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Sunday, May 9, 2010

Slipping Past and Pushing Through

Occasionally a player asks, "Can my character tumble past the enemy and get behind him?"  An excellent question.  A literal interpretation of the Player's Handbook would say, well, no.  "You normally can’t move through an enemy’s space unless that enemy is helpless or two size categories larger or smaller than you." (PH p.284)  But the Dungeon Master's Guide recommends "saying yes" as often as possible to reward players for thinking in creative and unexpected ways.

So how should you implement it?

I found a very nice pair of house rules on the Wizards Community Forum that allow moving through enemy squares, posted by forum member delugeia.  They are as follows:

Slip Past:  Part of a move Action
Opposed Check: Acrobatics vs. Reflex
✦ Success: Treat the target's space as difficult terrain and move though (provoking Opportunity Attacks as normal).
✦ Failure: Fall prone in the square prior to entering the target's space; the target can make a melee basic attack against you as a free action and has combat advantage for the attack.

Push Through:  Part of a move Action
✦ Opposed Check: Athletics vs. Reflex
✦ Success: Treat the target's space as difficult terrain and move though (provoking Opportunity Attacks as normal). 
✦ Failure: Fall prone in the square prior to entering the target's space; the target can make a melee basic attack against you as a free action and has combat advantage for the attack.


Of course, if you rule that PCs can use these actions in combat, it also means that monsters can use them to their advantage as well...

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