Rules of the Game, Movement Part 1

[Plane Sailing]

Yep, saw that post above. As I noted a little earlier it was easy to make a mistake about it when the chapter about "movement" didn't mention it. I'd prefer a glossary to be a handy definition of terms without being the primary source of rules (not saying that is the case here, but I shouldn't *have* to look up a rule in the glossary if I've read the text (and I might not have read all the text here... one of the problems of an updated version as against a whole new version is seeing what has changed).

Something I haven't noticed BTW - did the glossary find its way into the SRD? I just tried a text search for that phrase in the SRD documentation and couldn't find it.

Cheers

 

[Plane Sailing]

A-ha, this was introduced into the text of the 3.5 SRD

Hampered Movement: Difficult terrain, obstacles, or poor visibility can hamper movement. When movement is hampered, each square moved into usually counts as two squares, effectively reducing the distance that a character can cover in a move.
If more than one condition applies, multiply together all additional costs that apply. (This is a specific exception to the normal rule for doubling)
In some situations, your movement may be so hampered that you don’t have sufficient speed even to move 5 feet (1 square). In such a case, you may use a full-round action to move 5 feet (1 square) in any direction, even diagonally. Even though this looks like a 5-foot step, it’s not, and thus it provokes attacks of opportunity normally. (You can’t take advantage of this rule to move through impassable terrain or to move when all movement is prohibited to you.)
You can’t run or charge through any square that would hamper your movement.

Two additional paragraphs added to the "hampered movement" description compared to 3e

 

[Legildur]

.....There are a couple of minor math errors, but the only thing that leaped out at me as a made-up house rule is the idea that allies count as obstacles, and moving through an ally's square incurs double movement cost.

Wouldn't that ruling then help explain why an ally can't charge through a square occupied by another ally, as that would be hampered movement? Maybe there was method to their madness in this after all.....

 

[Artoomis]

Wouldn't that ruling then help explain why an ally can't charge through a square occupied by another ally, as that would be hampered movement? Maybe there was method to their madness in this after all.....

No, there was a madness to their method...

 

[MerakSpielman]

I've always ruled that you can pass through a square occupied by an ally with no penalty, as long as said ally is not engaged in combat. I mean, 5' is a pretty big area. It's not that hard to step aside briefly and let a friend by. I used to work in a the kitchen of a restaurant and we had an aisle less than five feet wide, and we could get past each other just fine, and we were practically running.

 

[the Jester]

I've let the pcs pass each others' squares freely (with no penalty) since we found that clause in the 3.0 days.

However, the path is not 'unobstructed'- no charging.

 

[Joshua Randall]

When I started playing D&D 3.0 (after several years of not playing), one of things I noticed is that any effect that reduces your movement is extremely powerful. And I don't just mean encumbrance or the slow spell. Things like blindness, rough terrain, being entangled, being fatigued or exhausted -- these are serious drawbacks in combat.

So, uh, anyway, this has not much to do with rules, but I thought I'd share. You're welcome.

P.S. The web spell might be even better than entangle, because even if you make the save you're still entangled. Woo!

 

[Hypersmurf]

A-ha!

Communication with the Sage. Due to the slightly confusing layout of p147-148 (a little tiny block of text in the middle of a whole bunch of diagrams on the right column of p147), it looks like Skip managed to read to the bottom of the left column, turn the page, and keep reading on p148.

Thus, he read that moving through the square of an ally... (turn the page)... counts as two squares.

His last email was basically "Oops - stay tuned!"

-Hyp.

 

[Caliban]

P.S. The web spell might be even better than entangle, because even if you make the save you're still entangled. Woo!

Either spell will entangle you as long as you are in the area of effect, regardless of your saving throw. The saving throw just determines whether or not you are stuck to the spot.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Email from the Sage:

"The offending text has been excised; allies no longer hamper movement."

-Hyp.