Compiled herein you shall find the latest doctrine spreading across Malles Vermald, subject to the whims of that nameless fear. Mark it well.

HITTING THINGS WITH SWORDS, THE COMPENDIUM

CONTESTED MELEE

After talks with Jeremy Duncan I switched melee combat to a contested roll, because why put all the variation on the attacker and not the defender?

Ranged attacks still target a static AC, but melee resolves as d20 +AB vs. d20 +DB, your Defence Bonus being AC -12 (assuming an unarmoured AC of 12). If the attacker fumbles or you roll a natural 20 on your defence you get to cut them.

For even more vicious combat you could rule that whoever rolls highest deals damage, regardless of who was attacking.

ATTACK BONUS

Rather than the traditional Melee/Ranged attack bonus split, I've switched to Hard & Fast.

HARD uses your Strength modifier, and is for melee weapons that do d8 damage or more and bows.

FAST uses your Dexterity modifier, and is for melee weapons that do d6 or less damage and most other ranged weapons.

If someone was throwing bigger melee weapons (like axes or spears), I'd probably let them use either.

WEAPONS

The weapon properties I originally posted have been tweaked slightly.

Weapon damage is still determined by its size (minor d4, small d6, medium d8, great d10), but depending on what it is…

Sword: If you haven't been hit this Round roll twice for damage, take the best.

Hammer: +2 to-hit vs. Medium AC or better, successful hit reduces Heavy AC by 1.

Axe: Two damage dice vs. Light AC or less.

Flail: +1 to-hit vs. Medium AC or better, ignores shields, successful hit reduces Heavy AC by 1, roll twice for damage and take the best. Can choose to attack weapon, Strength check to disarm on hit. On any miss roll under your AC or hit yourself.

Dagger: Contested d20 + AB + Str/Dex bonus to grapple after hit, automatically hitting Flesh in subsequent rounds until they kick you off.

Make a contested Initiative roll to attack first when someone with a smaller weapon closes into melee.

Long/Great weapons automatically attack first and do double damage against charges.

EQUIPMENT WEAR AND TEAR

Notches have changed a bit since I first came up with them, and have the Quality rules added that Smiler and I (mainly Smiler) came up with.

Every weapon has a Quality rating from 1-5; Quality 3 is average, Quality 1 weapons cost twice as much, Quality 5 costs half as much. The first time you roll its Quality or less when attacking, your weapon takes a number of Notches equal to its Quality. Weapons break when the number of Notches is equal to their damage die.

The next time you roll its Quality or less when attacking, or deal maximum damage, try to roll over the number of Notches on its damage die; if you're successful, it takes another Notch, if you're not, it breaks. So you might embarrassingly break your axe with a wild swing against the wall, or you might snap your dagger off in the merchant priest's chest.

example 1: You roll a 2 when trying to stab someone with your new Quality 5 dagger. That's lower than its Quality, so it takes 5 Notches. Daggers only deal d4 damage though, so it already has more Notches than it can handle and snaps on their armour. Don't be such a penny pincher next time.

example 2: You roll a 3 when attacking someone with your Quality 3 longsword. You've damaged it once before, so it already has 3 Notches (equal to its Quality), and longswords deal d8 damage, so there's a 3 in 8 chance of it breaking. You roll a d8 and get a 6, so your sword doesn't break but it takes another Notch, increasing the breakage chance to 4 in 8 the next time you either roll its Quality or less when attacking, or deal 8 damage when cleaving someone in half.

If a player does something with a weapon that would obviously damage it, feel free to make them mark down another Notch or check for breakage.

And because I'm now having people roll for their defence with contested melee, I can use the same Quality range for armour.

When rolling for defence, if the d20 comes up as that number or less and the attacker hits you, decrease the AC of your armour by 1.

The standard rate for repair is a tenth of the item's full cost per Notch or AC point