Any Way to Get Away When Prone?

[Hypersmurf]

Crawling does have an implication. An implication that you turn your back on a foe while crawling away.

Not really - you provoke an AoO from any opponent who threatens you at any point during your crawl.

If I crawl five feet into your threatened area, I provoke an AoO. I'm not 'turning my back'; I provoke because I am crawling, not because I am leaving a threatened square.

-Hyp.

 

[Hypersmurf]

A Ring of Spell Storing is such a useful item to have.... Command-word items don't provoke (so nor does a spell cast back out of the ring) , and anyone can use the spell once it's been placed in the ring (if they have the Command Word, of course....).

Out of curiosity, where do you find that a Ring of Spell Storing is a command-activated item?

The ring states that it communicates the spells stored to the wearer, and that 'the wearer can cast' them (with no M or XP component and no gestures).

I would read the casting of a spell from the ring to provoke an AoO as normal, unless cast defensively... and that no prior knowledge of any command word is necessary. Once you put on the ring, you can cast the spells that it has identified to you as being available.

-Hyp.

 

[KarinsDad]

Not really - you provoke an AoO from any opponent who threatens you at any point during your crawl.

If I crawl five feet into your threatened area, I provoke an AoO. I'm not 'turning my back'; I provoke because I am crawling, not because I am leaving a threatened square.

Which is an excellent reason to never crawl.

PS. What is the action required to go from prone (lying down) to crawl (crawling)? Are you assumed to be already on your hands and knees when prone?

PSS. Was Crawl put into the game for Prone, or is it put into the game for things like slowly crawling along a slippery log across a ravine?

In other words, how exactly do we get from prone to crawl (or stand up) as "the only choices of movement"?

Granted, I understand that the FAQ says that crawling is the only movement choice while Prone, but I'm more interested in if there are any actual rules about this (as opposed to implications).

And, how can we move if we are sitting or kneeling first?

 

[Hypersmurf]

PS. What is the action required to go from prone (lying down) to crawl (crawling)? Are you assumed to be already on your hands and knees when prone?

You don't need to be on hands and knees to crawl...

And, how can we move if we are sitting or kneeling first?

Well, 'Drop Prone' is a free action

Since, as you've noted, there is no 'stand from kneeling' action, the legal way to arrive at a standing position from a kneeling position is to drop prone as a free action, then stand from prone as a move action that provokes an AoO

-Hyp.

 

[Caliban]

Which is an excellent reason to never crawl.

Do you honestly think that characters can move at full speed while prone or something?

I'm having trouble understanding your position. Do you simply dislike the "provoking an AoO for crawling or standing up" rule that was added to 3.5?

 

[Hypersmurf]

So why do you think they only mention the "crawl" form of movement in the Prone section?

Er... is it? I've got it in the "Move" section under non-standard forms of movement...

-Hyp.

 

[Caliban]

Er... is it? I've got it in the "Move" section under non-standard forms of movement...

-Hyp.

*shrug* My mistake.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Are you arguing that while prone you can do other than crawl, given that being prone you are "lying on the ground"?

Yes. I am arguing that.

Then you would be wrong.

A character who moves his or her speed and takes some action is hustling for about half the round and doing something else the other half.

Hustle
A hustle is a jog at about 6 miles per hour for an unencumbered human. A character moving his or her speed twice in a single round, or moving that speed in the same round that he or she performs a standard action or another move action is hustling when he or she moves.

So, it's a fact that if you move your speed and then do something else, you are hustling, i.e. jogging. Trying to persuade us that you jog while prone would be futile. The other alternate is walking. Do you walk while prone? No, of course not. So, the only movement you can take while prone is crawling.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Oh, there are plenty of things you can do while prone but I find it a little odd when fighters would rather fight from the ground rather than try to get up (provoking an AoO) just to get knocked back down again (and suffer an extra attack from Trip). You have entire battles where fighters are duking it out on the ground.

When I was studying martial arts, I was told that most fights end up on the ground sooner or later. That's why we worked to add grappling and prone fighting techniques to the school's repertoire.

If what I was taught there is accurate (and, since the owner had some 40+ confirmed hand to hand combat kills in Vietnam, I suspect he knew what he was talking about even if his statistics were pulled from thin air), then a rules-system that leads to battles ending with fighters rolling around in the dirt duking it out or grappling is probably quite realistic.

 

[Jack Simth]

Out of curiosity, where do you find that a Ring of Spell Storing is a command-activated item?

The ring states that it communicates the spells stored to the wearer, and that 'the wearer can cast' them (with no M or XP component and no gestures).

I would read the casting of a spell from the ring to provoke an AoO as normal, unless cast defensively... and that no prior knowledge of any command word is necessary. Once you put on the ring, you can cast the spells that it has identified to you as being available.

-Hyp.

Well, the entry for activation methods of items indicates that there's only the four activation methods; the example under the Ring of Spell Storing includes a barbarian casting spells (which rules out Spell-Completion and spell trigger); that leaves Use-Activated or Command Word. Now, I like the idea of command word - you order the spell out - but I can see a decent argument for Use Activated. Of course, there's that nifty line under use-avtivated: "Unless stated otherwise, activating a use-activated magic item is either a standard action or not an action at all and does not provoke attacks of opportunity" which, in the case of casting a spell out of a ring, is very, very much like command-word, to the point where the difference hardly matters.

I suppose you are basically taking the reading where the ring is continuously active, and makes you effectively a spellcaster while the ring is worn, with a spells prepared list consisting of that which is in the ring at this moment. Which leads to an interesting question - would wearing the ring grant you the ability to use a wand of a spell that is currently stored in the ring?

Also - it makes a ring of spell storing priceless to a Mage of the Arcane Order - pull a spell from the SpellPool, cast it into the ring. You now have that spell stored in a manner where it can be maintained indefinately, but is treated as a normal spell you can cast. Make a scroll of the spell in the ring using up the spell from the ring itself. Here the Wizard and Sorceror diverge - Wizard scribes it into a spellbook, gaining a known spell for the cost of the scribing and the scroll, Sorceror just has it for later casting - but either way, priceless, and a very big power boost. Could also be used to manufacture very nearly any Sor/Wiz item for a member of the PrC.

Further, the entry for command-word activation says it's the default unless another method suggests itself - to you, the ring's description suggested continuous/granted abilities - didn't to me. Happens.