Izmir Stinger
2009-01-13, 10:44 PM
My roommate is starting up a 4E campaign and we played through a couple of encounters to get a feel for the rules. The inspiration for this houserule comes from this encounter, in the hide tags:
The party I was solo playing (which is harder than I thought it would be) had to jump across a chasm to get to some artillery and a leader on the other side. I decided this was a good time to use my fighter's "Tide of Iron" at will to knock these bastards into the chasm. I maneuver around to get one between me and the pit and whack him good with my shield. He makes his saving throw and is prone. He gets up and I miss with the AoO. Next turn, I whack him again and he makes his saving throw. I get him with the AoO for standing up this time and he is bloodied. Then I whack him with the shield again, and the little $#@% makes his $%^& saving throw again! He gets up again, probably looking a bit woozy, and my AoO cracks his skull. So there he is, laying on the ground dead, next to the pit that he very successful avoided falling in. I asked if I could nudge his corpse over the edge as a minor action.
Now, I know that guy beat the odds on his saving throws to avoid going in the pit, but that's gonna happen sometimes, and we agreed that this was pretty lame...
... so we housruled it. This is what we came up with:
If forced movement would cause a creature to wind up falling over a precipice, they may make a saving throw to avoid going over the edge as normal, unless the forced movement could carry them further than the edge of the precipice (i.e. the monster is standing next the the edge, and he is forced to move two squares). Also, creatures who are Dazed, Immobilized, or Stunned when they are forced over the edge cannot make such a saving throw.
A creature that makes the saving throw falls prone at the edge of the precipice. This creature is under an effect called "dangling." A dangling creature is prone and cannot shift. If a dangling creature is hit by an attack that requires an attack roll, he is knocked over the precipice. The dangling effect can be removed by spending a move action to stand up or crawl out of the square (Note: the dangling effect is not removed until the movement action is resolved, so if it triggers an AoO, the creature can be sent into the pit).
Is this appropriate? Would it make encounters with pits in them too dangerous for the players, or too easy? Is there any possible exploit I am overlooking?
The party I was solo playing (which is harder than I thought it would be) had to jump across a chasm to get to some artillery and a leader on the other side. I decided this was a good time to use my fighter's "Tide of Iron" at will to knock these bastards into the chasm. I maneuver around to get one between me and the pit and whack him good with my shield. He makes his saving throw and is prone. He gets up and I miss with the AoO. Next turn, I whack him again and he makes his saving throw. I get him with the AoO for standing up this time and he is bloodied. Then I whack him with the shield again, and the little $#@% makes his $%^& saving throw again! He gets up again, probably looking a bit woozy, and my AoO cracks his skull. So there he is, laying on the ground dead, next to the pit that he very successful avoided falling in. I asked if I could nudge his corpse over the edge as a minor action.
Now, I know that guy beat the odds on his saving throws to avoid going in the pit, but that's gonna happen sometimes, and we agreed that this was pretty lame...
... so we housruled it. This is what we came up with:
If forced movement would cause a creature to wind up falling over a precipice, they may make a saving throw to avoid going over the edge as normal, unless the forced movement could carry them further than the edge of the precipice (i.e. the monster is standing next the the edge, and he is forced to move two squares). Also, creatures who are Dazed, Immobilized, or Stunned when they are forced over the edge cannot make such a saving throw.
A creature that makes the saving throw falls prone at the edge of the precipice. This creature is under an effect called "dangling." A dangling creature is prone and cannot shift. If a dangling creature is hit by an attack that requires an attack roll, he is knocked over the precipice. The dangling effect can be removed by spending a move action to stand up or crawl out of the square (Note: the dangling effect is not removed until the movement action is resolved, so if it triggers an AoO, the creature can be sent into the pit).
Is this appropriate? Would it make encounters with pits in them too dangerous for the players, or too easy? Is there any possible exploit I am overlooking?