One-Roll Attack Table (part 3)

B/X Blackrazor had a great idea to eliminate attack rolls altogether from his game.  In short, his thesis is that HPs are often defined as luck or dodging or deftly avoiding blows -- why roll to hit at all?

From p. 34 of the AD&D 1st Ed. PHB

Each character has a varying number of hit points just as monsters do.  These hit points represent how much damage (actual or potential) the character can withstand before being killed. A certain amount of these hit points represent the actual physical punishment which can be sustained.  The remainder, a significant portion of hit points at higher levels, stands for skill, luck, and/or magical factors.

B/X Blackrazor set up his table by "level".  Thus, characters and monsters of a given level would roll a certain die to cause damage.  Magical "plusses" have the effect of "shifting" the column so that the player will roll a better die for damage.  There are a lot of shifts in his system (and its a good one BTW), but I thought I could make it simpler.

In my system you calculate your "total to hit bonus".  Add whatever bonus your level gives you to whatever bonus your strength or magical weapon gives you and find a number.

I'm talking Whitebox S&W now --

Angmar is a 3rd level fighter.  He has a STR of 17 and a +1 magical sword.  His total "to hit" bonus is +4 (+2 for his level, +1 for his STR and +1 for his magic sword).

You take this number and you cross-reference it with the AAC of your target.

Angmar is attacking a bugbear AAC 14.  He'll roll a d6.

That's all there is to it.

In my system, there's always a chance that you might take damage, even if you have a tremendous armor class.  I can see a peasant throwing a rock at a terrifying death knight bristling with magical armor and getting lucky.  It could happen.

Here's the chart:

I have not playtested this chart yet (but I plan to soon).  I think I *will* adopt B/X Blackrazors system of subtracting 1 pt. of damage per range increment for missile weapons, so that a miss is a possibility sometimes.  My grandson is just starting to play RPGs and I think this system will be easier for him to learn.

My chart does treat the "Normal Man" as a special case.  Weak creatures or adventurers with a zero "to hit bonus" are better, but not much. 

I hope you enjoy the chart.  My humble thanks to B/X Blackrazor and his idea.  Let me know if you try it and how it goes.