Houserule: Interception. Taking a page from 13th Age.

[CheddarChampion]

I got this idea from the 13th Age Code Rulebook - it's not my original idea.

In 13th Age any character (PC or NPC) can move to intercept anyone that tries to get past them. The two restrictions are that you can only intercept once per round and you can't be "engaged" with an enemy already.

I think it'd be cool to translate this to D&D.

What if:
When a creature moves in order to attack another creature that is roughly 'past' that creature's ally, the ally can use their reaction to move up to their speed and put themselves in their enemy's path. The ally cannot do this if their own movement would cause them to provoke an attack of opportunity.

This happens as the enemy moves so the enemy and the ally end up within 5 feet of each other (DM's choice of placement). This interruption might leave the enemy with leftover movement: should the enemy choose to continue moving, the ally can make an attack of opportunity against them despite having used their reaction already. Multiple allies may intercept all at once.

What would you change? Would this add to or detract from the game?

[Dimers]

That sort of activity is believable -- IMO more believable than the idea that characters can't react to enemy movement until their own turn. I like the rule in 13th Age and I'd like it in 5e. Personally, I'd only allow half movement as part of the reaction, not full speed. But I'd also allow the reacting character to provoke an opportunity attack if they choose to.

[Aimeryan]

Maybe with an Intimidation save (Strength or Charisma, players choice?) to reduce the enemy's movement to 0?

[Pex]

Maybe with an Intimidation save (Strength or Charisma, players choice?) to reduce the enemy's movement to 0?

That would work as a class feature. Alternatively, make all of this a feat with +1 ST or CH included.

[ZRN]

Sounds like a half-feat:

As a reaction when an enemy moves to within 10 (15?) feet of you, you can move adjacent to them and make a melee attack. (And +1 to an ability score.)

[False God]

I think the ability works as is and needs no real modification for D&D.

Just let the person essentially "charge" (I know it's not in 5E) a certain distance (up to their speed for simplicity) if not currently engaged with an enemy. They must move in front of the target, and become the target of its next melee attack.

I think allowing them to provoke attacks from enemies they pass by is fine, but those enemies may have movement-stopping abilities too.

So you end up with a sort of "stack" of abilities, which gets resolved similar to MTG.
Enemy A moves to Party Member B.
Party Member C "Intercepts" Enemy A.
Potential Enemy B along Party Member C's route gets an AoO.

Resolve Enemy B's AoO first, if he stops Party Member C's "Intercept", Enemy A's movement resolves and gets to attack.

[Chronic]

Imo it does favor the defender quite a bit. But I like it. The attacker should get an aoo for free if he decide to stay in range of the interceptor. This way it's a real trade of. You protect your teammate at a cost. Giving advantage to the attacker instead of an aoo is fine too.

[KorvinStarmast]

Maybe with an Intimidation save (Strength or Charisma, players choice?) to reduce the enemy's movement to 0? To abusable to be a standard feature. I like the idea of "as a reaction, move up to half movement to intercept (or attempt to) an enemy if one is not already engaged" as a standard option. That would be worth play testing. It's the defensive analogue of Opportunity Attack.

[Aimeryan]

To abusable to be a standard feature. I like the idea of "as a reaction, move up to half movement to intercept (or attempt to) an enemy if one is not already engaged" as a standard option. That would be worth play testing. It's the defensive analogue of Opportunity Attack.

Moving next to an enemy as a reaction would not itself do anything - you can't even OA if they then proceed past you because you already used your reaction. If you have something like Spirit Guardians active then it could be useful.

I'm liking the idea of a half-feat, something like:


Intimidating Interception



[*=1]Increase your Strength or Charisma by 1, to a maximum of 20.
[*=1] As a reaction when a hostile creature moves to within 15ft of you, you may move to the nearest square adjacent to the creature and, if it can see or hear you, it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Charisma modifier) or the creature's speed becomes 0 for the rest of the turn.