"What do you mean I can't...?"

[I'm A Banana]

House Rules I'm Using:

* Hard Swing: As a standard action, -2/+1 on a one-handed, -1/+1 on a two handed. Not worth it for a skilled fighter, but helps the weak mage get an edge.

* Clothesline: The old "I run up, hit him, and run past" maneuver. Opponent makes an Init. check DC 10, and if he fails, the PC is allowed one attack at -4 (since he can't line up the blow with fients and half-attempts as usual). You're better served running up and hitting him normally.

* Survival can make snares, pitfalls, etc. Of course, such things are designed to catch lions, tigers, bears, and bunnies, not intelligent foes. Anyone can dig a pit and cover it with leaves and layer the bottom with spikes (though it takes a few hours). Anyone can rig a simple snare. But it won't be hard to spot it, and it won't be able to do much beyond 1d6 damage and/or a full-round action extricating themselves.

* To slide down a bannister and do a flip and land with a knife poised at the enemy's heart is a Tumble check, just like avoiding an AoO for moving. Similar feats of acrobatics are likewise Tumble checks.

* You can't damage a "worn" object in combat without a feat (probably requiring Combat Expertise, because it's a matter of accuracy and restraint). You can slide an object off an extremity in grapple, but anything worn on the body is pretty secure -- you could disrobe someone in a grapple with a feat (WOW, that gives me a hideous idea for a villain). FFZ has a capacity for Slieght of Hand to do the same thing.

 

[Drowbane]

Back when 3e was still fairly new, I had one DM who refused to allow my Rogue sneak attack for anything short of "back stabbing" by surprise.

DM: ok, you win Init...
Me: Pesc runs up, drawing his dagger and stabs the orc in the spleen!
DM: Eh, you can't backstab unless you...


Argh, that was annoying.

 

[Keith Robinson]

One that came up in my campaign was a player wanting to jump from a ledge above a monster onto that monster. Moreover, this wasn't one the same size as him. He literally wanted to leap onto a dragon. I had no idea how to handle that, so I just flatly ruled he couldn't.

I had something very similar occur in my last session.

The character (a half dragon barbarian), wanted to jump down 20 feet and attack something directly below him using his sword.

I just counted it as charge action, but also made the player make a jump check (with a high DC). He succeeded the jump, which also meant he didn't take damage from the first 10' of the fall (thus taking only 1d6 damage) and could attack (+2 to hit/-2 AC). Since he wasn't trying to grapple the creature, but instead land next to it, I also had him make a balance check to see if he landed on his feet or was prone. He made the check and everyone (including the player) seemed happy with the way it worked out.

You should always let players try to express themselves and be spontaneous - just work out a ruling on the spot and go from there. I only disallow things if the rules expressly forbid it.

 

[I'm A Banana]

There do need to be rules for treating creautres as movement spaces...

 

[Blair Goatsblood]

Playing a Ranger, ..... They are Heroes who ADVENTURE! This is literally what they do for a living!

To play devil's advocate, there are game balance issues with allowing what you described. A hypothetical situation I could imagine is that you have Character A, a Ranger like the one you described, and Character B, a Rogue character who has maxed out his ranks in Craft(Trapmaking), and has spent several thousand gp preparing similar traps for the parties' urban safehouse.
Also, allowing traps w/o skill ranks, time & $$ kinda treads on the spellcasters roles in a weird way to my logic, "Why do I bother preparing Entangle when Woodland McGuyver here can make the same thing out of bushes and bootlaces?"
Myself, I would require ranks in craft(trapmaking), require the time, and abstract the gp requirements somehow...i.e. "You need to spend x man-hours gathering and preparing materials and you traps has penalty y and z because it's made from saplings, wood spikes and twine instead of steel springs and sword blades" Allow a reducting in the the time building the trap with competant helpers.
But, as a DM I'm not thrilled on Trapmaking and in the campaign handout I discourage taking ranks in it.

 

[painandgreed]

To play devil's advocate...

To further play devil's advocate, while I would agree that setting snares and deadfalls is a Survival DC 10 action, that's not setting them as traps for a human. They're obviously traps that can be determined as such by the untrained without even a search roll. Maybe needing a spot roll just to see them. Animals don't really understand that they're walking into a trap but humans do. Trapmaking is what allows you to hide such things in a way they are not obvious. You could set obstacles that might ensnare or cause damage and perhaps even conceal them to some degree especially if in the dark, but I wouldn't really call them traps againt intelligent creatures.

 

[Urizen]

You can do this with every attack. Just don't expect attacking an arm to disable it or the head to cause extra damage because all damage is abstract. But you can always attack a specific body part.

I think that's a problem with any combat system. If, say, you hit someone in the head with an axe, the damage doesn't reflect the reality of what happens to someone who basically gets his head hacked up.

