Counterattack?

[pawsplay]

Who knows what this means?

Their second impression came squarely from the three arrows with which Heron skewered the hapless goblin sharpshooter in the loft. That poor goblin fired on Heron, missing but triggering an immediate counterattack from the ranger, who followed up with two more arrows on his turn. The sharpshooter was dead before the third arrow struck home.


I'm trying to figure out why being shot at would allow you to fire an extra arrow at your opponent. Obviously, there are now more reactions and immediate action type things, but I just can't make sense of the rationale for this ability. If the ranger killed the scout and took its stuff, I can easily imagine the ranger is getting a variety of funky ways of fighting, but this seems kind of funky to the max.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

*shrug*

Too soon to say. I think of it as some sort of attack of opportunity feat.

Counterattack

Benefit: If you are attacked while flat footed and the attack misses, you may execute an attack of opportunity on your attacker with a readied weapon.

Normal: A character cannot act while flat-footed.

 

[Sammael]

It could be a replacement for readied actions... or an "interrupt" similar to those seen in Jagged Alliance computer games.

 

[drothgery]

Kind of dull answer, but I suspect "immediate counterattack" is just flavor text for "drew an AoO".

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I think the dragon fight had another If/Then type immediate counterattack. It could be several different things.

1) A class ability that sets up some sort of If (The foe misses you with a ranged attack), Then (you can shoot back). Just for the Ranger.

2) A general rule ability that sets up some sort of counterattack. Probably not on a general miss, but you might be able to overextend yourself. I.E. you can attempt a special maneuver, but if the maneuver fails you provoke an immediate counterattack. This would replace AoOs, perhaps.

3) Some aspect of a maneuver the goblin attempted, whereby if he misses he provokes a counterattack. Similar to 2, but possibly a per-case basis on feats or talents. (I.E. instead of "If you attack in the surprise round but miss, the foe can counterattack" but "If you use Rapid Shot and miss, the foe can counterattack".)

Hard to tell.

I think it makes sense, as far as AoOs have ever made sense, and it makes sense to extend them to ranged attacks. If you open yourself up to an attack, why can't the guy with the bow take advantage of that?

--fje

 

[maddman75]

Kind of dull answer, but I suspect "immediate counterattack" is just flavor text for "drew an AoO".

Might not even be that much. Might be flavor text for 'decided to shoot back'. It says 'immediate counter attack' but then says the Ranger fired on his turn. I don't see this as guaranteeing there's some kind of counterattack ability per se.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

My impression is that at higher levels PCs (and opponents) will gain abilities that allow for these "immediate actions" when certain triggers occur. The ranger in this example may have an ability that grants him an immediate action allowing him to fire a single arrow at a target that surprises him. I see it as being a cinematic move where somebody jumps out at, or fires on the hero from a hidden position and the hero shoots back in a startled, instinctive reaction.

 

[frankthedm]

Stinks of BS. I can see for melee, but a missed ranged attack triggering a counter attack does not work in my book.

 

[olshanski]

My impression is that at higher levels PCs (and opponents) will gain abilities that allow for these "immediate actions" when certain triggers occur. The ranger in this example may have an ability that grants him an immediate action allowing him to fire a single arrow at a target that surprises him. I see it as being a cinematic move where somebody jumps out at, or fires on the hero from a hidden position and the hero shoots back in a startled, instinctive reaction.

I hope you are correct, because I am sick of the grind of "You attack", "Monster Attacks", repeat (next round).

They should add a handful of conditional abilities for each of the classes that can happen as immediate actions, swift actions, or sudden actions, or other non-turn actions... in order to shake things up a bit. I think if every one of the 8 core classes had some feats or abilities that gave them about 5 opportunities to have condition actions, that would make the game far more interesting.
Just think... thats only about 40 new things to keep in mind during the combat. It doesn't sound like it complicates things too much and the payoff of getting away from the same old toe-to-to "you attack, monster attacks" is really worth it.

\am I serious or sarcastic?

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

That poor goblin fired on Heron, missing but triggering an immediate counterattack from the ranger

First, I don't see any evidence that this is a cause-effect relationship. Or, rather, I don't see the fact that the goblin missed as being the cause of the ranger's counterattack.

Rather, I'd say that the ranger being attacked drew an immediate counterattack.

That being said, this strikes me as likely to be one of the first "per encounter" martial moves we've seen. Something like, "Ranger Sense*: When attacked while flat-footed**, you may make an immediate counterattack with a readied weapon once per encounter."

* - Yes, that's a play on Spidey.
** - Assuming the flat-footed condition continues to exist.

There's a similar, though certainly not identical, ability in Star Wars Saga, as a talent for the Gunslinger PrC. This talent allows you to draw and fire a pistol during a surprise round, even if you're surprised.