Confused about spring attack and charge

[Skoal]

Can you move after charging with spring attack if you have movement left? My initial reading of the rules tell me its o.k. but everytime I read the description of the charge action I'm not so sure anymore.

My reasoning:

From the SRD: Spring Attack.

When using the attack action with a melee weapon, the character can move both before and after the attack, provided that the character's total distance moved is not greater than the character's speed. Moving in this way does not provoke an attack of opportunity from the defender the character attacks. The character can’t use this feat if the character is in heavy armor.

Table 8-1 in PHB lists Charge as an attack action so I should be able to charge with spring attack. However, it also notes that charge is special and you can only move before the attack. Now I'm confused. I know you can supercede the "move only before attack clause" as in ride by attack but that feat was designed for charge.

I know this question must have been answered a million times on these boards but I went through all the available topics and latest Rules FAQ and couldn't find an answer. Thanks for your response.

P.S. I assume if charge and spring attack are ok, you still have to move in a straight line afterwards as in ride by attack.

 

[dcollins]

It's true that Charge is listed in Table 8-1 under "Attack Actions". However:

* On PH p. 124 it's listed as a "special standard action".
* It's not "the" attack action (that is, "Attack (melee)") which is listed further up in Table 8-1.
* Note that there are separate and distinct subheadings for "Attack" (on PH p. 122) as opposed to "Charge" (on PH p. 124).

My reading is that Spring Attack cannot be legitimately used at the same time as a Charge.

The Official FAQ says the following (v.06132002, p. 15) in response to a question that happens to be about tumbling:

If you’re using the Spring Attack feat, you’re taking a move
action and the attack action, so you’re moving once and can
tumble a maximum of 20 feet as part of that single move. You
could, however, tumble both before and after the attack.

 

[Skoal]

Thank you for the response. I felt something wasn't right just couldn't pinpoint it. Maybe my dm will let me create a feat that requires spring attack and does the same thing as ride by attack.