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2018-09-25, 12:41 AM (ISO 8601)
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Why does Flyby Attack seem like it's so rife with terrible language...?
Flyby Attack (Monster)
This creature can make an attack before and after it moves while flying.
Prerequisite: Fly speed.
Benefit: When flying, the creature can take a move action and another standard action at any point during the move. The creature cannot take a second move action during a round when it makes a flyby attack.
Normal: Without this feat, the creature takes a standard action either before or after its move.
Like the hell? There are so many simple ways to say "You may use a move action to move both before and after you use a standard action (to the maximum of your normal move speed)," without implying, or even kind of outright stating that you get bonus actions (or attacks).
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2018-09-25, 01:04 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2017
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2018-09-25, 01:52 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2014
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Re: Why does Flyby Attack seem like it's so rife with terrible language...?
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2018-09-25, 08:26 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2012
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- Various Places
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Re: Why does Flyby Attack seem like it's so rife with terrible language...?
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2018-09-25, 08:54 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2014
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Re: Why does Flyby Attack seem like it's so rife with terrible language...?
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2018-09-25, 09:01 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2014
Re: Why does Flyby Attack seem like it's so rife with terrible language...?
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2018-09-25, 09:02 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2015
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- Right behind you!
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Re: Why does Flyby Attack seem like it's so rife with terrible language...?
Last edited by CharonsHelper; 2018-09-25 at 09:03 AM.
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2018-09-25, 09:09 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2011
Re: Why does Flyby Attack seem like it's so rife with terrible language...?
I always considered that terrible, terrible wording to be just a clerical error. Though of course, why they never bothered to fix it...
Let me give you a brief rundown of an average Post-3E Era fight: You attack an enemy and start kicking his shins. He then starts kicking your shins, then you take it in turns kicking until one of you falls over. It basically comes down to who started the battle with the biggest boot, and the only strategy involved is realizing when things have gone tits up and legging it.
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2018-09-25, 09:13 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Why does Flyby Attack seem like it's so rife with terrible language...?
Huh....OK. Revelation. Since Pathfinder just copy/pasted so much of 3.5...but I was quite certain it was fine in 3.5...I decided to look it up and see how the cocked that ... it's basically copy/pasted. OK. I didn't realize ...What's this? Adroit Flyby Attack? It's an upgrade to Flyby Attack? Wait, why is this one, which require flyby attack, just a worse version, since it's literally what Flyby Attack should be, but each of the 5 reprintings of the actual Flyby Attack say you get extra actions?
Like...It's been reprinted so many times. And it remains the same. I don't understand!
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2018-09-25, 10:22 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2007
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Re: Why does Flyby Attack seem like it's so rife with terrible language...?
I don't know which 3.5 you're looking at, but neither the 3e nor the 3.5 Monster Manual say anything about attacking before and after moving.
By the way, I can't speak to all the prerequisites for Adroit Flyby Attack, but it's literally just Spring Attack for flying creatures. Whereas the original Flyby Attack was intended for dragons to fly over and use their breath weapons and be able to fly away again, which is why it gives any Standard Action.Last edited by KillianHawkeye; 2018-09-25 at 10:27 AM.
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2018-09-25, 10:38 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2015
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- Berlin
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Re: Why does Flyby Attack seem like it's so rife with terrible language...?
Well, welcome to the OGL and SRD. Some things simply didn't really change from 3E and 3PP, like Paizo is one in that case, canīt change anything. (Yes, I mentioned 3E, not 3.5E, so the flyby wording makes pretty much sense, because of a slightly different economy of actions (Haste I miss you))
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2018-09-25, 12:33 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Why does Flyby Attack seem like it's so rife with terrible language...?
Dear gods that's horrible wording.
Because, well let's read that without any sense for context and balance, and just literary.
It says "take a move action and another standard action". Why would it say another, if not because you get another in addition to, well, your usual one? Normally you get a standard and a move action, this says you get another - how is that not a perfectly sensible reading of the rules? No other reading explains the word "another"?
And I can just see some table treating it like that, perfectly innocuously, because that's a perfectly sensible reading! You don't even necessarily spot the balance issue - after all, you're giving up your prescious full attack, and compared to spring attack you still provoke attacks of opportunity, and it's not like some feats aren't just stronger than others right?
Obviously we all know the actual design intent behind this - but that just goes to show how much you have to rely on stuff like that. And given that this wouldn't be an issue at all if it had just been worded "take a move action and A standard action", well.
Actually this reminds me of a story where I really just couldn't prase the misreading: a 5E group that calculated hitpoints like this:
at 2nd level, you get 1D8+Con Mod Hit points. At 3rd level, you get (1D8+ConM)x2. At 4th level, you get (1D8+ConM)x3. Etc.
Why?
Because they started playing with 5E, didn't have any familiarity with any other D&D-stuff, and because HP-increases are worded like this:
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1D8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per level after 1st
A player with that knowledge will just read it the way the designer intended, but you shouldn't rely on that, especially when there's simple ways to phrase it better (in this case, just write "at each level after 1st").Last edited by Serafina; 2018-09-25 at 12:35 PM.
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