In “Shooting into a Fight” (L’avant garde #39), Phenster addresses an age-old dilemma in D&D combat. I cover how the problem is handled in early editions and give my own solution in “Firing into Melee.”

On first reading, Phenster’s description of the “Friendly Fire Number” may seem complex. I attempt here to break down Hazard’s calculation into discreet steps. After some practice, I find it isn’t so difficult to do the quick mental math.

The task is less daunting if we remember the following points:

1. Throughout the text, Phenster uses only even numbers up to the maximum of 8. So we only have four options: 2, 4, 6, or 8.
2. We don’t have to take into account all figures in the melee. We only consider one or two friendly characters, between the shooter and the target, and only one creature as the target.
3. Like Hazard says, “You don't have to get it exactly right.”

Missile Fire into Melee [E]

“Remember that spells and missiles fired into a melee should be considered to strike members of one’s own party as well as enemy” (Holmes, 20).

Holmes gives no further guidance on the matter. The following method may be used to calculate the chance of friendly fire.

Method

1. Determine the friendly fire number (below).
2. Subtract the friendly fire number from the attack roll and add bonuses and penalties as normal to determine a hit or miss on the target.
3. If the natural dice result is the friendly fire number or less, a friendly is hit.

Short Range: According to Phenster, missile fire into melee is only permitted from the weapon’s short range. (But see below, Hail Mary [E].)

Target Has Precedence: In the case where the natural result would hit a friendly, but adding modifiers hits the target, then the target is hit.

Which Friendly is Hit: Phenster doesn’t say how to determine which of two friendly characters are hit. You could dice for it based on the relative sizes of the two characters, but that takes an extra dice roll. When two friendlies are in jeopardy, I call one odd, the other even, at the same time I call the friendly fire number. The attack roll then determines which is hit.

Sizes

Using Phenster’s examples, I extrapolate creature heights and add a couple other usual types.

To Determine the “Friendly Fire Number”

I break down the scenarios into three cases by the shooter’s position in relation to the target and allies. The shooter is attacking either from behind allies in melee with the target, from the target’s flank, or attacking from the target’s rear while all friendlies are opposite.

From Behind Allies

In the standard case, where the missile fire attacker is trying to shoot into a melee from the same side as the friendly characters, consider one or two friendlies in melee with the target. We start with the base number, then add and subtract for friendlies and the target by size.

Base Number:

• No matter who’s in the fight, the base number is 4.

Friendlies:

• Subtract 2 for small friendly.
• Add 2 for large friendly.
• Add 2, 4, or 6 for second small, man-sized, or larger friendly.

Target:

• Subtract 2 or 4 for larger target.
• Add 2 for small target.

Other Considerations:

• Assumes the friendly character is directly between the enemy and the would-be shooter. If the shooter is off to one side, but not flanking, subtract 2.
• When two friendlies are before the target, the shooter may move to one side, space allowing, so only one friendly is in consequence.
• The DM may add 2 or 4 for friendlies not in melee but masking fire in the middle field.
• In no case should the friendly fire number be lower than 2.

From Flank

In the case where the attacker is flanking the melee without a friendly in the way, we consider all friendly figures on any side of the target as a group. The number is predetermined, no additions or subtractions.

• Friendlies on one side: 2
• Friendlies on two sides: 4
• Friendlies on three sides: 6

Another way to think about this case, is simply 2 per side.

All Friendlies Opposite

When all friendlies are beyond the target, we calculate the number for one or two friendlies in the line of fire (as in From Behind Allies above), then subtract 2.

Modifiers to Mitigate Friendly Fire or No?

Hazard doesn’t count any modifiers in the chance to hit a friendly character. Should a shooter’s high Dexterity help to avoid friendly fire? How about a magic bow? Should a high-level shooter have a better chance?

The answers to these questions may depend on how high a Dexterity bonus can be in your game and how much magic treasure comes into the campaign. Another consideration may be the calculation required. It’s easy math for sure, but that extra step in the players’ minds takes a little of the immediate impact out of the dice roll. I like for everyone to know immediately when the dice stops whether the aim was true or somebody needs to make an apology.

The following rules take modifiers and high levels into account. You can use either or both with Missile Fire into Melee [E].

Add Modifiers to Mitigate Friendly Fire [E]

Use the modified dice result to determine friendly fire.

