This column will be for those who wish to understand the greater workings behind DND. Those who wish to both improve their combat, and their roleplay. I will post statistics, rulings, tips, and even tricks to help you improve your gaming skillz. In addition, if any particularly great natural 20s get rolled, they will be noted here.
Each post I will try to include at least:
1 tip for combat
1 tip for non-combat encounters
Any relevant rules from the past week's game
Answers for any inquiries about confusing rules
So without any further delay, let's get to the cold hard meat of this. As Orville Redenbacher would say, "It's popping time!"
COMBAT
Running. Charging. Bullrushing. These all mean relatively the same thing, yet in DND, they are vastly different. Every hero has the ability to do this, to varied ease. Obviously, Thorin the Dwarf Fighter would have a far easier time charging and bullrushing than others. However, running lends itself to the vertically challenged.
Seems pretty straightforward. You run hard, but at a cost. It's a good way to get away from some bad nasties. The price may seem to hard to pay, with the opportunity attacks, the attack roll penalty, the combat advantage. But consider this, remember that you can trade your actions around. A barter system. You can trade your standard action in for another move action. If you do this, you can use the shift maneuver, and move 1 space, not provoking opportunity attacks. Then you can use your second move action, to book up out of there. You wouldn't be able to attack that turn anyway, so the -5 attack roll doesn't mean anything. Also, you would survive this turn to attack for many more to come.
Ahh, nothing more satisfying then really laying into someone after an honest running start. So this uses up both your move, and your standard actions, also, after a charge, you can't use a minor either. So if you have a minor, and intend to use it, use it pre-charge. A charge may not seem that useful now, but there are plenty of abilities that augment your charging prowess, not to mention some encounter and at-will powers tell you out right to make a charge attack. After you run up to the monster you can make either a basic melee attack or a bullrush. What's a bullrush exactly you say?
OK. So at first glance, this may appear to be a bit useless. You basically take over the square they were in. First, I'd like to point out that this is a STRENGTH attack, so clothies, you probably can't do this very well. Also, remember that if you charged into this, you would get that lovely +1 attack roll on this. Let's talk about some times this would have been useful in the past couple games. The first week we played, Marill got knocked into a pit. What if the tables had been turned, and the enemies were thrust into that pit? Or what if last week someone was bullrushed into those burning trees? Or out the inn windows? Or maybe down a flight of stairs? Endless possibilities.
Non-Combat Encounters
Last week we saw a non-combat encounter with Twinblade. For the most part, things went really well. Remember that when you are doing a non-combat encounter, you need to, as a group, plan carefully what you do. If someone fails a skill check, intimidate, for example, intimidate would be gone from the table. The target will never be intimidated, so now you don't have that option anymore. Now how's about a double standard? You may have to roll the same skill check multiple times in a single encounter! WHAT??!! That's right. Example. You may need to bluff check 4 or 5 times in one single encounter, to keep up your lies. Ooof.
Last Week's Rulings
You may have heard some debate on the rulings of an acrobatics check versus an athletics check on jumping through the broken inn window. The reason for this debate is because there is no solid ruling in the rulebook as to which skill to use. Debate is encouraged in these situations, as we as a group need to come together and agree on a reasonable solution. We must then adhere to these solutions in future games. I believe the outcome we came to was an acrobatics check, as balance and dexterity were in question here. There were glass shards abound to watch out for. If it were a simple hole in the wall, no check would have been necessary, it would simply be hindering terrain.
Naturals
Oh, and before anyone forgets, the most entertaining natural 20 thus far, has to be the one that brought Niggaroso to his knees in the arena tournament. Duh.
So that's pretty much it. This is what will have to wet your whistle between games. (Not to mention mine) If you have any questions about anything, please let me know. Shoot me an e-mail or a texty, and I'll answer as swiftly as I can. Peace.
-Jeff
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