D&D 4E Stunting in 4E

[Harshax]

Hm. How about standard/move/minor action instead?

Savage Worlds has mechanics for stunts (they call them tricks). There are tricks based on Dex, Int, and Will. They are however, all standard actions. (Savage Worlds doesn't divide actions into levels of importances, an action is an action)

All tricks, if successful, gave you the equivalent of Combat Advantage on your foe. Really successful tricks made your foe Shaken (which mean they were more easily damaged).

Tricks could be psychological - An intimidating stare.
... or mental - looking over someone's shoulder and saying, 'It's about time you showed up'
... or physical - sand in the eye, a feint, or slashing at someone's belt buckle.

Very elegant mechanic, really. I like where you're going with this. . .

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

How stunts compare to published powers, well, that's going to be the rub.

Just look at the examples:

• Swinging from a chandelier - very close to the Tumble repositioning power, or a variety of Warlord repositioning powers.
• Tearing down a tapestry to entangle someone in - very close to the Grapple power.
• Pulling the rug from under someone's feet - very close to Trip.
• Throwing sand into someone's eyes - warlock's Eyebite (well, that one stretches it quite a bit... )

Doing it as a stunt isn't going to be quite as good as doing it as a power, but on the other hand you save a power pick - a very precious commodity.

If I've understood what I've read here correctly, Mearls is a big fan of the Feng Shui RPG, where this kind of stunts came from. I've got a good friend and good GM who (as as many others) is working on his own homebrew system, in this case based on Feng Shui. I know one of the problems he is having with his system is that he doesn't want to define too many Powers (known as "Schticks" in Feng Shui), just because he doesn't want to limit his players' range of improvised tricks. Something tells me that Wizards, with their splatbook "publish and perish", cannot place such limits on the number of powers available.

I think one 4E trick is that it offers more "granularity". You have more dials to tune a power or a stunt. If a stunt resembles a power, just add a minor drawback to the stunt - longer execution time (standard instead of minor), only special effect without damage, opportunity attack, can be done less often (item to perfom stunt breaks/enemies adapt)

 

[keterys]

Standard/move/minor seems fine to me... and it looks like there's a bit of decent discussion going. Or even standard/minor and move is just used for, well, move stunts.

I think I'd even be willing to do something like give someone bonus (in effect or action required) for the first stunt they do... that way everyone is encouraged to do one each combat, at least.

 

[hong]

I'm not sure about stunting to gain Combat Advantage. That could be too powerful for some characters (rogues). It's also likely there'll be feats/powers that let you gain CA.

 

[Jack99]

By incorporating such stunts, aren't you afraid that fights will become more static (as in pre-4e), as people most likely will be using their move and minor actions to do stunts, and then their standard action to attack?

Just a thought,

Cheers

 

[PeterWeller]

Can I ghost ride my whip in 4E?

 

[hong]

By incorporating such stunts, aren't you afraid that fights will become more static (as in pre-4e), as people most likely will be using their move and minor actions to do stunts, and then their standard action to attack?

Moving is a means to an end, the end being a more fun, entertaining experience. If stunting ends up being more fun than moving, then I win!

 

[Jack99]

Moving is a means to an end, the end being a more fun, entertaining experience. If stunting ends up being more fun than moving, then I win!

I guess you are (for once ) right! Although you haven't quite sold me yet on this stunting, I am a bit intrigued.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

We know Bull Rush has been made a power, but that's an action which would seem pretty reasonable for anyone to try.

Hmm, where did you hear this? I thought that bull rush was still an action usable by everyone (at least it was at the time of DnDXP). The power, Tide of Iron, thematically works like a bull rush, but is governed by mechanics that are almost entirely different than a bull rush.

now, trip, on the other hand, yeah that's no longer do-able by everybody.

Checking the latest version of the PHB lite:

BULL RUSH: To initiate a bull rush, you need to make a
Strength Check vs. the target's Fortitude Defense. This
does not provoke an Opportunity Attack. If you succeed,
you may push the target 1 space. The margin of success
doesn't matter, and 1 space is the maximum that a
target can be moved with Bull Rush (without taking
special abilities).

 

[hong]

So, just wondering how this stacks up, now that we have the actual books.

One thing that comes to mind: the auto-scaling of DCs by party level (DMG p.42) seems really silly.