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General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Sneak attack + flanking = confusion
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<blockquote data-quote="PaulGreystoke" data-source="post: 1407518" data-attributes="member: 10810"><p>I was curious about this too. But most of the problems you mentioned are addressed in the UA Facing rules.</p><p></p><p>The UA rules allow a character to change his facing freely while moving, once per square entered. If the character doesn't move (or only takes a 5 foot step) he is limited to one facing change as a free action at any point during his turn. </p><p></p><p>You still threaten all of the squares into which you can make a melee attack. But attacks into the flanks squares are made at -5 & attacks into the rear squares at -10.</p><p></p><p>Yes, but some of those attacks will be at minuses as noted above. Characters with Cleave or Great Cleave can make the extra attacks granted by these feats into their flank areas at no penalty. And characters with the Whirlwind Attack feat can attack into their flank & rear penalties at no penalty.</p><p></p><p>Not addressed for characters, but monsters with special attacks & abilities that would allow them to attack into their flank & rear areas without penalty (ex. the otyugh's tentacles or the manticore's tail spikes) are noted.</p><p></p><p>The rules note that some creatures have no real facing because they can "move, attack, & perceive foes equally well in every direction." Faceless creatures can thus move or attack into any adjacent square without penalty & don't grant flank or rear attack bonuses to their opponents.</p><p></p><p>Yup, unless you have readied an action to change your facing. And you can't ready an action to respond to a visual trigger in your rear area, although you can do so to respond to a non-visual trigger like a sound (or a blow from an axe. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />) And if the guy with the axe performs an action that triggers an AoO while in your flank or rear areas, your AoO will take the appropriate (-5 or -10) penalty. But characters with the Combat Reflexes feat take no penalties for AoOs into their flank areas.</p><p></p><p>So on first glance the UA Facing rules seem pretty coherent. Has anyone playtested them or thought of any logical conundrums that would arise from their use? No facing was a big adjustment in 3E, but I am quite comfortable with it now. Still issues like the "Blinking Barbarian" & the like have me wondering if perhaps a return to Facing ala UA would improve the game. Does anyone really know yet?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="PaulGreystoke, post: 1407518, member: 10810"] I was curious about this too. But most of the problems you mentioned are addressed in the UA Facing rules. The UA rules allow a character to change his facing freely while moving, once per square entered. If the character doesn't move (or only takes a 5 foot step) he is limited to one facing change as a free action at any point during his turn. You still threaten all of the squares into which you can make a melee attack. But attacks into the flanks squares are made at -5 & attacks into the rear squares at -10. Yes, but some of those attacks will be at minuses as noted above. Characters with Cleave or Great Cleave can make the extra attacks granted by these feats into their flank areas at no penalty. And characters with the Whirlwind Attack feat can attack into their flank & rear penalties at no penalty. Not addressed for characters, but monsters with special attacks & abilities that would allow them to attack into their flank & rear areas without penalty (ex. the otyugh's tentacles or the manticore's tail spikes) are noted. The rules note that some creatures have no real facing because they can "move, attack, & perceive foes equally well in every direction." Faceless creatures can thus move or attack into any adjacent square without penalty & don't grant flank or rear attack bonuses to their opponents. Yup, unless you have readied an action to change your facing. And you can't ready an action to respond to a visual trigger in your rear area, although you can do so to respond to a non-visual trigger like a sound (or a blow from an axe. :p) And if the guy with the axe performs an action that triggers an AoO while in your flank or rear areas, your AoO will take the appropriate (-5 or -10) penalty. But characters with the Combat Reflexes feat take no penalties for AoOs into their flank areas. So on first glance the UA Facing rules seem pretty coherent. Has anyone playtested them or thought of any logical conundrums that would arise from their use? No facing was a big adjustment in 3E, but I am quite comfortable with it now. Still issues like the "Blinking Barbarian" & the like have me wondering if perhaps a return to Facing ala UA would improve the game. Does anyone really know yet? [/QUOTE]
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Sneak attack + flanking = confusion
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