Set to Receive Charge

[Nail]

....I *think* Artoomis is talking about losing itterative attacks, at least with his option 3c.

 

[frankthedm]

When using a spear & setting it against charge, one must do all they can to ensure the foe will need to charge to reach you, since having an INT over 0 means knowing not to run onto a pointy stick if you don't have to. If you Set Vs. Charge within 35 feet of a non encumbered foe, you need a refresher course on movement. And yes, if you foe has more speed, you have to back up further.

Also, you are not alone, make SURE the other party members know what you need them to do. Once you set Vs. Charge, they should know to get behind you no matter what or at the very least make sure the foe can’t charge them. Make sure the casters are not loading up on short range spells. If the arcanist won’t spare you a protection from arrows, let the monsters through to him. And make sure all the other party members have decent ranged weapons, you are not shooting, they better be.

Drill routines for various combat situations when near civilization. This will help the players remember know the tactics & how to improvise them.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I've always interpreted it as ready an attack, if they charge, poo poo for them.

Readying an action involves YOUR TURN coming up and you not doing "enough" during tha turn and saving the standard action part for a specific occurance.

If for no other reason than how the table has to run, everybody at the table has a pretty good idea what's going on, even if you never say the word "ready". "Orc 3 moves to the side ... Orc 4 ..." Orc 3 didn't do anything meaningful. If he has a long pointy stick, chances are, he's readied an attack.

Now, say the barbarian comes up next. The ONLY way the orc can ready an action is if he goes before the barbarian. So, table-wise, if Orc 3 has just acted, and taken no functional action, even if the Barbarian has to charge to get into melee range and attack, he KNOWS it would be an idiot maneuver to do so.

So, really, the only possible utility is if you're a heavily armored guy with a longspear facing a barbarian, and you get to act first. You won't be able to get to HIM and attack, while he can get to you, so you wait for him to come to you.

Which I've had GMs do to me and which I've done as well. Generally, it's a poor tactic. If you're in such a poor position, it's better to retreat as rapidly as possible. If you're going to waste a round to, basically, discourage somebody from moving and attacking, it's usually a safe bet that the other side has something else they can do that round. Like obliterate you with spells.

Even WITH an open interpretation, I've never seen anybody successfully set vs. a charge. D&D combats are usually such that a charge isn't necessary past the partial-action surprise round (in which case you didn't get to set anyway). Either you're within general maneuver distance, or you're far enough away that SOMETHING is in the way of your charge. Party members, corpses, rough terrain, tables, WHATEVER. Charge is such a finicky maneuver, creating a "tactic" to discourage it that involves wasting an entire round with your kilt hiked up is, essentially, useless.

I liken it to America creating a Dedicated Mongoose Defense Corpse to defend against the possiblity of the Ruskies launching a Cobra Paratrooper Surprise Offensive ...

--fje

 

[Felnar]

side questions (to my original side question)
when does a person start being a charging character?
and when do they stop being a charging character?

is it when they have the AC penalty?

can you make the attacks for double damage during your turn?

or only during someone elses turn (thru AoO or interuppting their turn)?

 

[the_mighty_agrippa]

Both Charge and Ready v. Charge are specific mechanics. The point of the Ready v. charge mechanic is to provide in-game balance against charging monsters (and more accurately, mounted lance damage). If you have ever held a football for a kicker, you can get a good sense of what readying for a charge really means. It means sitting on your ass and anchoring the spear to absorb the impact of the charging creature.

You take a calculated risk for the opportunity to seriously harm the attacker. If it doesn't pan out for you, well, it's still the risk you took.

I played a barbarian whose favorite tactic was readying for a charge. The DM hated it and I wasn't even arguing for a broader use of the action. It's a great mechanic, but that's all it is. It's not designed to give characters any special advantage outside of the Ready v. Charge action.

As far as what attack gets the double damage, I would rule that an AOO gets the benefits. Really, it doesn't matter but in terms of impact, the AOO is absorbing the hit, so the damage should be there.

 

[the_mighty_agrippa]

side questions (to my original side question)
when does a person start being a charging character?
and when do they stop being a charging character?

is it when they have the AC penalty?

can you make the attacks for double damage during your turn?

or only during someone elses turn (thru AoO or interuppting their turn)?

After they've moved 10 feet in a straight line towards the "chargee."
At the start of the charger's next action.

See above.

Only if you have selected Ready v. Charge and are so assaulted (although I *might* rule that some sort of *castling* if an ability like Harm's Way was in play). You forfeiting additional attacks through the readied action (except from Haste or similar ones, even so, they are not readied actions, they are bonus ones).

If you ain't the target, you don't get the bonuses.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Note that it's specifically against a charging character. In all places, it seems quite evident that the ready must be made against a character using the Charge action. However, technically, that character could be charging someone else and go through (or end up in) your threatened area.

Or leave. If Horzh the Hobgoblin is ten feet north of you, and you ready your longspear against a charge, and Horzh decides to charge your buddy the wizard fifty feet further north, then your Readied action triggers and you stick him for double damage, even though he's charging directly away from you.

-Hyp.

 

[Legildur]

Or leave. If Horzh the Hobgoblin is ten feet north of you, and you ready your longspear against a charge, and Horzh decides to charge your buddy the wizard fifty feet further north, then your Readied action triggers and you stick him for double damage, even though he's charging directly away from you.

Hyp, I'm having difficulties with accepting that outcome because of the wording of the 'Readying a Weapon against a Charge' text (from the 3.5E SRD, my emphasis):

You can ready certain piercing weapons, setting them to receive charges.

I think that the use of the word 'receive' implies an 'incoming' direction, which would negate the scenario you presented.

 

[Artoomis]

....I *think* Artoomis is talking about losing itterative attacks, at least with his option 3c.

First, you lose iterative attacks you would get if you, say, delayed until you got attacked.

Second, you might just lose your action all together if you do not get attacked at all.

There's the risk.

 

[Infiniti2000]

First, you lose iterative attacks you would get if you, say, delayed until you got attacked.

Second, you might just lose your action all together if you do not get attacked at all.

There's the risk.

Well, I think we are just not talking about the same thing at all. The discussion revolves around whether readying against a charge allows you to also ready against a non-charge. I said that if you rule 'yes' there's no downside to readying against a charge -- you would always do so just in case you get charged because you lose nothing as compared to just readying. I'm not talking about readying in general vs. not readying.

If, however, you rule (as I think the rules state) that you must ready against a charge and then can only take that readied attack vs. a charging character, there's a significant downside. Namely, when the character doesn't charge (if he doesn't even come after you, then both readied actions are equally poor).