D&D 3E/3.5 In 3.5 All Monsters Are Square?

[Celtavian]

RE

I think the new facing system is better. At times, I found it hard to think about the creature turning completely around or moving sideways. Now, I think of the creature as controlling a certain amount of space, not necessarily occupying, but controlling. This makes it easier to imagine larger creatures moving about while smaller creatures move in and out striking at it.

Combat would really involve constant movement with people controlling space that they move about in. D&D is very abstract, but the new facing rules are an improvement IMO.

 

[AuraSeer]

It's a good point - how would surrounding someone be handled? To take a more extreme example, if there is a giant purple worm, to have a large group of fighters surround it, now they will end up being WAAAAAY father apart than they would otherwise have been.

When fighting, a purple worm already has a face of 30' square. Basically it coils up like a cobra, which allows it to strike in any direction.

If it stayed strung out on the ground like a garden hose, its mouth would not be able to reach far, and the majority of its length would be totally undefended. That's not only contrary to the D&D concept of "no facing," it's also a very stupid way for an animal to fight.

 

[Aaron2]

Originally posted by AuraSeer If it stayed strung out on the ground like a garden hose, its mouth would not be able to reach far, and the majority of its length would be totally undefended. That's not only contrary to the D&D concept of "no facing," it's also a very stupid way for an animal to fight.

It does have a poison tail.

Aaron

 

[Anubis]

I don't see any problem with the new facing rules. The rules haven't really changed at all, just the facing of weirdly shaped creatures. This has NO EFFECT WHATSOEVER on the game itself.

 

[ruleslawyer]

Re: Using less than your square?

"The 3.5 revision will include rules for creatures moving and fighting in spaces smaller than their normal fighting space."
Dragon 308, D&D 3.5 Dragon sizes poster.

Looky there!

I think the facing revision is a great idea. It means that the default assumption is that a given creature is moving around sufficiently to cover a particular area, and thus to be in any part of that area at some point during the course of a given combat round. For cavalry charges, et cetera, you just need to develop a simple set of rules for squashed facing. The Swarmfighting feat (Races of Faerun) already allows small creatures to crowd into a space; 1e/2e Battlesystem rules also allowed such squashing. My guess is that a single paragraph will handle these cases nicely in the revisions.

 

[MadScientist]

I don't see any problem with the new facing rules. The rules haven't really changed at all, just the facing of weirdly shaped creatures. This has NO EFFECT WHATSOEVER on the game itself.

Yes it does. Using the old rules if rider on a horse charged your character on the ground and attacked with a non-reach weapon you would end up getting an AoO on the horse. [Assuming the rider wasn't using ride-by-attack, or another feat/power to avoid it.] This was because the rider was assumed to be on the back of the horse and the front of the horse would have to move through your threatened area before the rider could get to an adjacent square. With the new rules it seems like it wouldn't work this way. The horse/rider combo would take up a 10'x10' square and just charge you strait on w/o moving through one of your threatened squares.

I'm not saying I'm against the new facing rules, but there will deffinately be some effects on the game.

 

[frankthedm]

So a 3.5 horse occupies a 10' x 10' area? That is one FAT horse.

 

[Corinth]

So a 3.5 horse occupies a 10' x 10' area? That is one FAT horse.

No, that's not a fat horse. That horse directly controls that space, and he threatens an additional 5' around that space. This is where the Space/Reach entry in the stat blocks comes from.

 

[Steve Jung]

So, I wonder where the rider is considered to be. Unless she also covers the entire space.

 

[Corinth]

We'll find out soon enough.