New Deck Chairs

At a certain level of minutiae, changing rules doesn't matter all that much. As long as they cover playing with swords, casting spells, and exploring a deep, dark place in a semi-simulationist way, it's going to feel like D&D. With rules, familiarity trumps all else, followed by straightforward use. Realistic simulation doesn't rank all that high with me as long as some common sense is evident. Changing rules for "realism" is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, if the Titanic were a fun game you played with friends. Actually, the Titanic would be a fun game to play with friends.

That being said, I watched a few videos on European martial arts and historical dueling, and this combat system came to me fully formed in about a half hour of distracted thinking this morning. So I might as well write it down.

The main things I took away from the videos were that strength isn't actually that important for swinging weapons and dexterity isn't that important for shooting weapons. If anything, strength is much more important for shooting a bow or crossbow than it is for swinging a sword. What IS important: knowing what you're doing, having the right tool for the job, and not getting tired.

Base rules are LotFP, with the following changes:

The four abilities are BODY, FINESSE, MIND, and SPIRIT. 3d6, modifiers from -3 to +3.

BODY is added to STAMINA and Fighters'/Dwarves' AC.
FINESSE is added to TRAPS saves and Thieves'/Halflings' AC.
MIND is added to TRICKS saves and Magic Users' AC.
SPIRIT is added to MAGIC saves and Clerics'/Elves' AC.

STAMINA is the number of rounds you can fight normally. 7 + BODY + class modifier. Every five rounds after that, you take a cumulative -2 penalty to both ATTACK and AC. Class modifiers: goes up by 1 every 3 levels for Fighters and Dwarves, every 4 levels for Thieves and Elves, and every 5 levels for Clerics, Magic Users, and Halflings.

AC: 10 + class-specific modifier + armor. Leather +2, Chain +4, Plate +6.

HP: Straight d6 rolls, no modifiers.

ATTACK: +1, goes up by 1 per level for Fighters only. All weapons do d6 damage per hit, but provide additional ATTACK modifiers dependent on the opponents' armor:

Weapon	Unarmored	Leather	Chain	Plate
Axe, hand	+1	+1	-1	-2
Club	+1	0	-2	-4
Dagger	+3	+1	-2	-3
Fist	+4	0	-1	-5
Flail	-1	+1	+2	+2
Hammer	0	0	+1	+1
Mace	-1	0	0	+1
Morning star	+2	+1	+1	0
Pick	-2	-1	+1	+2
Scimitar	+3	+1	-1	-2
Sword, broad	+2	+1	0	-2
Sword, long	+2	0	0	-1
Sword, short	+2	+1	0	-2

Combat options are Parry, Press, and Defensive, as per LotFP. Shields are offensive weapons, not defensive. They reduce the AC penalty for Press to -2, but take up two slots of equipment or reduce stamina by 1. You choose.

Movement is based on equipment carried, slightly simplified from LotFP. You have 25 slots of inventory. Bulky items take up 2 slots and small items take up slots in units of 25. After 10 slots, you're Lightly Encumbered. After 15, you're Moderately Encumbered. After 20, Heavily Encumbered. After 25, you can't move.

Worries: 

Keeping track of STAMINA and four different numbers for each weapon might be too cumbersome at the table. There's no BODY-based save, because I didn't want to give one stat too many benefits, so it's not clear where poison or disease saves would go. I'm inclined to go with TRICKS, but I couldn't give you a good reason why. FINESSE is an awkward word next to BODY, MIND, and SPIRIT. I wanted to go with "speed", but that would imply that it affects how fast you move, which it doesn't.

I might playtest this, I might not. Coming up with cool shit to throw at players is always more exciting than fiddling with rules.

Here's a rough character sheet, without skills or magic: