Putting aside the tears and rage flowing in the 80+ page fighters vs. wizards thread, here are some abilities I'd like to see in a simpler D&D system.

Combat Maneuver
As a fighter, you are skilled in executing combat maneuvers to hinder your enemies.  Whenever you score a critical hit in melee combat, you may automatically do any of the following:

• Trip.  Your enemy is knocked prone.

• Disarm.  You knock your enemy's weapon or shield away in a random direction a number of feet equal to half the damage you dealt.

• Reposition.  You move your enemy to a new location of your choosing, up to a number of feet equal to half the damage you dealt.  You may move with your enemy if you choose to do so.

• Slam.  If you are wielding a shield, you may choose to bludgeon your enemy with it, dealing damage as if you had struck him with a shield bash.  Your enemy is then forced back from you a number of feet equal to half the damage dealt by your initial attack.

• Disorient.  The force of your attack leaves your opponent off-guard.  Until the end of his next turn, your enemy is flat-footed.

• Cleave.  Your attack carries from one enemy to another.  You immediately deal damage to an adjacent foe as if you had struck him with a melee attack.

• Hinder.  You can briefly slow your enemy, reducing his speed to five feet until the end of his next turn.

Dirty Fighting
As a rogue, you are not the strongest combatant in combat, but you know how to take advantage of opening when you see one.  Whenever an enemy attacks you in melee combat and rolls a natural one on his attack roll, you can seize the opportunity to do any of the following.

• Counterattack.  You make a melee attack against your attacker.

• Disengage.  You dart away, moving up to your speed.

• Blind.  You spit, throw sand, or otherwise attack your enemy's eyes.  Until the end of his next turn, he is blinded.

• Redirect.  Your opponent's attack automatically strikes another creature within reach of him.

• Feint.  You quickly feign an attack against your foe.  Until the end of his next turn, your enemy is flat-footed.

• Steal.  You pluck a small item--usually no more cumbersome than a weighty coin purse--from your enemy's person.

Started okay but too many status effects to track and automatic hits like in your cleave example are a no no

Those are pretty good, BT. I actually prefer handling these things with on-the-spot rulings, but that's just my GMing style. As far as formal codifications of creative tactics go, I like this one.

Your combat maneuvers look a lot like the homonymous mechanic in Mongoose Legend (ex-Mongoose Runequest II), which I think is a good thing.

I like it.

I like them overall but I am leery of Cleave that one may cause trouble.

Quote from: Marleycat;551120I like them overall but I am leery of Cleave that one may cause trouble.

I was, too, but when you think that a critical hit is going to come up fairly rarely (assuming no 3e-style cheese), it's not that big a deal.

Quote from: B.T.;551129I was, too, but when you think that a critical hit is going to come up fairly rarely (assuming no 3e-style cheese), it's not that big a deal.

Yeah, you'd have to get rid of the Crit ranges in 3e (which never made a ton of sense anyway).

I like the general idea and most of the specific maneuvers.

For those like jibbajibba who think this is to complicated, you could possibly simplify it down even further to:

Fighter: When your roll a natural 20 in combat, you get an immediate free Action.

Rogue: Whenever an opponent attacking you rolls a natural 1 in combat, you get an immediate free Action.

Quote from: B.T.;551129I was, too, but when you think that a critical hit is going to come up fairly rarely (assuming no 3e-style cheese), it's not that big a deal.

Thanks for the clarification.

Quote from: jadrax;551135For those like jibbajibba who think this is to complicated, you could possibly simplify it down even further to:

Fighter: When your roll a natural 20 in combat, you get an immediate free Action.

Rogue: Whenever an opponent attacking you rolls a natural 1 in combat, you get an immediate free Action.

I like this.  Simple, yet having tons of options to go with.  I just may steal it...

Quote from: jadrax;551135For those like jibbajibba who think this is to complicated, you could possibly simplify it down even further to:

Fighter: When your roll a natural 20 in combat, you get an immediate free Action.

Rogue: Whenever an opponent attacking you rolls a natural 1 in combat, you get an immediate free Action.

I don;t mind complexity per se. I dislike tracking multiple status effects here you have prone which is fine, but you also have flatfooted, slowed, blinded ... I can see it growing, tracking status effects is one of my pet peeves as it really slows combat.

The free hits are a problem as the effect can be take a hit at the weak guy so it triggers the free hit on the guy you can't normally hit due to some other effect. Its marginal but just not keen.

Criticals are rare. A lot of these effects should be tactically achieveable as they are in the CFH. So trips, shield attacks, feints etc should be combat option you can try without needing a crit.

So not generally against

CFH?

Complete Fighter's Handbook, I presume.

I would not allow cleave, but otherwise these sound good. as GM, I'm not sure I'd be into tracking all the status effects the monsters however. They tend to slow down combat. I probably make it the responsibility of the player to remind me (before I announce the result for the monster's attack) of any such status effects on the monster. Player forgets or isn't paying attention and the status effect is ignored.