Forcing enemies to shift

[ruleslawyer]

There is still a chance of abuse of course. Using Cha means it can be pushed around potentially too much, even faster than its own speed.

Combat speed probably isn't the be-all and end-all of movement in a round, though. Keep in mind that running allows 4x movement in 3e, while charging involves 2x movement; the implication of that is that creatures choose to move tactically in combat and thus restrict their speed. That suggests that any creature in a given combat has some "spare" movement remaining in any given round. So allowing a creature to be slid even if it's moved its speed or 2x its speed seems pretty reasonable to me.

As an aside: Thanks for framing your concerns about potential rules problems in 4e as doubts rather than unsupported blanket criticisms. It does wonders for discussions like this one!

 

[Dunamin]

Yes, it is, and if the 4E rules made it where this happened more often I'd applaud it. What I'm concerned with is that 4E is letting small, light creatures force-move large, heavy creatures. I can only accept this to a point -- I can rationalize one size difference (maybe he's using something akin to a martial arts move) but a small creature shifting a gargantuan creature would just be ridiculous.

I think one thing that may cause your concern is that you may always be picturing the act of forced movement as a mighty blast that knocks the opponent back or the like.

That is evidently not necessarily the case by the descriptions of several powers. If a halfling were to use a power to force an hill giant to back off, chances are its flavored as a feint that catches the giant off-balance or darting between its legs to make it stumble about (possibly helped by a sudden jab with a blade, light though it may be).