The aggravating five foot move.

[Ridley's Cohort]

The biggest problem i have with this is that the archer has no penalty for not having a melee weapon. If the barbarian fights another melee combatant, it's assumed that the other melee combatant is parrying blows with his weapon. If the barbarian faces an archer, obviously the archer will not be parrying blows with his bow. But the barbarian is as likely to hit the melee combatant as the archer.

That bothers me too, but I do not think it is worth changing.

Lack of a melee weapon means you have no AoO available. That is not a trivial penalty in a close fight in 3e.

There are a lot of things in 3e that are offensively unrealistic, yet would be foolish to attempt to fix.

 

[EvilPheemy]

Re: Re: The aggravating five foot move.

Player: I take a 5' step to the side so I am flanking him with Aelgar and take a full attack with my battle axe!...I hit AC 29...damn 14...and oh critical threat....and crit an AC 21!

DM: You hit twice...one is a crit!

Player: I do 12 on the first hit and 38 on the second.

DM: Okay...Rengrin and Aelgar leap at the Orc captain, swinging their blades. As the combatants circle each other in a frenzy of whirling blades, Rengrin sees an opportunity, slams the orc in his breastplate with his axe, doubling him over in pain. The orc's helmet topples off his head. Rengrin spins around behind the doomed creature, bringing the blade of his axe down on his now exposed skull. Blood and brains explode over the hall and the orc's body collapses in a bloody lifeless heap...His scimitar clatters down the steps.

Yaaaaaaaay! I go for the scimitar!

Oops, got too involved in reading the flavor text again.

 

[Grymlorde]

Remember that firing a bow and casting a spell provokes an attack of opportunity. This reflects the 'how can the archer defend himself v. the barbarian.'

A house rule that I use re: Casting on the Defensive is that the spellcaster retains their dodge bonus but still provokes an attack of opportunity. Also, that if they do not Cast on the Defensive, they are Helpless.

 

[Uller]

If it concerns people that it is too easy to disengage a foe, make a house rule that makes it a bit harder. Maybe something like:

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If a character attempts to leave a space that is threatened by a foe and that foe hit the character with its last melee attack on it's most recent turn, then the character must beat the foe in an opposed roll. The character may use his BAB modified by strength or dex(his choice), the attack bonus of his currently readied weapon or the highest of his Tumble or Escape Artist Skill. The foe uses the highest attack bonus of whatever weapon(s) he used to hit the character on his last turn. If the foe wins, he gets an AoO and may follow the character using a 5' move if he chooses. If the character wins, he is able to leap away from the foe.

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IMO, this is too complex to be worth it. You have to remember who attacked who with what and whether or not they hit. It also can cause a chain reaction where several rolls are required to resolve a friggin' 5' step...but there you go...