Improved Aid Another?

[Ogrork the Mighty]

It seems to me that Aid Another should scale. I mean, how come a 20th-lvl Fighter gives the same +2 to an ally's next attack as a 1st-lvl Fighter?

I'm thinking of granting a +1 attack bonus on the next attack or a +1 AC bonus per 2 BAB (round down). So a 5th-lvl fighter would grant a +2 bonus, a 10th-lvl would grant +5, 15th would grant +7, etc.

For higher level characters, Aid Another seems pretty much a waste of time - especially since you'd be giving up multiple attacks.

One downside, however, would be a bunch of P members granting a huge bonus. Of course, it would only be for one attack...

Thoughts?

 

[drdevoid]

I'm just tossing these off and I'm only thinking about "aid another" in combat.

Generally I'd say to accomplist this you could use a sliding scale.

If you beat DC 10 you receive the normal +2. No change. If you beat 15 (and meet some requirement like BAB or CL) it's +4, beat 20 it's +6, etc.

A similar approach would be to mimic the Bull Rush model one of two different ways.

Use an opposed attack roll against a opposed defense roll (d20 + AC modifiers). The difference is the bonus one aids.

OR

Beat DC:10, again, get the normal +2, but for every point over either 20, 25, or 30 (your pick) you grant that additional bonus.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I like the first option. Maybe we'll try it out next session...

 

[Shadeus]

Your formula also makes it unusuable for all 1st-level characters (it's +0 at level 1 for everyone). It starts being useful for classes at the following levels:

- "good" BAB classes: level 2
- "medium" BAB classes: level 3
- "poor" BAB classes: level 4

You've taken aid another and made it worthless at the levels its needed the most! At least at high levels you have countless spells to increase your chances to hit or your armor class. At low levels with a limited selection of spells, aid another may be the only way to hit a foe.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Read my last post.

 

[Shadeus]

Read my last post.

Hmm, I somehow thought you were refering to your own post. Sorry!

One thing to consider with that: a 20 hits any AC. You might want to treat it as a skill check in that a 20 just adds 20 to the roll and isn't an automatic hit. Perhaps that's obvious but worth clarifying in case it happens.

 

[rkanodia]

A really easy way to do this would be to make a base attack bonus check. Each five points of check converts to a +1 bonus.

DC 5 = +1
DC 10 = +2
DC 15 = +3
DC 20 = +4
DC 25 = +5

etc. No restrictions based on level or BAB or anything.