Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Flanking
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 8162801" data-attributes="member: 6779196"><p>Actually by the flanking rule in the DMG, the orc <em>can</em> respond to you moving around behind it by changing facing, but <em>not</em> to you attacking it from behind. That’s because the only trigger for using your reaction to change facing (at least by DMG RAW - you could house rule this if you wanted to) is when another creature ends its movement. Now, you could argue that your movement hasn’t really “ended” if you then go on to move back around to the other side of the orc, but those are reeds I have no interest in getting into. The way movement works in 5e allows you to split it up however you like during your turn, and I like that about it. I wouldn’t ask my players to declare when they’ve “ended” their movement for the turn.</p><p></p><p>Ah, see, the way I interpret Facing, your back arc isn’t within your reach, since the text says you “normally can’t attack creatures in your back arc.” So by my reading, entering a creature’s back arc while within 5 feet of it (or 10 feet if it’s wielding a Reach weapon) would provoke an opportunity attack. That’s actually another point in favor of Facing for me, as it curtails the ability to move freely around a target while within its reach, without going back to the gridlock of 3e and 4e OAs.</p><p></p><p>It requires you to coordinate with your teammate rather than simply standing on either side of your target. For example, if the fighter approaches and attacks the orc from in front first, and then the rogue approaches the orc’s back, it will turn around to deny the rogue advantage, meaning neither character got an advantage attack in that round. If the rogue first approaches the orc’s back, it will probably turn around immediately to deny the rogue advantage, potentially giving the fighter the opportunity to attack with advantage. Useful, but not optimal since the rogue benefits more from advantage than the fighter does. If the rogue first approaches the orc from in front and Readies an action to attack if the orc turns around, and <em>then</em> the Fighter approaches the orc from behind, the orc is in a tricky position, as it has to decide if it should allow the fighter that advantage attack, or turn around, exposing its back to the rogue. There’s a lot more for both the players and me to consider to try and take advantage of the Facing rule than the Flanking rule, and in my opinion that makes the advantage feel much more earned than it does with flanking. YMMV.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Charlaquin, post: 8162801, member: 6779196"] Actually by the flanking rule in the DMG, the orc [I]can[/I] respond to you moving around behind it by changing facing, but [I]not[/I] to you attacking it from behind. That’s because the only trigger for using your reaction to change facing (at least by DMG RAW - you could house rule this if you wanted to) is when another creature ends its movement. Now, you could argue that your movement hasn’t really “ended” if you then go on to move back around to the other side of the orc, but those are reeds I have no interest in getting into. The way movement works in 5e allows you to split it up however you like during your turn, and I like that about it. I wouldn’t ask my players to declare when they’ve “ended” their movement for the turn. Ah, see, the way I interpret Facing, your back arc isn’t within your reach, since the text says you “normally can’t attack creatures in your back arc.” So by my reading, entering a creature’s back arc while within 5 feet of it (or 10 feet if it’s wielding a Reach weapon) would provoke an opportunity attack. That’s actually another point in favor of Facing for me, as it curtails the ability to move freely around a target while within its reach, without going back to the gridlock of 3e and 4e OAs. It requires you to coordinate with your teammate rather than simply standing on either side of your target. For example, if the fighter approaches and attacks the orc from in front first, and then the rogue approaches the orc’s back, it will turn around to deny the rogue advantage, meaning neither character got an advantage attack in that round. If the rogue first approaches the orc’s back, it will probably turn around immediately to deny the rogue advantage, potentially giving the fighter the opportunity to attack with advantage. Useful, but not optimal since the rogue benefits more from advantage than the fighter does. If the rogue first approaches the orc from in front and Readies an action to attack if the orc turns around, and [I]then[/I] the Fighter approaches the orc from behind, the orc is in a tricky position, as it has to decide if it should allow the fighter that advantage attack, or turn around, exposing its back to the rogue. There’s a lot more for both the players and me to consider to try and take advantage of the Facing rule than the Flanking rule, and in my opinion that makes the advantage feel much more earned than it does with flanking. YMMV. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Flanking
Top