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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 5623873" data-attributes="member: 92305">I kept the rule, but we've yet had anyone caught flatfooted.  Much depends on when initiative is thrown.  It's true, we've had little combat in my new campaign.  We've played just 4 sessions with a tad bit of combat and a lot of role playing. In the little combat we've had, I had initiative thrown early enough that the FF rule didn't come into play.  For example, we did a gladitorial-style combat with the characters entering into a ring.  The ring was 80'  in diameter, so the first combatant couldn't charge during the first round, and the second, after the first had moved into range, refused to charge thinking that the first had readied an action against a charge. So, those two slowly, over three rounds, went into combat. Game session V, coming up soon, starts off with combat.  It will be our first major combat session.  But even here, FF won't matter becuase I've already decided where nish will be thrown....as the PCs run around a bend in the road and come upon the bad guys.  The distance, again, will be too far for FF to matter.     When I wrote this post, I hadn't really played out any combat yet, and it didn't dawn on my how, sometimes, nish is thrown and the PCs are too far away from the foes for FF to be considered. That's an intersesting tool the GM has in his game-kit.         Just to play Devil's Advocate:  You're looking at the DEX penalty and bonus as a linear proposition.  What if there is a point of diminishing returns?  What if DEX 10 is that point of diminishing returns? More plainly:  DEX scores 9 or less represent a person's slow features.  But as DEX 12+ represents a person's fast features, it also represents a finer line between benefits. Thus, DEX 9 or less penalties apply, but DEX 12+ don't since, after a certain point (which is DEX 10), the advantage of having a higher DEX score isn't large enough to grant a bonus in certain situations....and acting quickly and ceasing the initiative in combat is one of those situations.</blockquote>

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