D&D 5E Splitting your Move - The Move-Attack-Move Dynamic

[Mistwell]

One thing it will surely do is create high value for Reach attacks + Prone Rider. With stand from prone costing (as of the last playtest) costing 100 % of your move, you have outright action denial or crippling of enemies' action economy with that combo + the "split move" rules. Haven't checked the Monster side of things but on the PC side I can right off the bat:

Fighter + Polearm or Quarterstaff

- Path of the Weaponmaster > Superiority Dice for Prone.
- Couple Weaponmaster with a Reach Weapon + Polearm Master Feat (OA at Reach) and you have a sick Martial Controller. This combo should be available by level 3. You only can do that twice per combat at level 3 but you would just lay waste to all of the standards/minions and save that for to utterly neutralize the big mean melee man bad guy...yikes.

With the above build you can Move within Reach Range > Attack with Prone Rider > Retreat and wait for enemies to enter your Trip Monkey Dojo.

Well the feat cannot be had until level 4 (if you're playing with feats) and you only recover superiority after an hour rest (sometimes not so easy) and not automatically for every combat, but yes it's an effective combination.

 

[Manbearcat]

Well the feat cannot be had until level 4 (if you're playing with feats).

Ah yes. With my quick scan, my eyes had mismatched the feature table for the Fighter and slid things up one.

 

[Savage Wombat]

I still think this is one of those changes the players will think is awesome until the monsters start using it.

 

[heptat]

My players are much more mobile now and split movement allows for ranged PCs/creatures to hide, move out from cover, fire and then move back into cover. This is something I've always had trouble with in prior editions...problem solved.

I don't really like this popping out of cover without penalty ("cool story bro" I hear you say). Personally I feel using ranged weapons is overall just too easy.

I would house rule this so that you're at -2 to hit (or something, disadvantage perhaps?) unless you take a turn to aim. So you can pop out, wait, fire next round, then pop back in, or you're at a penalty. I haven't play tested this so it might be too fiddly at the table...but the nice thing about how Next is shaping up, is that it's so easy to make these changes.

 

[Plaguescarred]

One thing it will surely do is create high value for Reach attacks + Prone Rider. With stand from prone costing (as of the last playtest) costing 100 % of your move, you have outright action denial or crippling of enemies' action economy with that combo + the "split move" rules.

Standing Up use all of your current speed, which mean the target can crawl before standing up. So if you're not far away enought, he'll still possibly get to you though

 

[Dausuul]

What?

If I am using a polearm and I have reach, I will move up, mind you I don't have to get as close so that's granting me an extra 5 feet, attack, then move off someplace else. Unless he has reach himself, then the enemy won't be able to hit back and will have to expend his movement in order to come after me.

So what? He comes after you, gets to you, and whacks you. What have you gained? You've burned up some of his movement at the cost of burning up all of your own. Whoopty-doo.

One thing it will surely do is create high value for Reach attacks + Prone Rider. With stand from prone costing (as of the last playtest) costing 100 % of your move, you have outright action denial or crippling of enemies' action economy with that combo + the "split move" rules. Haven't checked the Monster side of things but on the PC side I can right off the bat:

Fighter + Polearm or Quarterstaff

- Path of the Weaponmaster > Superiority Dice for Prone.
- Couple Weaponmaster with a Reach Weapon + Polearm Master Feat (OA at Reach) and you have a sick Martial Controller. This combo should be available by level 3. You only can do that twice per combat at level 3 but you would just lay waste to all of the standards/minions and save that for to utterly neutralize the big mean melee man bad guy...yikes.

With the above build you can Move within Reach Range > Attack with Prone Rider > Retreat and wait for enemies to enter your Trip Monkey Dojo.

Edit: Should have actually looked at the feat. You do get a Trip Monkey Dojo. I don't think split-move adds much to it, however.

At best, this combo will allow you to deny the enemy one round of attacks on you if you arrange things right. You have to ensure that you aren't within charge range on the enemy's turn; otherwise it can use its movement to stand up and its action to charge. Charge range is equal to half the enemy's base speed, so you have to be able to get more than that distance away on the "withdraw" leg of your movement. Depending on your positioning and relative speeds, that could be a tall order.