Add Level “Steps” to Mitigate Friendly Fire [E]

Add 1 to the attack roll for each “step” above the first on the attack matrix, one step being three levels for fighters, four for clerics and thieves, and five for magic-users.

Caveat: Using both these rules, a 4th-level fighter or a 5th-level thief (second step, +1) with a +1 Dexterity bonus for a score of 13 or more and a +1 magic bow at short range (+1), has a +4 on the attack roll, which allows them, in the standard scenario, to shoot into a melee with impunity. Careful.

Hail Mary [E]

It’s risky, but in a game where anything is permitted, players may want fire into melee at medium or long range. In this case add 4 to the friendly fire number for each longer range: medium +4, long +8.

No Shooting Into Melee [H]

“Once the party is engaged in melee, arrows cannot be fired into the fight because of the probability of hitting friendly characters” (Holmes 20).

“…and then melee is joined, after which no missile fire is permitted because of the danger of hitting friendly forces” (21).

In two of three mentions, Holmes interdicts missile fire into melee. Unsatisfactory as this may be, the easiest way to handle the situation is to disallow it. I include this option to remove any ambiguity, should the DM provide a list of house rules to players.

By neglecting some rules in “Rules the Pandemonium Society Doesn’t Use,” Phenster obliges us to clarify. He also adds a house rule for acting later in a melee round. To all that, I add multiple attacks per round, suggested by a L’avant garde reader in response to Phenster’s earlier article.

Each house rule is followed by a category designator in parenthesis. See “About the Reedition of Phenster’s” for category descriptions. Text under headers sans designator is just me talking.

A Word About Figurines

Holmes mentions the use of figurines, claiming, “The game is more exciting and spectacular using the lead miniature figures” (5). Many gaming groups of the ’70s and ’80s had and used figurines at the table. I suspect the majority did not employ them in combat in the meticulous manner assumed by some later D&D editions.

My experience with figurines in the ’80s and ’90s, other than admiring the paintwork, was limited to their use to designate order of march and the occasional table arrangement to show the more complicated battle arrays. Even in this later case, we didn’t often use figures to represent monsters. Too many monsters, not enough cash. We just said, “The [monster] is over here,” sometimes placing dice or a soda can.

Phenster never mentions figurines in relation to combat. In the reedition, I intend to keep the rules light enough that one is not forced to break out the miniatures.

For example, in the following rule for maneuver, I avoid delimiting a certain distance a character can move in combat and eschew terms like “square.” I prefer the Holmes term “space,” which leaves the theater free of any grid.

You may, of course, employ figurines, or not and to any degree, as you please.

Maneuver [E]

While engaged in melee, a combatant may move into any open space behind or beside. If the combatant turns their back on the opponent or is otherwise distracted, the opponent gets a free attack, as if the combatant were fleeing. (See Holmes, 21.) This movement occurs after the melee round with any other movement (see Holmes, 20).

Disengagement

When using the maneuver rule, ignore the suggestion, under Caveat in “Weapon Damage and Attack Priority,” to use the parry rule (Holmes, 21) to disengage. With the maneuver rule, disengagement is simpler. If an engaged combatant steps away from the opponent, the opponent may follow at the same time. In this case, disengagement does not occur. If the opponent does not follow, disengagement occurs.

According to Attack Priority by Weapon Quality [E], without the necessity to parry, a character armed with a long weapon may step back from an opponent, and, assuming the opponent does not follow—to avoid being flanked by another enemy, for instance—the character may strike the first blow in the next round, while the opponent cannot return the blow, unless it is also armed with a long weapon. The character may remain in position on subsequent rounds, getting the first blow without the chance to be attacked. This is essentially what Phenster calls a “phalanx,” which he covers later.

“Withdraw” or Retreat

Holmes’s description of withdrawing from melee (21) implies the character’s back is to the enemy. Suffering a “free swing” at +2 and not counting shield seems more like a retreat. Using maneuver, if a combatant moves back a space, and the opponent does not follow, the combatant may, in the next round, turn tail and run without consequence.

Drop Items on Surprise [E]

Ignore the rule that says a surprised character drops any items in hand (Holmes, 10).

One-sixth of ⅓ is about 5%. Before arguing about whether the chance is too high or too low, we drop the rule because an extra dice roll per character, including entourage, every time the party is surprised (2 out of 6) is too much for what it gives the game.

