When does skirmish damage apply?

[CatharticMoment]

According to the complete Adventurer, skirmish bonuses to armour class only apply after a scout has more 10 feet. However the extra damage from skirmish applies:

"on all attacks she makes during any round in which she moves at least 10 feet"

A literal reading of this suggests this damage applies to ALL attacks - even those made before the character does the movement.

Is this the case?

What if the character rolls the extra damage and then for some reason decides not to move?

What if the extra damage is rolled and the character tries to move but is tripped or falls into a trap?

I feel this is such a fundamental question that it ought to be in a FAQ somewhere, but I couldn't find one for the Complete Adventurer. Any help appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[kenobi65]

I think, for the reasons you point out, logic would dictate that the scout can only deal skirmish damage *after* moving at least 10'. Although the rule could be interpreted otherwise (as you describe), it opens up a huge can of worms to do so.

 

[shilsen]

What kenobi65 said. The other way lies madness

 

[kenobi65]

Thinking about this a bit more...

The rule says "in which she moves at least 10 feet." Not "in which she plans to move," or anything like that.

The D&D rules don't care squat about intentions; once you take an action in a round, your options and condition (for what else you can do in that round) can change.

For example, you can *intend* to take a full-round action to make multiple attacks (such as iterative attacks from a high BAB). But, once you make that first swing, you can change your mind. At that point, you've made a single attack (effectively, a standard action); instead of making your additional attacks, you could take a move action if you so choose.

In this case, once the scout moves 10' or more, she "activates" her skirmish attack ability for the rest of the round. Until she moves 10', her skirmish attack doesn't work.

 

[apesamongus]

The D&D rules don't care squat about intentions;

The 3.0 rules did, but they fixed that.