The Enhanced DnD4E Difference: Entry 2

Chases and Races in Standard DnD4E vs. Enhanced DnD4E: Part II

Making the Attack

Now what happens when a running Ogre catches up to and attacks a fleeing Elf?

In the standard DnD4E game, assuming the Ogre was somehow able to intercept the Elf, the Ogre makes its attack with a +3 to its attack roll; the Ogre gains a +1 for charging the target and gains another +2 from the combat advantage granted it by the running Elf (in DnD4E, a running target grants combat advantage to all adjacent attackers).

The only effect of the Elf's motion is to advantage its attacker. But is this a proper reflection of the dynamic between the Ogre and the Elf?

The situation looks quite different over on the Enhanced DnD4E table.

Here, the sprinting Elf’s forward motion grants her cover from all melee, close and area attacks originating to the rear. This subtracts 5 points from all those bonuses the Ogre enjoys. The monster makes its attack with a penalty to the die roll, not a bonus: A penalty of -2.  In the Enhanced DnD4E game, the Elf is moving away from the point of attack. This makes her an inherently more difficult target to strike from behind. This motion away from the Ogre more than compensates for the energy the Ogre has put into its charging motion toward the fleeing target.

Escaping the Attacker

The differences between the standard DnD4E table and the Enhanced DnD4E table do not end there.

If the Elf is struck by the Ogre in the Enhanced DnD4E game, she has a number of defensive and counter-offensive actions at her disposal, which she can use to respond to the attack or mitigate the damage she receives. The fleeing Elf in the standard game can take none of these actions; she can do nothing to impact the game until her turn arrives.

When her turn does arrive, she will find that the Ogre’s presence behind her has brought her to a virtual stand-still. So far as the game world is concerned, she is no longer moving. Once two combatants arrive in squares adjacent to one another, the standard rules of DnD4E conspire to lock them together. The Elf must turn and engage the Ogre or she must trigger an opportunity attack from the Ogre if she attempts to speed away.

Her only other option is to shift a single square and then restart her run once again. However, this guarantees the Ogre will once again catch her on its subsequent turn.

She can’t escape.

How different is the situation on the Enhanced DnD4E table!

Here the Elf has never stopped moving. She remains in motion and, because she does, she may continue her movement away from the Ogre unimpeded by its presence behind her. She doesn't trigger an opportunity attack when she moves. Her sprint isn't even slowed.

Not only is the Elf free to keep moving without interference, the Enhanced DnD4E game is designed to penalize her if she does not keep moving. Because her momentum is carrying her away from the Ogre, any attack she makes against the monster before the end of its next turn is made at a -5 to the attack roll. Moreover, her pursuer also retains combat advantage against her until its turn ends.

Enhanced DnD4E models a chase sequence such as this as a fluid encounter. The combat itself is moving. There is no start and stop and start again for the combatants. They are carried along with the flow of the encounter. Forward motion is never penalized by the swinging of a sword (except where specified as the effect of a power). In Enhanced DnD4E, once you begin to run away, it’s difficult to stop – certainly when you've got a charging Ogre hot on your heels!

Movement and Motion

DnD4E has been characterized as a game that emphasizes tactical movement. But movement is not the same as motion. For example, chess is another game in which there is a lot of movement; a game where movement defines the essence of each piece. Yet in chess there is not a lot of motion. Neither is there much in standard DnD4E.

Motion, and its importance to combat, is barely modeled at all in standard DnD4E. Combatants only move as they move from one point of attack to another. Each clash occurs between fixed points. The confrontation is always motionless. While actions like “charge” (and some other powers held by certain creatures) combine movement and attack, the context of each attack is established by the fixed points of attacker and target.

Of course DnD4E is not alone in this oversight. To the author’s knowledge, moving clashes are not modeled in any miniature’s based table-top RPG or Wargame. But the universality of the oversight does not make it any less glaring. Motion is a very large part of melee combat and is a very large part of what makes cinematic melee action compelling.

Players of Enhanced DnD4E assume table-top roleplaying games should endeavor to model the dynamics and the drama of fantasy, medieval combat: Not just create a more complicated chess game. Enhanced DnD4E puts that neglected dynamic and missing drama back into the DnD4E game.

Enhanced 4E: Combat in Motion is available in print and eBook formats from Enhanced4E.com and is now also available from DriveThruRPG.