I put this one in the [E] Extra category. Holmes straight up, I use the rule as written. It’s unique to Bluebook D&D.

Initiative Order

The following rules assume the use of the initiative-by-Dexterity system in Holmes. In that system, a normal round starts at 18 and counts down to 3, where combatants act on the “count” equal to their Dexterity score.

Simultaneous Combat [E]

Ignore the instruction to dice for first blow when two opponents have similar Dexterity scores (Holmes, 21). If opponents act on the same count, the actions are simultaneous. The success or failure of all simultaneous actions are determined before results, usually damage, are applied.

Hold Action [E]

A character may wait to take their action on a later count in the initiative order. An action might be held so as to work in conjunction with another’s action or to interrupt it. Holding one’s action changes the character’s initiative count in subsequent rounds to that on which they act in the current round.

To hold an action, the player states their intention on their normal initiative count. The character then takes the action when the situation matches the intention. The player may, at any time, change their mind and take some other action. An action not used may be executed at the end of the round or held until the next round.

Multiple Attacks per Round [E]

Referring to weapon classes in “Weapon Damage and Attack Priority,” a combatant wielding a weapon two classes lighter than that of the opponent gets two attacks per round. Three classes lighter, three attacks.

No matter the difference in weapon class, combatants are still limited to one attack per phase: beginning, middle, end. (See heading Go First, Go Last in “Weapon Damage and Attack Priority.”) Usually, the last of two or three attacks is taken at the end of the round; the second of three is taken in the middle. The usual case may change, for instance, when the combatant holds an attack. If not using those phases, the DM may adjudicate whether the combatant can get in all attacks.

A combatant gets only one attack per round when closing to melee or in any round after moving, not including maneuvering.

With a weapon of a heavier, same, or one class lighter than the opponent’s weapon, a combatant gets just one attack per round.

With his first house-rules article (see “Pandemonium Society House Rules”), Phenster attacks the most salient problem in the Holmes edition. In a world where all weapons do the same damage and light weapons attack twice per round, daggers get a lot of use, and we wonder why swords—or indeed any other weapons—ever came under the blacksmith’s hammer.

Charming Solution

By far the simplest solution is to ignore Holmes’s varying number of attacks per round by weapon. Thus, every weapon strikes once per round and does d6 damage. Weapon choice then becomes purely aesthetic. This solution has its charm.

Using the following weapon damage and attack priority rules together disarms the dagger-wielding fighter and gives the adventurer meaningful choices when considering arms.

Damage Dice by Weapon Class [H]

Phenster notes a d6 modified by -1, +1, and +2 for three weapon classes. I assume he intends a fourth class for medium weapons—Holmes uses “ordinary”—which inflict damage equal to an unmodified dice.

In the table below, I note the weapons in each class. Where neither Phenster nor Holmes (20) specifies, I use the weapon damage versus man-sized opponents from Greyhawk (OD&D Supplement I, 15) as a guide.

I show an alternative method, not considered in Phenster’s article, that is more familiar to us from B/X. Comparing it to the d6 method, the average damage is the same or, in the case of d6-1, comes close: 2.5 for a d4 versus 2.67 for d6-1, but the ranges of possible results differ.

Heavy and extra-heavy weapons have a higher minimum and lower maximum possible result than the alternative method. Light weapons, while they have two chances in six to do 1 point of damage, might do up to 5.

I like the alternative method, because it makes use of more of the “crazy dice.” But it tilts the rules terrain toward B/X, and that’s a slippery slope. Moreover, it veers from the Holmes spirit. Rolling a d6 for damage feels more like Bluebook D&D.

Attack Priority by Weapon Quality [H]

To determine who gets the first blow, Phenster gives priority to certain weapons, which I separate by melee and missile and sort into three qualities each: (melee) Short, Long, and Two-Handed—if my interpretation of “Two-handed swords, et. al.” is correct—and (missile) Slow, Fast, and Loaded.

Engagement

From Phenster’s “when you’re fighting something” and from the example of Beowulf versus orcs, I derive the term “engagement.” An engagement occurs between individual combatants. A melee comprises one or more engagements.

