Defending Others action [Archive] - Wizards Community

Defending Others action [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Evilclone
09-22-07, 03:12 PM I was wondering about a rule to permit a character to defend someone near to you.
I mean... where are those scenes you see in movies where the man gets in the middle between the arrow and the beloved one?

So I and my friends thought about that a little and came up with this:

Special action: defending others
You can defend someone who is in your natural threatened squares. For "natural" we're excluding weapons which let's you threats more squares like a spiked chain, but a large creature uses its normal reach.
This special action is resolved as an attack of opportunity, so you can't do another AoO in the same round.
The attacker rolls versus your AC - 4. If he succed then the same roll is used versus the AC of the original target.
You can instead decide to put yourself between the attack and the original target, in this situation the attacker rolls versus your AC. If the attacker wins, then the damage is dealt to you.

What do you think about that?
Malchius
09-22-07, 03:35 PM The Knight(PHB 2) gets an ability that does exactly this.

The wording of this action seems a bit muddled up though, why do they strike agaisnt your AC -4?
InkBlot
09-22-07, 03:37 PM This isn't needed. Simply standing in front of someone provides them with soft cover (+4 AC) against ranged attacks. For melee attacks you can use the aid another action to grant someone a +2 to AC.

In a dramatic moment where a body guard jumps in front of his charge to take the arrow for her, that body guard is always ready and looking out for any danger. He readied an action to move in front of her. If he was close enough, he could ready an action to five-foot-step in front of her and use full defense. Readied actions interrupt other actions, so the body guard provides soft cover before the arrow hits.
Evilclone
09-22-07, 07:52 PM AC - 4, because you're not taking the hit if the attacker is successful, so it's a little hard.

However my DM for now had used the readied action to accomplish this, but he feels like to need a specific rule about it ^_^'
mvincent
09-24-07, 01:33 PM I was wondering about a rule to permit a character to defend someone near to you.A readied action can do this via the core rules.
jaelis
09-24-07, 01:55 PM Aid another (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialAttacks.htm#aidAnother) can do this, either as a readied action or not. You could even ready an action to take a 5 ft step to provide cover for your ally, and then aid another for him/her. That would give a total +6 to their AC.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Evilclone 09-22-07, 03:12 PM	I was wondering about a rule to permit a character to defend someone near to you. I mean... where are those scenes you see in movies where the man gets in the middle between the arrow and the beloved one? So I and my friends thought about that a little and came up with this: Special action: defending others You can defend someone who is in your natural threatened squares. For "natural" we're excluding weapons which let's you threats more squares like a spiked chain, but a large creature uses its normal reach. This special action is resolved as an attack of opportunity, so you can't do another AoO in the same round. The attacker rolls versus your AC - 4. If he succed then the same roll is used versus the AC of the original target. You can instead decide to put yourself between the attack and the original target, in this situation the attacker rolls versus your AC. If the attacker wins, then the damage is dealt to you. What do you think about that?
Malchius 09-22-07, 03:35 PM	The Knight(PHB 2) gets an ability that does exactly this. The wording of this action seems a bit muddled up though, why do they strike agaisnt your AC -4?
InkBlot 09-22-07, 03:37 PM	This isn't needed. Simply standing in front of someone provides them with soft cover (+4 AC) against ranged attacks. For melee attacks you can use the aid another action to grant someone a +2 to AC. In a dramatic moment where a body guard jumps in front of his charge to take the arrow for her, that body guard is always ready and looking out for any danger. He readied an action to move in front of her. If he was close enough, he could ready an action to five-foot-step in front of her and use full defense. Readied actions interrupt other actions, so the body guard provides soft cover before the arrow hits.
Evilclone 09-22-07, 07:52 PM	AC - 4, because you're not taking the hit if the attacker is successful, so it's a little hard. However my DM for now had used the readied action to accomplish this, but he feels like to need a specific rule about it ^_^'
mvincent 09-24-07, 01:33 PM	I was wondering about a rule to permit a character to defend someone near to you.A readied action can do this via the core rules.
jaelis 09-24-07, 01:55 PM	Aid another (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialAttacks.htm#aidAnother) can do this, either as a readied action or not. You could even ready an action to take a 5 ft step to provide cover for your ally, and then aid another for him/her. That would give a total +6 to their AC.