Here are some rules ideas. Not playtested, just riffing on the forums. I’m borrowing Beragon’s ideas from his “Heroic House Rules” thread.
Natural 20: Natural 20s do not automatically hit. Instead, on a die roll of 20, the attacker may roll again and add the total to his die roll.
Critical Hits: If an attack throw beats the target value by 10 or more, it deals a critical hit. Critical hits bypass Morale Points do deal maximum damage directly to Wound Points.
Dodge and Parry: A combatant may attempt to dodge or parry an attack he is aware of. If a combatant is hit in combat, he can make a saving throw vs. Blast. If successful, the character avoids taking damage but must roll on the Results of Dodge/Parry table. If the character fails, he takes damage as normal.
Roll 2d6:
2 drop an item in hand
3 Glancing blow (d3 non-lethal damage)
4 Off balance (-1 to initiative next round)
5 Give Ground (you can avoid the damage if you fall back 5’)
6-8 Unscathed! (no consequences)
9 Wardrobe Malfunction (an article of clothing, jewelry, or exposed item, such as a backpack, belt pouch, etc. gets damaged)
10 Damaged Armor (armor or shield’s effectiveness reduced by 1)
11 Dive (you must go prone to avoid the damage)
12 Damaged Weapon (your weapon suffers either -1 to hit or -1 to damage)
If a character beats the target value of his saving throw by 10 or more, he has critically succeeded on his Dodge/Parry. A critically successful Dodge/Parry always leaves the character unscathed.
If a character is attempting to Dodge/Parry a critical hit, the situation is more complex.
FAILURE: Character suffers the critical hit
SUCCESS: Character takes normal damage from the hit.
CRITICAL SUCCESS: Character takes no damage but rolls on the Dodge/Parry table.
As long as a character succeeds on his Dodge/Parry attempts during a round, he may keep making Dodge/Parries, up to his number of Cleaves.
An attacker whose attack is Dodge/Parried may cleave (attack again) if eligible to do so.
EXAMPLE:
Marcus (STR 16, CON 18, 5th level fighter with Plate +1; AC 7, 8 Wound Points, 37 Morale Points, 2-Handed Sword +1 attack throw 4+, damage 1d10+5) versus
Thog (4+1 HD Ogre, AC 4, 10 Wound Points, 15 Morale Points, 2-Handed Club attack throw 7+, ignores 2 points of armor, 1d12 damage)
Thog wins the initiative and attacks. He needs 12+ to hit (7 + AC 7, less 2 points of armor penetration). He rolls a 19 and hits! Damage is 8 points. Marcus decides to attempt a dodge/parry. As a 5th level fighter, he saves v. Blast at 13+. He rolls an 18, and saves. His 2d6 roll is 6, he’s unscathed.
Thog gets to cleave. His roll of 7 is a miss.
Marcus now attacks! He needs 8+ to hit (4 + 4 AC) and rolls an 8, a hit. His damage roll is 9, +5, for 14 points. Thog decides to parry. Thog needs 14+ to parry, but only rolls a 12. He takes the damage. Thog is down to 1 morale point.
NEXT ROUND… Marcus wins the initiative. He attacks, but rolls a 4 and misses.
Thog is up, and rolls a 13. He hits, and rolls a 9 for damage. Marcus opts to parry, and succeeds with a 18. His 2d6 roll is a 3, so he suffers a glancing blow of 1d3 morale points (2 being rolled).
Thog now cleaves and rolls an 18 to hit, with a big 10 for damage! Marcus parries with a 13. His roll of 4 on the Parry/Dodge table leaves him off-balance (-1 initiative).
Thog now cleaves and rolls a 20 to hit, with a subsequent 14 for a total of 34. Critical hit! A desperate Marcus attempts to Parry/Dodge. He gets a 2, and fails. Marcus takes 12 points straight to Wounds, and collapses.
Thoughts? I’m curious as to whether the interplay of “you can parry but it let’s the other guy cleave” is a good mechanic, or if it would be better to say “you can parry but you lose your action”. I’m also not sure if avoiding damage is worth the 2d6 roll.
Anyway I think there’s something sexy here but it needs iterative playtesting.