Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
AOO's have to go, or be changed
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 3948692" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>And I say this needs fixing. But how? *That* is the bigger question here.</p><p></p><p>In one of the older editions (I forget if it was 0e or 1e or an optional rule) you declared your actions before the round began, then rolled initiative. This way, using d6 initiative, if your declared action was to move from A to B and your initiative was 3, it was pretty easy to tell where you were each segment - on a 6, you're *here*, on a 5 *here*, etc. using fractions of the distance. And if the lightning bolt resolved on 4 and you happened to be passing through it at the time, too bad. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>There has to be a way to get away from the "I do all my stuff, then you do all your stuff" model that doesn't grind everything to a halt. One simple method of getting at least partway there (though it does slow things down) is to give everything its own initiative. If you have 3 attacks in a round, each gets its own initiative. If you're going to move and attack, you move on your first initiative and attack on your second. This still doesn't solve the "I'm here, then I'm there" movement problem...movement should take game-measurable time...but it's a start. I'm also a huge fan of re-rolling initiative each round, to avoid people basing their tactics on "who goes first"; in a d20 system with potentially massive init. modifiers this isn't very practical (particularly if everything gets its own init.) but in a 1e d6 init. system it works just fine.</p><p></p><p>The other thing that has to be allowed is for things to happen at the same time. Do 3 people all have init. 15? Fine...they all act on init. 15. In cases where it makes a difference who acts first, e.g. an archer shooting at someone whose simultaneous action is to move behind cover, a simple roll-off to see who acts first solves the issue...it comes up less often than you might expect.</p><p></p><p>Now, as for AoO's...there *is* a place for them now and then, but only in the following situations and even here not every time:</p><p> - If someone turns his back and flees from melee, the opponent should get an AoO.</p><p> - If someone drinks a potion in melee, or rummages through her backpack, then AoO.</p><p> - If someone is foolish enough to try casting a spell in melee, then AoO*.</p><p> - If someone fumbles, assuming your game uses fumble rules (depending on the type of fumble).</p><p></p><p>* and the spell should automatically fail if the AoO hits - none of this concentration stuff. If you want to cast spells, get behind the front line...and if you're still under attack, get help.</p><p></p><p>I don't agree with these AoO situations:</p><p> - For simply moving through someone's threat zone unless the attacker has *no* other melee opponents and knows the move is coming (in other words, is prepared). </p><p> - An AoO against someone getting to her feet while still capable of defending, unless she attacks or otherwise leaves herself vulnerable.</p><p> - An AoO against someone using a bow *unless* the attacker is not the target and has no other melee opponents.</p><p> - An AoO from any opponent not smart enough to recognize the opportunity.</p><p></p><p>AoO is a reasonable idea that the 3e rules kinda killed through overuse. I hope 4e seriously cuts back on them.</p><p></p><p>Lanefan</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 3948692, member: 29398"] And I say this needs fixing. But how? *That* is the bigger question here. In one of the older editions (I forget if it was 0e or 1e or an optional rule) you declared your actions before the round began, then rolled initiative. This way, using d6 initiative, if your declared action was to move from A to B and your initiative was 3, it was pretty easy to tell where you were each segment - on a 6, you're *here*, on a 5 *here*, etc. using fractions of the distance. And if the lightning bolt resolved on 4 and you happened to be passing through it at the time, too bad. :) There has to be a way to get away from the "I do all my stuff, then you do all your stuff" model that doesn't grind everything to a halt. One simple method of getting at least partway there (though it does slow things down) is to give everything its own initiative. If you have 3 attacks in a round, each gets its own initiative. If you're going to move and attack, you move on your first initiative and attack on your second. This still doesn't solve the "I'm here, then I'm there" movement problem...movement should take game-measurable time...but it's a start. I'm also a huge fan of re-rolling initiative each round, to avoid people basing their tactics on "who goes first"; in a d20 system with potentially massive init. modifiers this isn't very practical (particularly if everything gets its own init.) but in a 1e d6 init. system it works just fine. The other thing that has to be allowed is for things to happen at the same time. Do 3 people all have init. 15? Fine...they all act on init. 15. In cases where it makes a difference who acts first, e.g. an archer shooting at someone whose simultaneous action is to move behind cover, a simple roll-off to see who acts first solves the issue...it comes up less often than you might expect. Now, as for AoO's...there *is* a place for them now and then, but only in the following situations and even here not every time: - If someone turns his back and flees from melee, the opponent should get an AoO. - If someone drinks a potion in melee, or rummages through her backpack, then AoO. - If someone is foolish enough to try casting a spell in melee, then AoO*. - If someone fumbles, assuming your game uses fumble rules (depending on the type of fumble). * and the spell should automatically fail if the AoO hits - none of this concentration stuff. If you want to cast spells, get behind the front line...and if you're still under attack, get help. I don't agree with these AoO situations: - For simply moving through someone's threat zone unless the attacker has *no* other melee opponents and knows the move is coming (in other words, is prepared). - An AoO against someone getting to her feet while still capable of defending, unless she attacks or otherwise leaves herself vulnerable. - An AoO against someone using a bow *unless* the attacker is not the target and has no other melee opponents. - An AoO from any opponent not smart enough to recognize the opportunity. AoO is a reasonable idea that the 3e rules kinda killed through overuse. I hope 4e seriously cuts back on them. Lanefan [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
AOO's have to go, or be changed
Top