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

[Yair]

5-Foot Step: You may take a 5-foot step during any portion of the round, even if it is not your turn, provided you are not flat-footed. All normal rules for the 5-foot step still apply (as per the core rules).

I like this. I think I'm gonna adopt it in my games.

Edit: I might change it a bit, though:

You can take a 5-foot step at any time without incurring an AoO for moving, once per round, even if it is not your turn. You can only do this if you are not flat-footed, and if you have not moved your full allotment of movement in the round or have not moved any distance at all.

The movement-limitation is there to prevent you from moving 30 feet plus 5 foot:
If you take two move actions to move 60 feet, you can't take a 5 foot step in the round as you have already moved your full allotment of movement in it.
If you take a standard action to move 30 feet and perform some other action (attack, cast a spell, whatever), you again have moved your full allotment and can't take a 5 foot step. In constrast, if you take a standard action to move 15 feet and attack, you still have movement allotment and may take a 5 foot step sometime before your next turn.
If you take a full action (like, say, a full attack) you can combine it with a 5 foot step or, alternatively, make a 5 foot step at some later point before your next turn.

The movement-limitation is a bit cumbersome. I might abandon it and remain with your simpler rule.

 

[evilbob]

<<everything genshou said>>

Seconded.

 

[Siberys]

Is this for 3.5? because they got rid of partial actions in the revision...

 

[Felnar]

did someone cast Resurrect Thread on this one?

The Fighter gets the same amount of benefit from a 5-foot step as a spellcaster or ranged weapon specialist gets

all classes use the 5ft step to avoid AoOs equally?

 

[airwalkrr]

Now, for initiative. Two things, one for ease of play, one for drama's sake.

Initiative: At the beginning of each session, players should seat themselves in a loose ring in order of their initiative modifier, from highest to lowest. Whenever combat begins, one player rolls initiative for the party, and every player character determines their initiative from that roll. The NPCs likewise get one roll, or possibly more if there are very distinct groups of NPCs (henchmen and main villain, or two different opposing groups). The DM then determines where that initiative count would come in the ring of players, and initiative progresses from highest to lowest, going around the circle. This avoids the DM having to hop around the room in initiative order, because order progresses in a nice ring.

I do this already, and I roll for initiative each round. Great minds think alike they say.

 

[Ltheb Silverfrond]

I prefer using the 5' Step as a 5' "Adjustment", allowing combatants to, as long as they have not moved more than their full move speed during their last turn, move 5' at any time during the round once per round. So if the mage tries to pull back and blast, just 5' step up to him. Archer giving you trouble? Teach him to carry a melee weapon or to attack from several range increments away.

Granted, a caster can just use a move action to get away from you, but then they provoke an AoO...