Post/Author/DateTime	Post
SweetZombieJesus 09-30-07, 01:27 AM	So Cletus the barbarian is walking along the trail, when Nevario the kobold sorcerer casts grease on the trail. Cletus fails his reflex save, and so falls. Still in the surprise round, Hefto the enlarged kobold fighter attempts to bullrush Cletus off of the trail, hoping Cletus will tumble down the hill to the cliff below. 1. What is the effect of Cletus' prone state? 2. What is the effect of the greasified trial?
ShadowF 09-30-07, 01:52 AM	1) If Cletus is prone he takes a -4 AC to melee attacks, but since I don't have the PHB on me this moment I can't say for sure that the enlarged Kobold can bullrush Cletus or how effective the bullrush would be. 2) the effect of grease would cause the Kobold to roll balance when entering the grease on the charge. I would state that the bullrush, if possible, it would double the distance of the bullrush up to the edge of the grease as Cletus makes contact with the friction of the ground.
ShadowF 09-30-07, 03:48 AM	This may help to. Is a character in the area of a grease spell considered flat-footed? Yes. Any character who is attacked while balancing is considered flat-footed unless he has 5 or more ranks of Balance (Player’s Handbook, page 67). If a creature standing in the area of a grease spell takes damage, does it have to succeed on a DC 10 Balance check or fall down? Yes. Any creature who takes damage while balancing must make another Balance check against the same DC (in this case, 10) to remain standing (Player’s Handbook, page 67).
Killydd 09-30-07, 04:24 AM	As far as I can tell, the rules don't automatically indicate any bonus for the kobolds from the grease spell. However, since Cletus is flat-footed(has not yet acted in combat) he at least doesn't get the normal AoO for the kobold initiating a bull-rush. However, as a house rule, I would probably actually rule him currently as "exceptionally stable" due to his prone state: the kobold would have to effectively pick him up and drag him rather than the more typical "lower shoulder and shove" that I picture a bull-rush as being. I would give neither bonus nor penalty for the bull-rush being in the grease spell, since although Cletus has poor footing, the kobold has to move into the square and use that same bad footing to push him back(as well as making the balance check to remain standing, as ShadowF mentioned)
SweetZombieJesus 09-30-07, 10:09 AM	Thanks for the replies so far. Bull rush does not apear to require any touch attack; after the AoO, it is a strength check with size and stability modifiers. Thus, all the effects of prone (other than disallowing an AoO) do not appear to have any effect on Hefto's Bull Rush attempt. Thus, it seems the grease spell actually does more harm than good...that seems counter-intuitive. I do like the "add 5 feet to the distance pushed" idea. And yes, the kobold will have to roll ballance 10. As for the bullrushing a prone target, giving Cletus a +4 for stability makes sense, though he might also have to take a -4 for not being able to properly resist.