Tumbling issues

[Vrecknidj]

I've had a few things come up with Tumble in recent sessions, and I thought I'd get some responses from this community.

As per the movement rules, hampered movement generally means that a square on the grid requires 10' or more of your movement to get through it. So, can you Tumble through hampered terrain? At what speed? Let's say you have a speed of 30, and you're in terrain such that each square requires 10' of movement. But, you could get a remarkable Tumble check. According to the Tumble rules, moving at normal speed while Tumbling is just a -10 on your roll. Could you Tumble through hampered terrain if you got a high enough roll?

I thought I read somewhere that moving through an ally's square takes up 10 feet of movement. If you can Tumble past enemies, you should be able to Tumble past allies. Anyone know of any good reasons why this shouldn't be so?

Dave

 

[Azalnubizar]

Actually I see no reason, why tumbling would make you faster than normal movement.
Tumble allows you to move at half speed.
Accelerated tumbling (-10) allows you to move at full speed.
But since your Full Speed is allready reduced by the terrain, tumbling won't make it any better. It just becomes more difficult, since if it is a terrain that reduces movement it will also heighten the DC of tumble checks.

you mention hampered terrain and then you mention tumbling past allies.
These r two different things.
hampered terrain includes stuff like scree, rubble, shallow bog, undergrowth, natural cavern floor, wet or icy floor. Tumbling doesn't help you very much there but tumbling under these circumstance is more difficult than normal.

If your movement is hampered by someone who is standing in your way, then yes, you can try to tumble through his square (DC 25 to not get an AoO of an opponent occupying the square).

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Tumbling and Movement

Hampered Movement: Difficult terrain, obstacles, or poor visibility can hamper movement. When movement is hampered, each square moved into usually counts as two squares, effectively reducing the distance that a character can cover in a move.

If more than one condition applies, multiply together all additional costs that apply. (This is a specific exception to the normal rule for doubling)

Accellerated Tumbling: You try to tumble past or through enemies more quickly than normal. By accepting a –10 penalty on your Tumble checks, you can move at your full speed instead of one-half your speed.

Hampered movement increases the amount of movement required while tumbling decreases your speed. Hence:
Move = 30, or 6 squares.
Tumbing Move = 15, or 3 squares.
Over difficult terrain you can traverse 3 squares or tumble 1 square.
With accelerated tumbling over difficult terrain {DC 30} you could cross 3 squares.

I can find no reference, nor do I remember one, of reduced movement when passing through an allies square.

IIRC, v3.5 changed the way terrain affected movement to this, much cleaner, method.

 

[Shallown]

Tumbling basically cost double to move the same distance.
Hampered terrain cost double to move the same distance.
You can accleerate your tumble to move 5 feet for every 5 feet at a -10.

Now remember terrain hampering affects multiple so tumbling in hampered terrain cost 4 times normal.

Quoted from SRD
Double Movement Cost: When your movement is hampered in some way, your movement usually costs double. For example, each square of movement through difficult terrain counts as 2 squares, and each diagonal move through such terrain counts as 3 squares (just as two diagonal moves normally do).

If movement cost is doubled twice, then each square counts as 4 squares (or as 6 squares if moving diagonally). If movement cost is doubled three times, then each square counts as 8 squares (12 if diagonal) and so on. This is an exception to the general rule that two doublings are equivalent to a tripling.


Also remember hampered terrain may offer penalties to tumble checks. +2 to +5

So to tumble at 1/2 movementthrough a hampered square would cost 10 feet of movement and incur a -12 to -15 penalty above any other penalties. Not easy to do.

Moving through allies cost nothing extra nor does it raise the DC.

Moving through squares occupied by opponents raises the DC from 15 to 25 and follows other normal tumble rules.

You can move through opponent squares without tumble if they are helpless or three or more sizes larger or smaller, unles the fill the space like a Gelatinous cube does.

Hope this helped clear things up some; then again maybe not

Later

 

[Hypersmurf]

I thought I read somewhere that moving through an ally's square takes up 10 feet of movement.

You probably did, in one of the Rules of the Game articles.

The Sage accidentally skipped a paragraph while reading the rules on movement in the PHB, and thought allies constituted an obstacle, and stated as much in the article.

We pointed the error out to him, and he corrected it.

-Hyp.

 

[Vrecknidj]

The Sage accidentally skipped a paragraph while reading the rules on movement in the PHB, and thought allies constituted an obstacle, and stated as much in the article.

We pointed the error out to him, and he corrected it.

That's what I like about you folks. Always willing to point out the Sage's errors.



Thanks for the clarification.

Dave