Moving Target
- Thread starter buzzard
- Start date
Magic Slim
First Post
The only thing I can think of is that you lose your Dex bonus to AC while running.
Slim
Slim
jgsugden
Legend
To steal a little from football terminology:
Within reasonable limits, speed should not effect the AC of a creature. A creature with a fly speed of 250 that is using a run move (flying as fast as possible) moves at 113.6 miles per hour. That is pretty much the high speed limit in 3.5 rules. That is about 20% faster than a major league fastball and a significant amount slower than a jai-alai ball moves (if you don't know what jai-alai is, look it up ... a cool sport ... sort of like 'Track Ball' against a wall on steroids.)
If a major league batter knows exactly where a fastball will be thrown, he'll smack it almost every time. It is only when he doesn't know where the ball will be (due to the possibility of there being spin on the ball, etc ...) that he has trouble hitting the ball.
In jai-alai, the pelota/ball has been clocked at speeds of 185 miles per hour. There is a more consistent spin on the ball when it if flung from the cesta, so it is easier to predict where it will go. If a player can get near the ball, they'll usually catch it in their cesta.
Of course, speed does make it a bit more difficult to connect with a target. I'm just saying speed by itself doesn't make it that much more difficult.
Quickness, on the other hand, makes it harder to connect with a blow. Dexterity covers quickness. Quickness would be the ability to make sudden changes in location that make the attacker aim at a spot where the target will not be.
With the exception of dragons, most creatures with great speed also have a great dexterity. In those situations, I'd say the issue is well covered. If you feel that it is not covered, you might consider giving a +1 or +2 circumstance bonus to AC for moving very fast.
Within reasonable limits, speed should not effect the AC of a creature. A creature with a fly speed of 250 that is using a run move (flying as fast as possible) moves at 113.6 miles per hour. That is pretty much the high speed limit in 3.5 rules. That is about 20% faster than a major league fastball and a significant amount slower than a jai-alai ball moves (if you don't know what jai-alai is, look it up ... a cool sport ... sort of like 'Track Ball' against a wall on steroids.)
If a major league batter knows exactly where a fastball will be thrown, he'll smack it almost every time. It is only when he doesn't know where the ball will be (due to the possibility of there being spin on the ball, etc ...) that he has trouble hitting the ball.
In jai-alai, the pelota/ball has been clocked at speeds of 185 miles per hour. There is a more consistent spin on the ball when it if flung from the cesta, so it is easier to predict where it will go. If a player can get near the ball, they'll usually catch it in their cesta.
Of course, speed does make it a bit more difficult to connect with a target. I'm just saying speed by itself doesn't make it that much more difficult.
Quickness, on the other hand, makes it harder to connect with a blow. Dexterity covers quickness. Quickness would be the ability to make sudden changes in location that make the attacker aim at a spot where the target will not be.
With the exception of dragons, most creatures with great speed also have a great dexterity. In those situations, I'd say the issue is well covered. If you feel that it is not covered, you might consider giving a +1 or +2 circumstance bonus to AC for moving very fast.
buzzard
First Post
jgsugden said:
I guess I'm mostly thinking of in terms of ranged weapons. Knowing how much to lead a target is not a trivial exercise. Sure, I can accept no effect on melee, but ranged attacks ought to suffer some sort of penalty.
The thing that gt me thinking about this was reading Mutants and Masterminds. Take your average speedster of rank 10. He sprints at 8K MPH. That would be a hell of a challenge to lead with a shot (and actually is faster than any bullet). However when the character is running at that speed he loses his dodge bonus to defense. I should think that moving at 8K MPH would be a defense all on it's own.
buzzard
Norfleet
First Post
Well, aside from the fact that'd be impossible to hit the target from any non-frontal vector, if he moves in a straight line, the amount of lead on the target is rather trivial physics exercise.
In practice, no targettable object in D&D is meant to travel at supersonic speeds, and the fact that speed does not significantly impact the ability of a character to target the moving object is due to the fact that this is a low-velocity approximation: Nothing in D&D naturally, or unnaturally, moves fast enough that targetting becomes a problem.
In practice, no targettable object in D&D is meant to travel at supersonic speeds, and the fact that speed does not significantly impact the ability of a character to target the moving object is due to the fact that this is a low-velocity approximation: Nothing in D&D naturally, or unnaturally, moves fast enough that targetting becomes a problem.
Zaruthustran
The tingling means it’s working!
Fun fact: the 3.0 SRD gives a -2 attack modifier to ranged attacks if your target is runnng. The 3.5 SRD (and, indeed, the 3.5 PHB) does not.
Me, I'd give a +2 AC vs. ranged attacks if you move more than 30 feet in one round and a +4 AC bonus vs. ranged attacks if you move more than 60 feet, and so on. Same penalty to ranged atack if you're the one doing the moving. Hitting moving targets is hard. Hitting a moving target while you yourself are moving is extra hard.
But that's not in the rules. According to the 3.5 rules movement has no effect on ranged attacks.
-z
Me, I'd give a +2 AC vs. ranged attacks if you move more than 30 feet in one round and a +4 AC bonus vs. ranged attacks if you move more than 60 feet, and so on. Same penalty to ranged atack if you're the one doing the moving. Hitting moving targets is hard. Hitting a moving target while you yourself are moving is extra hard.
But that's not in the rules. According to the 3.5 rules movement has no effect on ranged attacks.
-z
Ranger REG
Explorer
Character speed ... or vehicle speed?buzzard said:
Li Shenron
Legend
Zaruthustran said:
That's interesting! I was about to post that ranged-shooting a running target gives -2 penalty to the attacker (a rule which we always forget about), but I didn't notice this has been removed from 3.5. I think it made sense anyway, I have no idea why it was changed.
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