The "Bubble"

[antpasqu]

We have taken to calling the following situation The Bubble in our games:
Your enemy knocks you prone and steps back 1 square. On your turn you spend a move to stand but now you can't do a melee attack. You need 2 squares to charge but the bad guy is only 1 square away and most standard attacks don't allow a shift before the attack as part of the standard action attack. Is this right? If the bad guy moved back 2 squares you could charge and if the bad guy did not move away any squares you could attack once you stand up.
How are other groups addressing this?
Thanks in advance.

 

[-Avalon-]

Crawl forward and attack the best you can, he can't very well knock you prone if you are already there...

 

[Artoomis]

This tactic actually gives a little more effect to knocking someone prone. It is certainly less powerful that powers that daze, or stun, or impose any number of other conditions.

Also, I think there are some powers that allow one (or one's allies) to stand up as a free action, but, really, for the most part getting knocked prone is one of the less annoying things that can happen when compared to many other things that may happen.

Crawling may work, or using something other than a melee attack (or at least one without reach). Or, of course, your buddy using a power that moves you or the bad guy so you are adjacent again.

 

[Hjorimir]

Yeah, this is something I've seen pop up in our games. It seemed to be the ultimate way to deny your enemy the ability to return attack. In the end I had to make a ruling that is good for the game and thus I allow the character to stand up and charge to the "nearest square from which you can attack the enemy." That last part is a direct quote from the Charge rules.

Charge doesn't state that you must directly to the target, but to the square from which you can attack the enemy. That's the distinction I've gone with to get over on the cheese of 'the Bubble' (as you call it).

Of course, depending on the circumstances of the layout, that means the Charge may provoke an Opportunity Attack from the target. But at least there's an option.

 

[Mengu]

Acrobat boots lets you stand up from prone as a minor action, and they are cheap. There are powers that let you shift or move before an attack. There are weapons with reach, and attacks that are melee 2. There are a plethora of range attack or close burst/blast options, even for melee characters. Dwarves aren't knocked down so easily. Allies can allow you to stand up (such as with Knight's Move). You can stand up and find someone else to charge. Or you can simply stand up and ready an action, though that's probably a last resort option. I'm sure I'm missing some other good options in there.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

This is just plain old good tactics. There are many possible ways around it of course. One simple way is to stand up and ready an attack with the trigger being "when I'm adjacent to X" where X is the guy you want to hit but can't. Then your Bard, Invoker, Warlord, etc buddy shifts you into position and your attack triggers. It does cost you potentially a bit due to your shift in the initiative order, but its a solution that works for most parties.

If you really want to both leverage this tactic yourself and avoid its consequences then reach weapons are the way to go. A good polearm build fighter can really do some nice stuff with this, and it is practically the bread and butter of any dragonborn that has Draconic Arrogance (or other knockdown builds).

Overall its more advantageous to the PCs than to monsters. There are plenty of ways to knock down a monster, but few monsters can do the same in return. There are of course many monsters with minor action shifts and such that can negate it too.

In any case, I wouldn't try to "fix" it because it is just something that makes tactics a bit more interesting.

 

[Mort_Q]

That's why thrown weapons are useful.

No need to fix anything.

 

[Ryujin]

Acrobat boots lets you stand up from prone as a minor action, and they are cheap. There are powers that let you shift or move before an attack. There are weapons with reach, and attacks that are melee 2. There are a plethora of range attack or close burst/blast options, even for melee characters. Dwarves aren't knocked down so easily. Allies can allow you to stand up (such as with Knight's Move). You can stand up and find someone else to charge. Or you can simply stand up and ready an action, though that's probably a last resort option. I'm sure I'm missing some other good options in there.

A Farslayer weapon is also a good alternative. It's a particularly useful item for melee characters anyway, as it gives them a good attack at range 5. Just as good for hitting the guy who shifts away from you when you were prone, as it is when the guy you marked teleports adjacent to your ally and makes an attack that you couldn't normally interrupt.

He knocks you prone and then shifts; you reply with stand from prone and hacky-hacky, whacky-whacky.

 

[Stuntman]

This is just plain old good tactics. There are many possible ways around it of course. One simple way is to stand up and ready an attack with the trigger being "when I'm adjacent to X" where X is the guy you want to hit but can't. Then your Bard, Invoker, Warlord, etc buddy shifts you into position and your attack triggers. It does cost you potentially a bit due to your shift in the initiative order, but its a solution that works for most parties.

This is pretty effective against an enemy that has no ranged attacks. You know he's going to have to move adjacent to you at some point to attack you, so you just ready an action to attack when he moves adjacent to you. My DM used this effectively against me when I Shield Bash an enemy.

 

[borg286]

I'd like to second the option of simply charging another foe as the monster who bubbled you removed his threatening squares. This is extremely effective coming from a monster with threatening reach.