D&D 5E Evasive Footwork???

Can I take it we are all agreed that there has been no official clarification (since that was the OP's question)?

Now, on to the argument that led to the question...
I'm afraid I'm looking for official clarification only.

There are two main schools of thought here. Problem is: one makes the ability piss-poor, the other one makes it insanely-good.

Only WotC can sort out this mess. They need to tell us what they meant, how they run Evasive Footwork themselves. Very probably that answer will mean changing the ability.

So that's why: I believe neither school of thought is workable. I believe the ability needs to work in a way that you can't reasonably arrive at just by reading the rules text, even if you squint.

I think it's best to remove this ability pending official errata. Thus my question: has there been official word on this yet?

Thank you for highlighting the fact that was all I was asking for. I was not interested in restarting the discussion or regurgitate the various interpretations.

Cheers
 

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There are two main schools of thought here. Problem is: one makes the ability piss-poor, the other one makes it insanely-good.

The ability is completely fine as written.

It allows you to attack fortified positions and lets run through a battle without spending either an action or a bonus action.

It is niche, but when useful it is very good.
 


Only WotC can sort out this mess. They need to tell us what they meant, how they run Evasive Footwork themselves. Very probably that answer will mean changing the ability.

So that's why: I believe neither school of thought is workable. I believe the ability needs to work in a way that you can't reasonably arrive at just by reading the rules text, even if you squint.

I think it's best to remove this ability pending official errata. Thus my question: has there been official word on this yet?

Thank you for highlighting the fact that was all I was asking for. I was not interested in restarting the discussion or regurgitate the various interpretations.

Save us WOTC!!! You'e our only hope!!!

I have no idea what I'm going to cook for dinner tonight. I think I'm just gonna wait until WOTC tells me what to eat. I the meantime I'll just go hungry.
 

There is no such thing as "a move" or "a move action" in 5E. You get 30 feet of movement per turn, which you can use as you see fit--before your action, after your action, sometimes even during your action (e.g., if you have Extra Attack). Moving is not an action.
I did not call it an action. I used the same terminology the rules use. The line I quoted is from the section called "Breaking up your Move". They could just as easily called it "Breaking up your Movement", but they chose not to do so. This is not some throw away fluff sentence, it is a sub-header.
 
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I'm afraid I'm looking for official clarification only.

There are two main schools of thought here. Problem is: one makes the ability piss-poor, the other one makes it insanely-good.

Only WotC can sort out this mess. They need to tell us what they meant, how they run Evasive Footwork themselves. Very probably that answer will mean changing the ability.

So that's why: I believe neither school of thought is workable. I believe the ability needs to work in a way that you can't reasonably arrive at just by reading the rules text, even if you squint.

I think it's best to remove this ability pending official errata. Thus my question: has there been official word on this yet?

Thank you for highlighting the fact that was all I was asking for. I was not interested in restarting the discussion or regurgitate the various interpretations.

Cheers
Have you asked on Twitter, the place where you can get a semi-official response? I don't see anything on the unofficial Sage Advice site that collects Twitter responses.

But if the two options are "piss-poor" or "insanely-good" then you're pretty much answered your own question. It's very unlikely to be designed to be "piss-poor". (And it's only situationally "insanely-good" since it requires expending a limited resource, doesn't guarantee a good roll, and is dependant on the positioning of enemies.)
 

I'm afraid I'm looking for official clarification only.

There are two main schools of thought here. Problem is: one makes the ability piss-poor, the other one makes it insanely-good.

Only WotC can sort out this mess. They need to tell us what they meant, how they run Evasive Footwork themselves. Very probably that answer will mean changing the ability.

So that's why: I believe neither school of thought is workable. I believe the ability needs to work in a way that you can't reasonably arrive at just by reading the rules text, even if you squint.

I think it's best to remove this ability pending official errata. Thus my question: has there been official word on this yet?

Thank you for highlighting the fact that was all I was asking for. I was not interested in restarting the discussion or regurgitate the various interpretations.

Cheers
Not to beat a dead horse, but since you bring it up, I thought it would be helpful to spell out what the two interpretations of the maneuver seem to be:

A) The "generous" interpretation: After using this maneuver, the character rolls his Superiority Die and adds the result to his AC for the rest of his turn. This means that the character can use the maneuver, move up to an enemy, attack that enemy, and then move across the battlefield to do his extra attacks on other enemies or simply move to a safe spot, getting bonus AC against any opportunity attacks along the way.

