Swedish Chef
Adventurer
Greetings all.
I'm looking for a bit of input here. A question came up in our last session concerning the Scout's Skirmish ability and how it works with additional attacks. This is 3.5 Edition.
Basically, the player believes that once he can make additional attacks in a round, he automatically can move 10 feet and add his skirmish bonus to all attacks.
For example, he has just reached 4th level. He wants to take the Rapid Shot feat and then be able to move 10 feet a round and fire 2 arrows, thereby gaining +1d6 damage to each shot for his skirmish ability.
I'm the DM. Now, before anyone states "You're the DM, you make the rules", I want it to be clear that the group does abide by my rulings in game, but we do discuss issues afterward to clarify. We have discussed it, but the player does not fully understand all the rules (I'm trying to lay it out simply for him, but this game is anything but simple at times!), so at the request of a third player, I'm posting here in a "neutral site" to get feedback to hopefully help him understand better.
According to the Rapid Shot feat, you must use the Full Attack in order to fire the extra arrow. According to the PHB rules on actions in a round, a Full Attack is a Full Round Action, and therefore he would not be able to move the 10 feet required to use the feat, as you are limited to only a 5 foot step in that instance.
The player's contention is that if he must use a Full Attack all the time to gain his additional attacks, he is being unfairly penalized vis-a-vis his skirmish ability as he will never be able to utilize it unless he makes single attacks. He also believes that the write up for the skirmish ability allows for him to make multiple attacks without penalty. I believe it to be just a bit of ambiguous writing, but the section in question is :"She deals an extra 1d6 points of damage on all attacks she makes during any round in which she moves at least 10 feet. The extra damage applies only to attacks taken during the scout’s turn."
My contention is that the designers did that specifically to try and maintain balance. Further to that, there are specific feats that *will* allow him to make multiple attacks as a standard action (Manyshot is one example, and I've not looked for a melee feat, but I suspect there is at least one). Further, the write up in the skirmish section that mentions attacks (plural) is there simply to clarify that *if* the scout has the ability to make multiple attacks as a *standard* action, then the bonus damage would apply to all those attacks that round, provided the scout moved the required distance.
So, I leave it to ENWorld to weigh in on this. Whose interpretation of the rules is correct?
I'm looking for a bit of input here. A question came up in our last session concerning the Scout's Skirmish ability and how it works with additional attacks. This is 3.5 Edition.
Basically, the player believes that once he can make additional attacks in a round, he automatically can move 10 feet and add his skirmish bonus to all attacks.
For example, he has just reached 4th level. He wants to take the Rapid Shot feat and then be able to move 10 feet a round and fire 2 arrows, thereby gaining +1d6 damage to each shot for his skirmish ability.
I'm the DM. Now, before anyone states "You're the DM, you make the rules", I want it to be clear that the group does abide by my rulings in game, but we do discuss issues afterward to clarify. We have discussed it, but the player does not fully understand all the rules (I'm trying to lay it out simply for him, but this game is anything but simple at times!), so at the request of a third player, I'm posting here in a "neutral site" to get feedback to hopefully help him understand better.
According to the Rapid Shot feat, you must use the Full Attack in order to fire the extra arrow. According to the PHB rules on actions in a round, a Full Attack is a Full Round Action, and therefore he would not be able to move the 10 feet required to use the feat, as you are limited to only a 5 foot step in that instance.
The player's contention is that if he must use a Full Attack all the time to gain his additional attacks, he is being unfairly penalized vis-a-vis his skirmish ability as he will never be able to utilize it unless he makes single attacks. He also believes that the write up for the skirmish ability allows for him to make multiple attacks without penalty. I believe it to be just a bit of ambiguous writing, but the section in question is :"She deals an extra 1d6 points of damage on all attacks she makes during any round in which she moves at least 10 feet. The extra damage applies only to attacks taken during the scout’s turn."
My contention is that the designers did that specifically to try and maintain balance. Further to that, there are specific feats that *will* allow him to make multiple attacks as a standard action (Manyshot is one example, and I've not looked for a melee feat, but I suspect there is at least one). Further, the write up in the skirmish section that mentions attacks (plural) is there simply to clarify that *if* the scout has the ability to make multiple attacks as a *standard* action, then the bonus damage would apply to all those attacks that round, provided the scout moved the required distance.
So, I leave it to ENWorld to weigh in on this. Whose interpretation of the rules is correct?