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What would happen if we got rid of opportunity attacks
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<blockquote data-quote="Don Durito" data-source="post: 8157440" data-attributes="member: 6687260"><p>Why would it encourage fluid movement?</p><p></p><p>As I said in the other thread, opportunity attacks are not just a discouragement to movement - they also do the opposite. If I'm a stealthy rogue I may want to disengage in order to avoid retaliation with the knowledge that should my opponent follow me they risk the opportunity attack.</p><p></p><p>Remove opportunity attacks and anyone who moves can easily be followed (unless they're super fast like a monk, for whom kiting becomes a relevant strategy) so why move?</p><p></p><p>What would happen is there would now be no impediments to focus fire, so people may move away from the character who attacked them in order to focus on taking down someone who has already been attacked by an ally.</p><p></p><p>I'm just not sure what we're trying to achieve when we talk about more dynamic combats - what about movement on a grid (in isolation) makes combat more dynamic? Movement happened a lot in 4E with forced movement and defenders, but that was dynamic precisely because stickiness and opportunity attacks make movement meaningful. This is generally true in 5E too. My Fighter with Sentinel and Shieldmaster would often push someone and then move after them, precisely to trap them in a situation where they were left with little choice but to attack the character with the highest AC in the party (and riposte). I also shoved people to let the spellcaster free themselves from being engaged so they could reposition for best area effect of a spell. Without opportunity attacks there would have been no point to any of this movement!</p><p></p><p>Removing opportunity attacks makes movement easier but it does not make it meaningful, so it doesn't really solve the problem. It's generally a solution if you want to make theatre of the mind combat easier to adjudicate (at which point lack of movement is not such a problem as - since you're not staring at the grid -you're free to imagine and describe all sorts of movement back and forward.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Don Durito, post: 8157440, member: 6687260"] Why would it encourage fluid movement? As I said in the other thread, opportunity attacks are not just a discouragement to movement - they also do the opposite. If I'm a stealthy rogue I may want to disengage in order to avoid retaliation with the knowledge that should my opponent follow me they risk the opportunity attack. Remove opportunity attacks and anyone who moves can easily be followed (unless they're super fast like a monk, for whom kiting becomes a relevant strategy) so why move? What would happen is there would now be no impediments to focus fire, so people may move away from the character who attacked them in order to focus on taking down someone who has already been attacked by an ally. I'm just not sure what we're trying to achieve when we talk about more dynamic combats - what about movement on a grid (in isolation) makes combat more dynamic? Movement happened a lot in 4E with forced movement and defenders, but that was dynamic precisely because stickiness and opportunity attacks make movement meaningful. This is generally true in 5E too. My Fighter with Sentinel and Shieldmaster would often push someone and then move after them, precisely to trap them in a situation where they were left with little choice but to attack the character with the highest AC in the party (and riposte). I also shoved people to let the spellcaster free themselves from being engaged so they could reposition for best area effect of a spell. Without opportunity attacks there would have been no point to any of this movement! Removing opportunity attacks makes movement easier but it does not make it meaningful, so it doesn't really solve the problem. It's generally a solution if you want to make theatre of the mind combat easier to adjudicate (at which point lack of movement is not such a problem as - since you're not staring at the grid -you're free to imagine and describe all sorts of movement back and forward.) [/QUOTE]
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