Can you choose to stop your movement in mid-air?

[Hypersmurf]

huh? If you take the Ready action, you can't follow it up with a move action. If you ready to attack, you can't then use the ready to move.

What you say here makes no sense to me at all.

Well, it's certainly debatable, but I'll go through the reasoning.

The ready action lets you prepare to take an action later, after your turn is over but before your next one has begun. Readying is a standard action.

So, in my turn, I get a standard action and a move action. I use the standard action to ready a different standard action (Attack) to take later, after my turn is over but before my next one has begun. Then, before my turn is over, I use my move action. The Ready action does not in itself end my turn.

Potential problem: Then, any time before your next action, you may take the readied action in response to that condition.

Now, the move action is, under one reading of the phrase, my 'next action'. Which would prohibit the sequence, since it would mean that I would no longer be eligible to take the readied attack action in response to the condition after the movement.

However, from the Stunning Fist feat:
A defender who fails this saving throw is stunned for 1 round (until just before your next action).

And from the Combat Expertise feat:
The changes to attack rolls and Armor Class last until your next action.

So, we can see that the phrase "your next action" can refer, in fact, to "your next turn in the initiative order", rather than "the next free/move/standard/swift/immediate action you take, whether it is in this turn or not".

So if we read "your next action" in this way in the Ready description, I can Ready my attack (standard action), move (move action), end my turn, and then take the Readied attack in response to the appropriate conditions some time before my next turn in the initiative order.

As another example, let's say I Ready an action to do something, and some time after my turn but before the Readied action triggers, I cast an Immediate Action spell. Soon after this - before my next turn - the condition for my Readied action arises. Can I take the Readied action?

-Hyp.

 

[RangerWickett]

I think I love you, Hyp.

To simplify things, if I have Spring Attack, and I manage to jump five feet over the head of a foe, and attack him in mid-air, then land with the rest of my movement, do people here think I should get the 'high ground' bonus?

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Yes.

Of course, that's a really, really high Jump check you'll need to make, and you'll need a high speed to do it, so ...

Foe: 5' tall human.
Jump: 5' + 5' = 10' = DC 40.
Horizontal Distance: 40'

So, you'll need to start 40' away from him, move up 20' (to get a running start), hit a DC 40 Jump check, and land 20' past him. Of course, for the Spring Attack, you only need to move 5' after attacking, so you can finish your jump next turn.

In order to pull this off, you'll need a speed of at least 45', which grants +4 on jump checks. This means you'll need to come up with +26 in other Jump modifiers in order to pull this off routinely.

All for a little +1 bonus on attack rolls. Have you met my friend Flanking? He's a bit easier to get to know ...

 

[Lord Pendragon]

While as always the rules mojo of Hypersmurf is a wonder to behold, I would require another move action immediately the following round to complete a jump made "mid-turn." I would not allow a PC to jump at the end of one turn, then attack and fall in the next. Nor would I allow a PC to take a five foot step up to gain higher ground versus an adjacent foe, unless they could naturally fly.

I would, however, allow the higher ground bonus for the Spring Attack maneuver. Cinematically and tactically, I think it's a clever move.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Foe: 5' tall human.
Jump: 5' + 5' = 10' = DC 40.
Horizontal Distance: 40'

You wouldn't have to jump 10'. Only 5'. You only need to be five feet higher than you are to get the +1 bonus versus an opponent of equal size. If he jumped up 10', he'd need a reach weapon.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Yes.

Of course, that's a really, really high Jump check you'll need to make, and you'll need a high speed to do it, so ...

Doesn't need to be as hard as what he's asking for.

I'm going to move twenty feet up to you, make a 5 foot vertical running jump, Spring Attack, and then finish my jump with 5 feet of downward travel.

That needs a Speed of 30, and is a Jump DC of 20.

We know that five feet of elevation is more than sufficient, because you can get the higher ground bonus for being adjacent to someone on a gradual staircase, and the definition of gradual is where the slope is less than five feet vertically per five feet horizontal.

-Hyp.

 

[RangerWickett]

If two warriors are in subject-directional gravity, with their feet facing each other while the use flight magic to hover as they fight, what kind of modifiers are there?


Man, I so missed out with my last character. My typical combat round was to charge, power attack for full with a greatsword, reckless offensive (-4 AC, +2 attack). Often this would involve jumping 30 feet or more to avoid uneven terrain. I decided to take a level of Favored Soul for magic instead of getting another fighter level for Spring Attack. Fooey.

My next character will have to be:

Ranger 1/Barbarian 1/Fighter 2/Extreme Explorer 2. As a human, I could have 6 feats at 6th level. Power Attack, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Action Boost, Reckless Offensive (plus Track). And a +16 Jump check.

Now, when you're really good, you start doing Kratos moves, like stopping in mid-air and doing a whirlwind attack with a flaming spiked chain before you fall.

 

[RangerWickett]

Ah, actually that's a new question. If I charge, and design my movement so that I end up airborne at the end of my charge, can I still attack, and do I gain the bonus?

And then what happens next round if my opponent doesn't move? I'm not allowed to move through an enemy square, but I have to finish my movement. Do I have to 'tumble' to fly through his square? What if I don't have tumble? Do the rules say I have to keep jumping in a straight line. Are there any rules for using a creature as a jumping-off point? Should I just make Chun-Li as my next character. What feats let you turn upside down and do a helicopter kick?

 

[Infiniti2000]

Well, it's certainly debatable, but I'll go through the reasoning.
...
Potential problem: Then, any time before your next action, you may take the readied action in response to that condition.

Now, the move action is, under one reading of the phrase, my 'next action'. Which would prohibit the sequence, since it would mean that I would no longer be eligible to take the readied attack action in response to the condition after the movement.

It's undoubtedly your next action because this maneuver you're attempting is in direct response to requiring you to complete your jump (the rule I quoted). Either this maneuver you're trying is not possible or it's not necessary. I'd say it's not possible.

Once you ready, you can't take any actions unless you want to "abort" the readied action.

I'm going to move twenty feet up to you, make a 5 foot vertical running jump, Spring Attack, and then finish my jump with 5 feet of downward travel.

This is part of the debate "Does falling count against your movement." If it doesn't, then it can't count as part of your movement. The spring attacker would then need to move 5ft more feet. If it does (and thus you can use it for a spring attack), then that means dwarves fall more slowly than humans.

The stickler on this is whether counts_against_movement == counts_for_movement.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

This is part of the debate "Does falling count against your movement." If it doesn't, then it can't count as part of your movement. The spring attacker would then need to move 5ft more feet. If it does (and thus you can use it for a spring attack), then that means dwarves fall more slowly than humans.

The stickler on this is whether counts_against_movement == counts_for_movement.

You don't make a distinction between falling and completing a jump?