Knocked prone

[FitzTheRuke]

Thanks Fitz, good to know.

On a mildly related note, Human Perseverance for +1 to saving throws is looking better and better every day.

I've seen it in practice. It ROCKS.

Fitz

 

[hennebeck]

It's all about shifting one's thinking.
Rather than an attack and then saving throw as in 3e, the attack and the saving throw are combined now in 4e.

 

[jmucchiello]

It's all about shifting one's thinking.
Rather than an attack and then saving throw as in 3e, the attack and the saving throw are combined now in 4e.

That is a huge shift. Where there were many ways to model various effects, now there are just 4. In this case your being knocked prone happens regardless of your reflexes since the power affects Fort. I suppose there will be a lot of powers involving the shift of defense type. (When a power may cause you to be knocked prone you may defend against it with your Ref instead of the listed defense.) Interesting.

I can see my players needing a few months to grok the simplicity.

 

[Sojorn]

I can see my players needing a few months to grok the simplicity.

I know what you mean, but that still sounds wrong somehow.

 

[med stud]

And if you really have lots of combats on rope bridges above certain depth, how come the bridges never get cut? Would you allow a save to avoid a fall to certain death when the entire party is halfway across a rope bridge and the ropes are severed? Or do your players and bad guys just not do that due to some kind of etiquette?

I agree and I want to add that if you don't want people falling to their deaths, don't have fights in high, narrow places without handrails. I almost consider the save against falling off something to gentle, people should be wary of fighting close to high ledges. The "save" against this is also much a tactical question; if you fight a hill giant, the best way not to get knocked off a cliff is to place yourself farther from the cliff than 2 squares.

Looking from the players' POV and the narrative POV, Tide of Iron will be very neat in combats on a rope bridge . The fighter will be plowing down opponents left and right from the bridge as he moves across it. Very Two Towers- kind of feeling (the movie).

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

That is a huge shift. Where there were many ways to model various effects, now there are just 4. In this case your being knocked prone happens regardless of your reflexes since the power affects Fort. I suppose there will be a lot of powers involving the shift of defense type. (When a power may cause you to be knocked prone you may defend against it with your Ref instead of the listed defense.) Interesting.

I can see my players needing a few months to grok the simplicity.

I think there is a lot of this sort of thing going on at the moment, from feeling that giants don't do enough damage, to 'winning' the game, to respawning - once we get the rules it might all become a bit clearer in context.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

The easiest thing to do is let a character have an acrobatics or athletics check to grab something... a following skill challenge could get a player back on the top (acrobatics or athletics)... he is effectively out of combat for 4-8 rounds though...

 

[Celebrim]

And if you really have lots of combats on rope bridges above certain depth, how come the bridges never get cut?

The pteranodons didn't think to bring a knife to the rumble. Neither, oddly, did the giant bats.

 

[jmucchiello]

The pteranodons didn't think to bring a knife to the rumble. Neither, oddly, did the giant bats.

Or teeth or talons apparently. Most animals don't need a knife to cut a rope.

I know what you mean, but that still sounds wrong somehow.

You are objecting to my use of "grok"? Understanding simplicity is not necessarily easier than understanding complexity. I'm hoping I'm wrong about the months to understand. I'm hoping the answers I was given here are located in a friendly behind-the-numbers sidebar in one of the books.

 

[mmu1]

Or teeth or talons apparently. Most animals don't need a knife to cut a rope.

Debatable at best (both in RL and D&D) but - more importantly - since when is anything with an animal intelligence smart enough to figure out that cutting a rope will make their opponent fall and die? (never mind picking out several specific ropes of a bridge)