JDRay said:
It seems that a system could be designed that takes into account size difference to determine whether or not a Terrasque can punt a halfling, and whether or not the halfling can avoid the damage with a good Tumble check.
Read the rules for tripping again.
(repost)
If I wanted to make knockdown/back a part of the rules, I'd do it like this.
Any melee hit that deals 10 points of damage _and_ more than 20% of the defender's max hp has the chance of knocking down the defender. Make a trip attempt as a free attack. If the trip is unsuccessful, the defender cannot trip you back in turn. You can only knock down an opponent who is the same size as you or smaller.
If you have Improved Trip, you do not gain a free melee attack after a trip that is the result of a knockdown.
Knockdown feat:
Prereqs: Str 15+, BAB 3+
Benefit: You are treated as if one size larger for the purposes of knocking down opponents (but not for defending against knockdown attempts).
That's IF I wanted to make knockdown a part of the rules. This makes melee combat much deadlier, especially against big monsters. It could be argued that there are already enough disincentives for getting into melee (what with improved grab, swallow whole, energy drain, ability drain, rend, etc, etc) that another one isn't needed.
