Move and Charge in the same turn, is that legal?

[lprosperie]

I have an issue in my current game. One of my players has taken to moving into position before making a charge. He will move into position using his move action. (Usually its no more than a square or two which is why I haven't made a huge deal of to him.) Once in position he will then charge a target thus ending his turn.
Is this rules legal? As I read it, yes it is legal because he uses his move action to move into position and his standard action to charge.
But he essentially double moves and attacks with a bonus +2 when every other reference to increased movement incurs a penalty (Run: +2 speed, -5 attack; Doublemove: sacrifice a standard for a second move; ect...)
Am I missing something? or has this been handled in an errata that I'm not aware of?

On a side note, this player roleplays these situations well. He is a Dwarf cleric using a two-handed hammer, so he's basically doing a Looney Toons-esque windup before his charge. He even tried this tactic to charge a wall attempting to break through it and bury the troglodyte standing on the opposite side. He didn't make the check and knocked himself prone and dazed for his effort. Everyone really enjoyed that one.

 

[abyssaldeath]

Moving your speed cost a Move Action. Charging costs a Standard Action. So yes you can indeed move and then charge.

 

[Chimerasame]

It's legal. It's kind of strange because it's hard to imagine shifting momentum and getting the full power of your swing within 6 seconds, but it's legal.

I think the rules design logic was, it's less complex to allow it than to not allow it. No other action in the game takes both a move AND a standard to complete.

One thing I'll say, though--it's difficult to do it against the same opponent unless he willingly shifts back away from you (in which case you shift back too and then charge.) However, if your opponent remains next to you, you can't get far enough away to charge again unless you are willing to take an OA. (Can someone verify this? I'm not entirely sure here.)

 

[Zinovia]

It is perfectly fine to move and charge on the same turn. As you say, one is a move action and the other a standard. The bonus for charging is +1 to hit.

I have often seen move/charge combos used to good effect, and it really can help close the distance on a battlefield. In fact, when I first started playing 4E, I didn't realize how important or frequently used that combo should be. There were many times I should have had the bad guys move and charge to engage the characters, but did not. Ah well, hopefully I will keep learning as I go.

 

[Stuntman]

I have an issue in my current game. One of my players has taken to moving into position before making a charge. He will move into position using his move action. (Usually its no more than a square or two which is why I haven't made a huge deal of to him.) Once in position he will then charge a target thus ending his turn.
Is this rules legal? As I read it, yes it is legal because he uses his move action to move into position and his standard action to charge.

This is legal. A move uses a move action and a charge is a standard action.

But he essentially double moves and attacks with a bonus +2 when every other reference to increased movement incurs a penalty (Run: +2 speed, -5 attack; Doublemove: sacrifice a standard for a second move; ect...)

Also, the bonus is only a +1 to attacks, not +2.

Note that a charge is more restrictive than a double move in terms of movement. If you double move, you can move anywhere. A move and charge requires you to move to the nearest square from which you can attack an enemy and you must move at least 2 squares. You you cannot move at least 2 squares you cannot charge.

Run uses your move action to move your speed +2. You can choose to run first and then charge. This would give you a -4 to attacks (-5 for run and +1 for charge).

 

[Flipguarder]

It is legal and a terrific idea.

 

[Zinovia]

There are a number of limitations on charge which should be kept in mind.

You have to move a minimum of 2 squares to charge. That does make it very hard to charge the same target without provoking an opportunity attack unless you have an ability to shift multiple squares.

You have to stop in the first square that you can make an attack from. For reach weapon users, that is 1 square away. If the nearest square is already occupied, you can't charge.

I'd say your target needs to be in line of sight (not around a corner or such), but I'm not sure if that is explicitly stated in the rules.

Difficult terrain counts as 2 movement squares as usual. Opportunity attacks can be provoked as usual by your charge movement.

Your turn ends as soon as a charge is resolved. That's an important one to remember, because you can't charge someone and then shift away without special abilities of some sort.

 

[borg286]

You might offer your dwarf friend some rushing cleats(level 2 feet slot) as he can then shift 1 square away after the charge so he can shifty-chargey each round w/o provoking OAs.

 

[lprosperie]

Thanks for the great info. I think I may have been getting confused with some war game rules where charges combine both move and action. Lots of rules to keep straight.

Now that I'm clear on that, I won't have any guilt using it on my players.

 

[Griogre]

The other thing is the charging PC can only use a *basic* attack. That's why the feats to allow a melee PC to use some other power in place of a basic attack are good.

Until a PC replaces his basic attack with something or gets something to enhance is basic attack - most monsters have a better charge attack than PCs. This is because most melee monster's basic attack (make sure you know what the attack icons on a monster mean to understand this) are better than a PC's basic attack. Thus you should charge whenever it makes sense with melee type monsters.