Questions on Charge and Spring Attack

[BraveSirRobin]

Can a charge action be used as part of a Spring Attack?

Also what it the difference between a charge and a partial charge?

Thanks for your help.

 

[kreynolds]

As far as I can tell, a partial charge is just x2 your movement rate and you don't have to move in a straight line.

 

[Artoomis]

Can a charge action be used as part of a Spring Attack?

The Sage says yes (though I disagree - the language of the feat doesn't really allow it).

Also what it the difference between a charge and a partial charge?

Thanks for your help.

A charge = up to 2x your move rate in a straight line plus an attack at the end of your charge (the first square from which you threaten your opponent)

A partial charge is the same but only up to 1x your move.

Of course you can only make a partial charge when you get a partial action - a readied action or Haste, for example.

 

[Artoomis]

As far as I can tell, a partial charge is just x2 your movement rate and you don't have to move in a straight line.

Nope.

 

[kreynolds]

Nope.

Damn! Got me on that one. That's what I get for posting so frickin' early in the morning. OK. So it's not early. But I only got about 3 hours of sleep last night. Pity me.

 

[BraveSirRobin]

OK that clears it up. The reason I was asking about the charge/spring attack is because I was wondering if my monk should try to get the spring attack feat now that he has the sandles that deal double damage on a charge.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

Oh come on, we all know that someone name Brave Sir Robin will never charge!

Charge is a full round action.

Spring attack is supposed to be Move+Standard Action. By what's written in the PHB I'd say you can't charge and spring attack.

Spring attack is still a very useful feat altough I tend to go against the trend and wouldn't recommend it for a monk. With the tumble skill you can come close enough to the effect of the feat. Sure, with spring attack you can move before and after the attack. Nice for an NPC guerilla monk but in my experience this is a worthless tactic in a party.

 

[Artoomis]

Charge is a "Special Standard Action" per the PHB or a Full Round Action per the SRD (which makes more sense since you can take 2x your move). In either case it doesn't quite "fit" with Spring Attack, but the Sage has rules otherwise.

Spring Attack:

Benefit: When using the attack action with a melee weapon, the character can move both before and after the attack, provided that the character's total distance moved is not greater than the character's speed. Moving in this way does not provoke an attack of opportunity from the defender the character attacks. The character can’t use this feat if the character is in heavy armor.

An "attack action," not a standard action.

I just posted this to correct the "Full Round Action" bit from "Mal Malenkirk."

By the way, Mal is right. What is BraveSirRobin doing even thinking about a charge?

 

[BraveSirRobin]

he he, well that why I am going with charge and spring attack.

Actually my monk has a very poor AC and just wants to stay away from the front lines as much as possible.

 

[Epametheus]

I'd say that you'd be able to move in without provoking an AO from your target, but part of charging involves coming to a complete stop -- so you could move in, but you'd then stop right next to the guy and not be able to move back out until next round.

You'd need some sort of Ride-by Attack variation (run-by attack?) to actually let you charge someone and keep on going past them without AOs.

As a side note, tumbling can't work during charging simply because tumbling is a move-equivalent action, while charging is a full-round.