D&D 3E/3.5 [3.5] Space for Face

[Melkor]

My wife bought me a copy of the 3.5 PHB (lovely, lovely woman!), and I've been reading through it. I noticed that people have been talking about the whole 'face' being replaced with 'space'.

I don't have my 3.0 books with me, and it's been about 1.5 years since I played 3.0.....I can't even remember what 'face' was.

Would someone mind explaining 1)What Face USED to represent, and 2) What effect this has on the 3.5 rules.

The 3.5 Combat Chapter seems to explain the space creatures take up rather well.....I don't have any questions after reading about it, so what is it about space that makes combat in 3.0 different than 3.5 ?

Thanks.

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

In 3.0, long creatures took up a rectangular space. For example, a horse took up two spaces.

In 3.5, all large creatures take up 4 spaces. The horse essentially controls a 2x2 square.

 

[Melkor]

Thanks Meepo.

That just seems rather minor to me....I can't understand why some people would complain about the change...

Am I missing something important about how that changes combat ?

 

[the Jester]

Well, say you have a 10' wide road. In 3.0, two horsemen could ride side-by-side (and fight side-by-side) on it since the horses took up a 5'x10' face. In 3.5, a horse's space is 10', so only one horseman can fight on that 10' wide road at a time (the horse effectively being 10'x10').

 

[Melkor]

Ok, I get it now.

To me, this is minor, and won't affect my future games.......Seems like a lot of DMs should just draw those roads a little wider on the battlemat.

 

[the Jester]

I agree, and I also agree with the reasoning for the change (the horse wheels around a lot when fighting). It's also very clunky to claim there's no such thing as facing when some creatures take up elongated faces like 5'x10'.

 

[dcollins]

It's more telling when infantry confront cavalry. Say, a squad of 6 footmen confont a squad of 6 horsemen.

1.0 - 3.0: The 6 footmen are charged by 6 horsemen. Advantage: horsemen.
3.5: The 6 footmen can only be charged by 3 horsemen. Possible advantage: footmen.

 

[the Jester]

Don't forget that the horsemen can squeeze, though.

Remember too that, in real life, footmen can stand closer together than horsemen, so the slim advantage they can get from the new space rules are actually kinda realistic.

 

[coyote6]

Don't forget that the horsemen can squeeze, though.

Squeezing is a sucker's play, though -- half speed, -4 to attacks, -4 AC.

 

[the Jester]

Squeezing is a sucker's play, though -- half speed, -4 to attacks, -4 AC.

...and twice as many lance charges for double or triple damage each (with Spirited Charge). This means quadruple the potential damage.

Sure, you take a -2 to AC but you make up for it with a +3 to hit, with the chance of lots of extra damage.