While powerful, this is the exact same thing that a Rogue can do every turn just by using a Bonus Action to Disengage, which allows the Rogue to avoid any opportunity attacks, not just get a bonus against them. This also creates an opportunity cost for the Fighter because he has to use a limited resource to do it, and by taking the Evasive Footwork maneuver as one of his known maneuvers, he is not taking a different maneuver that is helpful in other situations. There is also a risk of rolling very low to your bonus AC, and an enemy can still hit (and even crit) the Fighter if it rolls high enough. This interpretation lets the Fighter mimic a Rogue ability and be not quite as effective with it.

B) The "conservative" interpretation: the Fighter only gets the bonus to his AC until something interrupts his movement (taking an Action, having speed reduced to 0 by an opportunity attack, falling down a hidden pit, etc.). This way, a Fighter can still rush through the battlefield to hit someone flanked by bodyguards, but he can't attack anyone else along the way.

This interpretation makes the maneuver less powerful than above, but still situationally very useful. Again, it's functionally the same as a Rogue who uses his Bonus Action to Disengage and move across the battlefield to attack a vulnerable enemy mage. While it's not as reliable as the Rogue's ability, the Fighter can make more use of it because he is more likely to be able to take down an isolated single target in one hit than the Rogue, who needs Advantage or an adjacent ally. Besides, why would the Fighter need to attack multiple enemies on the way to his target point? If they're weak enough to kill in one hit, he could just move past them after killing them anyway, and if they aren't weak enough to kill in one hit, then there is no reason he would waste attacks on him when he could use all of his attacks on the high value target in the distance.

Either way you look at it, the maneuver seems appropriately powerful, especially in the right circumstances, but isn't anything that another class can't already do, and it has an appropriate opportunity cost.
 

Not to beat a dead horse, but since you bring it up, I thought it would be helpful to spell out what the two interpretations of the maneuver seem to be:

A) The "generous" interpretation: After using this maneuver, the character rolls his Superiority Die and adds the result to his AC for the rest of his turn. This means that the character can use the maneuver, move up to an enemy, attack that enemy, and then move across the battlefield to do his extra attacks on other enemies or simply move to a safe spot, getting bonus AC against any opportunity attacks along the way.

While powerful, this is the exact same thing that a Rogue can do every turn just by using a Bonus Action to Disengage, which allows the Rogue to avoid any opportunity attacks, not just get a bonus against them. This also creates an opportunity cost for the Fighter because he has to use a limited resource to do it, and by taking the Evasive Footwork maneuver as one of his known maneuvers, he is not taking a different maneuver that is helpful in other situations. There is also a risk of rolling very low to your bonus AC, and an enemy can still hit (and even crit) the Fighter if it rolls high enough. This interpretation lets the Fighter mimic a Rogue ability and be not quite as effective with it.

B) The "conservative" interpretation: the Fighter only gets the bonus to his AC until something interrupts his movement (taking an Action, having speed reduced to 0 by an opportunity attack, falling down a hidden pit, etc.). This way, a Fighter can still rush through the battlefield to hit someone flanked by bodyguards, but he can't attack anyone else along the way.

This interpretation makes the maneuver less powerful than above, but still situationally very useful. Again, it's functionally the same as a Rogue who uses his Bonus Action to Disengage and move across the battlefield to attack a vulnerable enemy mage. While it's not as reliable as the Rogue's ability, the Fighter can make more use of it because he is more likely to be able to take down an isolated single target in one hit than the Rogue, who needs Advantage or an adjacent ally. Besides, why would the Fighter need to attack multiple enemies on the way to his target point? If they're weak enough to kill in one hit, he could just move past them after killing them anyway, and if they aren't weak enough to kill in one hit, then there is no reason he would waste attacks on him when he could use all of his attacks on the high value target in the distance.

Either way you look at it, the maneuver seems appropriately powerful, especially in the right circumstances, but isn't anything that another class can't already do, and it has an appropriate opportunity cost.

There is a 3rd interpretation that gives the Fighter the bonus for the entire fight. Which, of course, is ridiculous. But here we are.

There are situations in which the ability is much better than disengage. It uses up opportunity attacks rather than just avoiding them, and more importantly, it protects against readied attacks. Also, it doesn't use up an action or a bonus action.
 

The ability is completely fine as written.

It allows you to attack fortified positions and lets run through a battle without spending either an action or a bonus action.

It is niche, but when useful it is very good.
This is a good example of a completely useless reply that completely disregards how you can read the rule in more ways than one.
 

Save us WOTC!!! You'e our only hope!!!

I have no idea what I'm going to cook for dinner tonight. I think I'm just gonna wait until WOTC tells me what to eat. I the meantime I'll just go hungry.
Did you wake up grumpy this morning, or do you make fun out of every rules question, regardless of how poorly the rule was written?

Man, rules designers must love somebody like you. No matter how poorly they do their job, they have you covering their back.
 

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