Pocket lint
2007-02-27, 10:10 AM
I've always thought D&D combat is way too static. There are no "Errol Flynn"-style swashbuckling fights that go across bridges, staircases (dinner tables, bedchambers...) Further, it's way too difficult for melee fighters to shield the spellcasters from attacks, since anyone may freely move through their threat areas as long as they're willing to accept an attack of opportunity.
So here are my ideas:
Controlled space
No one may move inside a threatened area more than a single five-foot step during one round. Normal rules for attacks of opportunity still apply, but you can't keep moving even if all around you have used their attacks. Note that flat-footed opponents do not threaten their surrounding area.
Evading attack
If you have access to your Dex bonus to defense, and you can move outside of your attacker's threat area using a five-foot step into an unoccupied square, you can discard one of your attacks of opportunity to take a single five-foot step backward. This grants you a temporary +4 bonus to AC for this attack only (and obviously, extra attacks will hopefully not reach you). The move has to be into an unoccupied square directly away from the attacker, or one of the two squares adjacent to that one.
Follow through
If you are attacking and your opponent is downed or evades attack by moving away from you, you can discard one of your attacks of opportunity to take a single five-foot step into the square he just vacated without provoking attacks of opportunity from others threatening the area. If you are making a full-round attack (but not if you are making a whirlwind attack), you make this move before the next attack is resolved.
So, what's the bonus to this?
* Battles become more dynamic, obviously. The stronger fighters will keep pushing their opponents back, following through and using their second and third attacks to hit them, if possible.
* Combat reflexes becomes *much* more powerful.
* Fighters can reasonably protect those behind them without having to form a solid line.
* Survival tactics become more effective - use full defense and keep moving backwards, and someone with combat expertise and combat reflexes will be nigh-impossible to hit.
* If you step back and your opponent doesn't follow through, you can run away without provoking an attack of opportunity.
* "Wading" through scores of low-level enemies becomes more useful, since you can probably move 10' each round. (One follow through, plus the normal 5' step)
* That ridiculous way rogues often tumble past a fighter to backstab him gets more tricky - it's likely to take more than one round unless he has some feats up his sleeve.
Drawbacks:
* It's more complicated, obviously. AoO doesn't get used that much during normal fights, so there's one extra factor to keep in mind.
* Battles take longer to resolve, since the opponents will keep moving around instead of getting hit. It also means mages will have more opportunities to fire off spells, as if they needed more time to rock the world...
None of this is play-tested, so feel free to shoot down any holes in this idea. I didn't make this into feats by intent, since this sort of defensive and offensive movement is a pretty basic part of melee fighting. Ideas for feats to improve this further are welcome.
Other ideas:
* Instead of +4, make it the sum of Dodge & dex bonus to allow rogues to stay out of the heat. (this might be a feat, though)
* Should evading attack by moving into another threatened area provoke an AoO?
So here are my ideas:
Controlled space
No one may move inside a threatened area more than a single five-foot step during one round. Normal rules for attacks of opportunity still apply, but you can't keep moving even if all around you have used their attacks. Note that flat-footed opponents do not threaten their surrounding area.
Evading attack
If you have access to your Dex bonus to defense, and you can move outside of your attacker's threat area using a five-foot step into an unoccupied square, you can discard one of your attacks of opportunity to take a single five-foot step backward. This grants you a temporary +4 bonus to AC for this attack only (and obviously, extra attacks will hopefully not reach you). The move has to be into an unoccupied square directly away from the attacker, or one of the two squares adjacent to that one.
Follow through
If you are attacking and your opponent is downed or evades attack by moving away from you, you can discard one of your attacks of opportunity to take a single five-foot step into the square he just vacated without provoking attacks of opportunity from others threatening the area. If you are making a full-round attack (but not if you are making a whirlwind attack), you make this move before the next attack is resolved.
So, what's the bonus to this?
* Battles become more dynamic, obviously. The stronger fighters will keep pushing their opponents back, following through and using their second and third attacks to hit them, if possible.
* Combat reflexes becomes *much* more powerful.
* Fighters can reasonably protect those behind them without having to form a solid line.
* Survival tactics become more effective - use full defense and keep moving backwards, and someone with combat expertise and combat reflexes will be nigh-impossible to hit.
* If you step back and your opponent doesn't follow through, you can run away without provoking an attack of opportunity.
* "Wading" through scores of low-level enemies becomes more useful, since you can probably move 10' each round. (One follow through, plus the normal 5' step)
* That ridiculous way rogues often tumble past a fighter to backstab him gets more tricky - it's likely to take more than one round unless he has some feats up his sleeve.
Drawbacks:
* It's more complicated, obviously. AoO doesn't get used that much during normal fights, so there's one extra factor to keep in mind.
* Battles take longer to resolve, since the opponents will keep moving around instead of getting hit. It also means mages will have more opportunities to fire off spells, as if they needed more time to rock the world...
None of this is play-tested, so feel free to shoot down any holes in this idea. I didn't make this into feats by intent, since this sort of defensive and offensive movement is a pretty basic part of melee fighting. Ideas for feats to improve this further are welcome.
Other ideas:
* Instead of +4, make it the sum of Dodge & dex bonus to allow rogues to stay out of the heat. (this might be a feat, though)
* Should evading attack by moving into another threatened area provoke an AoO?