Special Attacks
Choppy: eg. axe, cleaver.
Hew: Deal weapon damage to same or adjacent foe.
Smashy: eg. hammer, club.
Bonk: Enemy Dazed until the end of their next turn.
Stabby: eg. sword, spear.
Skewer: Deal max damage.
Shanky: eg. dagger, stake.
Combo: Take another Action.
Unarmed/Improvised: eg. fists, a chair.
Pugilism: Free Wrestling move (Brawl, Hold, Kick Away).
What's that again?
- Brawl: Deal damage with a small or natural weapon
- Hold: Allies get +4 to hit foe and won't hit you firing into melee.
- Kick Away: Kick foe back 20', dealing 1d6 damage if they hit a wall.
Cleave
Choppy: Cleave gains +1 to damage per enemy you killed this round.
Smashy: Cleave instead blasts all in melee range 20’ - if they hit a wall it’s 1d6 damage.
Stabby: Cleave gains +1 to hit per enemy you killed this round.
Shanky: Cleave gains +1 to crit range per enemy you killed this round.
Unarmed/Improvised: Cleave has two attacks.
Discussion
Special Attacks:
I've had very similar weapon type rules for over a decade (wow!) with very little actual impact on the game (less wow..)
I've liked the idea ever since I read that one Last Gasp post all those years ago, and they've been fiddled with and adjusted over time, but the key issue has always been that they're just too persnickety.
Sure it's neat from a mechanics standpoint that axes get +1 die size vs lightly armoured foes (or whatever), but in practice it just gets a bit forgotten because players mostly pick weapons based on cool factor.
Thus I've settled on making the cool factor the main thing. The attack roll is always the gold standard for Important Roll Everyone Looks At, so this adds a third interesting result besides crits and fumbles to look out for.
Plus it keeps me honest because I've got to state the enemy AC and explain if/why it changes at any point. No eyeballing the result and going "uhhhh nah that uhhh doesn't hit" at my table!
Oh and of course, this applies to enemies too. I'm mostly excited to give ye olde "teeth and claws" some extra potential to throw PCs off ledges and into walls. They always can do that sort of thing of course, but it's nice to have the reminder to engage with environmental hazards.
Why not just replace the crit table entirely with these special moves? Good question!
If I was starting over I might consider it, but my crit table has been around in some form since my early 20s so I'm keeping it for old times sake.
However if you don't have a crit table, consider adapting these special moves so that your players get something extra when they crit!
Cleave:
Similarly, Fighters had an extra layer of persnickety rules like "choppy weapons reroll results of 1 or 2" which similarly weren't really used.
Cleave, however, is infamously powerful at my table. To that effect I've just rolled weapon types into Cleave bonuses.
In the same way that the attack roll is the gold standard for Important Dice Roll, defeating an enemy is the gold standard for things to cheer about! Hitting and defeating enemies is the Fighter's main role, so they're the perfect events to hang triggers on.
Fighters are also best as a barebones class to me. Good for newcomers, simple mechanics, enough HP to make mistakes. Anyone who wants a frontliner with special abilities can be a Barbarian or Dwarf or even Muscle Wizard.
I also wanted to keep Fighters thematically neutral. An unarmed Fighter could be some big brawny bouncer type who throws people around and knocks heads together, or a skilful martial artist doing some wuxia stunts.
Cleave also means that a Fighter tends to roll more attacks, making them more likely to trigger the Special Attacks at the top.
As an aside, in order to counteract the ol' "if a Fighter gets more attacks per round they get more fumbles" issue, I've added this simple rule:
If a Fighter rolls a 1 to hit or damage, roll again and keep the new result.
