Rules quoted first for context:
"Press The Attack: When you take the Attack action, you can use a bonus action to make your attacks with advantage. If you do so, until the beginning of your next turn all attacks against you are made with advantage. You may only Press the Attack when you do not have disadvantage on attacks. When you Press the Attack, your target can use its reaction to Fall Back.
Fall Back: Whenever a creature within your reach takes the Press the Attack action, you can use your reaction to yield ground. You move backwards 5 feet, your attacker does not gain advantage against you from using Press the Attack, and you have disadvantage on attacks until the end of your next turn. As part of its action, your attacker can move into the space you vacated. A creature using the Rage class feature cannot choose to Fall Back.
Opportunity Attacks: The melee attack rolls you make are not the only times a character swings their weapon in a round. There are feints, parries, and other movements that are not rolled. As such, if someone drops their guard, they open themselves up to attack. Such an attack is called an opportunity attack. You can use your reaction to attempt an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach. An opportunity attack is a single melee attack against the provoking creature made immediately before the creature leaves your reach. The Disengage action can be used to avoid provoking opportunity attacks. Movement through teleportation does not provoke opportunity attacks, and unless noted otherwise neither does forced movement (such as if you are pushed away by a creature or effect, or if you move past a creature while falling)."
So much seems wrong with these new combat options it is jarring, for a finalized version of a product. First, Press The Attack is not limited to melee attacks by any text in the section. Fall Back, the counter, is only valid against characters within the defender's reach, so ranged characters can freely use this to gain advantage, despite the text of Press The Attack noting the targets can use their reaction for Fall Back - sometimes they can, but not always, based on their reach and positioning, per Fall Back's actual description. The ranged attacker using Press the Attack still suffers from advantage regarding attacks against themselves, but this suggests Berserker builds are best suited as Ranged Characters, using Rage to soak damage to counteract Press the Attack making them easier to hit, which is an odd pairing, but as Rage now does nothing for melee damage, instead providing HP each round, ranged Berserkers using Press The Attack seem ideal. That's an odd way to funnel that class that seems unintended.
Another odd case based on this wording - an attacker with a reach weapon, attacking a defender without one, can strike from 10 feet away, but the defender cannot use Fall Back because the attacker is not a creature "within your reach" for the defender, the one who would be taking the Fall Back reaction.
The wording of Fall Back suggests the 5 foot step back is required, and the wording of Opportunity Attacks means they will take an OA in response from close range (5ft threat) melee attackers using Press The Attack. Fall back isn't much of an improvement, therefore. Instead of the one to three attacks made as part of an Attack Action having advantage, the defender will now suffer an additional attack from the OA, as well as the Attack Action attacks without advantage. Fall Back is the defender's choice, not "forced movement," so assuming 5ft melee ranged, they will suffer an OA in order to fall back in most instances of close range melee combat. How is Fall Back really helpful, in this case?
Are there mountains of errata and rules clarification on their way to make any of this make sense?
"Press The Attack: When you take the Attack action, you can use a bonus action to make your attacks with advantage. If you do so, until the beginning of your next turn all attacks against you are made with advantage. You may only Press the Attack when you do not have disadvantage on attacks. When you Press the Attack, your target can use its reaction to Fall Back.
Fall Back: Whenever a creature within your reach takes the Press the Attack action, you can use your reaction to yield ground. You move backwards 5 feet, your attacker does not gain advantage against you from using Press the Attack, and you have disadvantage on attacks until the end of your next turn. As part of its action, your attacker can move into the space you vacated. A creature using the Rage class feature cannot choose to Fall Back.
Opportunity Attacks: The melee attack rolls you make are not the only times a character swings their weapon in a round. There are feints, parries, and other movements that are not rolled. As such, if someone drops their guard, they open themselves up to attack. Such an attack is called an opportunity attack. You can use your reaction to attempt an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach. An opportunity attack is a single melee attack against the provoking creature made immediately before the creature leaves your reach. The Disengage action can be used to avoid provoking opportunity attacks. Movement through teleportation does not provoke opportunity attacks, and unless noted otherwise neither does forced movement (such as if you are pushed away by a creature or effect, or if you move past a creature while falling)."
So much seems wrong with these new combat options it is jarring, for a finalized version of a product. First, Press The Attack is not limited to melee attacks by any text in the section. Fall Back, the counter, is only valid against characters within the defender's reach, so ranged characters can freely use this to gain advantage, despite the text of Press The Attack noting the targets can use their reaction for Fall Back - sometimes they can, but not always, based on their reach and positioning, per Fall Back's actual description. The ranged attacker using Press the Attack still suffers from advantage regarding attacks against themselves, but this suggests Berserker builds are best suited as Ranged Characters, using Rage to soak damage to counteract Press the Attack making them easier to hit, which is an odd pairing, but as Rage now does nothing for melee damage, instead providing HP each round, ranged Berserkers using Press The Attack seem ideal. That's an odd way to funnel that class that seems unintended.
Another odd case based on this wording - an attacker with a reach weapon, attacking a defender without one, can strike from 10 feet away, but the defender cannot use Fall Back because the attacker is not a creature "within your reach" for the defender, the one who would be taking the Fall Back reaction.
The wording of Fall Back suggests the 5 foot step back is required, and the wording of Opportunity Attacks means they will take an OA in response from close range (5ft threat) melee attackers using Press The Attack. Fall back isn't much of an improvement, therefore. Instead of the one to three attacks made as part of an Attack Action having advantage, the defender will now suffer an additional attack from the OA, as well as the Attack Action attacks without advantage. Fall Back is the defender's choice, not "forced movement," so assuming 5ft melee ranged, they will suffer an OA in order to fall back in most instances of close range melee combat. How is Fall Back really helpful, in this case?
Are there mountains of errata and rules clarification on their way to make any of this make sense?
