Level Up (A5E) Press the Attack/Fall Back update

[MarkB]

Just because it's probably going to come up, I think the Fall Back action needs to specify that it cannot be used if your speed has been reduced to 0, or if there is nowhere you can move to that would leave you five feet further away from your attacker.

Also, can the attacker still move in to follow the Fall-Back-er if they have already expended their movement for their turn?

 

[Miirik]

What it says!

Ah, thought so, but just wanted to be sure! Thank you!

 

[Anselm]

@Legendweaver, are you going to run your combat scenarios again with these? If so if be curious when this action comes up given the relative power reduction of a d4 vs advantage.

 

[Rune]

Looks much cleaner! I second the probable need to specify that Fall Back only works if you can move, though.

 

[MarkB]

@Legendweaver, are you going to run your combat scenarios again with these? If so if be curious when this action comes up given the relative power reduction of a d4 vs advantage.

Sounds like it would make it more situational - but the nice thing is, under the right circumstances you can combine this with advantage. O5E barbarians will enjoy it.

 

[Faolyn]

Seems to fix most of the issues with pretty simple and clean text. The only "technical" issue I still see.

Bonus Action cannot be combined with regular actions per the normal rules. So technically this bonus action would take place after the attack action finishes.....meaning it would be useless.

The simple fix is to just make Press the Attack a bonus action, with no "when you take the attack action" clause.

This may be a specific over general thing.

 

[MarkB]

This may be a specific over general thing.

It's worth the clarification, though. For instance, the current version says you can take the bonus action "before you take the attack action", but does it then commit you to taking the attack action? Could you Press the Attack, have your opponent Fall Back in response, and then instead of following them you take advantage of the space they just gave you to move away from them, using your action to Dash?

And if the answer to that is yes, could you Press the Attack, have your opponent decide not to Fall Back, and then instead of using the Attack action use the Cast a Spell action to hit them with a Shocking Grasp, gaining an expertise die on your melee spell attack?

 

[Deset Gled]

Just because it's probably going to come up, I think the Fall Back action needs to specify that it cannot be used if your speed has been reduced to 0, or if there is nowhere you can move to that would leave you five feet further away from your attacker.

Also, can the attacker still move in to follow the Fall-Back-er if they have already expended their movement for their turn?

I had some thoughts along the same lines. Is there anything stopping two allies from using Press the Attack/Fall Back on each other? This allows for some interesting movement options at the (seemingly reasonable) cost of the shover being attacked at advantage. Obviously not the original intent of the mechanics, though.

 

[Satirical Bard]

It's worth the clarification, though. For instance, the current version says you can take the bonus action "before you take the attack action", but does it then commit you to taking the attack action? Could you Press the Attack, have your opponent Fall Back in response, and then instead of following them you take advantage of the space they just gave you to move away from them, using your action to Dash?

It's Shield Master feat redux!

Personally I think the meaning is clear, but JC's stupid ruling on that feat in 05e probably only encourages this confusion about what I would have thought was a clear and straightforward meaning.

 

[Anvel_Tianhold]

My question here is with the "defender" getting also advantage to attack back. Not falling back means the attacker gets +1d4-1d6 and then everyone including the defender gets advantage (better odds to crit!) not only in melee, but also ranged and spells. Falling back also means you lost your reaction and are more open to crits yourself as a defender.

Is not getting attacked first with ~+3 worth 5 feet, advantage to all your attacks and your reaction? Even on one-on-one scenarios I can only see this happening if the next hit is gonna take you down.