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Pathfinder Unchained / Removing Iterative Attacks

The Basics

Source Pathfinder Unchained pg. 110
When making a full attack, roll only one attack roll and compare your result to the target’s AC. If your attack result is lower than the target’s AC by 6 or more, you miss and deal no damage. If your result is lower than the target’s AC by 5 or less, you deliver a glancing blow, dealing an amount of damage equal to 1/2 the minimum damage you would normally deal on a hit with the weapon you’re using. Effects that trigger on a hit do not trigger on a glancing blow. If your attack result equals or exceeds the target’s AC, you score a hit, plus one additional hit for every 5 by which your roll exceeds that target’s AC, up to your maximum number of hits. At first level, you can score a maximum of only one hit, but at base attack bonus +6 and at every +5 to your base attack bonus thereafter, you can score another. This is shown on Table 3–3, and also matches the progression of iterative attacks you’d gain if you were using the core rules for attacks. For each hit you score, roll damage separately; damage reduction applies to each hit.

For example, say you have a base attack bonus of +8, are using a melee weapon that deals 1d10 points of damage on a hit, and have a Strength modifier of +4. Your target has an AC of 21. If your attack roll result is 15 or lower, you miss. If your result is 16–20, you deal a glancing blow for 2 points of damage (your damage die’s minimum of 1 plus your Strength modifier of +4, divided by 2 and rounded down). If your result is 21–25, you hit and deal 1d10+4 points of damage. If your result is 26 or higher, you hit twice and deal 1d10+4 points of damage twice. Even if your result were 31 or higher, you would still hit only twice because your base attack bonus is lower than +11.

Tracking: When using this system, it speeds up the game if players calculate in advance the amount of damage they deal on a glancing blow with each weapon their characters use and write it on the character sheets. It also helps if the GM notes the monster’s AC – 6, AC + 5, AC + 10, and AC + 15.

Table 3-2: Attack Results

Attack Roll Result	Type of Hit	Damage Dealt
Below AC by 6 or more	Miss	None
Below AC by 5 or less	Glancing Blow	1/2 minimum damage
Equal or exceed AC	Hit	Normal damage
Exceed AC by 5 or more*	Additional hit	Normal damage

* You can gain an additional hit for every 5 by which the attack roll exceeds the target’s AC, limited by your base attack bonus.

Table 3-3: Maximum Hits

Base Attack Bonus	Maximum Hits
+0 to +5	1
+6 to +10	2
+11 to +15	3
+16 to +20	4
+21 to +25*	5
+26 to +30*	6

*Typically, only monsters have a base attack bonus this high.

Attacking Multiple Targets

Source Pathfinder Unchained pg. 110
If you have more than one maximum hit, you can declare you’re making a full attack against more than one target. In that case, your number of hits is determined by the highest AC among your targets, and you can allocate your hits however you like among all the targets after determining your total number of hits—you can even choose not to hit the target whose AC you rolled against. This doesn’t allow you to bypass effects that would prevent you from hitting a creature normally. For instance, you couldn’t assign a hit to a creature under a sanctuary effect when making an attack roll against a different creature (unless you first succeeded on the required Will save).

Critical Hits