A Book of Iron Might Sneak Peek

By Mike Mearls

This final section [from Chapter One in The Book of Iron Might] gives you a number of sample maneuvers, for both characters and monsters, to show you how to use this system to add more variety to your game. Each maneuver description includes a summary of its various elements. Where applicable, these samples include commentary on how and why they were designed the way they were, to give you some insight into the process.

Character Maneuvers
These sample maneuvers include a number of called shots, an old standby of many game systems and gaming groups. A called shot is an attack against a specific body part or portion of a foe’s anatomy. The called shot maneuvers given here show you how to transform the descriptive elements of an attack into game mechanics.

Called Shot, Arm Strike [Strength]
Effect: Inflict Penalty (–2 on attacks): –20
Drawback: Attack of Opportunity, Target Only: +5
Drawback: Saving Throw (Fortitude, DC 10 + half base attack +
Strength modifier): +5
Net Effect: Total attack roll penalty: –10
You slash at an opponent’s arm, tentacles, or another body part that it uses to make attacks. The pain of the injury and the damage you deal to its tendons and muscles cause a –2 penalty on all its attacks.

Called Shot, Glancing Blow to Head [Strength]
Effect: Bonus Damage (+4): –10
Effect: Stagger: –10
Drawback: Saving Throw (Stagger, Fortitude, DC 10 + half base
attack + Strength modifier): +5
Drawback: Full-Round Action: +5
Net Effect: Total attack roll penalty: –10
This attack is meant to model a careful, deliberate strike. The maneuver avoids provoking attacks of opportunity by waiting for the proper moment to strike (hence the full-round action), but it comes at a cost. This attack can only stagger a foe, since it lacks the wild strength of the other called shots.

Called Shot, Hand [Strength]
Effect: Disarming Attack: –20
Drawback: Effects Only: +5
Drawback: Saving Throw (Fortitude, DC 10 + half base attack +
Strength modifier): +5
Net Effect: Total attack roll penalty: –10
You smash your foe’s weapon and hand, causing stinging pain and forcing him to drop his weapon. This attack focuses on brute force to knock a weapon away. Compare it to the standard disarm attack from the core rules to see how the maneuver system can use a different path to achieve a similar end. This attack forgoes dealing normal damage to reflect the fact that it is a strike against a weapon and hand, and to keep the attack roll penalty manageable.

Called Shot, Legs [Dexterity]
Effect: Movement Damage: –10
Drawback: Saving Throw (Reflex, DC 10 + half base attack +
Dexterity modifier): +5
Net Effect: Total attack roll penalty: –5
You slash at your opponent’s legs, wings, or other body parts associated with movement, slicing tendons and muscle to slow him down. This relatively low-risk maneuver proves useful for capturing opponents or for slowing down a mighty foe who could pursue you if you attempted to flee.

Called Shot, Vitals [Intelligence]
Effect: Bonus Damage (+2): –5
Effect: Stun: –30
Drawback: Attack of Opportunity, Total: +10
Drawback: Full-Round Action: +5
Drawback: Saving Throw (Stun, Will, DC 10 + half base attack +
Intelligence modifier): +5
Net Effect: Total attack roll penalty: –15
You land a blow at a sensitive portion of an opponent’s anatomy. This maneuver shows how Intelligence can serve as a key ability. It relies on knowing where to strike rather than striking with tremendous force. The attack of opportunity drawback is a great leveler, making this maneuver most useful in one-on-one fights where the attacker doesn’t have to worry about multiple attacks of opportunity.

Glowering Display (Charisma)
Effect: Forced Movement: –10
Drawback: Full-Round Action: +5
Net Effect: Total attack roll penalty: –5
You make a show of easily knocking aside an opponent’s attacks before easily breaking through his defenses. Daunted by your skill, your opponent steps away from you.

Jawbreaker (Strength)
Effect: Disable Natural Attack: –20
Drawback: Free Strike: +10
Drawback: Saving Throw (Fortitude, DC 10 + half base attack +
Strength modifier): +5
Net Effect: Total attack roll penalty: –5
As a monstrous foe snaps at you with its bite attack, you slam its jaw, shattering teeth and bone.

Joint-Piercing Strike (Wisdom)
Effect: Disable Natural Attack: –20
Drawback: Attack of Opportunity, Target Only: +5
Drawback: Effects Only: +5
Drawback: Full-Round Action: +5
Net Effect: Total attack roll penalty: –5
You carefully study a creature’s moves, seeking the one perfect place to strike it to ruin a joint and disable one of its natural attacks. Contrast with jawbreaker, above.

