Tentative Update to the Combat Rolling System
Disclaimer: This was almost entirely written by Amara, I just provided some suggestions and ideas here and there, all credit to them.
New Roll Table
1 = Miss/CriticalFail
2 = 1 Strike
3-4 = 2 Strikes
5-6 = 3 Strikes
7-9 = 4 Strikes
10 = Critical Hit/ 5 Strikes
On rolling a 10, the first strike is automatically a critical hit, and will be worth 4x the normally rolled damage of your attack.
Following this, the player rolls an additional d10 for each subsequent strike on the turn, until they do not hit the "sweet spot" (6-10), at which point they will continue with their strikes as normal. After rolling for all of the strikes, the damage will be added together to determine the total damage done for the turn.
On rolling a 1, the attack is a miss, with no damage dealt. However, an additional d10 must be rolled to determine if a Critical Miss occurs. In order to avoid the Critical Miss, you must roll a 5 or more.
Combo Attacks
Each participant in a combo attack rolls a d10 to hit. However, only the HIGHEST roll between the group will decide success. The number of strikes from ALL rolls made will represent the maximum damage which can be inflicted by the Combo Attack.
Misses will count as a ZERO in terms of damage, but not a miss for the sake of combat & roleplay. Critical Misses will ONLY factor in if every participant in the attack rolls a 1 to hit.
Initiative will be determined as previously known- each side will roll a d20 with conditional modifiers which apply, and the higher number will go first. The party may delegate order as a team as they wish, though the usual recommendation is to start by deciding if Melee or Ranged individuals will go first. Order is up to the players every time the round comes to them and may change at their discretion.
In order to keep everything fair and make sure everyone gets the same chances to participate in combat, the party turn order may carry over between combat scenarios- for example, if we end combat right before Elvae's turn for the first combat scenario, Elvae would be the first party member for the NEXT scenario. Initiative will still have to be rerolled from scenario to scenario.
EXAMPLE FOR CRITICAL ROLLS
Elvae Windcrush encounters an imp, and goes into combat with it.
Elvae rolls a 10 to hit for his attack, giving him a total of five strikes, with his first being a critical hit, guaranteed.
Elvae rolls a d6 (or whatever) to punch, and rolls a 4.
4x4 = 16, giving him an overall damage dealt from his first blow of 16.
Elvae then rolls ANOTHER d10 to try and make Strike #2 a crit, and rolls an 8, which is still in the sweet spot, and thus, he lands a second Critical Strike.
Elvae rolls another d6, and only gets 2.
2x4 = 8, giving him an overall damage from Strike #2 of 8 damage.
Elvae only rolls a 3 for his third strike, and loses the chain for Crits. All rolls from here will be done as usual.
Elvae rolls a d6 three times for his remaining three strikes. He gets a 2, 5, and a 4.
16+8+5+4+2 = 35, giving Elvae a total at the end of his attack of 35 damage.
"But DM, he only ever punched the imp, how can one punch do that much damage?"
Well, my sweet nerdy friend, he actually punched the imp not once, but five times, and a few of those happened to hurt REALLY badly. Try to separate the idea of an Attack from a Strike, as a lot of Attacks will wind up with multiple strikes within it.
See y'all on the battlefield!