Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Jarjaxle 01-22-04, 08:35 PM	I have a combat question. This has happened a few times in my own campaign and it just occured again the last time we played. Here is what happened... Our Gnome Druid was fighting a Worg. Our fighter is standing behind her. Gnome attacks the Worg and hits, dealing damage. Then the Worg bites back and hits, deals damage and attempts to trip the Gnome. The trip was successful and the Gnome goes down. She is now Prone on the ground in a square threatened by the Worg. The Fighter (who is not in a threatened square in this example) goes next and wants to pick up the Gnome (Who would not survive the fight much longer) and bring her to safety. How would you deal with this? In our game the DM let the Fighter pickup the character, travel 20-30 feet and put her down on her feet again. She was able continue the battle without any penality for being tripped in the first place. Can one character pickup and carry another character around the battlefield and if so then what actions/penelties apply. I want to be careful about this because, although the players are very trustworthy and would never abuse a rule flaw, there does exist the possibility that this could be abused. One possible situation is this... characters are all over the battlefield passing another up and down the ranks to get them to travel faster or reach a spot sooner... Also, I know it would make our fighter (who wields a spiked-chain and loves to use his Improved Trip feat) upset if everytime he tripped a Orc, another one just picked him up and carried him 10' placing him down on his feat ready to fight again. I know what the players want to do - be heroic and save their comrade from harm. How to the rules allow this type of action to be preformed? I could not find it anywhere in the DMG/PHB.
Wickid Knight 01-23-04, 05:41 AM	Maybe allow the worg (or orc, or player) an AoO on the prone character leaving the square or an attack on the character picking up the prone individual, considering the character technically has to enter that five foot square to pick up the prone PC (or whatever). Also what type of action would picking up the player be considered? If it was a full round action or standard action you don't get full movement do you?
DMFTodd 01-23-04, 11:08 AM	Generous DM. I don't have a specific rule to back it up, but I'd run it like this: To pick someone up, you have to get a hold of them. Getting a hold of someone is a grapple (albeit against a willing target). So the fighter has to start a grapple, it succeeds, he has to move into the gnome's square (as per the grapple rules), which provokes an AoO. He has a hold on the gnome who is laying on the ground. The fighter hasn't moved yet so he can take a move equivalent action to drag the gnome. You'd check the encumbrance and STR tables to see how much weight the fighter can drag to determine how far he moves (he's probaby going to end up in the Heavy encumbrance category so 20ft). Leaving a threatened square and having done an action provokes a second AoO from the Worg. The fighter is now 20 feet away from the Worg, holding onto the gnome, who is still laying on the ground. ---------------------- Or, if the fighter has multiple attacks in a round, I'd call picking someone up to be the equivalent of a grapple move. So he could grapple to get ahold of the gnome, then grapple again to lift him to his feat. Then he could move. Multiple AoO in that scenario.