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<blockquote data-quote="Greenfield" data-source="post: 6091548" data-attributes="member: 6669384">As my martial arts instructor explained, &quot;If you have to think about it, you're too slow&quot;.&nbsp; Yeah, melee combat is all instinct and trained reaction.&nbsp; If you stop to think, you've stopped.As for the &quot;Fighting Withdrawal&quot;, 3.* handles that through a mechanic called Attack of Opportunity, often abbreviated as AoO.&nbsp; The problem with both AoO and &quot;Fighting Withdrawal&quot; as mechanics is that both presume you were engaged in combat to begin with.&nbsp; Characters don't get an Attack of Opportunity unless their initiative has come up at least once in the fight.&nbsp; It's called being &quot;flat footed&quot;.&nbsp; The Fighting Withdrawal only applied if you were actually fighting someone.&nbsp; If they haven't had an action yet in the fight, you might take a swing at them, but they haven't begun to fight you you yet.&nbsp; You can pull out and they don't get that free swing.That's the situation being discussed here.&nbsp; They guard spotted the group, turned on his heel and ran before they could react.&nbsp; He won Initiative and gets to act before them.The complaint isn't that he got to move first.&nbsp; The complaint is that he got to complete his move, 120 feet of sprint, before they began to respond.&nbsp; That put him out of range of thrown weapons, and at a real penalty even for longer ranged ones.In 1st Ed they shifted ranges when you went outdoors.&nbsp; In the real world you can't shoot an arrow 100+ feet in a 10x10 corridor.&nbsp; To go that far the arc of the arrow will hit the ceiling.&nbsp; (There's a reason they call it &quot;archery&quot;.&nbsp; There's an arch involved.)&nbsp; They left that out out when they went to 3e.Segmenting his move might work, but only if you segment theirs to the same degree.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Greenfield, post: 6091548, member: 6669384"] As my martial arts instructor explained, "If you have to think about it, you're too slow". Yeah, melee combat is all instinct and trained reaction. If you stop to think, you've stopped. As for the "Fighting Withdrawal", 3.* handles that through a mechanic called Attack of Opportunity, often abbreviated as AoO. The problem with both AoO and "Fighting Withdrawal" as mechanics is that both presume you were engaged in combat to begin with. Characters don't get an Attack of Opportunity unless their initiative has come up at least once in the fight. It's called being "flat footed". The Fighting Withdrawal only applied if you were actually fighting someone. If they haven't had an action yet in the fight, you might take a swing at them, but they haven't begun to fight you you yet. You can pull out and they don't get that free swing. That's the situation being discussed here. They guard spotted the group, turned on his heel and ran before they could react. He won Initiative and gets to act before them. The complaint isn't that he got to move first. The complaint is that he got to complete his move, 120 feet of sprint, before they began to respond. That put him out of range of thrown weapons, and at a real penalty even for longer ranged ones. In 1st Ed they shifted ranges when you went outdoors. In the real world you can't shoot an arrow 100+ feet in a 10x10 corridor. To go that far the arc of the arrow will hit the ceiling. (There's a reason they call it "archery". There's an arch involved.) They left that out out when they went to 3e. Segmenting his move might work, but only if you segment theirs to the same degree. [/QUOTE]

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