Skirmish damage in surprise round?

[Bagpuss]

If you are looking for a ranged attack then you just need.

Shot on the Run - It's an attack action that also allows movement.

Benefit
When using the attack action with a ranged weapon, you can move both before and after the attack, provided that your total distance moved is not greater than your speed.

You move 10ft shoot and still have 20ft of movement available.

Melee Attack, partial charge or Spring Attack.

 

[Pbartender]

If you are looking for a ranged attack then you just need.

Shot on the Run - It's an attack action that also allows movement.

Benefit
When using the attack action with a ranged weapon, you can move both before and after the attack, provided that your total distance moved is not greater than your speed.

You move 10ft shoot and still have 20ft of movement available.

Melee Attack, partial charge or Spring Attack.

But you'd still need a Standard action (your attack) and a Move action (the movement, divided up) to accomplish this... the feat says nothing about getting movement as a part of your attack action.

 

[Bagpuss]

Nope. Read the feat.

When using the attack action with a ranged weapon, you can move

You don't need to use a move action.

If you have 30ft speed, for an attach action you can fire your weapon and move upto 30ft with a break at any point in that movement. It's like a charge but with a break in the movement.

In a full round you could move 60ft and fire your weapon. One Shot on the Run (standard action) and one move action.

 

[Pbartender]

Nope. Read the feat.

Hrm... I wonder if that changed from 3.0.

 

[pawsplay]

I don't think anything involving a swift action will work... surprise rounds are limited to a single standard action, yes?

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

I believe that surprise rounds are limited to a single move or standard action in the same way that normal rounds are limited to one move action and one standard action/one full-round action. I could be wrong, though.

 

[Darklone]

Wow... Shot on the Run. I'm not sure this has been intended to work that way though...

Yet, it would finally be something to make that feat useful.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Nope. Read the feat.

When using the attack action with a ranged weapon, you can move

You don't need to use a move action.

You may need to get someone to check the Special Edition PHB.

I don't know for certain about Shot on the Run, but they changed Spring Attack in that printing to correct the error generated when the definition of a standard action changed from 3E to 3.5, but the feat text didn't correctly reflect the change; Spring Attack now states "When using the attack action with a melee weapon, you can split your move action in that round in order to move both before and after the attack, provided that your total distance moved is not greater than your speed."

I wouldn't be surprised if Shot on the Run has been similarly corrected.

Unfortunately, this change hasn't made it into online errata; you can only find it by buying a later-printing PHB!

-Hyp.

 

[Felon]

The way skrimish is implemented is pretty screwy. There's no raionale explicitly defined in the feature's description for why a scout gets this bonus damage, but supporting material suggest its similar to sneak attack in principle. Supposedly, it's extra precision damage you get for darting around and attacking from an unexpected angle instead of trying to sneak up and stab the guy in the back. But you don't get it when an opponent is flat-footed. That seems like a non sequitor to me.

Think about it. Scout sees orc. Orc doesn't see scout. Scout stands still and shoots, no bonus. Scout moves 10 feet while hiding and moving silently. BAM! Bonus damage on the orc who never saw it coming. Any angle of attack would effectively have been an unexpected one, so what did moving 10 feet actually accomplish that merited the extra damage?

Personally, I think the whole thing should work like this:

• The basic class feature used by rogues, ninjas, scouts, etc. should be called Sudden Strike which provides extra damage against a target denied a Dex bonus to AC.
• Some classes (like rogue) also get another feature called Backstab which allows sudden strike damage to be applied to flanked targets.
• Some classes (well, basically just the scout ATM) get a feature called Skirmish Attack which allows sudden strike damage to apply after moving 10 feet.
• Maybe make Backstab and Skirmish second-level features to avoid the ease of double-dipping to get both features.
• Call the AC bonus currently granted by Skirmish something else (Skirmish Defense).

 

[pawsplay]

Personally, I think the whole thing should work like this:

• The basic class feature used by rogues, ninjas, scouts, etc. should be called Sudden
• Strike which provides extra damage against a target denied a Dex bonus to AC.
• Some classes (like rogue) also get another feature called Backstab which allows sudden strike damage to be applied to flanked targets.
• Some classes (well, basically just the scout ATM) get a feature called Skirmish Attack which allows sudden strike damage to apply after moving 10 feet.
• Maybe make Backstab and Skirmish second-level features to avoid the ease of double-dipping to get both features.
• Called the AC bonus currently granted by Skirmish something else (Skirmish Defense).

Wow! You read my mind. I was just thinking about this the other day.

However, I should note that Peregrine Runners and Highland Stalkers also get skirmish. They are PrCs (I think the Peregrine even predates the Scout).

I don't see a problem with double dipping features. It's a BAB hit, for one thing.