Sneak Attacks and flanking?

[BuddyRich]

What constitutes flanking? Say I have the following situation 2, 2nd level rogues and a 5th level Fighter. The fighter is ambushed on the road while travelling and a couple of footpads jump him from either side. Lets say there is no surprise round and get right to the action.

R ->F-><-2 (the arrows denoting facing).

With movement all being equal (which might not be the case if heavy armour is worn) what can the fighter do, outnumbered as he is, to not get flanked by one or both rogues? Its an open road so there is nothing he can put his back or side too? Since they're both rogues its a double sneak attack whamy every round.

Lets say the fighter makes it to the tree line and fights with his back to the tree

TreeF-><-R
^
R

Would this still be considered flanking for both rogues? (they could reposition themselves in such a way so it would be at any rate).

Does a flanked character always allow a sneak attack. Could the fighter concentrate on one rogue so he wouldn't get a sneak attack?

This is kind of a forced example but as a tactician I am interested in what to do in this situation.

 

[Crothian]

First off all there is no facing. Second, you only get flanking when you have an ally 180 degrees, on the other side of the opponent. So, in your exzample with the tree that is not a flank.

What can the fighter do? Attack one rogue and make a move action that prvokes an AoO from both rogues and hopes he can get away. Another thing he can do is go defensive and hope he can outlast the rogues. This is a situation where the rogues have the advantage, so it's a tough fight for the fighter.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Whenever you and your friend have an enemy between you, you flank them

A-E-A

A being allies, E the enemy. It doesnt matter how you are faced. You're flanked by both. Period. There's no way to concentrate on one or both.

Flanking always enables a rogue to sneak attack. And since you can ready an action, you must find a way to prevent them from flanking you, or you'll get sneak attacked every round.

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A

This is no flanking! The allies don't have the enemy between them, so no flank. But they could place themselves differently

A
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Since there's no "back" or "side", the enemy is flanked here, even if his back's against the tree.

So the fighter in question just has to drop one of the rogues (since he's 5th-level and they only 2nd, with around 10 or 12 HP at the most, while he has around 40, this should be no problem.)

 

[Stalker0]

you could ready an action to disarm one of the rogues as he attacked. If the rogue is disarmed, he no longer threatens (unless he's a monkish rogue and therefore doesn't flanks.

 

[Dr_Rictus]

Also, if there is a tree around, there's probably also an area of light foliage nearby, in which case the fighter could break for that, get concealment, and be immune to sneak attacks.

 

[kreynolds]

For anyone that's interested, Chapter 5 of Song & Silence has some expanded info on flanking.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

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Great. Now I'm thirsty. Damn autosuggestion