Help a Newbie with the Combat rules...

[Jimmy]

Sorry if I'm asking a really stupid question, but I've ploughed through the Combat chapter of the PHB several times and I find it incredibly confusing and incomprehensible...

Am I correct in thinking that, on your turn, you can only perform one standard action? And that a standard (ie single) attack is a standard action? So you can't perform an attack and then another standard action?

Thanks for your time. I would have searched for a similar topic before posting but the search function has been disabled, aparrently... (^_^)

 

[CRGreathouse]

On a round, you get either a full-round action or a standard action. Standard actions typically include moving your speed, while full-round actions allow only a 5-foot step (and some don't even allow that).

For example, a first-level fighter can make a single attack, or make a single attack and move his speed, or make a single attack and stand up from prone (in place of moving).

 

[Jimmy]

OK, so you *can't* attack and then perform another standard action?

The reason I ask is because using Bluff to feint in combat is a standard action... if successful, the target loses his DEX bonus to AC the next time you attack him... provided it's before your next turn.

How can you attack him before your next turn, if you've already used your standard action to feint?

 

[Crothian]

So, your problem isin't with the rules, it with undserstanding feint. You fenint one round and attack the next. There are a few feats printed in S&S that will help. For the most part, the feint option is just a big gamble and not something many people seem to do.

 

[Jimmy]

Ah... the book reads "on or before your next turn"

I took it as meaning "on your turn, or before your next turn"...

Sorry.