Charge and Hover

[kjenks]

If you're talking about the Hover feat, the answer depends on which round your dragon is trying to charge in.

SRD
===
HOVER [GENERAL]
Prerequisite: Fly speed.
Benefit: When flying, the creature can halt its forward motion and hover in place as a move action. It can then fly in any direction, including straight down or straight up, at half speed, regardless of its maneuverability. ...
===

In the first round, when it starts to hover, it can't charge because it has already used a move action to initiate hovering, so it can't take the full round action needed to charge.

In a subsequent round, it could cease hovering and charge, but it would be subject to the usual rules for charge attacks and aerial combat.

Since it has Average maneuverability, charging may cause it to stall and fall if it doesn't maintain its minimum forward speed during the charge. The hover feat is of no use in that situation because the dragon would need to use a move action to start hovering.

 

[Sektat]

> In a subsequent round, it could cease hovering and charge

This brings up my initial question: Can I charge and not cease hovering (since you are allowed to move while hovering), provided I start my turn hovering of course.

 

[shilsen]

> In a subsequent round, it could cease hovering and charge

This brings up my initial question: Can I charge and not cease hovering (since you are allowed to move while hovering), provided I start my turn hovering of course.

I already answered the question (see post 6) above. You are not allowed to move while hovering.

 

[Vegepygmy]

I concur with Shilsen.

 

[Infiniti2000]

I already answered the question (see post 6) above. You are not allowed to move while hovering.

I disagree with your reasoning (but agree with your conclusion). You can move while hovering. In fact, barring the odd dragon with Good or Perfect maneuverability, that's the only way a dragon can move straight up -- by using the Hover feat, thus 'hovering'. I submit to you that performing any part of the feat should be called by the feat name, i.e. hover.

The correct reasoning was first presented by Blackrat, namely that hovering hampers your movement and you cannot charge in that case. However, I think there might be a weird feat in some splash or third-party book that allows charging over rough terrain of some sort (perhaps as loosely worded to allow anytime you are hampered).

 

[Herzog]

I agree with Infiniti2000.

Although 'hovering' is technically standing still, consider the following:

1. At the beginning of the turn, the dragon is hovering.
2. It uses it's full round to move straight up (at half speed)
3. At the end of it's turn, it is still hovering.

Therefore, the movement can be considered to be done 'while hovering'.

However, since you are hampered in your movement (unable to move at normal speed) you cannot charge.

 

[eamon]

A hovering creature is standing still. You cannot move while hovering. If you're hovering, then you can move in any direction - but by doing so, you stop hovering.

You cannot move while hovering, but if you're hovering you can move in any direction (and stop hovering).

Given the meaning of the word hover and it's use in the DMG, this is a consistent interpretation.

Alternatively, and this matches the dragonomicon better, you could consider hover to be an entirely different type of flying, which costs twice the movement speed but allows flight in all directions. In this case, I'd say hovering is considered "hindering movement" for the purposes of charging, and thus that you can't charge while hovering. This is the interpretation that seems to be intended.

 

[shilsen]

I disagree with your reasoning (but agree with your conclusion). You can move while hovering. In fact, barring the odd dragon with Good or Perfect maneuverability, that's the only way a dragon can move straight up -- by using the Hover feat, thus 'hovering'. I submit to you that performing any part of the feat should be called by the feat name, i.e. hover.

I guess we disagree on a point of semantics then. I personally think the name of the feat isn't really relevant (actually, I think ignoring names in general in D&D makes life a lot easier) and the language of the feat itself does seem to distinguish between hovering (which is generally used in the phrase "hover in place") and movement.

I agree with Infiniti2000.

Although 'hovering' is technically standing still, consider the following:

1. At the beginning of the turn, the dragon is hovering.
2. It uses it's full round to move straight up (at half speed)
3. At the end of it's turn, it is still hovering.

I disagree with your 3rd point. It is not still hovering at this point, as far as I'm concerned. Would you allow the dragon to take a full-round action on its next turn without moving (which it can if it "begins its turn hovering")? I would not, because I see it as no longer hovering when it began to move.