This is a problem with any called shot, really, because the player doesn't make a called shot unless they want to have something specific happen, like cutting of the creature's head with an axe.

With the D20 system, you could THEORETICALLY make a rule easily enough that allows for this to happen, just raise the number needed to actually hit the character and make the modification reflect the reality of what will happen if the target does get hit. A Fortitude save might also be in order, especially if the victim of an attack might reasonably die.

So, If johnny gets hit in the head with an axe, it isn't far-fetched to assume that he just might die from that blow. Johnny's AC is, say, 20, so add 10 to the number needed to hit and if the player hits johnny, roll damage, if the tally equals or exceeds johnny's constitution score, Johnny needs to make a Fort Save or immediately drop to -1 hp.

You might even go as far as ruling that if a crit was rolled and confirmed, the head comes clean off. dead, end of story.

Let me say though, that there are a plethora of game balance issues that come into play when you start doing this sort of thing. I'd think long and hard on even allowing called shots, because in the current system they are neither realistic, or particularly satisfying even when a character scores a hit, because the intended result usually never occurs.

 

[TheRelinquished]

Because it's just not enough to have class....

I have a fantastic solution for all this "you can't" business. The solution is simple and makes things easier on both the player and the DM. Not to mention it can inspire some creativity that can be mighty rewarding.

I heard of this from a good friend of mine (where he got it from I'll never know), and have implemented it in my first campaign as a DM. It looks promising. The solution is called Style Points....

Style Points

Ever wanted to throw sand in someone's eyes before tackling them to the ground, but worried about Reflex saves and Grapple checks?

Ever wish you could sucker-punch that mook that's engaged you in a serious duel, but fear an Attack of Opportunity or losing out on damage?

Then allow me to introduce Style Points! This drop-in mechanic allows you to do all those cool flips, back-hands, and dirty tactics that you've always envied in the movies.

So, how do Style Points work? Well, I'm glad you asked.

Simply put, it's inspired by the Action Point mechanic from D20 Modern. Every level, you get one Style Point (so spend it wisely). All you got to do is use the Style Point - and describe in detail to the GM what you want to accomplish (nothing too complicated like parrying a dozen blaster bolts while doing the splits with one leg on a speeder bike and the other leg on another bike) - and Bam! Instant Gratification.

You instantly hit if you needed to hit. You automatically do minimum damage if it was an attack (I don't care if you hit with your bare hand - minimum damage with your lightsaber is fine with me). You get all this and more. More, you say? Yes, I did...now stop echoing me. If you happen to time the use of this awesome feature with a dramatic moment in the plot/game/whatever the GM decides, then you get the Style Point BACK!

Back?

Yes, back. Now, move along. Nothing to see here.

There you go. That's all I have for you.​

​

 

[swrushing]

[/QUOTE]

To play devil's advocate, there are game balance issues with allowing what you described. A hypothetical situation I could imagine is that you have Character A, a Ranger like the one you described, and Character B, a Rogue character who has maxed out his ranks in Craft(Trapmaking), and has spent several thousand gp preparing similar traps for the parties' urban safehouse.

the guy who does this ad hoc, uses the requisite skill and gets simple traps with low Dcs and minmal effects that don't last long, while the guy who invested time and money gets tougher traps with harder dcs that have better effects and last longer.

"being good at something" does not need "other cannot do it at all" in order to be worth it.

Also, allowing traps w/o skill ranks, time & $$ kinda treads on the spellcasters roles in a weird way to my logic, "Why do I bother preparing Entangle when Woodland McGuyver here can make the same thing out of bushes and bootlaces?"

so, would you also disalllow "i prop a bottle on the door" or "i tie string with bells on the doorknob" actions if the party mage had the alarm spell?

heck, would you even allow hiding if the mage has an invisibility spell?



Each of these, like the snares, probably won't be "as good" as the magic or if it is "as good" wont be as easy, as wide in effect and so forth.

many spells allow the mage to do things that other, with skill, CAN DO. he just usually bypasses the skill and material requirements.

invisible/hide, alarm/noise traps, spider climb/climb, knock/pick locks, etc etc etc...

if you are gonna justify saying "no" by pointing to a spell which does something similar, then there are a lot of things that will get a "no".

 

[diaglo]

I think that's a problem with any combat system. If, say, you hit someone in the head with an axe, the damage doesn't reflect the reality of what happens to someone who basically gets his head hacked up.

This is a problem with any called shot, really, because the player doesn't make a called shot unless they want to have something specific happen, like cutting of the creature's head with an axe.

it was a problem when they introduced this in Supplement II Blackmoor and has remained a problem ever since.

called shots invalidate the hp system.

hps for the most part are not a measure of better health (although the con bonus is) from training (gaining levels). hps are what you have learned to lessen the severity of blows, falls, cuts, etc...

called shots try to skip over all of that and go for damage on health.