Ki Ryn said:
Though you can do anything with DM approval, the use of terminology here is incorrect. The results, however, would be the same so long as the 5ft "move" and then the "partial charge" were all along the same line.
Really though, to be correct, you should just tell your players that they can charge, which means that they can move up to twice their movement rate in a straight line, and attack. This is what would cover the situation above. Five feet plus a normal move (all in a straight line) is a plain old charge, not a 5ft move plus a partial charge.
Not a big deal, but it's dangerous (or maybe just sloppy) to act like a normal round is composed of a move plus a partial action.
Actually, your solution is the sloppy one
Let's take an example:
Bob is in a corridor in an evil castle under alert. He sees some side passages ahead, but does not want to get too close in case something pops out. But he wants to move ahead and be ready to react in case something does.
Using my way:
Bob - takes an MEA down the hall, then a Ready action "If something comes out of one of those passages, I'll attack it".
Rules - anything coming out of a side passage up to 30' away (Bob's move) will trigger his charge and attack. If something hits him from behind before his Ready action is triggered, he will not be considered Charging, thus no -2AC. He will also lose his Ready if nothing happens to trigger it.
And yes, I am fully aware of the dangers (and former discussions) about taking a round apart to consider the individual pieces instead of the whole.
Your way:
Bob - charges down the corridor. What is Bob charging? He has no target for a charge. Can he still use the charge action? Does he have to be aware of what he's charging?
You way raises many more questions. In my way, as long as the requirements for charge are met (and granted it's a rare situation like the one I've taken as an example), it works.
And the charging questions I've asked would have come up in our game last night in which I'm a player, not a DM. In a darkened corridor, I could not see the fight taking place (it was outside of my light's range). Could I then have charged down the corridor just hoping for a convenient target? I wouldn't think so, so I did not even try it. Nor could I take a move action down the corridor, see the fight, then charge, for exactly the reason that you said (the round is not comprised of seperate parts).
(shrug) Both ways can be called sloppy, either works by the rules as written. And DM approval is seen in other rules such as how many Free Actions you can do in a round, so I don't feel bad about using it for Partial Action judgements also even though it is not explicity stated.
