Baron Corm
2012-08-26, 07:14 PM
I've made simple summaries that can explain how a combat mechanic works in a single sentence, which hopefully would make things easier for anyone trying to learn about them. I removed size bonuses from grappling, because it seems like only Strength would really be relevant there. I clumped bull rush, overrun, and trip into one mechanic, because they are pretty similar. I buffed feint a bit, because a quick little movement shouldn't take that long, and it really hurts the viability of the mechanic.
But my question to you is, are they really simpler, especially with all of the necessary aftertext I had to put into the spoiler?
Grappling an opponent requires a melee touch attack and an opposed Strength check, and results in your opponent losing his Dexterity bonus to AC and movement speeds, and you being treated as having one arm full and moving into your opponent's square, if successful.
With Improved Grapple, your opponent loses all use of his hands (and mouth, if you use your other arm to cover it). He cannot attack with most weapons or natural attacks, or cast spells with verbal or somatic components.
Melee touch attack in place of any attack action to initiate. This provokes an AoO unless you have Improved Unarmed Strike. Next, the attacker and defender make opposed grapple checks. A grapple check is a Strength check. If the attacker succeeds, both are now grappling, and the attacker moves into the defender's square. If the attacker is much stronger or larger than the defender, he can make the defender move into his square instead, at the DM's discretion.
The defender can make a grapple check as a standard action to escape the grapple. He gets a free check to escape any time the attacker takes an action to do anything. The attacker can end the grapple as a free action with no check. He can move himself and the defender at half his normal speed as a move action, provided he can drag his opponent's weight.
Attacks made against the grapplers hit the wrong target on a roll of 5 or lower. If the attacker spends a standard action to hide behind the defender, a roll of 15 or lower is always redirected to the defender. Roll the attack roll before choosing which AC to roll against. With Improved Grapple, these numbers are changed to 10/20.
You can only grapple a creature up to one size category larger than yourself. The Improved Grapple feat lets you grapple creatures up to two size categories larger than yourself.
To feint, roll a Bluff check against a creature that you threaten's Sense Motive check. If you succeed, he is flatfooted against your next attack or full attack action within 1 round.
Feinting starts as a move action, and becomes a swift action with Improved Feint. A creature is immune to being feinted for 1d4 rounds after a successful feint from a given feinter. The Improved Feint feat makes this 1 round.
Bull rushing an opponent requires a melee touch attack and an opposed Strength check, and results in your opponent being knocked prone if successful.
Melee touch attack in place of any attack action to initiate. This provokes an AoO if done with bare hands, unless you have Improved Unarmed Strike. If the touch attack is missed, the attempt fails. Otherwise, the attacker and defender make opposed bull rush checks. A bull rush check is a Strength check.
- If the attacker wins and chooses to stay in his square, the defender doesn't move, but falls prone.
- If the attacker wins and chooses to move with the defender, the attacker pushes the defender back 5 feet per 2 points by which his bull rush check was larger, to a maximum of the attacker's remaining movement speed for the round. The attacker and defender both fall prone at the end of the movement, unless they hit a solid object first. The attacker can also make a Balance check (DC = his own Bull Rush check) to stay standing. Either way, they end up in the same square.
- If the defender wins, and the attacker was charging, the attacker falls prone. Otherwise, nothing happens.
- If the attacker wins and the defender falls prone, the attacker can cause the defender to fall prone anywhere within the landing square. This means that he could, for example, push a creature off a cliff, while remaining on top himself. If only the very edge of the cliff is in that square, he might be hanging off the edge of the cliff, which could require Strength or Balance checks to hold on. DM judgement should be liberally applied.
You receive a +4 bonus to your bull rush check for each size category larger than Medium you are, and a -4 penalty for each size category smaller than Medium. You receive a +1 bonus to your bull rush check for every 5 feet you moved while charging to your target, if you charged. Stable opponents receive a +4 bonus to bull rush checks as a defender, as noted in their stat blocks.
You can only bull rush a creature within one size category of yourself. The Improved Bull Rush feat now lets you bull rush creatures within two size categories of yourself, in addition to the +4 bonus on bull rush checks.