Phenster’s example:

—L’avant garde #32 (August 1980)

Go First, Go Last

Phenster gives no indication as to how we should integrate first and last strikes into the initiative order. Assuming the Pandemonium Society uses Holmes’s initiative-by-Dexterity system, we might do it the same way we integrate the Editor’s directions about magic spells and missile fire:

“When there is time, or when a magic-user says he is getting a spell ready, magic spells go off first. This is followed by any missile fire…” (Holmes, 21)

In play tests, I divide a round into beginning, middle, and end phases, handling all actions (missile, magic, melee) within each phase in Dexterity order.

I add the Loaded quality to bows, in the case where a bowman “knocks an arrow” just prior to impending combat. Note that, unlike a crossbowman, the bowman’s arm tires quickly, so the knocked state cannot last long.

Caveat to Short and Long Weapons

When an attacker with a short weapon gets inside a longer weapon’s reach before the defender can react, the DM might rule that the short weapon gets the first blow.

For examples, when striking from behind, of course, and when closing on an opponent already engaged in melee with another.

Similarly, a combatant with a longer weapon (e.g., normal vs. short or long vs. normal) may use the parry action (Holmes, 21) to step back, thus disengaging. If the parry is successful, i.e., the parrying combatant is not hit, and if the two opponents come together in the next round, it is considered a new engagement, where the longer weapon again gets the first blow.

Source

Though Phenster does not mention a source in the 1980 article, the attack priority system for melee weapons yields results similar to the man-to-man initiative system given in Chainmail (25-26), and the missile weapon attack priorities are not dissimilar to its mass combat rates of fire (11).

Example: Attack Priority

In this example, I ignore movement rates as well as hits and misses. I also ignore Holmes’s instruction to dice for first blow when “dexterities are within 1 or 2 points of each other” (21), as does Phenster [covered later]. The first two combat rounds are shown, divided into beginning, middle, and end phases. Any movement, which usually takes place after the melee round, is included with the character’s action.

The order of march gives the character class of each party member and their weapons with any notes, including weapon qualities (in parentheses). Dexterity scores are shown [in brackets].

Player Party Order of March:

• Fighter [12], sword
• Fighter [6], spear (Long)
• Magic-User [11], dagger (Short)
• Thief [15], bow (Fast) and dagger (Short)
• Elf [10], light crossbow (Loaded) and sword

While the party traverses an intersection of two 20'-wide corridors, three gnolls, approaching from the corridor on their right, see the light and charge. The 1st and 2nd Gnolls [14, 9], armed with maces, lead the charge. The 3rd Gnoll [7], wielding a halberd (Long, Two-Handed), trails, so, closes to melee in the second round.

Neither side is surprised. During the gnolls’ charge, the two fighters (Swordsman and Spearman) step in front of the magic-user, who prepares to cast a spell. The thief could knock an arrow, thus adding the Loaded quality to the bow, but the gnolls’ charge catches the player flat-footed.

First Round

Beginning:

• Magic-user [11] casts shield.
• Elf [10] shoots crossbow (Loaded) at 1st Gnoll.
• Spearman [6] (Long) attacks 2nd Gnoll.

Middle:

• Thief [15] shoots at 1st Gnoll—who is not yet engaged in melee; see next.
• 1st Gnoll [14] attacks Swordsman—now it’s engaged.
• Swordsman [12] attacks 1st Gnoll.
• 2nd Gnoll [9] attacks Spearman.

End:

• Thief [15] shoots bow (Fast) at 3rd Gnoll.
• Magic-user [11] draws dagger, steps up to flank 2nd Gnoll.
• Elf [10] drops crossbow, draws sword, steps forward.

Second Round

Beginning:

• Magic-user [11] with dagger (Short) attacks 2nd Gnoll—because the gnoll is already engaged (see Caveat above).
• 3rd Gnoll [7] with halberd (Long, Two-Handed) attacks Elf.

Middle:

• Thief [15] drops bow, draws dagger, moves to attack from behind (next round).
• 1st Gnoll [14] attacks Swordsman.
• Swordsman [12] attacks 1st Gnoll.
• Elf [10] attacks 3rd Gnoll with sword.
• 2nd Gnoll [9] attacks Magic-User.

End:

• Spearman [6] attacks 2nd Gnoll.

Should the Spearman fell the 2nd Gnoll at the end of this round, he may then engage the 3rd Gnoll, attacking in the beginning of the next round.