Something about Agility and attacking from behind bothers me

[Weisenwolf]

I don't like the fact that there is no advantage attacking someone who is already engaged to their front, from behind unless you are a Thief.

I could just rule that nobody gets their Agility modifier but that's clanky because either those with negative modifiers effectively lose nothing in comparison to an average character or applying pure maths they actually gain a/c!

My solution is a slight change to how the Agilty a/c modifier works and the basic a/c.

So now the basic a/c is 7 modified as follows:

AGILITY A/C MOD
3 Nil
4-5 +1
6-8 +2
9-12 +3
13-15 +4
16-17 +5
18 +6

Anyone being attacked from behind whilst engaged to the front or attacked from behind with surprise loses their AGILITY modifier. (If they are not engaged and not surprised I assume they can turn around)

This also addresses the similar issue with helpless/paralysed/sleeping/squeezing through spaces/climbing a wall etc. wherein only those with high Agility suffer and again low Agility loses nothing and may even gain.

Essentially it’s a leveller with the most Agile losing the most but only the truly static losing nothing.
It makes Thieves backstabbing more potent which is the only side effect I can see....

What do you think guys?

[Skars]

You don't want to just give them a boost up the dice chain as an advantage for attacking from behind or while opponent is otherwise "flanked" (to use a d20 term)?

[Weisenwolf]

You don't want to just give them a boost up the dice chain as an advantage for attacking from behind or while opponent is otherwise "flanked" (to use a d20 term)?

Well no because that still leaves me with agile PC's retaining an a/c advanage that logic tells me they should not be enjoying

[Stretch]

To me it seems to be a bit complicated for something that doesn't happen at every combat.

A thief gets a bonus to backstab because they are sneaking up upon someone. They get this when the opponent is not aware of them. If they are aware they do not get the bonus.

But he has to make a stealth check in order to do this. Then he gets his bonus. A non-thief would need to make that same check with a d10.

So to my mind the simplest solution would be to allow any non-thief who makes a stealth check (with a d10) half the attack bonus of a thief of the same level and alignment rounded down with a minimum of 1.

Want to get better at the sneak attack? Train up (taking increments in the dice chain.) But I wouldn't allow them to ever get the full attack bonus of the thief.