Chris_Nightwing
First Post
This came up when I was thinking about the list of conditions currently in the game. It feels to me like there isn't really a suitable condition for being surprised, or unable to react to things around you - instead this situation is manifested differently under different conditions. The key components of this condition that I feel is missing mostly relate to how you use your dexterity, which is why I was reminded of flat-footed from 3.X.
If a character is surprised, currently they cannot act in the first round of combat. This doesn't feel right to me, it doesn't seem *enough*, if I can explain further. Think of the classic thief sneaking up behind an unaware guard - currently the thief gets to take an action before the guard, perhaps two if they roll well on initiative, and the first attack they make has advantage because they are hidden. I sort of see where they are going with this, since you also get advantage to attack a blind opponent, so the idea is that if you can't see, you're easier to hit. The thing that silghtly bugs me about this is that there's no difference if the 'attack' you make doesn't use an attack roll, and it doesn't matter if the guard has no armour, but 20 Dexterity, vs. heavy armour and 10 Dexterity. If the thief has a wand of fireballs, the guard can react the same as he would normally *to an enormous sudden explosion*. It feels like they ought to have disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws, and that there should be a more significant effect of hiding from the the jack-be-nimble guard than the tank guard.
This is what led me to missing the flat-footed AC. I would like a condition for being unable to respond to attacks on your person. It would apply when you are surprised, by stealth or because you are blind and deaf, heck it maybe ought to apply when you are paralysed (you still get your Dexterity bonus to AC *when paralysed*!). I don't think the advantages/disadvantages that currenly apply are sufficient - I would enforce that for all purposes, when you are flat-footed, your Dexterity is 10 and attacks against you have advantage.
So, when you are surprised, you cannot act and you are flat-footed. When you are a blind, you automatically fail checks involving sight, have disadvantage on all attacks and you are flat-footed. Paralysis probably ought to involve your Dexerity being reduced to 0. I understand that everyone hates adjusting their ability scores - but surely that was from the overload of buffs we saw in 3.X? Can we return to only sensible uses of this practice where appropriate, or is it too difficult?
If a character is surprised, currently they cannot act in the first round of combat. This doesn't feel right to me, it doesn't seem *enough*, if I can explain further. Think of the classic thief sneaking up behind an unaware guard - currently the thief gets to take an action before the guard, perhaps two if they roll well on initiative, and the first attack they make has advantage because they are hidden. I sort of see where they are going with this, since you also get advantage to attack a blind opponent, so the idea is that if you can't see, you're easier to hit. The thing that silghtly bugs me about this is that there's no difference if the 'attack' you make doesn't use an attack roll, and it doesn't matter if the guard has no armour, but 20 Dexterity, vs. heavy armour and 10 Dexterity. If the thief has a wand of fireballs, the guard can react the same as he would normally *to an enormous sudden explosion*. It feels like they ought to have disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws, and that there should be a more significant effect of hiding from the the jack-be-nimble guard than the tank guard.
This is what led me to missing the flat-footed AC. I would like a condition for being unable to respond to attacks on your person. It would apply when you are surprised, by stealth or because you are blind and deaf, heck it maybe ought to apply when you are paralysed (you still get your Dexterity bonus to AC *when paralysed*!). I don't think the advantages/disadvantages that currenly apply are sufficient - I would enforce that for all purposes, when you are flat-footed, your Dexterity is 10 and attacks against you have advantage.
So, when you are surprised, you cannot act and you are flat-footed. When you are a blind, you automatically fail checks involving sight, have disadvantage on all attacks and you are flat-footed. Paralysis probably ought to involve your Dexerity being reduced to 0. I understand that everyone hates adjusting their ability scores - but surely that was from the overload of buffs we saw in 3.X? Can we return to only sensible uses of this practice where appropriate, or is it too difficult?