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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 5723055" data-attributes="member: 19675">*facepalm*I didn't say it was.  I said "a Formal Duel" was a corner case- IOW, a fight with rules imposed on it that would preclude participant from doing things like attacking from range, using improvised weapons, or any weapons but for their own bodies and whatever weapons were provided.Without those rules in place, the high-Dex PC is a fool not to take advantage of his superior Dex via ranged attacks, etc. if he is able.A bow is not the only ranged weapon.  A trained fighter- as I think we are assuming these to be- can be deadly with a thrown knife or other similar weapon.  Outside, I probably have a ranged weapon or a ranged/melee weapon at the ready as opposed to a pure melee weapon.And even if I don't, Mother Nature gives me rocks, sticks, and the ever-popular handful of dirt.Just as I've demonstrated that opening combat at range if that is possible is an advantage.Not if I hit you at range AND manage to drop & draw my greatsword before you can successfully close.  And if my Dex is 18, I'm probably planning on doing exactly that.BTW, I do this all the time in game.  That extra attack at range...yummy.  Better still if I can actually arrange to fight in a retrograde while pelting you at range as you try to close.You're assuming the warriors are just going up and down and around in a perfectly clear setting.If I'm a high-Dex fighter- Hell, any fighter- I'm going to use the environment to my advantage if I can.  If that means kicking a chair in the path of the clearly clumsier fighter, I will.  If that means choosing to fight in difficult footing because I think you can't hack it, I will.Its called "tactics."This IS true...but I've yet to encounter a DM that wouldn't consider a target hit in the eyes by something like hot soup or a glass of wine at least temporarily blinded (as in at least 1 round, probably 1d4).andWhich is more than a -2 attack penalty for a round.  Your attack will probably miss.If we're talking 3Ed or 3.5Ed, the Dex18 PC will have a +4 to initiative (range 5-24, average 14.5), and the Dex3 PC will have a -4 modifier (range 1-16, average 8.5*).  That is a serious advantage in probability, especially since, unless initiative is simultaneous, the person who falls first will not have a "retributive" strike in D&D.  If they do identical DPR (since we're not talking about Feats, builds, etc.) and have identical HP, the guy who goes first wins every time, statistically speaking.* This is even skewed slightly in the favor of the low-Dex PC, since the system does not allow for negative Initiative rolls, nor did I account for the fact that the low-Dex PC has multiple chances of rolling a modified 1.  If it did, the range would be -3-16, with an average of 6.5.</blockquote>

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