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I think I miss flat-footed, talk me out of it?
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<blockquote data-quote="Salamandyr" data-source="post: 6147898" data-attributes="member: 40233"><p>Historically, a thief performing a backstab got a bonus to his attack roll. As editions rolled by 4e implemented what is my favorite version of this...combat advantage. A +2 bonus when you have your opponent at a disadvantage. I loved this, as it was simple, and applicable to many situations.</p><p></p><p>I never liked flat-footed AC, because it felt like an unnecessary complication in the system, <em>and</em> I didn't think it served verisimilitude. You may have caught the really agile guy by surprise, but it seems to me that he should still react to that better than the lumbering oaf. And it created the logical inconsistency that dex bonuses only apply sometimes, but penalties all the time. And the existence of flat-footed creates the necessity for things like "uncanny dodge" to allow some characters to keep their dex based AC. It's all just an unnecessarily complicated system that's handled easier by giving the attacker a bonus on his attack roll.</p><p></p><p>That way, if you catch someone by surprise, they're easier to hit (you get a bonus), but the agile guy is still harder to hit than the lumbering guy (AC stays the same).</p><p></p><p>EDIT: I see this is in relation to D&DNext. I'd say giving the attacker advantage (rolling two dice) is as good as a bonus to hit, and they don't really need anything else to make surprise worthwhile. </p><p></p><p>I don't have the doc's in front of me; did they remove advantage from surprise?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Salamandyr, post: 6147898, member: 40233"] Historically, a thief performing a backstab got a bonus to his attack roll. As editions rolled by 4e implemented what is my favorite version of this...combat advantage. A +2 bonus when you have your opponent at a disadvantage. I loved this, as it was simple, and applicable to many situations. I never liked flat-footed AC, because it felt like an unnecessary complication in the system, [I]and[/I] I didn't think it served verisimilitude. You may have caught the really agile guy by surprise, but it seems to me that he should still react to that better than the lumbering oaf. And it created the logical inconsistency that dex bonuses only apply sometimes, but penalties all the time. And the existence of flat-footed creates the necessity for things like "uncanny dodge" to allow some characters to keep their dex based AC. It's all just an unnecessarily complicated system that's handled easier by giving the attacker a bonus on his attack roll. That way, if you catch someone by surprise, they're easier to hit (you get a bonus), but the agile guy is still harder to hit than the lumbering guy (AC stays the same). EDIT: I see this is in relation to D&DNext. I'd say giving the attacker advantage (rolling two dice) is as good as a bonus to hit, and they don't really need anything else to make surprise worthwhile. I don't have the doc's in front of me; did they remove advantage from surprise? [/QUOTE]
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I think I miss flat-footed, talk me out of it?
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