Combat Facing (UA)

[Kaww]

Has anyone used this variant?
How did it work?
Does it give a bit more advantage to fighter classes?

[DukeofDellot]

I've played quite a bit of GURPS where facing rules are core (and almost the same).

If you've ever played... Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics (or either of it's psuedosequels), or similar tactics RPGs with a facing system, it's pretty much the same. Part of your move is now declaring which way you're facing, and you probably want to be facing the biggest threats.

It actually makes Rogues more useful since they no longer need an ally to provide them with the flank to sneak attack (which makes them feel a little more independent and free, which might be desirable), however, it might actually makes other melee types more difficult to play when relying on attacks of Opportunity (but since I dropped Attacks of Opportunity years ago, I'm speaking purely theoretically here) and that while it's easer to get past armor by attacking someone from behind, miss chance still provide their full benefit.

Melee gets the short end of the stick here. Though a nice bonus to Range combatants if you shoot people in the back (the rules are unclear if that grants the normal "back attack" bonus, but I'm sure it's intended to be that way). Mages benefit the most here though, since that +2 or +4 can be even more useful on touch attacks that hit more often than not anyways and that they're the most likely to have miss chances...