Dodge

[Jdvn1]

Complete Psionics, for one. His name is scattered about the WotC web-site....

Is that a 'yes' or a 'no'?

Interesting, though. Do you know of anything else he wrote? If that's his biggest book, he doesn't sound like a developer with a lot of experience, at least...

 

[Nail]

Can't say much about his experience.....but really, that's not relevant when speaking about "intent", is it?

Arguing "intent" means (usually) looking at who wrote the rule-set in question. We can all open up our 3.5e PH to find that out. Chris Lindsay's name is not on the credit page. Q.E.D.

You could argue "intent" = "What WotC wants"....but that's a hard tree to climb, IMO, for all sorts of reasons (not least of which is employee turn-over).

 

[ThirdWizard]

I'm not sure it's possible to distinguish between 'Intent' and 'RAW' without reading the original post...

Doesn't mean people won't try!

 

[Henry]

Not at all.

Your movement is a single action. So you could only apply the Dodge to one of those six guys in a line.

Nope; you can take as many free actions per round as you want, and those count as "actions." On my turn, I'm running past, so I can change it as a free action, as it's "on any action."

...Free Action (only taken during another action)...

This one's actually news to me. Any cite for that one? When I read the SRD now, it made no mention of free action only occurring with another action, just that, "there's a practical limit to the number of free actions".

 

[Infiniti2000]

I'm not sure it's possible to distinguish between 'Intent' and 'RAW' without reading the original post...

I don't understand your comment and how it relates to my post, so I assume there's a misunderstanding.

You are claiming that people who respond to the poll with "Intent" or "RAW" do not otherwise houserule Dodge. As evidenced by Jedi Solo, and what I tried to explain, is that is not necessarily so. Those people who responded "Intent" or "RAW" may or may not play it that way, but they might be choosing those options because they feel that is what you were desiring as feedback from the poll. My original answer to this poll would be "Intent". But, if you are interested in houseruling it so it makes sense, is useable, yada yada yada, then an "Other" response would be better. That's what I went with, even though I assume it's less useful for you and your poll.

Polls are very hard to interpret if not specific.

 

[Nail]

..you can take as many free actions per round as you want, and those count as "actions." On my turn, I'm running past, so I can change it as a free action, as it's "on any action."

You mean: "While taking a free action, you can change your dodge buddy". Changing your dodge buddy is not an action at all => it happens during another action. And given the sentence:

You can select a new opponent on any action.

, you don't even need to waste your own free actions. Just wait until an opponent attacks you and on his action, change your dodge buddy to him.

Rinse and repeat as often as you are attacked by someone using an action.

Interestingly, this means that the only time you do not have the +1 Dodge bonus to AC versus an attacker is if the attacker does NOT use an action to attack you and you are not allowed to use a free action. The example that pops into mind is provoking AoOs while being bull rushed in the AoE of a Silence spell.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Just wait until an opponent attacks you and on his action, change your dodge buddy to him.

That's assuming the 'on any action' clause is not still limited by 'during your action'.

-Hyp.

 

[Artoomis]

This one's actually news to me. Any cite for that one? When I read the SRD now, it made no mention of free action only occurring with another action, just that, "there's a practical limit to the number of free actions".

"Free Action
Free actions consume a very small amount of time and effort. You can perform one or more free actions while taking another action normally. However, there are reasonable limits on what you can really do for free. "

There you have it. SRD quote - Under "Types of Actions."

 

[Mistwell]

It's interesting that the "houseruled" camp is the most vocal on here by far, but 'Intent' is just as large a group, and 'RAW' is still biggest. And no one has said they play it as RAW rather than intent.

Given there was no option in the poll for "Houseruled to flat +1 dodge bonus" I suspect a lot of people didn't actually choose other but tried to fit their rule as best they could into the listed options.

If the poll were re-done with the common house-rule option included, I bet you would find a different result.

 

[Quasqueton]

I voted Intent, as that is how I understand it and how we used it. But I have house ruled it like so many here have -- +1 dodge bonus to AC against all.

Quasqueton