I'm considering adding these rules to any potential games I hold. My intent is to make the combat mechanics more tactical, and to lessen the disadvantage of not playing the high Size, heavily armored knight type of character that the current rules favor, since my potential players seem to prefer the idea of playing as Norse or Saxon heroes rather than Arthurian knights. The main disadvantage that I've observed is that they can slow down combat and also make it less deadly. Test them out and and tell me what you all think.


Characters have a Stamina Pool equal to Dexterity+Stamina. Actions like attacking, charging, dodging, etc reduce the Stamina Pool by a varying number of d6s. I'm still working on assigning a particular number of d6s to all the combat actions, but most are 1d6. The Stamina Pool gains a number of points equal to Stamina every round that your character takes a Rest action, which means that the character paused to catch his breath (this could be narrated as pacing around your foe or maneuvering so an obstruction momentarily separates you.) If the character runs out of of Stamina, then he suffers a worsening (- 5 per action) penalty to each action until he takes another Rest action.


Parrying is resolved similarly to blocking, except the weapon skill is considered to be at - 5. If the character successfully blocks or parries then the damage minus the character's Strength is subtracted from the stamina pool, to a minimum of 3 points off the Stamina Pool.


Careful management of the Stamina Pool is now key to combat. Disengaging and movement are now much more important, since they allow the character to control the pace of combat.

I like it, and... I don't. :o

I've been fiddling around with the combat system a lot too, but I always seem to return to the basics. And there is a system for stamina, although very basic. If the knight fight more rounds than they have CON, they start getting penalties. As an alternative to your system, perhaps use this? You can also lower it, if you want it to happen more often (half con?)

What I like:
Your system gives a more tactics, as you say. You need to carefully consider your stamina in a tactical situation.
I like the cinematic situation of two tired fighters banging at each other, especially in duels.

What I don't like:
More dice, more time. Your system will create longer fights, and people will pace around rather than attack.
Your system favours quick, agile players over armored tanks. Pendragon is about armored tanks (in my view)
The stamina works kind of like a layer of "energy-shield", you will get more knights that survive fights. It's basicaly an extra set of hit-points.
When your stamina-pool is empty. You die pretty quickly if the other player has more, since you cannot parry.
Knights will parry 95% of the time, as well as attack. This means that each round, both knights will subtract the same from their pools.

That's an interesting suggestion. The rules do make DEX a lot more important, though the RAW makes DEX as important as the GM makes it (which is often not very).


I'd say the biggest "winner" among the attributes in the house-rules is actually STRE, since it essentially acts as armor for the Stamina Pool AND affects Movement Rate. This means high STRE and DEX players will both be agile enough to control the timing of confrontations (by disengaging and moving around) and lose less from the Stamina Pool. Maybe replacing STRE with SIZ in the Movement Rate formula (longer legs)?