Pathfinder Combat 2.0

Pathfinder Combat 2.0
''Pathfinder Combat 2.0 is a new system of rules fostering team-oriented combat for player characters in Pathfinder. ''

''It is my belief that a party of adventurers is operating at a subdued efficiency under the current Pathfinder mechanics. Through no fault of the player, who is at the mercy of a linear system, combat in Pathfinder can take a long time to complete, with players often foregoing their initiative (delay) or overcalculating the situation and inadvertently impeding their fellow team mates. ''

''Where I agree that there are limitations to any system, I believe that the inherent fault lies in imposing upon the player a linear workflow that is designed foremost to accomodate player participation, one, at, a, time. The initiative countdown in Pathfinder creates a pressure cooker of isolation which leaves players to perceive combat with dumbfounded tunnel-vision. Their character becomes a singular vessel that is seeminlgly only capable of independent actions. Thus the current Pathfinder combat system (taken from D&D 3.0) impedes the effectiveness of players working effectively as a party. It can be fun (if you don't know any better) but waiting around for your turn to come up every so often is fucking b-o-r-i-n-g, not to mention it really makes combat hard to follow.''

Individual Hit Points in a Party
Individuals adventuring as a party may decide to forgo their personal unit hit points and place them into a single pool of party hit points (as per Epic Combat for Pathfinder). Party hit points are managed similarly as unit hit points with the exception that when reaching 0 or less, each individual adventurer must perform a morale check based upon their own personal leadership. A party individual that falls unconscious during combat adds one negative dice to each individual within the party.

Action Points
During combat the party is granted a pool of action points based upon unit composition. These unit points are played out as per Epic combat. It is important to designate the parties primary and secondary weapons, as all other weapons, including natural weapons (from summoned) will only deal half the weapons core damage.

Let's Party
A party of individuals will act as a unit when determining primary and secondary initiatives. The party leader (or subordinate) will roll a single dice adding either his personal dexterity modifer or the unit dexterity modifier (whichever is higher) to determine the primary initiative step. The secondary initiative step is the unmodified D20 value. So with a group initiative of +5 for example, a 9 is rolled for initiative. The group will act at a primary initiative of 14 and secondary initiative of 9.

Leadership and Action Priority
''Tactics do play a predominant role in combat. Just as a quarterback sets up a play, leadership and action priority is an opportunity for players to formulate a plan of attack. It is an unfortunate necessity that combat as we have learned since 3.0 must be factored to remove the constant requirement for each and every player character to roll for initiative and then move and act in a sequential manner each and every round. It is not to suggest that party members will be unable to perform independantly as in Pathfinder, but rather that their movements and actions may now be coordinated together at open intervals during combat. This open-ended play will permit a greater flexibility and combat effectiveness while promoting team work.''

Combat 2.0 always begins with a Leadership Phase. This step is designed for players within a party to share ideas and develop strategies together that are based upon the individual resources of the party. It should allow players an opportunity to practice leadership in a casual manner while permiting a window of opportunity for players to test their characters strength and abilities.

Resolving Initiative as a Party
Party actions are stacked at the same time during the primary and/or secondary initiative step as per Epic Combat. At the start of the combat, the individual with the highest leadership is granted action priority during the primary initiative. The player can either resolve a single action for his individual character or as a free action, issue a command to the party. Issuing a command during this time is merely parlance for the players to formulate a plan of attack.

A Perceptive Combat
At the beginning of each round, all players roll a D20 perception. After the first round (surprise), the players may add either personal leadership or dexterity modifier (D&D:) + the current combat round number (surprise round being 0). This step is designed to assist in the awareness of the party's actions by granting an action priority during the combat round. The party may then spend their action points to advance together as per Epic unit movement, or act in an independent and sequential manner. All normal Pathfinder rules will still apply during movement and combat (example squeeze, etc).

Action Priority
Action priority is assigned to each party individual in descending order from highest to lowest perception. A player may choose to pass his individuals priority to another party individual as befitting to the plan of action. In this case, the assigned individual then executes his action and the next individual (with next highest perception) proceeds with the next party action. Any player that passes his action priority may still act as a delayed action. Each individual may only perform one action per round (as per Epic Combat). Once the party has expended all unit actions, no further actions are possible until the next combat round.

Example, a party with 2 action points are fighting an ogre. There are three fighters in the party with a primary initiative of 22 and secondary initiative of 17. At initiative step 22, each individual in the party roll perception of 15, 14, and 12. At 15 the fighter with the first action priority perceives the situation and calls a command of awareness. The player with fighter 14 states that he can charge the ogre from his vantage and the fighter of perception 12 declares that he is uncertain of his action at this time. The leader then passes his action priority and the fighter at 14 proceeds to charge! After the charge, the delayed fighter of perception 15 may now act or allow fighter 12 to resolve the remaining action point.

Players as Perceptive Characters
It is an important realisation that perception is to be played as per Pathfinder, in that the GM may describe to the player what his character perceives during each combat round based upon his perception value. The knowledge check will grant assistance to the character as per Patfhfinder rules. Any high knowledge roll (depending on DC of creature) will help in determining the tactics and weaknesses of the opponents.

The Effects of Morale
The effects of Morale in Pathfinder Combat 2.0 are as per Epic Combat with the exception that morale effects are limited to individuals. (Hence the party does not flee all at once.)

An individual with 20+ morale with movement left to his action (as per Pathfinder) may attempt to block a melee strike by rolling a reflex or fortitude save with the DC equal to 10+ core and unit damage taken in one single strike. This is only possible if the individual did not take a full round action during the round, and only once per round.