Brilliant 5-ft. step change! Genius initiative change! Everyone should read!

[Thanee]

Even more than the sorcerer, the fighter gets screwed...

Wizard takes 5 ft. step, casts spell. Fighter takes 5 ft. step and makes ONE attack.


Here's an even better version of the above idea:

5-foot Step of Opportunity

Whenever an opponent moves out of your threatened area with a 5-foot step, you can immediately follow up into that opponents direction with a 5-foot step of your own, but only if you haven’t taken a 5-foot step yet during the round, or moved at running speed (but you might have moved otherwise, this is an exception to the standard rule, that you cannot move and take a 5-foot step within the same round). You can only take a 5-foot step in such a way, that the opponent is in your threatened area again afterwards.

Bye
Thanee

 

[CronoDekar]

In regard to the 5' step rule, also keep in mind that it would prolong the fight between a fighter with a standard reach weapon and one with a long reach weapon. Since each has to dance 5' each round so they can get their opponent in range, they'll only get their first attack with that rule. Not a critical issue, but I could see how this could get irritating. I can't think of any good solutions to that situation right now, though.

The initiative rule sounds good though and should make things easier. But what do you do if someone delays or readies an action? I assume you wouldn't adjust their init for the next turn, but that could give a huge advantage to chars with high init (chars delay until the end of the round and attack, and then attack again in the next round). Or maybe that wouldn't be a problem, it's early morning and I haven't thought it through too much.

Reaction rule definitely sounds good, I think I might swap that.

 

[Gort]

The problem I see with this is if two fighters are fighting, the first character can full-attack and then 5' step back but the second character can't step up until the end of his turn unless he burns a 5' move in which case he doesn't get his full-attack (and suffers an AoO if the first character has reach).
Aaron

Ach, you have a point there.

 

[Pbartender]

In my experience, the 5-foot step rule you propose is useless.

Any spellcaster who doesn't have enough ranks in Concentration to regularly succeed at the DC 15 Concentration check to cast defensively should be smacked in the head.

Any specaster, or ranged weapon combatant who regularly gets themselves into the situation where they must cast a spell or fire a ranged weapon while stadngin within the threatened area of another creature should be smacked in the head... twice.

Every spellcasters and archer I've played with tends to avoid the situation to begin with, so the problem never comes up. If the party spellcaster or archer has to make 5' steps to abvoid AoOs, then either the party fighter isn't doing his job, the wizard or archer isn't doing his job, or something has gone exceedingly and unluckily wrong.

Don't make a houserule, find better tactics.

 

[Pbartender]

Thinking about it, my players would never go for the initiative house rule either.

Instead, we just use initiative cards (like the free ones you can download at The Game Mechanics). The cards contain some basic info about each character that is useful to the DM, and there are cards available for monsters also. Just stack them up in the order of the characters' initiative, and flip through them one after the other. If initiative changes due to delayed or readied actions (something your house-rule doesn't take into account), then you just move the card to the new initiative postition in the stack... It's as easy as pie.

I usually have them printed out on several different types of colored paper to more easily distinguish between different factions in a fight.

 

[Pbartender]

The idea behind reactions I like a lot.

However, spending an Action Point (for those that use them) and losing your entire next action is pretty hefty. I think most players would be reluctant to use the option and may forget that its available all together.

Consider letting it use up an Attack of Opportunity instead. It fits better, since AoOs already interrupt someone else's action, and they don't often get a chance to be be used (especially outside of combat).

 

[glass]

5-foot Step of Opportunity
Whenever an opponent moves out of your threatened area with a 5-foot step, you can immediately follow up into that opponents direction with a 5-foot step of your own, but only if you haven’t taken a 5-foot step yet during the round, or moved at running speed (but you might have moved otherwise, this is an exception to the standard rule, that you cannot move and take a 5-foot step within the same round). You can only take a 5-foot step in such a way, that the opponent is in your threatened area again afterwards.

How do you define 'during the round'?


glass.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

There are a lot of good ideas here. I like the idea of seating players by their intiative modifier. One thing I dislike though, is group initiative, I've been involved in a campaign where this one player was the designated initiative roller, but he always rolled really low. That kind of detracts from the feel of being able to get into the feel of roleplaying. Then you are stuck with whatever the final number is. I would not mind it so much, if the initiative was rolled by each player, for the group, and went in a circle doing this. Otherwise, bleh, I wouldn't care to be involved for too much longer.

 

[comrade raoul]

Hmm. I actually use Wickett's five-foot step rule, but also allow you to take a five-foot step as part of a full-attack action with a melee weapon (only). The melee guy works the same way as before, the archer can't get his melee attack, and the casters can still cast on the defensive, and so forth. It works well, I think.

 

[Thanee]

How do you define 'during the round'?

Same as ready.

It actually had the exact same text as ready there before I edited (and added the possibility to move and make such a 5-foot step (not a regular one) in the same round, since I realized that otherwise it wouldn't really work... meleer moves up to wizard/archer, attacks, wizard/archer steps back...).

Bye
Thanee