Spring Attacking Barbarians and Other Combos

[Starfox]

A fellow PC in my group has a barbarian with Spring Attack. Sure, he had to give up some other things (like armor), but he is SO mobile in combat.

His usual tactic is to move up to an opponent, chop him, then move away. Far away. With 40 ft. of movement, he can often move into a position where opponent's can't even charge him (around corners and such). This more than makes up for his lousy armor class. It also means he is less of a sheild for the rest of the party, but with one cleric and one paladin in plate armor, we mannage.

I used to think Spring Attack was pretty lousy, but I was thinking halfling rogues or plate-armored warriors. Barbarians add a new dimension to the trick.

I'm not complaining or anything, just pointing out a clever combat manuver. Call it homage.

Anyone has any similar combos that work really well?

 

[Hypersmurf]

The big problems with this are that a/ he's limiting himself to one attack per round, and b/ once people realise they can never use their own multiple attacks, they'll just start readying actions to make partial attacks when he comes in range. And then his lousy AC begins to hurt... especially if those readied actions involve lots of tripping, disarming, or grappling, negating his Springs...

-Hyp.

 

[Madfox]

Combine it with expeditious retreat and it also becomes quite effective

What I am wondering at though is what happens when you attack an opponent with reach. Does that opponent still gains an AOO or not?

Quote from SRM:

Spring Attack [General]
Prerequisites: Dex 13+, Dodge, Mobility, base attack bonus +4 or higher.
Benefit: When using the attack action with a melee weapon, the character can move both before and after the attack, provided that the character's total distance moved is not greater than the character's speed. Moving in this way does not provoke an attack of opportunity from the defender the character attacks. The character can’t use this feat if the character is in heavy armor.

 

[Starfox]

We are still only level four, so this isn't a problem yet. But yes, it will be. But we still have other close-combat fighters in the group that enemies cannot ignore. We also play Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, where most of the opposition so far has been rather dumb monsters.

I'm playing the paladin. I can't wait till level 6, where I get my unicorn and my second attack, maybe this will let me shine a bit next to our barbarian.

Ah, yes, a unicorn. Another nice combo is a unicorn and Spirited Charge.

A paladin can get it at level 6 [Defenders of the Faith], and it starts out with 6HD, +13 attack bonus, does double damage on a charge, has reach, can cast 5d8+20 points of cure spells and neutralize poison, has a continous magic circle against evil, and finally has a +3 magic horn. To top it all off, it is also much more agile than a horse. With goat-hooves, it can negotiate most stairways and tunnels that humans can take. So it can come along into a dungeon. In any open space, I can charge for lance damage x3 (multiplying bonus damage from Smite Evil), while he does horn damage x2 (with his +3 horn).

I'm thinking of bying a caster level 5 wand of shrink for our sorcerer, so that he can shrink the unicorn past any tight turns.

[edited glaring spelling errors]

 

[Starfox]

What happens when you attack an opponent with reach. Does that opponent still gains an AOO or not?

Not the way we play, at least. But in a group of creatures with reach, only the one you are attacking gets no AoO.

But one of the main merits of Spring Attack is to move through reach to attack a large creature. Especially important against those very big creatures with 15 ft reach, or against fools with Large and In Charge or similar feats/abilities.