Combat Facing

[Meatpuppet]

I posted the same question on the Wotc boards

What is your opinion on the combat facing rule variant in UA?
Is it worth trying? Doesn't it slows combat too much?

Thanks in advance for your answers

 

[EyeontheMountain]

I think it is a very good rule, providing the players play with minatures or at least a good combat map. I am especially in favor of it if sneak attack is tied to it, so that an opponent can actually face the rogue and negate it. The only problem is that you would need to develop a set of feats aht would work around it, and allow charascters to either lessen or maximize vulnerabilities.

Alkso, how owuld you change facing, the rules in UA were not too good in that respect, I thought.

 

[Brimshack]

It's been awhile since I looked at it, but I recall thinking some of the bonuses and penalties were a bit steep. I would have adjusted them down a bit.

 

[frankthedm]

Never tried it, I like the idea of facing, but I hate using a grid.

 

[Thanee]

Every tabletop on the planet (more or less) gets along with facing rules and without a grid, so it's not like you would really need one.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Brimshack]

When I played 1st edition, we never used a grid, just eyeballed the direction the miniature was facing. There were occassional disagreements about hte focus of the miniature, but we usually managed tor esolve them reasonably and get on with the game.

 

[Meatpuppet]

I was wondering wouldn't this variant make a Rogue with a good tumble skill, too powerful?

I mean he could deliver a sneak attack every round by simply tumbling to the back of his enemies ...

 

[Demoquin]

The enemy could always ready an attack to intercept the rogue right? or use reach weapons.

 

[Infiniti2000]

I was wondering wouldn't this variant make a Rogue with a good tumble skill, too powerful?

I mean he could deliver a sneak attack every round by simply tumbling to the back of his enemies ...

No, it'd one attack, as opposed to multiple attacks per round. Moreover, most designers (e.g. Monte Cook, SKR) have said that playtesting (and maybe even the math) showed that even if a rogue got a sneak attack on every single attack vs. every single opponent it would not unbalance him vs. other classes combat-wise. Take it with a grain of salt, if you will, but I think for the most part it holds true (there might be non-core feats, etc. that help tip the scales, however, which is where the salt really comes in handy).

 

[Meatpuppet]

The enemy could always ready an attack to intercept the rogue right? or use reach weapons.

Interesting, I had not thought of that...