged weapon, too, and I wonder if you can make both ranged and melee attacks in the same round under this system. It would make sense that you couldn’t, but it seems unclear from the rules as I have them. In any case, Dum is dead for now.

The missile combat phase ends, and the magic phase begins. Magic user casts magic Missile and a shimmering bolt of force appears, which he launches towards the foe! This one automatically hits, dealing 1d6+1 damage. I roll 4, +1 = 5. Now I realize I don’t know how Hit Points it has. I guess I have to figure that out by rolling its Hit Dice. It gets 3 of them, +1 HP. I think Hit Dice are always 1d6 in this version? That yields 5+2+6 = 13 + 1. So 14. It just lost 5, so it still has 9 left.

Hand to hand phase now. Only Claire is left to face the creature up close and personal with her mighty mace! She takes a swing! 15! Just above what she needed to hit! She deals 1d6 damage. Ugh. Only 2.

Still, the gecko is down to 7 HP, if I’ve done this right.

Now it is the gecko’s turn again. This could be bad…

First, I’ll roll a morale check. I was supposed to do so the first time it took damage, but it seemed reasonable to finish the round first. Let me check how that works. I roll 2d6 for a result of 2. That’s less than the creature’s score of 7, so it keeps on fighting.

It attacks Claire, who just whalloped it rather painfully. She also has an AC of 6, so the monster needs to get at least 10 to hit. Huzzah! A miss at 6! And we move on to the party’s next turn.

We start with movement. Everyone is fine where they are, I think. Maybe magic user might want to get in range to attack with a dagger? No, he can throw it if he really wants to – he’s out of spell slots already from using up the only one he had last round. Conclusion – no movement.

Guero takes his bow and fires. 13 to hit. That is just under what he needs! Stinky! Magic user will try to throw his dagger. Also 13. Also a miss. It’s up to Claire to do any damage this turn! A 13 as well. Guess it really is an unlucky number. Well, time for the gecko’s turn.

Morale check: 10. That’s above it’s score of 7 which means…what? Simply the opposite. The creature doesn’t particularly like all these sharp objects flying towards it, nor the big whacky thing that narrowly missed it a moment ago, so it decides to climb up the wall and get out of there.

But what now? Is that the end of combat? Let me see…

A relatively quick search yields no clear result. Just for funsies, I’m going to say that as the gecko flees, the party tries to finish it off. I will say the gecko was able to get about 20’ up a wall, which is 20’ away from anyone in the party.

Movement phase: Guero and Claire move towards the creature, stopping below it. Magic user moves to recover his dagger in the opposite direction.

Missile Combat: Guero fires. 8, miss.

Magic: magic user has none left, and has to pick up his dagger anyway. Too far away to throw it, even if that’s allowed.

Hand to Hand: Claire can’t reach 20’ in the air, so this is a bust.

The creature continues fleeing on the next turn and the party decides not to pursue.

They all get 50 XP though! (Right? Right?!)

Conclusion: That was kind of fun! Definitely some significant differences from 5e combat, and I’m sad that Dum Khazad, my fighter, died right off the bat. There was an option to use a version of death saves, but either way, he was out of combat. I should have equipped my party with healing potions, but I didn’t consider that as an option. Still, the goal was to get a feel for what combat is like in early D&D, and I’d say mission accomplished. There are still a few unanswered questions:

Did I do the right thing in rolling Hit Dice for the Monster?

Is Dum really dead with his only recourse being high level resurrection spells?

What about range when you’re attacking a creature above you?

Other notes: I actually kind of like the morale system. It is maybe a little weird that the creature didn’t run after getting hit, but then did decide to run after a round of near misses. As a DM, of course, I could certainly rule that it doesn’t do so. There’s even a brief section about how to adjust morale based on the current situation in-game, if you feel it necessary. Even so, I rather like the way it adds a bit less predictability to the combat. Will the creature run? Will it not? Roll the dice to find out!

There were some discrepancies between the gecko’s stat block from the Monsters List and what was given in the wandering monsters table. The wandering monsters table said 1d2 for how many, while the stat block said 1d6 for number appearing. I’m not sure what’s up with that, but I was glad we only faced one. Dum the fighter is dead because of that one, after all!

Now that I’ve done this, I kind of want to do a few more, just to see how different combat situations can be, even at the same level. I’d also love to see how things progress at different levels. I might do one or two other level 1 combats just for fun, before levelling up my characters enough to take on a Beholder.