Charge and Move-equivilant actions

[nighplasmage]

Charging can be take as a standard action for a single movement when you are prevented from taking a full turn action, usualy as a partial action.

Charging 1 movement speed and Standing from the prone are both partial actions.

My character is 15 feet behind a enemy formation that is unaware of me, I put myself in the prone the previous turn to avoid being spotted easily.

During my next turn is it reasonable to assume I can make a full round charge(upto 2 movements ending in a single attack) and have one of those movements be the move-equivalent action of standing?

On a more realistic note, 3-5 seconds rushes from the prone are commonly performed in modern warfare and a round represents 6 seconds.

[Khedrac]

To start with you can only take the action "Charge" as a partial action (which iirc is a 3.0 term when things were different) if you are unable to take a full-round action, in this case you only get to move your movement once before making your attack.

A charge is never "2 movements ending in a single attack". A charge is a single action in which you move up to twice your movement in a straight line. Here movement is a specific term meaning your speed rating in the type of movement in question - so normally land speed.

So on to your character - thee is nothing preventing him/her taking a full round action - therefore you cannot do a partial charge.
You cannot do a normal charge as you are prone (you might be able to do a crawl charge at the 5' move speed for crawling but probably not).

So no sorry what you describe is not supported by D&D.

As for modern combat - those rushes from prone do not usually end in a melee weapon attack (not saying never. I would expect them to be to the next patch of cover - something you can do in the D&D rules.

As for "realism" - well D&D is a very unrealistic system (pretty much all hit-point and level based systems are) so appeals to realism get hit with a fireball or a disintegrate spell and laughed at. Remember that in the usual interpretation of hit points you don't actually get seriously hit in combat until <10 hp - so a long fight (say 10 rounds) probably has the first 42 seconds with neither side getting a good blow in - and there is nothing realistic about that either.

DM's can houserule differently but there is nothing in the rules to even suggest allow your action is a good idea.

Edit: I think you have been confused by the various ways "move" and "movement" are used. You did not have a bad idea - lots of DMs may say "go with it" but D&D 3.X is the wrong system for it. You would be better off with AD&D or any system where combat is less tactical. The very tactical nature of 3.5 makes messing with the rules much more complex.

[ddude987]

Above is correct. However you can stand up and ready an action to partial charge. It works because readied action is standard and therefore you are prevented from a full round action. Ready a charge for the start of the next persons turn. The you can charge.

[TuggyNE]

Above is correct. However you can stand up and ready an action to partial charge. It works because readied action is standard and therefore you are prevented from a full round action. Ready a charge for the start of the next persons turn. The you can charge.

No, sadly, readying an action is not enough to get around that. You aren't restricted from taking a full-round action*, you're merely unable to ready a full-round action, which is not the same thing.

*Valid examples include surprise rounds, being slowed, and being disabled.

[Diarmuid]

Being a zombie also would qualify.

[KillianHawkeye]

The OP's situation is additionally complicated by his opponents being unaware of him. This means his first combat action will take place during a surprise round, in which case he is limited to only a single move or standard action.

[Darrin]

No, sadly, readying an action is not enough to get around that. You aren't restricted from taking a full-round action*, you're merely unable to ready a full-round action, which is not the same thing.

*Valid examples include surprise rounds, being slowed, and being disabled.

Is there actually any RAW clarification on this? I can see "surprise round" specifically mentioned under Restricted Activity in the Rules Compendium (p. 27) but I don't see any mention of being slowed or disabled.

This leads to an odd little rules quirk: if you're slowed/disabled/staggered, you can ready a charge, but if you're not, you can't.

[TuggyNE]

Is there actually any RAW clarification on this? I can see "surprise round" specifically mentioned under Restricted Activity in the Rules Compendium (p. 27) but I don't see any mention of being slowed or disabled.

This leads to an odd little rules quirk: if you're slowed/disabled/staggered, you can ready a charge, but if you're not, you can't.

Slow and being disabled say "A [disabled/slowed] character may take a single move action or standard action each round (but not both, nor can she take full-round actions)." Not sure if there's anything more specific than that, but since it very closely matches the restrictive text in charge, that's probably fine. (It actually matches more precisely than the Core surprise round text, oddly.)

And yes, zombies have a similar bit of text. Also the staggered condition!

[ddude987]

No, sadly, readying an action is not enough to get around that. You aren't restricted from taking a full-round action*, you're merely unable to ready a full-round action, which is not the same thing.

*Valid examples include surprise rounds, being slowed, and being disabled.

I see. I guess my table plays wrong then. I always figured it made sense to be able to get ready to charge something when conditions are met.

Still, are you sure you cannot charge in a surprise round? You are restricted to a single standard action during a surprise round. That seems to allow a legal partial charge.

[Darrin]

I see. I guess my table plays wrong then. I always figured it made sense to be able to get ready to charge something when conditions are met.


In the older 3.0 rules, you could use a partial action to ready a full-round action to be completed on the next round. Essentially, you spread the full-round action over the two rounds. It's not clear if they deliberately removed this from the 3.5 rules, or just forgot about it when they took out partial actions.



Still, are you sure you cannot charge in a surprise round? You are restricted to a single standard action during a surprise round. That seems to allow a legal partial charge.

The Rules Compendium specifically says you can charge in a surprise round as a standard action, but you can only move up to 1x your speed instead of 2x.

[KillianHawkeye]

Still, are you sure you cannot charge in a surprise round? You are restricted to a single standard action during a surprise round. That seems to allow a legal partial charge.

The Rules Compendium specifically says you can charge in a surprise round as a standard action, but you can only move up to 1x your speed instead of 2x.

Yeah, it still exists, it's just not called "partial charge" anymore since partial actions are not called that anymore, either. I'm not really sure why, though. Seems a lot simpler than having to say "limited to only a standard or a move action" every time.

[TuggyNE]

Still, are you sure you cannot charge in a surprise round? You are restricted to a single standard action during a surprise round. That seems to allow a legal partial charge.

Sure! That's one of the examples I gave where it's specifically allowed, sorry if that wasn't clear. You can also charge if you're slowed, disabled, staggered, or suffering from perhaps a few other conditions.

What you can't do is charge as a standard action just because you felt like readying an action. Or because you already used the move action you got that turn.

[rot42]

I would probably allow it as a special case even during a surprise round, but I agree with the above that rules-wise you are out of luck. Boots of Agile Leaping (MIC 76) and the skill trick Back on Your Feat (CSco 85) both let you get up more quickly. Some DMs will also let you teleport from prone to standing with e.g. Anklets of Translocation.