Fiddling with the Rules and Creating Special Attacks

[Ravilah]

The players at my table have played both 4e and 3.5 and they rather prefer 3.5 (as do I). However, we can't deny that 4e has some elements we really like.

One of my players (the fighter) says that one thing he really really misses from 4e is his ability to push, slide, trip, etc. as part of his attack, instead of a special action that doesn't cause damage. I am trying to come up with a house-ruled way to make that possible. And I'm not too worried if this makes things less than perfectly balanced (though I don't want to go too far, of course).

The idea off the top of my head is to augment the Improved versions of the Bull Rush and Trip feats. The character can make a melee attack as a full attack action, but instead of including their strength bonus to the damage, they can initiate a check for pushing or tripping (or "sliding").

I dunno. Fiddling with game mechanics isn't my strong suit. I just want to give the fighter a way of increasing his range of fun options.

 

[kitcik]

Give the melee classes the knockdown feat for free, except only useable once per round. Then have it useable for a bull rush or a trip at their option. It's a great feat, but it doesn't come close to breaking melee classes.

 

[frankthedm]

And I'm not too worried if this makes things less than perfectly balanced (though I don't want to go too far, of course).

Main issue is that 4e mostly ditched the full round attack action, removing the sting moving more than a 5' step. Abilities that cause more than 5' of movement will ruin a melee character's full attack and a ranged way to move someone even 5' will combo with another source of moving an enemy 5' to produce a similar effect.