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<blockquote data-quote="Teflon Billy" data-source="post: 257887" data-attributes="member: 264">I attempted to use old world formation fighting techjniques when I first began playing 3E, but it was a complete lost cause.The presence of magic just changes things too much for formation fighting to be anything but a deathtrap.I now (having learned) refuse to have my side of a conflict &quot;bunch up&quot;...it makes it too easy for area effect spells to engulf them.I also do everything in my power to make sure that low level types (those without multiple atacks) are armed with reach weapons (longspear is nice and cheap). It allows them to essentially never allow anyone to take a full attack action by the simple expedient of backing up 10'...if the target refuses to pursue (and incur an AoO), leave him to the archers.Whihc brings us t archers. Archers are way overpowered in 3E, so I make sure that any force is made up of (predominantly) archers. There is nothing that can be done in melee (IMO) that can't be done better by archers. The feats available to archers at low levels should make a melee fighter blanch.Archers (particularly longbowmen as the extreme range of a longbow outstrips any spells I can think of) are usually set to have 50% or their number watch for signs of spellcasting, then fire at the mage. which tends to keep spells from totally dominating the field.So, to recap:1) Don't bunch up2) Use reach weapons and constantly backpedal.3) Have Archers make up 2/3 or your force, and have 1/2 of them on the lookout for spellcasters.Keep in mind, this is all from a DM's perspective of large-scale D&amp;D combat. What small groups of PC's do is an entirely different story.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Teflon Billy, post: 257887, member: 264"] I attempted to use old world formation fighting techjniques when I first began playing 3E, but it was a complete lost cause. The presence of magic just changes things too much for formation fighting to be anything but a deathtrap. I now (having learned) [i]refuse[/i] to have my side of a conflict "bunch up"...it makes it too easy for area effect spells to engulf them. I also do everything in my power to make sure that low level types (those without multiple atacks) are armed with reach weapons (longspear is nice and cheap). It allows them to essentially never allow anyone to take a full attack action by the simple expedient of backing up 10'...if the target refuses to pursue (and incur an AoO), leave him to the archers. Whihc brings us t archers. Archers are [i]way[/i] overpowered in 3E, so I make sure that any force is made up of (predominantly) archers. There is nothing that can be done in melee (IMO) that can't be done better by archers. The feats available to archers at low levels should make a melee fighter blanch. Archers (particularly longbowmen as the extreme range of a longbow outstrips any spells I can think of) are usually set to have 50% or their number watch for signs of spellcasting, then fire at the mage. which tends to keep spells from totally dominating the field. So, to recap: 1) Don't bunch up 2) Use reach weapons and constantly backpedal. 3) Have Archers make up 2/3 or your force, and have 1/2 of them on the lookout for spellcasters. Keep in mind, this is all from a DM's perspective of large-scale D&D combat. What small groups of PC's do is an entirely different story. [/QUOTE]

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