Skirmish Rules! Help Me!

[iamtheend]

A player in my campaign is using skirmish which is cool even though it levels up slowly. The DM because of this has Goblins shooting us with skirmish too. Issue I'm having is how Skirmish works.

I know Improved Skirmish says you must move AWAY from where you originally started before you make your attack. Can you with normal skirmish just side step 5 feet to the left then side step right back in the spot you started from and make your attack with Skirmish?

 

[DumbPaladin]

If you move right back to the same spot, how can you claim you moved away from where you started before making your attack?

Ultimately, the ambiguous language is going to lead to a silly argument over what "move away" means. Use your best judgement. If I were making the call, you would not be allowed to occupy the exact same spot, but you could end up rather close to it after your movement. I'm sure other people would allow the skirmisher to occupy the same spot forever, as long as they moved 10 feet before returning to it.

 

[Starbuck_II]

A player in my campaign is using skirmish which is cool even though it levels up slowly. The DM because of this has Goblins shooting us with skirmish too. Issue I'm having is how Skirmish works.

I know Improved Skirmish says you must move AWAY from where you originally started before you make your attack. Can you with normal skirmish just side step 5 feet to the left then side step right back in the spot you started from and make your attack with Skirmish?

No, errata says you can't be in original square to benefit from any skirmish.

If you are X you can't land in X to benefit (no matter if ran around in a square).

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Errata says you have to move x ft (10 for skirmish, 20 for Improved Skirmish) away from where you started to get the benefit. Common sense and RAW before the errata nerf would let you move back and forth. I believe the nerfratta was also where the bull about not being able to use skirmish mounted came from. In case you can't tell, I hate the errata.

 

[iamtheend]

It took me awhile but I found the errata on WoTc. 6 Goblins just side stepping and shooting me was getting out of hand. I am going to show my DM and hopefully things will get balanced.

 

[radmod]

Stream's response is kind of funny to me because I'm currently playing a Scout and I completely agree with the errata. I see skirmish as a moving combat maneuver. Moving back 5 ft and then 5 ft forward doesn't seem like it fits the bill. Now dodging around someone so it's harder for them to hit you and easier for you to hit them makes more sense to me. Or moving from creature to creature which I've always presumed is what a skirmish really is.
I guess it's just the DM in me!

 

[Herzog]

Also important:
Skirmish follows some of the same rules as Sneak Attack, as it is considered to be 'precision damage'.
Therefore, you cannot skirmish someone who has concealment, and you cannot ranged skirmish beyond 30'.