Level Up (A5E) Actions in Combat

[tetrasodium]

One slight confusion, it says when I sprint X times I start making checks, but how spread out are those? Could I sprint once a minute and never make a check? Is it that many before a short rest?

Sprint is listed under "actions in combat" those are usually one per round?

 

[Stalker0]

Sprint is listed under "actions in combat" those are usually one per round?

But it also says “once you sprint X times you need to make a check or suffer fatigue”. That could mean “as soon as you do another action the counter resets” or “if you don’t sprint for 1 minute the counter resets” Etc. The time between sprints to reset the clock is never technically mentioned

 

[lichmaster]

I'm not sure if opportunity attacks work similarly to O5E but I wonder if the "Fall Back" reaction trigger them either from other adjacent creatures or the creature pressing the attack.

Being voluntary movement on both sides, it should trigger opportunity attacks for both characters (unless the general rules for opportunity attacks changed in a5e)

 

[lichmaster]

So basically things seem to be almost identical to the playtest material.
I quite like most of it, although given the observations made above there may still be a couple of kinks to iron out or clarify (press the attack on ranged attacks, opportunity attacks for fall back)

One thing I'd like to be clarified and eventually fixed is if basic melee damage is increased by str/dex modifiers and size.
A giant falling prone on his back while trying to dislodge an halfling dangling on its back should deal way more than a couple points of damage!

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I noticed that it doesn‘t appear that basic damage is optional (though maybe it‘s mentioned elsewhere). There are definitely times I would want to be doing some of those maneuvers without causing any damage. That’s something that we’ll allow in our group (unless there are other unknown considerations), but in isolation it seems odd that it isn‘t mentioned.

 

[lichmaster]

I noticed that it doesn‘t appear that basic damage is optional (though maybe it‘s mentioned elsewhere). There are definitely times I would want to be doing some of those maneuvers without causing any damage. That’s something that we’ll allow in our group (unless there are other unknown considerations), but in isolation it seems odd that it isn‘t mentioned.

I guess you can always declare the damage to be non lethal. If you want to knock someone down a couple of points of non lethal damage totally make sense to me

 

[Stalker0]

Being voluntary movement on both sides, it should trigger opportunity attacks for both characters (unless the general rules for opportunity attacks changed in a5e)

So if we assume normal O5e rules, only the attacker would get an OA here.

Attacker Presses the Attack
Defender falls back. Assuming this was at the edge of the attacker's reach, this would move you outside of that reach, triggering an OA.
Attacker than moves in to complete the attack. As this is a movement within reach, it should not provoke an OA (this is a specific O5e change to OAs, different than 4e and 3e, which worked when you moved through reach). Even if it did, the defender has already used their reaction to fall back, so they wouldn't get an OA regardless.


Considering the OA AND the penalties the defender gets, I think its going to be a very rare for a defender to want to fall back. I think it would have to be used with some kind of team combat tactic (such as another ally getting an OA on the attacker should they close in on the defender), or if the attacker was immobilized, etc. But 1 on 1 especially, I would struggle to think of many scenarios where I would want to fall back.

 

[Scrumpet]

Speaking of Opportunity Attacks, looking at the section under "Grapple", specifically "Freeing a Grappled Creature": would moving a friendly 5 feet away from the enemy that grappled it allow it an OA that could simply re-grapple it?

 

[Anselm]

Considering the OA AND the penalties the defender gets, I think its going to be a very rare for a defender to want to fall back. I think it would have to be used with some kind of team combat tactic (such as another ally getting an OA on the attacker should they close in on the defender), or if the attacker was immobilized, etc. But 1 on 1 especially, I would struggle to think of many scenarios where I would want to fall back.

Same thoughts. I assume the "everyone can reckless attack" means that berserkers do not have reckless equivalent anymore. I really like that the new option adds an element of movement to the battlefield and that anyone can do it but if that movement option comes with a myriad of negative impacts, it's never going to get used and that battlefield will remain a static slug fest. (Obviously this is a lot of assumption having never used the system, the other combat options might also add movent possibilities.)

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Same thoughts. I assume the "everyone can reckless attack" means that berserkers do not have reckless equivalent anymore. I really like that the new option adds an element of movement to the battlefield and that anyone can do it but if that movement option comes with a myriad of negative impacts, it's never going to get used and that battlefield will remain a static slug fest. (Obviously this is a lot of assumption having never used the system, the other combat options might also add movent possibilities.)

Yes, the last thing we want is subsystems that exist (and therefore we need to understand how they work) that will almost never be used because they're not good options. I don't think any of this is likely here. I think that Press the Attack/Fall Back must NOT provoke opportunity attacks (either of them).