And, of course, this presumes that a) no other PC is within charge or crawl range, b) you have enough open space to do all this, and c) the enemy has no ranged attack or special movement options that would negate the tactic.

 

[Manbearcat]

Doesn't work. 5E changed how opportunity attacks work; enemies can move around within your reach all day long. It's only when they try to leave your reach that they provoke. So you don't have a "Trip Monkey Dojo."

Don't have access to the playtest docs at the moment but I believe that the Polearm spec feat allows you to threaten within your reach. So an enemy moving from 10 ft to 5 ft (melee range) provokes an OA. Hence, Trip Monkey Dojo. If you have access at the moment, check it out and let me know if I'm mistaken.

 

[ForeverSlayer]

So what? He comes after you, gets to you, and whacks you. What have you gained? You've burned up some of his movement at the cost of burning up all of your own. Whoopty-doo.


Doesn't work. 5E changed how opportunity attacks work; enemies can move around within your reach all day long. It's only when they try to leave your reach that they provoke. So you don't have a "Trip Monkey Dojo."

At best, this combo will allow you to deny the enemy one round of attacks on you if you arrange things right. You have to ensure that you aren't within charge range on the enemy's turn; otherwise it can use its movement to stand up and its action to charge. Charge range is equal to half the enemy's base speed, so you have to be able to get more than that distance away on the "withdraw" leg of your movement. Depending on your positioning and relative speeds, that could be a tall order.

And, of course, this presumes that a) no other PC is within charge or crawl range, b) you have enough open space to do all this, and c) the enemy has no ranged attack or special movement options that would negate the tactic.

You do realize you have others on your team that would tale advantage of a creature being drawn to the polearm fighter. Also, being a fighter means you are the one who wants to draw those attacks because you can take it.

 

[TwoSix]

You do realize you have others on your team that would tale advantage of a creature being drawn to the polearm fighter. Also, being a fighter means you are the one who wants to draw those attacks because you can take it.

Hey now, don't tell me what the job of the fighter is. This isn't 4e, man. Roles are out. 4e is still available if you want to play it.

 

[Dausuul]

Don't have access to the playtest docs at the moment but I believe that the Polearm spec feat allows you to threaten within your reach. So an enemy moving from 10 ft to 5 ft (melee range) provokes an OA. Hence, Trip Monkey Dojo. If you have access at the moment, check it out and let me know if I'm mistaken.

Yes, you're right - I was looking at the general OA rules, not the Polearm Master feat. You do indeed get a Trip Monkey Dojo.

That said, while the Trip Monkey Dojo is a nasty combination, I don't think split-move contributes much to it. The basic dynamic of "whack the enemy from reach, then trip them when they try to close with you" works whether you have split-move or not. Split-move just gives you a bit more versatility in how you implement it.

You do realize you have others on your team that would tale advantage of a creature being drawn to the polearm fighter. Also, being a fighter means you are the one who wants to draw those attacks because you can take it.

I'm sorry, I've completely lost track of what you're trying to do here. If you want the monster to attack you, then what on earth are you doing all this split-move, polearm, reach stuff for? The only thing you're accomplishing is to make it harder for the monster to come after you--which increases the likelihood that it will go after some other PC instead. And by moving away from the monster, you deny yourself the chance to make OAs against it. If it decides to leave you alone and charge the wizard, what are you going to do about it?

Being a meat shield means getting in the monster's face and staying there. Thankfully, 5E opens up other options for fighters who don't regard Standing In Front Of Other People as a fulfilling career. But split-move tactics are not compatible with meat-shielding.

Archers aside, the person who really benefits from split-move is the light melee skirmisher working in conjunction with a meat shield. If you take the Mobile feat, you can dart in, unload on a monster, and dart out again without provoking an OA. Then the monster has to expose itself to attack from the meat shield if it tries to chase you. But this isn't much different from a meat shield protecting archers and spellcasters.