D&D 3E/3.5 [3.5] Overrunning Allies

[Torque]

I was just figuring out how one of my characters (a mounted warrior) would work with the new rules, and noticed an apparent contradiction. The new charging rules (on 155) say that you can't charge if any creature blocks a square between you and the destination, even an ally. However, 2 pages later, in the description of overrun, it says that if you attempt to overrun a creature as part of a charge and they choose to let you by, you can keep going "you can always move through a square occupied by someone who lets you by". Has this already been noticed? Is there something I am missing, or should my character just attempt to overrun an ally in his charge path when necessary, since the ally presumably won't take the attack of op, and he will get to the destination without incident?

 

[Belbarrus]

Well, once you "overrun" your ally, then your action ends. The rules for Overrun do not say anything about overrunning "multiple" targets. In fact, they only make mention of singular opponent. Therefore if you choose to overrun an ally, *they* become your overrun target. Once you overrun them or they let you past, then this action is over. If your ally lets you past so you could get to an opponent, and your move allowed you to reach the opponent, you could still *move* there, but you have used your standard action to overrun your ally and cannot attack the enemy.

Therefore it is pointless to overrun your ally, since you can just move through them normally. But this also means that you cannot charge "through" an opponents square since the rules state that even an ally is an obstruction to doing a Charge maneuver.

Belbarrus

 

[Magic Slim]

Well, once you "overrun" your ally, then your action ends.
Belbarrus

Ahhhh that's the bit of info I was missing.

Thanks

Slim

 

[Norfleet]

Well, once you "overrun" your ally, then your action ends. The rules for Overrun do not say anything about overrunning "multiple" targets. In fact, they only make mention of singular opponent. Therefore if you choose to overrun an ally, *they* become your overrun target. Once you overrun them or they let you past, then this action is over. If your ally lets you past so you could get to an opponent, and your move allowed you to reach the opponent, you could still *move* there, but you have used your standard action to overrun your ally and cannot attack the enemy.

You can't overrun multiple targets, but overrunning as part of a charge doesn't stop you from attacking at the end of the charge, since the overrun was performed as part of the charge, unless the overrun fails.

What this means is that you CAN overrun an ally, who will likely let you do so, but you CAN'T subsequently overrun an opponent to strike an opponent behind him, since you can only perform one overrun per action.

Plus, as per the rules for overrunning anything, you need sufficient space to achieve ramming speed, which requires that you be moving at least 10' in a line into the overrunnee. This means if your ally is right in front of you, by the new rules, you can't overrun him since you won't have been able to attain ramming speed.