If the "conga-line" (someone please find a better word before we're stuck with this one! Please!) is now a tactic easily available (w/o special powers/attacks/abilities), it
should be used (by those creatures that are deemed fit to know, and be capable, of it.) It is awesome, effective and logical.
That it becomes
better at the higher levels is intriguing - and important to know when we shall play and design encounters. That the Fighter cannot be an effective "tank" (if that is the case) is also important to know - as IMO
there is nothing worse than betrayed expectations. Should a player select the Fighter class expecting to protect their allies (in a more involved way that being first in line) and finds that her capability
decreases with level, that will be a problem. If she selects Fighter for other reasons, then that is not a problem.
It may also be that the idea is to have very different play experiences as the characters progress in level - it is already true that levels 1 and 2 are much different in feel from levels 4 and 5 (you don't really need to fear a round 1 drop to 0 hp at level 5 from a "casual" encounter.)
It is also possible that the control aspect of protection has been moved in the turn sequence : if the sentinel can reduce the mobility of many foes with her many attacks during her turn, then it is simply that the
way to defend has been changed. The OA then becomes more along the lines of a possibility to catch one that you missed during your turn as opposed to the main method of protection.
Originally Posted by Juriel
Tactics with this: wolves form a conga line, as you can attack at any point of movement, and after the first one eats the Fighter's AoO, the rest just walk past him and each bite the Wizard in turn, then move out of the way of the next wolf.
Not sure if that's working as intended.
Mistwell
If it's an open field, sure that can still work. But if it's a narrow corridor they are going by, doesn't work so well as moving through your allies space is now difficult terrain.
It will most likely not be required that they move through allies' space - they simply move one after the other. Also, I'm assuming that this narrow corridor is still wide enough to allow at least 2+ wide, otherwise, the whole thing is moot (as in all editions.)
Since there are suggestions specifically calling out the advantage of numbers on the creature's part when building encounters - it would seem that this kind of situation has been thought of. What I'm curious about is the possible decrease in the cost of mobility as levels increase.
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The new movement rules have drastically changed many aspects of the game - high movement mounts will be of great importance in open battlefields (which is great), frequent places to hide will be of even bigger help to rogues, the "squishies" will be very frequently the target of attacks, units capable of both ranged and melee will have myriad opportunities to harvest great benefits from good tactics, melee only units could find themselves running all over the place - possibly without hope of attacking.
I'm not sure, but I'm seeing a good deal of elements that favour
player competence - I'm not sure if I like that or not yet...