The original 3rd Edition game came pre-packaged with a hand full of specific combat maneuvers (bull rush, disarm, etc.). I’ve always found it odd that this list was so rarely expanded upon in supplements, with designers apparently preferring to ladle on more feats instead. Over my nearly 20 years of running D20 systems, however, the Rule Supplement document I maintain for my personal campaigns has slowly accumulated a number of new combat maneuvers. These are presented below, along with a few expansions to the existing rules where appropriate.
ACTION OF OPPORTUNITY
Instead of attacks of opportunity, characters may take actions of opportunity. An attack of opportunity can be taken as an action of opportunity, but actions of opportunity can also be used for other purposes. Feats and abilities which normally grant additional attacks of opportunity instead grant additional actions of opportunity. If a character has used all of their actions of opportunity in a round, they may still attempt an action of opportunity by using their immediate action (if it is still available to them).
AID ANOTHER [Standard]
If you’re in position to make a melee attack on an opponent that is engaging a friend in melee combat, you can attempt to aid your friend as a standard action. You make an attack roll against AC 10. If you succeed, you can choose to grant a +2 circumstance bonus to hit, a +2 circumstance bonus to AC, or provide flanking if you are not doing so already (regardless of your relative position).
Any character with a base attack bonus of +5 or higher may be able to offer additional assistance with a successful Aid Another check. For every 10 points that their attack roll exceeds DC 10, they grant an additional +1 circumstance bonus.
AIM [Attack]
When making a full attack, you can choose to sacrifice all of the attacks you could normally make and take careful aim at a specific target. On your next attack against that target, you gain a +4 circumstance bonus for each attack you sacrificed. You cannot take any other action or move more than a 5 foot step before making your attack without losing the circumstance bonus. Since you are focused on aiming, you are considered flat-footed until you make your attack.
Quick Aim: If you can make more than one attack as part of a full attack maneuver, you can choose to sacrifice one of your attacks in order to gain a +2 circumstance bonus to a single attack taken on the same turn. You can sacrifice multiple attacks to gain multiple circumstance bonuses, and these circumstance bonuses stack with each other.
Example: If you can normally make four attacks when using the full attack maneuver, you can sacrifice your third and fourth attacks to gain a +4 circumstance bonus to your first attack. You could also sacrifice those attacks and gain a +2 circumstance bonus to each of your first two attacks.
BACK-TO-BACK [Free]
On your turn you can choose to fight back-to-back with an ally as a free action. The ally must be within 5 feet, and must choose to fight back-to-back with you. While fighting back-to-back, you and your ally work to protect each other – shoring up each other’s defense and, literally, watching each other’s back. You and your ally make attacks at a –2 penalty while fighting back-to-back, but so long as you are fighting back-to-back you cannot be flanked.
Note: You can fight back-to-back with multiple allies. However, in order to fight back-to-back with multiple allies, all your allies not only need to be within 5 feet of you, but within 5 feet of each other. (This clarification is only significant for odd-numbered groups wishing to fight back-to-back.)
BIND WEAPON / SHIELD [Attack]
As a melee attack you can attempt to bind an opponent’s weapon or shield. Attempting to bind a weapon or shield provokes an attack of opportunity from your target.
After the attack of opportunity has been resolved, you and your target make an opposed melee attack roll. The wielder of a two-handed weapon gets a +4 bonus on this roll, and the wielder of a light weapon takes a -4 penalty. If you and your opponent are of different sizes, the larger combatant gets a bonus on the attack roll of +4 per difference in size category.
If you beat your opponent’s roll, you have successfully performed a bind on your opponent’s shield or weapon. Weapons and shields involved in a bind, whether yours or your opponents, cannot be used: Bound shields provide no armor bonus and bound weapons cannot be used to make attacks.
The instigator of a bind may end it as a free action. The target of a bind can attempt to break the bind as an attack action by succeeding at an opposed attack roll.
Special: Binding a weapon or shield is considered a variation of the sunder action. Characters with the Improved Sunder feat do not provoke attacks of opportunity when attempting to bind a weapon or shield.
CALLED SHOT [Free]
When using the attack action or the full attack action, before making attack rolls for the round, you may choose to accept a penalty on all attacks from the round in order to gain a bonus to the damage roll of your first attack. For every -2 penalty you accept you gain a +1 bonus to damage. The total penalty cannot exceed your base attack bonus. The bonus to your damage roll applies only to your first attack (even if it misses or otherwise causes no damage), but the penalty to attacks lasts until your next turn.
Design Note: This effectively makes Power Attack a feat which improves a basic maneuver.
