Revisiting Dungeon Crawl Classics, I find the mighty deeds of arms to be just the thing martial characters need to giving them something more to do in combat. However, like all things DCC, the rules are a bit too long and detailed. I can’t imagine playing the game without constantly flipping pages to find what effect you can accomplish with a mighty deed or spell.

What I would prefer is a pared-down version, where the player didn’t have to constantly make a decision every round about which mighty deed the hero would attempt (there’s a weird “signature deed” rule for when they forget to declare) and which didn’t have several levels of success.

I know if visited this idea before, perhaps more than once, actually a few times, in different ways, but this time it’s different from all those ways.🤓

Warrior Level	Deed Die
1	d3
2	d4
3	d5
4	d6
5	d7
6	d8
7	d10+1
8	d10+2
9	d10+3
10	d10+4

Mighty Deeds of Arms

The way mighty deeds work is that the player declares the deed the hero will attempt (things like blinding, disarming, and precision shots) and rolls the d20 attack and the character’s deed die. The deed die gets larger as the character advances and gives a bonus to the attack and damage but also determines the success of the mighty deed. If it’s at least 3 (and the deed die starts as a d3), the deed is successful. At higher level, with a larger die, it can be very successful. And by 8th level (out of a maximum of 10), the mightiest of effects happen more than half the time.

A basic disarming attack, for example, knocks a weapon out of a humanoid opponent’s hand. But with a higher roll, it might also be knocked away or broken. Even creatures using natural claws and teeth might, if the hero is successful enough, have their mouth or limb so damaged it can’t use it to attack.

It takes several sizeable paragraphs to describe all this for every single mighty deed, and there are eight detailed in the rules (and players are encouraged to think of their own, which the GM will need to adjudicate on the fly).

And all this is separate from critical hits for natural 20. There are five different d30 tables for those.

Daring Feats

The way daring feats work is if your attack roll plus your level is 20 or greater, you get the opportunity to attempt a daring feat. Choose a feat from the list below and roll 1d20+level to attempt it. A natural 1 is always a failure.

The feats are simple enough to remember, but you might make a card or print them the back of your character sheet.

1. Spoil: On a 2-15, you do half damage but spoil an opponent’s next attack or attempt to chase you by throwing sand or dirt, knocking over barrels, toppling a brazier, etc. With a 16 or better, the damage is full.
2. Disarm: On a 2-15, knock the weapon out of the hand of a humanoid opponent. With a 16 or better, sever any opponent’s limb or otherwise keep it from using that attack.
3. Target: On a 2-15, you hit for half damage a specific body part (such as a hand or item worn) that’s not normally the target (head, neck, heart…). With a 16 or better, the damage is full.
4. Snatch: On a 2-15, you do half damage and bodily lift a creature 2 or 3 sizes smaller than you, provided it doesn’t exceed the max lift for your strength. You can then throw it for 3 feet times your strength modifier (with possible extra damage from a fire or pit, etc.). With a 16 or better, the distance is doubled and damage is full.
5. Rally: On a 2-15, with a battlecry or heroic flourish, rally allies within earshot; they get +1 to their next attack or, if they have failed a morale check, they get a second chance. With a 16 or better, allies get +2 to their next attack; if allies have been struck by shock or panic, your rally cancels it.
6. Blind: On a 2-15, if the opponent has no more than two eyes, you partially blind the opponent, giving it disadvantage on attacks. With a 16 or better, fully blind the opponent. In either case, it must save vs blindness or the effect is permanent.

Note that certain things–some of which DCC includes in mighty deeds–should be available to martial characters all the time.

• Brawling (shove, kick, etc.)
• Defensive (-2 to attack but you gain +2 to AC)
• Aggressive (+2 to attack but -2 to AC)
• Sweep (half damage to all opponents in reach with 5 feet of movement using a weapon with the sweep property)
• Swap (swap places with an opponent)
• Mount (half damage but leap onto a rock, furniture, or opponent 4 or more sizes greater and gain the high ground advantage.