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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 6812949" data-attributes="member: 467">Remember that flanking as a 3.x game construct doesn't resemble anything in real life. In the first place, if a single fighter is opposed by two fighters it does not really matter whether they are on exactly opposite sides of him or not. Second, flanking is actually more effective in ranged combat: getting into a position so your target has no cover is what flanking is for. So, arguing whether the Help action resembles flanking on makes sense in the context of "how much 5E plays like 3.x." And since 5E is not designed or intended to play the same way as 5E on a tactical miniatures level, "Help is not inferior to flanking, it is the replacement for it. 5E abstracts the combat is a way that is similar to earlier editions. As such, combat rules that rely on position and/or precise movement and location don't fit without a lot of modification being done. A perfect example is the new way attacks of opportunity happen: because the intent is not to track every 5 foot square the characters and monsters pas through, AoOs only occur when you leave the opponent's reach. This is a call back to old rules about getting whacked when you turn and run from a fight. the Disengage action exists to mitigate this: you are giving up your attack in order to withdraw carefully so as not to take that hit. So, because of the way AoOs work in 5E, the 5 foot step rule is as inappropriate in the game as flanking.None of this is to say that you can't reintroduce those tactical elements into play, and it is clear the design team expected some folks to do just that given a few of the optional rules (like 3.x style flanking). But doing so requires a lot of care and you have to expect that some rules or abilities won't work quite as they were intended. Some things will become useless while others will become overpowered. That is always an possibility with house rules, of course, but because D&D is traditionally an action oriented game with lots of combat, changes to the combat rules will have a disproportionately large impact on play, as opposed to, say, making the Silence spell require only somatic components.</blockquote>

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