Disarm and sunder are no longer standard combat actions. They might be granted by certain prestige classes (such as duelist for disarm, and frenzied berserker for sunder), or feat chains if they are really desired, but should generally be avoided due to how they usually just create less fun for the player characters, while being ineffective against many monsters.
But my question to you is, are they really simpler, especially with all of the necessary aftertext I had to put into the spoiler?
Grappling an opponent requires a melee touch attack and an opposed Strength check, and results in your opponent losing his Dexterity bonus to AC and movement speeds, and you being treated as having one arm full and moving into your opponent's square, if successful.
With Improved Grapple, your opponent loses all use of his hands (and mouth, if you use your other arm to cover it). He cannot attack with most weapons or natural attacks, or cast spells with verbal or somatic components.
Melee touch attack in place of any attack action to initiate. This provokes an AoO unless you have Improved Unarmed Strike. Next, the attacker and defender make opposed grapple checks. A grapple check is a Strength check. If the attacker succeeds, both are now grappling, and the attacker moves into the defender's square. If the attacker is much stronger or larger than the defender, he can make the defender move into his square instead, at the DM's discretion.
The defender can make a grapple check as a standard action to escape the grapple. He gets a free check to escape any time the attacker takes an action to do anything. The attacker can end the grapple as a free action with no check. He can move himself and the defender at half his normal speed as a move action, provided he can drag his opponent's weight.
Attacks made against the grapplers hit the wrong target on a roll of 5 or lower. If the attacker spends a standard action to hide behind the defender, a roll of 15 or lower is always redirected to the defender. Roll the attack roll before choosing which AC to roll against. With Improved Grapple, these numbers are changed to 10/20.
You can only grapple a creature up to one size category larger than yourself. The Improved Grapple feat lets you grapple creatures up to two size categories larger than yourself.
To feint, roll a Bluff check against a creature that you threaten's Sense Motive check. If you succeed, he is flatfooted against your next attack or full attack action within 1 round.
Feinting starts as a move action, and becomes a swift action with Improved Feint. A creature is immune to being feinted for 1d4 rounds after a successful feint from a given feinter. The Improved Feint feat makes this 1 round.
Bull rushing an opponent requires a melee touch attack and an opposed Strength check, and results in your opponent being knocked prone if successful.
Melee touch attack in place of any attack action to initiate. This provokes an AoO if done with bare hands, unless you have Improved Unarmed Strike. If the touch attack is missed, the attempt fails. Otherwise, the attacker and defender make opposed bull rush checks. A bull rush check is a Strength check.
- If the attacker wins and chooses to stay in his square, the defender doesn't move, but falls prone.
- If the attacker wins and chooses to move with the defender, the attacker pushes the defender back 5 feet per 2 points by which his bull rush check was larger, to a maximum of the attacker's remaining movement speed for the round. The attacker and defender both fall prone at the end of the movement, unless they hit a solid object first. The attacker can also make a Balance check (DC = his own Bull Rush check) to stay standing. Either way, they end up in the same square.
- If the defender wins, and the attacker was charging, the attacker falls prone. Otherwise, nothing happens.
- If the attacker wins and the defender falls prone, the attacker can cause the defender to fall prone anywhere within the landing square. This means that he could, for example, push a creature off a cliff, while remaining on top himself. If only the very edge of the cliff is in that square, he might be hanging off the edge of the cliff, which could require Strength or Balance checks to hold on. DM judgement should be liberally applied.
You receive a +4 bonus to your bull rush check for each size category larger than Medium you are, and a -4 penalty for each size category smaller than Medium. You receive a +1 bonus to your bull rush check for every 5 feet you moved while charging to your target, if you charged. Stable opponents receive a +4 bonus to bull rush checks as a defender, as noted in their stat blocks.
You can only bull rush a creature within one size category of yourself. The Improved Bull Rush feat now lets you bull rush creatures within two size categories of yourself, in addition to the +4 bonus on bull rush checks.
Disarm and sunder are no longer standard combat actions. They might be granted by certain prestige classes (such as duelist for disarm, and frenzied berserker for sunder), or feat chains if they are really desired, but should generally be avoided due to how they usually just create less fun for the player characters, while being ineffective against many monsters.