Sliding allies without powers

[Sunglare]

In a recent game I was running the fighter and cleric were at the head of the battle and the fighter was stunned and in bad shape. The cleric wanted to grab the fighter and move him behind him so the creatures could not attack the fighter on their next turn.
I ruled this as a move action but I don't want to rob class's that actually have the ability to move allies around such as the Warlord so I was thinking of actually using the grab rules to do this but two standard actions to move an ally seems a bit much.

How would you handle allowing allies to slide each other without using a power to do it?

 

[dbm]

This happenend in a game I was reffing, and I had a similar concern. I would only allow this to be done with helpless characters, and ruled that it took a standard action to grab the person then they (the grabbing character) moved at half speed.

A poor enough option to only be used in emergencies, which is what I wanted to achieve.

Cheers,
Dan

 

[Dalzig]

The person doing the 'sliding' could always just use a bull rush to push them out of the way. Though that doesn't help if you are looking to pull them towards you...

 

[Sunglare]

Maybe 2 move actions. One to grab them and another to slide them to any square adjacent to you?

 

[MarkB]

According to the PHB (page 290): "To move a grabbed target, you must succeed on a Strength attack. However, helpless allies are treated as objects; you just pick them up and move them."

So, if the ally is willing to be treated as helpless by the PC, it'll take one standard action to grab him, a minor action to pick him up, and a move action to move him. How far you get depends upon what level of carrying capacity his weight leaves you at.

If you just want him out of the way, then technically you could do even less - take a standard action to grab him, then a minor action to pick him up, then a free action to drop him prone in your own space. You could then move into his space with your remaining action, or on his turn he could stand up as a move action, automatically shifting to an adjacent free space of his choice.

 

[Tony Vargas]

This came up in our group. A PC was in a hazard that dazed her every turn and couldn't get out without dropping a daily power she was maintaining. I moved into the area, grabbed her, and used an action point to drag her out ('unopposed STR attack,' I think, was how we figured it). It was that important to maintain the power and get her actions back.

That doesn't step on warlord slide abilies. Getting the other PC in the exact same predicament out only used a move action (Knight's Move). Move action vs move & two standard actions, one from an action point, is no contest.