New & Revised Combat Options

Posted: May 2, 2006

Back to the blog.

The Vital Blow rules from Torg Revised and Expanded are far more flexible than those from the original, and the addition of Vital Block is an excellent one. In my groups, before the book was released, we used similar rules, but up to -10/+5 (instead of -8/+4). This didn't seem to alter the balance of play in any negative way.

In contrast to the above, Sweep Attack is disappointingly limited.

It is limited in what weapons it can be used with: "Sweep attacks can be made in most hand-to-hand situations. Sweep attacks can also be made with ranged weapons capable of burst or full auto fire."

It is limited in what it can do: "A sweep attack gives the character a +5 bonus to his action value but penalizes damage with a -5 modifier." (Both quotes are from pg. 98 of the Revised and Expanded Torg Rulebook.)

This last contrasts strongly with the flexibility of Vital Blow and Vital Block. I replaced the Sweep Attack combat option with the following:

Wild Attack: +1/-1, up to +5/-5. This represents any wild attack, where the person is just trying to hit, and doesn't particularly care about doing damage.

This allows a similar option to Sweep Attack, but in more situations, with more weapons, and with more flexibility and player control.