Tumble question

[elmuthalleth]

The previous session we stumbled upon a discussion over the tumble feat . The skill description says that when you can tumble at half speed . Question is , you move at half speed all your movement or only when you are in a threatened area ?

Thank you

 

[glass]

The previous session we stumbled upon a discussion over the tumble feat . The skill description says that when you can tumble at half speed . Question is , you move at half speed all your movement or only when you are in a threatened area ?

I believe if you elect to tumble, you must do so for all of your movement that action. So, half-speed all the way.

The rules don't spell this out, AFAIK, but it does say that your tumble check (singular) is part of your move action. ISTM that if you only tumbled on a per square basis, you have to make checks on a per square basis.


glass.

 

[the Jester]

I allow pcs to declare which squares they are tumbling in. This also means that if they misestimate an enemy's reach, they will sometimes take attacks of opportunity despite their tumbling.

 

[KarinsDad]

Tumble does not state that you must Tumble for all of your movement, so you do not have to.

Restricting it this way is not fun for players.

A 30 speed character should be able to Tumble for 5 feet (using 10 move), move 5 feet more through difficult terrain (using 10 move) and then jump a 5 foot pit (using 10 move), and still get a Standard Action attack in.


And, it is not that you have to make checks on a per square basis. You have to make checks to avoid the AoO on a per opponent you tumble past (or through) basis.


You do not have to make a Tumble check at all to tumble if you have the skill. You have to make the Tumble check to tumble through or past opponents or to land more softly or to entertain an audience.

But, if you just want to Tumble down the street with no opponents there, you can just do so. No roll required. There is no "fall prone" or other penalty for failing to make a Tumble check, hence, you always Tumble when you want to. You just won't be able to avoid AoOs, entertain an audience, or decrease the effective distance of a fall if you fail a check.

 

[Jhulae]

Exactly.. The double movement is only used for the specific squares tumbled through.

So, a rogue, for instance, can move two squares (using 10' of movement) to reach an opponent and then tumble through two squares (using 20' of movement, or 10' per square) to flank.

As Karinsdad pointed out, it's no different than any other terrain or condition that would cause only part of a movement to be modified (such as a 5' or 10' strip of difficult terrain).

 

[Unkabear]

Though there are negetives to your tumble roll or there wouldn't be the Thief Acrobat PrC. The Fast Acrobatics of the first level of TA state that they could avoid normal penalties for accelerated movement while useing acrobatics...-5 on balance and -10 on tumble at full speed.

So if I were a DM I would consider what a person is doing. If they are using balance, jump, and tumble all in one round(reasonable) There would be modifiers to the checks depending on what else is added to the action. Plus you have to add if you are doing this next to an enemy there would be the standard mod to it. 20dc to tumble past an opponent without provoking AoO. I would add a +1 or +2 per action to each of the rolls for difficulty.

Now if you were doing that at full speed there would be other penalties applied if you didn't have the TA PrC. And though it does little for combat ablility the TA does wonders for rogues and thier tumble to flank role...worth the -1d6 to SA...perhaps...with 2 levels of TA you are nearly never flatfooted. But then I would ask the question of does it fit the concept of the character. some people are all about the damage and the loss of bab and SA may be too much...but then again if you are a acrobatic fool it is more than worth the trade off.

Edit: So if you take your full move you take your -'s to your checks even if you only tumble 5' or 30'. none if you move half speed. unless your DM plays it by the each 5' of your tumble you lose 10' of move. then it only matters on how far you need to tumble.

 

[Kmart Kommando]

The only time you would have to take the -10 accelerated tumbling penalty is if you were a character with a 30ft move, 20ft away from a creature and you moved 20 to it, then had to tumble 10ft more to do whatever you were gonna do (usually for flank, but whatever). Then you would take the penalty becuase if you didn't, you'd not have enough movement to get where you want to.

If you instead moved 20ft, then tumbled 5ft to get inside someone's reach, then you're not taking the accelerated tumble penalty, because you only tumbled at half speed through that area (spending 10ft to go 5ft).

The thief acrobat's class ability lets you tumble at full speed, no matter how many squares you're moving on the grid, with no penalty. Hardly an overpowered ability, because a straight rogue that focuses on tumble can get to +24 pretty quickly, and do pretty much the same thing. Then there are magic items that can help..(+10 Tumble Boots anyone? straight out of the core item creation)