Targeting on a charge

[Mr Adventurer]

If you have Pounce, do you need to make all your attacks against the same target?

What about the Tome of Battle Tiger Claw manouevre, Pouncing Charge?

Why or why not?

Grateful for a rules reference as we've got a player asking the question at the table...

[MesiDoomstalker]

Pounce (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#pounce) allows you to make a Full Attack (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/actionsInCombat.htm#fullAttack)at the end of a Charge. Since it specifically calls out Full Attacks, you follow the rules for Full Attacks, which means you need only declare a target when making the attack roll. Same goes for the Pouncing Charge maneuver. Both call out Full Attacks so you defer to Full Attack rules. (For all intent and purposes, Pouncing Charge is granting Pounce for one action, but they had to be obtuse about it).

[Mr Adventurer]

Without Pounce, does that mean you could charge one creature but make the actual charge attack at a different creature? Could you do this with Pounce in play?

[Deox]

Without Pounce, does that mean you could charge one creature but make the actual charge attack at a different creature?

No. According to charge (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialAttacks.htm#charge)

Charging is a special full-round action that allows you to move up to twice your speed and attack during the action.
...and...

Movement During a Charge
You must move before your attack, not after. You must move at least 10 feet (2 squares) and may move up to double your speed directly toward the designated opponent.

[Mr Adventurer]

That's about movement though.

[Deox]

When you charge, you have to designate one opponent and move directly towards it and attack. You could make any subsequent attacks against other opponents, however, if they were in range.

[Mr Adventurer]

I understand what you're saying. But I don't see that the rules say this.

[Darrin]

That's about movement though.

Yes, but sometimes the designers got confused about whether "charge" refers to just the movement or the entire action. For example, take a look at the text for Pounce (Ex) from the Monster Manual:

"Pounce (Ex): When a creature with this special attack makes a charge, it can follow with a full attack - including rake attacks if the creature also has the rake ability."
(emphasis added)

If you go by strict RAW, this means the full attack from Pounce doesn't happen until the Charge action is done, so you do your double move, make your single melee attack, and then you get a full attack from pounce.

It's likely what the designers meant was, once you've completed the movement part of the charge, the Pounce ability *replaces* the single melee attack with a full attack. But that's not the exact wording they used.

If you're using the "replaces" interpretation, then I'd say the intent here is probably that all the attacks from the pounce have to be against the target of the charge. However, you may have some wiggle-room if there are multiple opponents within reach when you complete the movement portion of the charge. That's more of a DM's call kinda thing... a barbarian charging at a line of three legionnaires standing shoulder-to-shoulder as a shield wall could reasonably say he was charging all three of them at once, and hey, when the fit hits the shan you take your shots wherever you can make them.

If you're trying to go by a strict "RAW" interpretation... it's still kinda a grey area, because the Pounce rules don't say anything about restricting your attacks to the target of the charge, but if at least one of your attacks is against the target you charged, then that satisfies the restriction from the charge rules, and the rest of your attacks could be designated elsewhere if you like.

[Psyren]

I would say that, for both of them, the first attack happens vs. whoever you were moving toward. It's just that regular charging only gives you the one attack, so that's all you get, whereas Pounce gives you the one attack and then you get to make all the rest (and reassign them to whoever is in range.)