Asmor
First Post
One thing I've noticed tends to slow my games down is my reliance on miniatures and maps. There's no such thing as a perfect setup, and quite frankly I've just got too many other areas in my DMing which need work over and above my map preparation/improvisation techniques.
Unfortunately, D&D 3.5 has a very, very strong assumption that you're using a map with a grid of 5' squares. Flanking and attacks of opportuinity in particular are two rules which are vital to the balance of combat in D&D and are heavily reliant in most cases on the usage of a battle map.
Here's an idea I've been kicking around in my head for a long time, that I'd like to start fleshing out. Remove the map from battles entirely, and replace it with the concept of "zones." For the time being, we'll assume there's 3 zones in any fight; there's the common melee zone, the ally zone, and the enemy zone. The zones are arranged so that the melee zone is in the center of the ally and enemy zones. For the purposes of range for spells and ranged attacks, all units in the same zone are considered to be exactly 30 feet away. All units in adjacent zones are considered to be exactly 60 feet away. All units two zones away are considered to be 90 feet away.
Every time you make a move action, you can move one zone (so for example from the ally zone to the melee zone). If there are any enemies in your current zone, regardless of whether they're engaged or not, they get an attack of opportunity on you as if you had moved out of a threatened space.
If you are currently unengaged, you may choose to engage any unit (enemy or ally) in the same zone. If the unit you're engaging is engaged with anyone else, you become engaged with them as well. Essentially it's like a big ball of engaged people, and you can't just pick one out from them. We'll call this group an 'engagement'. Any specific person can only be in a single engagement. When engaging an engagement, you suffer all consequences of engaging each individual unit in that engagement as well.
When you engage a unit with longer reach than your own, you suffer an attack of opportunity.
All people in an engagement are considered in melee range of one another, and may attack one another. If a ranged attacker shoots into an engagement, he takes the normal penalties for firing into melee. If someone in an engagement is capable of threatening attacks of opportunity, he threatens all other people in the engagement.
If a group is outnumbered at least 2 to 1 in an engagement, all members of that group are considered flanked.
If you are in an engagement, you may take a move action to leave it. Doing so provokes an attack of opportunity from all enemies you're engaged with. You might then choose to join a different engagement in the same zone, take another move action to move a zone (provoking attacks of opportunity again for this moment as normal), or conceivably sit in that zone unengaged, for example if you wished to cast a spell without provoking attacks of opportunity.
Ranged attacks and spellcasting are basically unchanged. As mentioned before, units in an engagement are considered to be in melee and so ranged attacks take a -4 to hit. Since you are threatened when engaged, using ranged attacks or casting spells procokes attacks of opportunity as normal. You must engage a unit to touch them, such as when casting a healing spell.
Changed combat maneuvers:
*Withdraw: You may only withdraw when engaged; you become unengaged and return to your ally zone.
*Charge: Charging is now always a standard action. You must be unengaged to charge. When you charge, you enter the engagement of the target you're attacking, suffering all the effects of engaging them as normal.
*Bullrush: If you successfully bullrush a unit, the two of you leave your current engagement (provoking attacks of opportunity from others in that engagement) and form a new one together.
So that's my basic framework... It's far from complete, but I think it sounds reasonably workable. I invision using this with miniatures and three big squares for the zones. Just toss everyone's mini in the zone they're in, and group all the minis in a particular engagement together in a pile. Are there any other important rules I need to address?
Unfortunately, D&D 3.5 has a very, very strong assumption that you're using a map with a grid of 5' squares. Flanking and attacks of opportuinity in particular are two rules which are vital to the balance of combat in D&D and are heavily reliant in most cases on the usage of a battle map.
Here's an idea I've been kicking around in my head for a long time, that I'd like to start fleshing out. Remove the map from battles entirely, and replace it with the concept of "zones." For the time being, we'll assume there's 3 zones in any fight; there's the common melee zone, the ally zone, and the enemy zone. The zones are arranged so that the melee zone is in the center of the ally and enemy zones. For the purposes of range for spells and ranged attacks, all units in the same zone are considered to be exactly 30 feet away. All units in adjacent zones are considered to be exactly 60 feet away. All units two zones away are considered to be 90 feet away.
Every time you make a move action, you can move one zone (so for example from the ally zone to the melee zone). If there are any enemies in your current zone, regardless of whether they're engaged or not, they get an attack of opportunity on you as if you had moved out of a threatened space.
If you are currently unengaged, you may choose to engage any unit (enemy or ally) in the same zone. If the unit you're engaging is engaged with anyone else, you become engaged with them as well. Essentially it's like a big ball of engaged people, and you can't just pick one out from them. We'll call this group an 'engagement'. Any specific person can only be in a single engagement. When engaging an engagement, you suffer all consequences of engaging each individual unit in that engagement as well.
When you engage a unit with longer reach than your own, you suffer an attack of opportunity.
All people in an engagement are considered in melee range of one another, and may attack one another. If a ranged attacker shoots into an engagement, he takes the normal penalties for firing into melee. If someone in an engagement is capable of threatening attacks of opportunity, he threatens all other people in the engagement.
If a group is outnumbered at least 2 to 1 in an engagement, all members of that group are considered flanked.
If you are in an engagement, you may take a move action to leave it. Doing so provokes an attack of opportunity from all enemies you're engaged with. You might then choose to join a different engagement in the same zone, take another move action to move a zone (provoking attacks of opportunity again for this moment as normal), or conceivably sit in that zone unengaged, for example if you wished to cast a spell without provoking attacks of opportunity.
Ranged attacks and spellcasting are basically unchanged. As mentioned before, units in an engagement are considered to be in melee and so ranged attacks take a -4 to hit. Since you are threatened when engaged, using ranged attacks or casting spells procokes attacks of opportunity as normal. You must engage a unit to touch them, such as when casting a healing spell.
Changed combat maneuvers:
*Withdraw: You may only withdraw when engaged; you become unengaged and return to your ally zone.
*Charge: Charging is now always a standard action. You must be unengaged to charge. When you charge, you enter the engagement of the target you're attacking, suffering all the effects of engaging them as normal.
*Bullrush: If you successfully bullrush a unit, the two of you leave your current engagement (provoking attacks of opportunity from others in that engagement) and form a new one together.
So that's my basic framework... It's far from complete, but I think it sounds reasonably workable. I invision using this with miniatures and three big squares for the zones. Just toss everyone's mini in the zone they're in, and group all the minis in a particular engagement together in a pile. Are there any other important rules I need to address?
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