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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 2782667" data-attributes="member: 2020">Wait a second, Kenobi.  Consider the Moria combat in the film FOTR once more.  The orcs were so eager to get at the party they were jumping up on the walls to get past each other.  They just came on in a deluge.  Then the cave troll smashed his way in.    Remember how Jackson tried to use the camera to show it as if you were one of the combatants?  Momentary glimpses of people.  The shot reeling wildly?  Sudden pans around the room.  (In many cases, you had to slow-forward the DVD to actually see what happened.)  The room was filled with dust.  Soon, orcs were falling over each other, stumbling over dead bodies, getting whacked across the room by their own cave troll, while nobody on either side had any idea of where anyone else was.  It was utter chaos.  It was so confused that nobody noticed the cave troll attack on the hobbits initially.  Then, a round or two later, Aragorn finally noticed, but nobody else did (Gandalf didn't notice until after Frodo was stabbed.  Sam didn't notice as he was whacking everywhere with his pans.  Even Legolas was busy somewhere else, and Gimli was always getting knocked down, or stumbling, or diving off of assorting things to avoid being hit.)  I mean, after about 5 rounds of that combat (30 seconds) I don't think anyone could know where anyone was.  That shadow in the dust could be a friend, or a foe, or the cave troll, or part of the shattered room, or even one of the dead of Balin's people.  In a situation like that, you'd have orcs bumping into you blindly, you'd be bumping into orcs blindly, everyone is stumbling and half falling over bodies new and old, pieces of broken rock, and heaven knows what else.  Even an intelligent combatant couldn't avoid AOO in a situation like that.  There are just too many opponents, the situation is too confused, and the visibility too poor.  (Or, in the case of Boromir, being whacked by the cave troll might have made him a little confused concerning where ANYTHING was.  Ah, the joys of being Dazzled ...)  In that battle, I certainly would want Dodge and Mobility!  And Improved Unarmed Strike, as well, since brawling is inevitable in a crunch situation like that one.  -  Arilyn is a favorite character of mine, but if my evil character wanted to defeat her, Sundering that moonblade would help (not having to face 7 Elfshadows, in addition to Arilyn, would be nice for my character!)  Break her moonblade, and you might demoralize Arilyn.  That weapon is incredibly important to her (can you blame her?)    Arilyn will still be a formidable opponent, but her famous moonblade is gone.  You couldn't use it anyways, and selling it would be a major hassle.  So why not break it?  (I broke the mighty elf sword.  Me!  I showed the elves the power of the worms of the earth.  So, It was Grummsh's Will for you to make me King of the Orcish Nation.  All hail the King!)  Wulfgar's warhammer is another example.  Break it, and you mess up Wulfgar's combat strategy (you also cause Bruenor to go utterly ballistic, but that's another story.)  Yes, breaking powerful magical items is hard, but once you are up to the daunting task of fighting Arilyn or Wulfgar, you've got a real Power Attack bonus, and a lot of attacks, all of which can be made as sunder attempts.    If an enemy mage or cleric is waving around that wand, stave, or rod, sundering it isn't so bad, is it?  After all, that way they don't conjure up assorted abominations, outsiders, fey, and heaven knows what else.  And they won't be throwing assorted lightning bolts, fireballs, and death spells at you!</blockquote>

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