Good eve!
Jackal wrote:Thanks for the answers Dan, I appreciate them. And sorry about the crying baby.
Thanks, I enjoy answering questions. Also, my boy Aidan was born July 13th, so we've got a little ways to go before he allows us a good night's sleep, but I guess it's part of the job description.
The only thing I'm still a little shaky on is movement. Before I get into that though...it seems that even you don't use the system presented in the book, so will that be changed in the upcoming revisions?
Actually, sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one using the (initiative) system in the book. I rather like it, but then that's to be expected. I don't know that it will be so much changed as better explained, and more options given in the sidebars.
Until then however, in case it does come up in my game, would needing to move further than you're able reduce the phase in which you acted (assuming you are tracking movement by phase) or am I just reading that wrong?
Well, let's see if I can create an example. Sir Slowpoke has a Reflexes of D4, granting him 40' per round, or 8 feet per phase. He gets his action after the D20 (special monsters), D12, D10, and D6 folk. Let's say he intends to run off and beat up an adversary 30' away. Assuming nobody with a higher Reflexes rank engaged him in combat, once we get to the D4 phase, it's safe to assume he moved 8' per phase. If nobody had a D20, we skip right to D12 as the first in the round. That means Sir Slowpoke could move 24' before his official action. In that case he wouldn't make it to his adversary AND attack in his phase. So he sprints the rest of the way to his target and readies for battle in the next round. BUT, his movement would be resolved retroactively, in hindsight, once we got to his action. Other creature's actions
could have prevented him from making that movement earlier in the round.
But your question was if he tried to move further than he was able. You mean further than 80' in a round? If we only allowed movement starting in his phase, then nobody with a D4 would ever move out of his "square" (the game does not assume battlemats, but you know what I mean).
Note: Sir Slowpoke really isn't all that slow. I'd be interested in feedback as to whether the movements allowed are too kind. It never affected my game either way in any negative way, but I'm curious for opinions.
Example: Your hero from the book (page 26) with d4 speed can move 40 feet in a round and still act or run 80 feet and take no other action. Breaking this down per phase means he can move 8 feet each phase and still act or run 16 feet and take no other action.
Right (and I wouldn't allow mixing 16 or 8 feet per phase, to avoid rules confusion).
Let's assume he acts in battle phase 2 and his opponent acts in battle phase 3 and they are 17 feet away from one another. Our hero decides to move forward and attack...what happens?
Good question. Battle Phase two corresponds to Reflexes D10. If his opponent acts in phase 3 (D8), and they're 17 feet apart, then...the hero with the D10 Reflexes moves 10' in Phase 2, and then closes in and attacks in phase 3. The GM invokes the "subphase action order" (see page Xx...just kidding!...page 25 of core rules). That means PCs act first (in this case), so our hero attacks. The opponent who acts in phase 3 defends himself and counter attacks. [ note: there is no rule which states that movement beyond 5' in the same phase prevents a full attack, but the GM
could rule against split attacks in such a case ].
Rules note: A delayed action (holding off on movement or anything else until one phase lower than normal) grants the creature first attack in the lower phase, regardless of the sub-phase action order (see page 24, second paragraph).
Now, you might ask, if movement is allowed at any time during a round, in any phase, by an creature...why doesn't the creature in phase 3 retreat out of range? The answer is action is resolved in order of Reflexes rank, with movement assumed and settled "retroactively". In other words, the opponent in phase 3 cannot "decide" to move out of the way of the hero's attack before the hero moves and make the decision to attack.
If tracking movement by phase as the book indicates, my assumption is our hero moves 8 feet in phase 3 and moves another 8 feet in phase 4 and can now attack as he is in melee range. Do I have that right or are you saying the "movement by phase" is not even used in combat at all? Meaning our hero can move his full 40 feet and attack all in phase 3.
Well, yes...and yes! Let's say your GM didn't really give a damn how far away your opponent was. He just told you..."he's in range, so go hit him". Then your movement didn't matter. But when it starts to matter, like with many opponents or with ranged weapons, movement by phase might start to seem important. Your assumption is right.
Sorry for the technical questions but you don't know my group...they WILL ask these things. And no matter what house rules I plan on using, if I can't answer their by the book rules questions the game will be pushed aside before it's even given a shot and I don't want that to happen here. Eldritch has really caught my eye.
Understood. Just please explain to them that the wording "each creature may take one action during each battle phase" was under the heading of sub-phase action order, and wasn't supposed to imply a creature gets one action every single phase of a round. Each creature [of the same Reflexes rank] may take one action during [its] battle phase. That's in the FAQ. Otherwise each phase would be the "round", and "phase" would mean nothing.
