5 foot step for big and small?

[dwayne]

I have thought that it was a little stupid for a oger or giant to only take a 5 foot step when there reach and movement was so much more than a medium sized person. So i had an idea, that to base there movement after a full attack off there reach. For example a human fighter vs. a hill giant who has a reach of 10' and the human has a reach of 5' so after there full attacks the fighter can still take a 5' step but the giant would get a 10' step after his full attack. I think this makes up for the AC penalty for there size to attack so they could attack and step back forcing them to move more than five feet and drawing an attack of opportunity. My question is dose this sound good or bad?

 

[Crothian]

THis is technically a house rule question

But making the 5ft steep equal reach is really giving an advantage to large creatures.

 

[Felnar]

would tiny creature be able to 5ft step at all? (zero reach)

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Agreed that it would be a house rule..

Also agreed it would be a major advantage for characters with natural reach.. of which they have many already... to much of an advantage IMHO. It also goes against the typical movie thought of the darting smaller critters around the lumbering giant.

Perhaps instead basing it on movement rate... but have only the first 5' of movement not draw AoO's.

< 20' = step of 0' {note: less than.. so Dwarves still stay in the 5' step range}
< 40 = step of 5'
< 70 = step of 10'
< 90 = step of 20'
etc..

In this manner a Monk with a base move of 60' could "step" 10'

This could cause ripple effects all over... making Expiditious Retreat more combat effective than its name would suggest...among other things..and encumbrance becomes more of an issue.

Fits a bit better with the RAW, but would creates problems here and there. Suddenly base movement increases become powerful as you can deliver full attacks from farther away.

... eh.. perhaps a Mod will move this over to HR's and people can discuss further

 

[dwayne]

I like this Idea

Agreed that it would be a house rule..

Also agreed it would be a major advantage for characters with natural reach.. of which they have many already... to much of an advantage IMHO. It also goes against the typical movie thought of the darting smaller critters around the lumbering giant.

Perhaps instead basing it on movement rate... but have only the first 5' of movement not draw AoO's.

< 20' = step of 0' {note: less than.. so Dwarves still stay in the 5' step range}
< 40 = step of 5'
< 70 = step of 10'
< 90 = step of 20'
etc..

In this manner a Monk with a base move of 60' could "step" 10'

This could cause ripple effects all over... making Expiditious Retreat more combat effective than its name would suggest...among other things..and encumbrance becomes more of an issue.

Fits a bit better with the RAW, but would creates problems here and there. Suddenly base movement increases become powerful as you can deliver full attacks from farther away.

... eh.. perhaps a Mod will move this over to HR's and people can discuss further

I realy like this idea .

the 5ft steep equal reach is really giving an advantage to large creatures.

And like small do not have an advantage thay gain +x to AC and Attack.

 

[Shin Okada]

As already mentioned by others, this is a house rule.

And if you are thinking that larger creatures have disadvantages because of AC/attack bonus and thus must be compensated, you are clearly not using various special attacks in your games. Grapple, trip, disarm, sunder, etc. In current gaming system, basically, the bigger, the better. And of course, they have longer reach and that is a big advantage.

So, IMHO, before giving bigger advantage to bigger guys, you must think twice.

Regarding "realism" part. I don't think that "5-foot step" is really a single step. Consider this as just a distance which a creature can adjust without hampering other activities.

Bigger creatures may have wider stride. But they don't move their legs as fast as smaller creatures do. Actually, speed of the creatures are not that much affected by the size of creatures. Bigger creatures tend to have slightly better speed, but not that much faster by the rule. So giving that much bigger "step" may not be "realistic" indeed.

 

[xen_xheng]

Stepping more than 5' creates rules balance issues; maybe it COULD be done for really large cratures, but not using reach as a guide; You could use

tiny/fine/etc = none
small/medium/large = 5'
huge/gargantuan = 10'
colossal = 15'

Using movement rate as a guide makes monk the almost only class to benefit from stepping more than 5'; I would rather not use it, or would use it together with other options, adding 5' step per 70 or 80 feet of movement...

There is also a rule in "Oriental Adventures" where you can step 10' with a Tumble check DC 40. I suppose you could add 5' adding 30 or 40 more to the DC (epic checks, obviously).

Using all these house rules together can make some sense, and give a chance to many characters/npcs/monsters to use them ...

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

IIRC both the wolf and horse have a high enough base move to hit the 10' step based on my rough guide above. This means a mounted combatant could take advantage of it.

Pixie Monk's would just rock