Minimalistic D&D-like; part II (Auto-Hits, Ping Pong Initiative, Chases, Encumbrance)

I must have read this Blackrazor's entry like 11231 times, and since then I ditched the idea of making anything with separate to hit/damage rolls. That said, that idea makes Initiative much more important, as the first guy who dealt damage would basically decide the combat in early levels. That's why I've tried here to cushion this advantage in some ways.

INITIATIVE: Roll 1d6.
1- PCs surprise the enemy;
2-3 PCs act first;
4-5 monsters act first;
6- monsters surprise the PCs.

As Dexterity doesn't exist in this project, it doesn't play any part on it, but other situations do apply modifiers (ninja costumes for PCs: +1; Monsters with darkvision in the dark -1)

The side who gets the initiative choose who amongst them go first (PCs choose in agreement, GM chooses for NPCs); and then a participant on the other side goes (again they choose). Once all members on a side of the fight have acted, the remainding members of the other side get to do their actions in any order they want. 

Fighters with multiple attacks count each of them as a separate member, acting whenever they see fit.

If a side achieves surprise, all of their members attack, and then they start a round with the initiative, as normal.

COUNTERATTACKS: If you attack a guy whose weapon is longer than yours (no jokes with this) he can spend his turn by attacking you first. If this drops you to 0hp, your attack never happens. Weapon ranges are established, but divided in just three for simplicity:

Close weapons:
Fists: d4, on max damage a grapple is established (no damage dealt)
Dagger: d6 can be thrown
Club: d6

Combat weapons:
Sword: d8, allows the parry special(discard a roll to get +1 AC this round, and +2 damage on the next blow)
Axe/Mace: d8, Heavy. Breaks a shield/-1 heavy armor on a roll of 6
Javelin: d6 can be thrown
Staff: d6, allows parry, but requires two hands

Reach weapons:
Spear: d8, can be thrown
Polearm/Greataxe: requires two hands to use, heavy, breaks a shield/-1 heavy armor on a roll of 6

Ranged weapons:
Sling/small bow: 1d6
Bow: 1d8
Crossbow: 1d8, on a 6+ ignores 1 armor. Can only be fired once per round (no multiple attacks)

No matter the weapon dice, your damage is capped at d6 unles you're a Warrior (6hp)

ARMOR: It works as Damage Reduction: You hit the guy and every point you score over the armor is the damage you deal. After making up some numbers in my mind I've settled up on using 4 as the top AC achievable by a character. Even if you get more by magical means or whatever, you never get more than that. Monsters might, who knows.

+1 for light armor
+2 for heavy armor
+1 for wearing a shield (or parrying with a weapon)
+1 for achieving the Warrior Rank (yes, I thought: what if being a Warrior could give you armor by itself? let's see.)
This amount of armor allows for lots of misses/low damage, and works great for dispelling the potency of who gets the initiative. Also to control the problem of many monsters ganging up against 1 single PC


ENCUMBRANCE

If you have no heavy items, you can run (d6 speed)
If you have 1 heavy item, you can walk (d4 speed)
If you have 3 heavy items, you cannot move.

4 normal items (a weapon, leather armor, a shield, rations, etc) make for a heavy item
Notes, amulets, clothes and bags of less than 100 coins do not count as an item.

The Strength special allows you to carry a free heavy item, and +1 damage for fists, axes, maces and polearms.

The Agility special allows you to leap instead of run (d8 speed). At GMs discrection this can be used to leap from tree to tree in wuxia fashion. It might also give +1 AC when unencumbered, we'll see.

On a chase scene, roll your speed die and your pursuer does the same. If you roll equal or higher than the prey, you can attack him.
On normal situations, if you roll higher than your pursuer you get out of sight or out of melee range in the open. Do it again to lose your pursuer.
Smoke bombs help somehow, maybe by giving a bonus to everyone fleeing or making the "out of sight" success automatic.

Edit: This entry is edited, as the previous rules were untested and I preferred to do it like this instead of having lots of entries about the same shit. After doing some combat tests by taking cards at random from Evlyn Moreau's deck, inferring armor and weapons, rolling HPs and pit one against the other, I've contested that the combat system works; but I've established the weapon ranges and polished the counterattack rules a little.