The new Spring Attack

Lord Pendragon

First Post
From the SRD:
You must move at least 5 feet both before and after you make your attack in order to utilize the benefits of Spring Attack.
Why the change? Spring Attack is the third feet in a chain. Was it unbalancing to allow a PC to [attack] + [spring away]? Is there some sort of exploit that three gamers came up with to cause this change? Does this change do anything more than make the attacker move 5' to the side, then [attack] + [spring away]?

Edit: don't know how to spell 'spring' :p
 
Last edited:

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Fuzzy change.

They didn't want players to simply spring through the reach of someone without getting back. Now... what big change. You simply walk 5ft sideways afterwards.
 

Darklone said:
You simply walk 5ft sideways afterwards.

Or beforehand if you started out adjacent to them.

I agree. This change is another "doesn't seem necessary and why did they do it" kind of change.

Meh.
 

There are only a few situations in which this will be an issue - basically, ones with more than one opponent, where you will have to enter their threat zone when making the spring attack and thus be exposed to an AoO when you spring out.

Then again, maybe it's a sneaky way of making it explicit that you can't Spring Attack Charge.

J
 

Fight in a 5' corrider, and then try to do that sidestep...

I think the rule is set up this way for flavor mostly. I don't see any reason why this should be seen as a bad thing.
 

drnuncheon said:
There are only a few situations in which this will be an issue - basically, ones with more than one opponent, where you will have to enter their threat zone when making the spring attack and thus be exposed to an AoO when you spring out.
Yes, but don't you think that, being a third-tier feat, Spring Attack was more than balanced allowing a PC to avoid this?
Then again, maybe it's a sneaky way of making it explicit that you can't Spring Attack Charge.
Bah! Then they should have just added "You can't Spring Attack Charge" in the description. :p
 

I think it's a reaction to one too many flamewars on whether you have to move before and after a Spring Attack. Basically they clarified it in such a way as to satisfy both sides: you have to move before and after, but you're not disadvantaged in any real way for it.
 

hong said:
I think it's a reaction to one too many flamewars on whether you have to move before and after a Spring Attack. Basically they clarified it in such a way as to satisfy both sides: you have to move before and after, but you're not disadvantaged in any real way for it.

I concur.

The flavor text strongly suggested that it was necessary to move before and after. The feat rules as written suggested otherwise. This new SA makes the mechanics unambiguous while mostly satisfying both camps.

I think it is a sound change. It really is 90% as good as the previous version -- so it is not nerfed. But forcing the 5 foot movement creates some fun & funky tactical considerations.
 

Strangely, I see this change has hurting flavor most of all. I'd always pictured a spring attack as being movement so sudden that you were in and out before your target could react.

Springing in, then attacking, was similar to a pounce, one sudden forward dash that caught your opponent off-guard enough that he couldn't swat you as you approached.

Likewise, I saw [attack]+[spring away] as flinging yourself backward out of harm's way before your opponent could hit you with his attack.

Now, you're actually moving through his threatened area more than you did before, because you have to take a 5' step to the side, attack, then spring away. I just get this image of a high-level monk literally running in circles around a foe, attacking him, then springing away. If you're near your foe for that long, flavor suggests he should be able to hit you.

*shrug*

I can see hong's point. I'm not happy with the change, but not significantly unhappy (I never used the feat in 5' corridors to begin with,) while others who were unhappy with the change might be less unhappy now.

Still, it seems that, if anything, the flavor of this feat is what's been mangled here. It's no longer a "spring" in or out, but more like "unlimited, automatic Tumbling vs. one foe."
 


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