Movement question, some opinions.

[Belares]

Ok here is the situation. A player decide he wants to move backwards 2 squares then move forward the rest of his move in the same movement for whatever reason(like to get the running start to jump a pit, charge etc.). I ruled that you cannot do it as it is a start/stop situation, so you must make 2 move actions(or use a shift if you can move 2 squares that is ok, still an action though). Now you can do it with a charge but still 2 actions (move action then standard action(the Charge)). How so you all think it should be done or how you would rule it?

 

[Saeviomagy]

Ok here is the situation. A player decide he wants to move backwards 2 squares then move forward the rest of his move in the same movement for whatever reason(like to get the running start to jump a pit, charge etc.). I ruled that you cannot do it as it is a start/stop situation, so you must make 2 move actions(or use a shift if you can move 2 squares that is ok, still an action though). Now you can do it with a charge but still 2 actions (move action then standard action(the Charge)). How so you all think it should be done or how you would rule it?

The rules disagree with you. If you really want to, you can spend all of your movement hopping back and forward between the same two squares. I can't think what reason you might have for ruling otherwise.

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

Hm, we had EXACTLY this situation in our last game.

When we rolled initiative at the start of an encounter the dwarf fighter's miniature was in a hallway adjacent to a window on the second floor of a building. The bad guys were on the roof of the single storey building next door. A one square wide alleyway ran between the buildings.

The fighter wanted to leap across to the other building and engage the enemies. In order to avoid the more difficult standing jump his character moved backward two squares, moved forward two squares to get a "running jump" and jumped the two square distance necessary to clear the alleyway. That total movement of six squares put him into double move territory so he continued his second move action to get adjacent to the enemy.

Single move action = 2 squares back, 2 squares forward, 1 square of jump distance.
Second move action = 1 square of jump (continued from previous move action) and then more squares move.

That's probably not strictly legal by the rules (continuing the jump across two move actions?), but it worked for us.

 

[Markn]

I'm at work without a PHB but I will throw this out for food for thought.

Some powers, like the Warlock Shadow Walk ability, requires that you move 3 squares away from where you started. Now a casual glance at that (and you should look at the PHB for the exact wording) would have most people thinking that as long as you move 3 spaces they are fine. This is not the case. You need to move 3 spaces AWAY from the initial space. If you moved 1 square left, 1 square down and 1 square right, you have moved 3 spaces but you are still only 1 square away from the starting point so you would not qualify for the Shadow Walk.

I only bring this up to ensure you check the wording on situations like this for jumping. It may in fact be worded the same way. If so, this usually removes the need to move back, then move forward in the same movement as you don't satisfy the movement requirement. If I am not mistaken, charge works this way too.

Oh, and for what its worth, there are no rules that prevent you from moving back and forth. There's just USUALLY no good reason to do it.

 

[Markn]

One more thing.

If its not explicitly stated, meaning you could look at it either way, I would recommend ruling that he needs to move X number of squares from his starting point (2 if memory serves). This gets rid of silly actions based on the mechanics of the game.

 

[Belares]

The rules disagree with you. If you really want to, you can spend all of your movement hopping back and forward between the same two squares. I can't think what reason you might have for ruling otherwise.

I see nothing in the rules that says anything about that situation. So saying the rules disagree with me I would like to see that rule exactly.

 

[Markn]

I see nothing in the rules that says anything about that situation. So saying the rules disagree with me I would like to see that rule exactly.

I don't see anything in the rules that prevents movement back and forth. So the rules seem to support that you could and CAN do that.

Not that this is directed at me. But if I were him, thats what I'd say.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

The rules regarding jumping like this are silent on the issue, perhaps because the writers thought a "Running Start: If you move at least 2 squares
before making the jump that are in the same direction as the jump,..." was too verbose for the Long Jump description... but that is how I would run it.

In the case Brent_Nall records, I see that as being played by the rules.

Most other types of moves are either limited by thier text {Charge states the movement must be towards the enemy} or it would be pointless to move backward before moving forward.

What it boils down to is this, make sure you read the text for the action being taken

 

[Starglim]

Ok here is the situation. A player decide he wants to move backwards 2 squares then move forward the rest of his move in the same movement for whatever reason(like to get the running start to jump a pit, charge etc.). I ruled that you cannot do it as it is a start/stop situation, so you must make 2 move actions(or use a shift if you can move 2 squares that is ok, still an action though). Now you can do it with a charge but still 2 actions (move action then standard action(the Charge)). How so you all think it should be done or how you would rule it?

What is he trying to achieve? I'm finding it hard to think of something he could do with 4 squares of movement that would be abusive. As others have said, double-check the power or action he is trying to use, but in most cases I don't see that this would cause a rules problem.

If it's only a question of game physics, I would drop it, since you're inviting your players to hit you with far sillier and more game-damaging arguments based on similar reasoning.

 

[Belares]

Thanks for the opinions. I was just saying going backwards 2 squares and then forward seems like a start/stop situation, so you use 2 move actions. The adventure in the DMG first room with the pit of ooze was the focal point of the thread, actually. The rogue was at the edge and wanted to move back 2 spaces and get a running start and it involved moving back 2 squares then back the way he came and jump 2 squares over the pit. I thought it should be 2 move actions. I still do but everyone intrepets these things differently. I shall see how the rules work more before I make a more quick actioned opinion.