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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6203171" data-attributes="member: 4937">One of the down sides of being somewhat realistic and detailed is that a lot of times showy stunts just don't make a lot of sense.&nbsp; There are usually easier ways to be just as effective that don't involve high risk maneuvers where you can catastrophically fail.&nbsp;&nbsp; In the case of 'throw an ally', you are spending the invaluable action of two characters on a stunt that at best in going to be marginally more effective than a regular attack and is highly likely to go spectacularly wrong and waste both characters action.&nbsp;&nbsp; There are only a limited number of cases where this makes any sense at all, and most of them involve 'we have no other choice' or 'this is an absolute emergency'.&nbsp;&nbsp; Stunts make the most sense when you have an ally down or are otherwise under extreme time pressure.&nbsp; If you have to disrupt a full round casting or a coup de grace attack or an isolated PC has been staggered and is likely to be killed outright next round and there is no other plan that can work, it makes sense to risk everything.&nbsp;&nbsp; Otherwise, it doesn't.Another problem is by the time the characters are really skillful enough to pull off this sort of thing, they don't need to.&nbsp;&nbsp; If you've got enough tumble to make it effective to throw you across a moat at an enemy archer, you probably also have enough jump to make the distance on your own.&nbsp; Or if your ally can throw you 80', chances are by a combination of skills and magical enhancement, you've got the ability to charge something 80' away anyway.&nbsp;&nbsp; If catapulting you over the heads of the wall of zombies to reach the necromancer makes sense, you probably have more than enough jump and tumble to pass through the zombies unscathed on your own.&nbsp; Recently a character used his Use Rope skill to lasso skeletons and drag them into a pit where they were dashed to pieces.&nbsp;&nbsp; Cool stunt, but at his level he could have just gone over and whacked the skeletons with much less fanfare.&nbsp; At some level, he was just showing off.That isn't to say that it's always senseless to pull off a stunt, but there is a fine line between having rules that allow for stunts and having rules that make zany combat tricks virtually risk free buffs that players will attempt round after round after round.&nbsp; At some point, if it is too easy, it stops being cool and creative and starts being repetitive and lame.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 6203171, member: 4937"] One of the down sides of being somewhat realistic and detailed is that a lot of times showy stunts just don't make a lot of sense. There are usually easier ways to be just as effective that don't involve high risk maneuvers where you can catastrophically fail. In the case of 'throw an ally', you are spending the invaluable action of two characters on a stunt that at best in going to be marginally more effective than a regular attack and is highly likely to go spectacularly wrong and waste both characters action. There are only a limited number of cases where this makes any sense at all, and most of them involve 'we have no other choice' or 'this is an absolute emergency'. Stunts make the most sense when you have an ally down or are otherwise under extreme time pressure. If you have to disrupt a full round casting or a coup de grace attack or an isolated PC has been staggered and is likely to be killed outright next round and there is no other plan that can work, it makes sense to risk everything. Otherwise, it doesn't. Another problem is by the time the characters are really skillful enough to pull off this sort of thing, they don't need to. If you've got enough tumble to make it effective to throw you across a moat at an enemy archer, you probably also have enough jump to make the distance on your own. Or if your ally can throw you 80', chances are by a combination of skills and magical enhancement, you've got the ability to charge something 80' away anyway. If catapulting you over the heads of the wall of zombies to reach the necromancer makes sense, you probably have more than enough jump and tumble to pass through the zombies unscathed on your own. Recently a character used his Use Rope skill to lasso skeletons and drag them into a pit where they were dashed to pieces. Cool stunt, but at his level he could have just gone over and whacked the skeletons with much less fanfare. At some level, he was just showing off. That isn't to say that it's always senseless to pull off a stunt, but there is a fine line between having rules that allow for stunts and having rules that make zany combat tricks virtually risk free buffs that players will attempt round after round after round. At some point, if it is too easy, it stops being cool and creative and starts being repetitive and lame. [/QUOTE]

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