Simplifying Immediate Actions

[MortalPlague]

One of the things 4th Edition really cemented were immediate actions. Sure they existed before, but they really came into their own with 4E. But I found that new players (and even veterans) found it fiddly to track when they could be used. Immediate reactions and immediate interrupts could easily be condensed into one action. And opportunity attacks could be rolled into it too.

What I'd love to see is this; instead of immediate actions, which only happen once per combat round, and opportunity attacks, which happen once per combatant's turn, just roll it all into one mechanic. I'd suggest having simply Opportunity Actions, which go off once per combatant's turn, and have immediate actions become opportunity actions. And if using it multiple times in a round would be an issue, just add "works once per turn", or something of that nature.

Thoughts?

 

[Hassassin]

I'm fine with opportunity actions, but I think they should mostly be ones that don't need a dice roll to resolve.

For example: swordman charges a pikeman. Rather than giving the pikeman an opportunity attack before the swordman's attack, maybe those attacks could just cancel out? The pikeman still gets the first attack on his turn.

 

[Frostmarrow]

You could work the reactions into the stances. "While in this stance you get a free whack against anyone leaving a square which you threaten", or some such.

It makes it possible to add a lot of reactions but only one is available at any one time.

 

[DonTadow]

I'm fine with opportunity actions, but I think they should mostly be ones that don't need a dice roll to resolve.

For example: swordman charges a pikeman. Rather than giving the pikeman an opportunity attack before the swordman's attack, maybe those attacks could just cancel out? The pikeman still gets the first attack on his turn.

my wife and i were discussing this the other day and this was the same conclusion we had. Attacks of opportunity/immediate actions are not bad. It's the time it takes. Players hsouldn't get 2/3 turns a game.

I'm all for a system, where players issue a set number of damage for certain actions by opponents. This can be based on the weapon type, on comparative abilities or on special abilities.

 

[keterys]

Yeah, drop every immediate/opportunity that possibly can be.

So maybe instead of resolving an attack for trying to move past someone, they're instead treated as slowed until the end of their turn so they can't do it as easily (and they can then find ways to get around that)

The 4E Cavalier's "I do X damage if you do something bad" can be applied more universally in concept, too. Provoked from me? 5 damage. Attacked my friend? 5 damage. Don't really care how or why (I'm swinging a sword around, you let your guard down, bla bla), but boy is it fast and gets the job done. 5 damage.

 

[MortalPlague]

A fixed damage number would work really well for it, though I'd be wary to let the attack roll drop. I like being able to dodge things like that. The Artful Dodger rogue build is one of my favorites.

I like the idea of stances for this, though.

 

[Rune]

I'd be happy if all opportunity actions and immediate actions were replaced with triggered actions (including user-defined triggers). I believe it would simplify things quite a bit.