DISREGARD FLANKER [Free]
You can disregard attacks from an opponent flanking you. When you do, that opponent doesn’t get the +2 flanking bonus when attacking you and that opponent does not provide a flanking bonus to any of its allies. Ignoring a flanker, however, provokes an attack of opportunity from that flanker, and you lose your Dexterity bonus to Armor Class against that flanker. You do, however, continue to threaten that flanker. If the flanker is out of attacks of opportunity, you can ignore the flanker (and deny the flanking bonus) with impunity.
You must make the decision to disregard a flanker as soon as the foe moves into a flanking position. You can change your decision as a free action on your turn. (You still have to disregard a flanker you can’t see.)
DRIVE BACK [Attack]
As a melee attack, you can attempt to drive back your opponent. In doing so, you are attacking in a way that should force your opponent to back away from you. When you perform the drive back maneuver, your opponent can either choose to move 5-feet directly away from you or remain where they are. If they choose to move, they suffer no adverse effects. However, you can choose to follow them (also moving 5 feet) if you have the necessary movement remaining this turn. If they choose not to move, you resolve your attack against them with a +2 circumstance bonus.
The movement taken as part of the drive back does not count against your opponent’s movement for the round. Your movement does not provoke an attack of opportunity from your opponent, nor does their movement provoke an attack of opportunity from you. However, this movement may provoke attacks of opportunity from other combatants.
ENGAGE [Attack]
As a melee attack you can choose to engage one opponent within reach. If an engaged opponent attempts to move away from you or if they attack anyone else before your next turn, you may take an attack against them at the same Base Attack Bonus as the attack you used to engage them (this attack is in addition to any attacks of opportunity you would normally be able to take and does not count against the limit on the number of attacks of opportunity you can take each round). You gain a +2 circumstance bonus to this attack.
If your opponent attempts to make an attack of opportunity against a different character while you’re engaging them, you take your attack normally. If the attack is successful, however, your opponent must make a Concentration check (DC 10 + damage dealt). If the Concentration check fails, your opponent loses the ability to make that attack of opportunity (although they may still take an attack of opportunity later if one is provoked).
Note: Even if you have more than one attack per round, you cannot engage a single opponent more than once (although you can engage multiple opponents at once).
FIGHT DEFENSIVELY [Free]
When using the attack action or the full attack action in melee, before making attack rolls for a round, you may choose to accept a penalty on all attacks from the round in order to gain a bonus to your AC. For every -2 penalty you accept, you gain a +1 dodge bonus to your AC. (For example, by accepting a -6 penalty, you would gain a +1 dodge bonus to your AC.) The total penalty cannot exceed your base attack bonus, although characters with low base attack bonuses (less than +4) can still accept a -4 penalty to their attack rolls for a +2 dodge bonus to their AC. The penalty to attacks and bonus to AC apply until your next turn.
Total Defense: When using the attack action or the full attack action in melee, you can sacrifice all of your attacks and dedicate yourself to a total defense. You gain a +2 dodge bonus to your AC for each melee attack that you would normally make. (For example, if you could normally make three attacks using the full attack action, then you could gain a +6 dodge bonus to AC for using total defense as a full action.) This bonus is in addition to the normal bonus you would receive for fighting defensively or using Combat Expertise at your maximum penalty.
INTERVENE [Action of Opportunity]
If you are within 5 feet of an ally who is targeted by a direct melee or ranged attack you are aware of (but not an area effect), you can use an action of opportunity to attempt to take the attack in your ally’s stead. If the attack hits you, you take damage normally. If it misses, it also misses your ally. You must declare your intention to place yourself in harm’s way before the attack roll is made.
OUT-OF-TURN-DODGE [Immediate]
Any time a character is about to be attacked, they can give up their next turn to gain a +4 dodge bonus to their AC as an immediate action. A character must be able to apply their Dexterity bonus to AC against the attack (so a character can’t use an out-of-turn dodge while flat-footed, for example) and the out-of-turn dodge is declared before the attack roll is made. The character’s initiative does not change, they simply do not take an action on their next turn. The character gains this dodge bonus until the next time their initiative comes up after their “skipped” turn.
PROTECT [Immediate/Action of Opportunity]
If someone within your threatened area is about to make an attack of opportunity against a target other than yourself, you can use an action of opportunity as an immediate action to prevent them from doing so. You and the combatant attempting the attack of opportunity each make an opposed melee attack roll.
If you succeed, you use your attack of opportunity to preoccupy them and prevent them from taking the attack of opportunity. (This does not count against the total number of attacks of opportunity they may take in a round, however, and they may still take an attack of opportunity later if one is provoked).
If you fail the opposed melee attack roll, they can resolve their attack of opportunity normally. This counts as an attack of opportunity for you.
QUICK DODGE [Immediate/Action of Opportunity]
At any time when you are about to be attacked, you can use an action of opportunity to gain a +2 dodge bonus to AC as an immediate action. The dodge bonus is only effective against a single attack. If you can take multiple actions of opportunity in a round (through the use of the Combat Reflexes feat, for example) you can still only gain a single bonus against one attack, although you can use additional attacks of opportunity to quick dodge additional attacks.
