Acrobatic Attacks (Assassin's Creed style)

[zorba1994]

So I was running a game for a bunch of newbies (it went fine), and after the game I sort of passed out a questionnaire asking questions like "Serious vs. Silly, how often to play, is horror okay? etc."

At any rate, the rogue in the party said that he wanted to do more acrobatic tricks (Assassin's Creed style) for attack bonuses.

I'm playing DnD 4e. Any suggestions? So far I've just ruled that if he makes an appropriate Acrobatics check he gets a +1 to his attack roll.

[Land Outcast]

If this was 3.5 I'd suggest going for Combat Expertise and Improved Feint... I don't know if there is any similar mechanic in 4e.

[true_shinken]

Maybe make him multiclass Monk...?
Essentials Thief is also pretty acrobatic, I believe.

[randomhero00]

Personally i let my players get stunt bonuses. If they describe a move particularly well then they might a +2 to attack or a +3 to damage depending on the stunt (max +4). BUT they must describe it very well. It really encourages roleplay during combat.

Like a paladin might make a speech (its not limited to combat actions) right before he kills something "I'll let your gods sort you out, because mine certainly WON'T" As holy fire races up his arm and weapon to smite the evil being.

[true_shinken]

Personally i let my players get stunt bonuses. If they describe a move particularly well then they might a +2 to attack or a +3 to damage depending on the stunt (max +4). BUT they must describe it very well. It really encourages roleplay during combat.

Pffft, you're doing it wrong. That's what Fortune Cards are there for!

[Sipex]

I'd rule it as an acrobatics check with a bonus of some sort (ie: The rogue gets +1 to hit or shifts one square or something)

Of course, if he fails the check (which, by RAW is 15...probably errataed so just use your judgement for the trick he wants) the player immediately lands prone in his square.

edit: You may want to rule he needs to use an action to do this depending on how powerful you allow the effects to be as well. Like a move action or something appropriate.

[randomhero00]

Pffft, you're doing it wrong. That's what Fortune Cards are there for!

I know youre mostly joking but I've been using that for years and years, long before 4e, much less the cards, even came out.

There needs to be some incentive for players to get creative and paint a nice picture in combat. So its not just all dice rolling.

[Vangor]

I'm playing DnD 4e. Any suggestions? So far I've just ruled that if he makes an appropriate Acrobatics check he gets a +1 to his attack roll.

Effectively how we rule in the game is if your character has some plausible way to perform the action, try and well enough to do this. After, do whatever you think is reasonable. Does his acrobatic move reposition him? Does this cause ranged weapons to be less likely to hit him? Do his opponents become flat-footed?