I'm going to feel stupid asking this question...

[Sonofapreacherman]

You can already do both a move action and a standard action in a round. You don't need to re-invent this.

Yes I know. What began as a D&D rule question has become a House Rules thread. Perhaps the thread should be relocated.

I am not trying reinvent the move and standard action. I am trying to get more out of the full round action.

Picture an 15th level rogue with a base attack of +11/+6/+1. The rogue must use the full round action gain all 3 attacks in one round. With the rule change I am proposing, such a character could instead attack with the +11, substitute a feint in combat for the +6 attack (assuming this rogue has the Improved Feint feat) and attack again with the +1 (hopefully adding their sneak attack damage to a successful hit).

 

[Hypersmurf]

What began as a D&D rule question has become a House Rules thread. Perhaps the thread should be relocated.

Done.

-Hyp.
(Moderator)

 

[Chorn]

With the rule change I am proposing, such a character could instead attack with the +11, substitute a feint in combat for the +6 attack (assuming this rogue has the Improved Feint feat) and attack again with the +1 (hopefully adding their sneak attack damage to a successful hit).

As it is right now the system breaks it down into two fragments: the primary attack, and the remaining iteratives as a whole. It sounds like what you're aiming for is something with more granularity. Perhaps splitting the six second round into smaller phases could accomplish your goal. The system right now is too abstract to represent what you're doing since iterative attacks are there to just represent greater skill at being able to hurt the other guy. Incidentally, a more granular system would better model simultaneous actions than the current one.

 

[Sonofapreacherman]

The system right now is too abstract to represent what you're doing since iterative attacks are there to just represent greater skill at being able to hurt the other guy.

I actually prefer the abstract combat system. It keeps combat sessions running quickly and smoothly. That's why I think creating a new action would be more straightforward.

By giving what I am proposing an abstract name, like "fragment action", or better still, "iterative action", my idea can still be impelmented without losing the abstract combat model.

Simply put, an "iterative action" would be a move action that doesn't involve moving ... what used to be called a "move-equivalent" action.

To take my suggestion further, the 15th level rogue from above could even use their +1 attack to feint in combat (as an iterative action). If the rogue succeeded to Bluff their opponent, the benefit of that feint could be used on their first iterative attack during the following turn (with the +11 attack bonus).