Overpowering Strike [Strength]
Effect: Bonus Damage (+10): –25
Drawback: Attack of Opportunity, Target Only: +5
Drawback: Overwhelming Effort: +5
Net Effect: Total attack roll penalty: –15
This wild shot represents a hurried strike aimed at a foe. It has little chance of hitting a competent foe, but when it strikes, it can be devastating, making it the preferred attack of the desperate, the crazed, or the lucky. Unfortunately, the attacker loses his guard (provoking the attack of opportunity), and the wild, uncontrolled swing sends him tumbling to the ground. This maneuver puts the attacker in a bad position after his strike. Hopefully for him, it’s the last attack he needs to make against this foe. Otherwise, he’s in trouble.

Power Hammer [Strength]
Effect: Knockback: –10
Effect: Knockdown: –20
Drawback: Attack of Opportunity, Target Only: +5
Drawback: Full-Round Action: +5
Drawback: Reflective Effects: +10
Net Effect: Total attack roll penalty: –10
This maneuver is useful against smaller foes that have superior combat training and are outnumbered. By throwing yourself at your opponent, you send him reeling backward and off his feet. While your leap also leaves you knocked back and prone, your allies are in a good position to step in and finish off your now very vulnerable foe.

Taunting Defense (Charisma)
Effect: Inflict Penalty (–2 to attacks): –10
Drawback: Full-Round Action: +5
Net Effect: Total attack roll penalty: –5
Using your skill at arms and your natural ability to manipulate others, you deliver a series of stinging blows that enrages your opponent and makes him take wild, poorly aimed attacks.

Throw Debris (Dexterity)
Effect: Inflict Penalty (–3 to AC): –15
Drawback: Effects Only: +5
Drawback: Full-Round Action: +5
Net Effect: Total attack roll penalty: –5
You grasp a fistful of dirt, sand, or some other debris and cast it at your opponent’s face. While he coughs and wipes at his eyes, you can take advantage of the distraction.

Weapon Lock [Strength]
Effect: Disarming Attack: –20
Drawback: Effects Only: +5
Drawback: Opposed Check (Strength): +5
Drawback: Reflective Attack: +5
Net Effect: Total attack roll penalty: –5
You lock your opponent’s weapon with your own, tangling it on your pommel or blade. The two of you struggle for a moment, giving you the opportunity to tear your foe’s weapon from his grasp.

Creature Maneuvers

The following maneuvers illustrate how you can use these rules to spice up monsters and give them more options in a fight. Take advantage of the rules to create vivid, dangerous encounters where the PCs’ enemies use their natural abilities and attacks in new, interesting ways. If you build unique maneuvers for certain foes, you can develop signature moves for them that make your villains unique and memorable.

While these maneuvers are tied specifically to dragons, you can easily adapt them to other creatures. They serve as examples of how you can sculpt maneuvers to fit a specific creature’s anatomy, style, and background.

Crushing Bite (Strength)
Effect: Ability Score Damage (Constitution): –20
Drawback: Attack of Opportunity, Target Only: +5
Drawback: Full-Round Action: +5
Drawback: Saving Throw (Fortitude, DC 10 + half base attack +
Strength modifier): +5
Net Effect: Total attack roll penalty: –5

A dragon or other massive creature with a bite attack can clamp down on a smaller opponent, crushing him in its jaws and leaving him horribly injured.

This maneuver shows how drawbacks can play a much larger role than does a simple attack penalty for a maneuver. An attack that requires a full-round action limits a dragon’s abilities, as it can normally use a variety of attack forms, but the benefits of inflicting Constitution damage can stop a PC dead in his tracks. A barbarian’s rage drops by 1 round, and any character loses the equivalent of 1 hit point per level.

Draconic Tail Sweep (Strength)
Effect: Area Attack: –5 per 5-foot square
Effect: Knockdown: –20
Drawback: Attack of Opportunity, Total: +10
Drawback: Saving Throw (Knockdown, Fortitude, DC 10 + half base
attack + Strength modifier): +5
Net Effect: Total attack roll penalty: –5 to attack, –5 per target square

With a mighty sweep of its tail, a dragon can send the entire party tumbling to the ground. Dragons use this maneuver when faced with a large number of smaller, humanoid opponents.

Note that this maneuver makes use of the Attack of Opportunity, Total, drawback. A dragon is most likely to use it against multiple foes, making that drawback a good choice. Each target has the chance to strike the dragon as it completes the maneuver. A Fortitude save models a character’s ability to absorb the shock of the dragon’s tail. In most cases, it is simply too big for a character to duck beneath or leap over.

Draconic Wing Strike (Strength)
Effect: Stun:–30
Drawback: Full-Round Action: +5
Drawback: Overpowering Effect: +5
Drawback: Saving Throw (Fortitude, DC 10 + half base attack +
Strength modifier): +5
Net Effect: Total attack roll penalty –15
A dragon can swipe at an opponent using its wings, hammering a single foe with concussive, stunning force. The dragon rises into the air and slams its wings together on an opponent, pummeling him into submission.

The penalty to this attack, along with the save it allows, makes the wing strike ideal against spellcasters. For that reason, this maneuver avoids attacks of opportunity as a balancing mechanism. Instead, the dragon must leave itself vulnerable to other attackers.