SPRINT [Move]
You can sprint at twice your normal speed in a straight line as a move action. You lose any Dexterity bonus to AC while sprinting unless you have the Run feat. You cannot sprint if your maximum run speed has been reduced to three times your normal speed (due to wearing heavy armor or carrying a heavy load, for example). Sprinting twice in the same round is the same as running.
This material is covered under the Open Gaming License.
Does bind weapon end if the two combatants are no longer adjacent? If someone binds your weapon, can you walk away from them to end the effect?
Surprisingly, this has not come up in play. I suspect this means that the gut instinct of everyone at the table is that you can’t just walk away if you weapon is in a bind (unless you dropped the weapon), which is why no one has ever tried doing it.
Now that you’ve specifically asked the question, I think I’d be inclined to have moving away while your weapon is in a bind provoke an attack of opportunity (and possibly limiting that attack of opportunity to a disarm attempt that does not provoke). Thoughts?
Bind seems too weak as things stand right now, since it has the exact same chance to work as a disarm attempt. So it’s a question of “Use an action to take both myself and an opponent out of the fight until they make their check” vs “Use an action to take an opponent out of the fight until they pick up their weapon (provoking an attack of opportunity)
I love the idea behind the maneuver, but the two don’t seem balanced against each other (though this is just my initial impression, it sounds as though these have seen play at your table so you probably have better insight on the matter)
Based on actual experience with binds in epee fencing (and understanding that this is trying to capture a wide spectrum of binds, not just that very specific circumstance) I would say that … it depends. (Ta-da!)
But generally speaking, the way you escape from a bind is by retreating. A bind (in the fencing sense) is just using leverage to displace your opponent’s weapon so it’s out of the way and not immediately threatening. It’s not particularly hard to escape — but it _is_ hard to escape in an immediately threatening manner. You can usually just spin your weapon out of the bind — but the result of that is it’s not in a position to threaten your opponent. Which is dangerous, especially in fencing, so typically you would retreat out of reach as part of this process. I would almost suggest that at least for this sort of bind, it would be more accurate (assuming that’s desirable) to allow the target to use an attack to escape the bind (no roll required); thus if multiple attacks are available you could still attack but you would have lost your highest attack modifier.
I could see the opposed attack roll to escape being relevant if you are executing a more “active” bind where you’re not just displacing the other weapon, you’re actually restraining it from movement at all/grabbing it, like with, I don’t know, the tines of a trident or something. But I don’t think most weapons really give you the ability to grab other weapons in that way for more than a moment.
@Muninn: The advantage of Bind is its ability to persist for multiple rounds. So that’s kind of the underlying calculus — lock down one of your weapons to potentially lock down your opponent for multiple rounds (and costing them at least one attack) vs. disarming your opponent and costing them a Move action + attack of opportunity.
The advantage of one vs. the other seems to be mostly based on the situation.
Bind tends to be popular with two-weapon fighters, who can use their off-hand weapon to lock down their opponent’s weapon while continuing to take attacks with their primary weapon.
I was thinking that the defender would be able to drop their weapon as a free action, at which point they’re in the same state they would be in had they been disarmed. If that’s the case, the defender would essentially be able to pick the lesser of two evils, as opposed to a disarmed character who gets no such choice.
I like the trade-off you’re describing, but I don’t see why the defender shouldn’t be able to drop the weapon (barring something like a buckler or locked gauntlet). Maybe a special exception to the rule that dropping an item doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity would work?
I like most of these, but I have a slight problem with the Drive Back maneuver: there doesn’t seem to be any downside to using it. If you have your opponent in a position where he can’t move back effectively, it’s basically a free +2 to attack with no cost or downside. Every other maneuver on this page costs something or somehow makes the user vulnerable, but this one does not.
That romantic Hollywood clash of sword moment which quips are exchanged is a favourite of mine isn’t really a thing irl. Still mechanically I resolve this in a similar but more realistic way, still player may choose to represent it the romanticized way above as narrative:
It is a Grapple Manuever, still only needs an attack substition instead of a whole standard action.
Weapon type doesn’t effect but amount of hands used gives bonus/penalty as per normal Grapple.
You can substitute Disarm mod instead of Grapple, however hand amount from the clause apply. (In my games Sunder and Disarm literally just uses normal attack bonus against AC also Grapple and trip is merged so this clause is an addition for here that I don’t use)
You don’t need to threaten the target, you only need to be able to hold on to weapon. Which is to say that there shouldn’t be gap between your threat range and the weapon of the target. Any party can move if the movement doesn’t create the gap above. If it would create it, you need to make a Grapple check to move as per moving while grappling rule.
(So Tetori Monk can engage without being skewered first)