[Noob Question] Charging And In-combat Movement

[Mortimer]

I have seen people talking about Charge on these forums and elsewhere, and every time I've seen it, it sounded like the charge took more than 1 round? Or more than 1 CA?

I'm confused about a lot of things surrounding the charge. What happens when someone charges past an enemy to hit the archer 10 meters behind him? Does the enemy get any chance to protect his archer ally? If that enemy attacks the charger as he goes by, can the charger parry?

How many CAs does it take to move 8m (standard human movespeed)? If I can move 8m in one round and it only takes 1 CA, what can I do with the other CAs?

If I charge using my first CA in a round, how long does it take until my attack lands? Can I do anything else that round afterward? What if I use the last CA in the round, does that mean the charge takes less time? Or do I spend the entire next round charging and only land my attack at the end?

I realize these questions might sound annoying but it's kind of important for a GM to understand these things.

 

[ThatGuy]

Ah...

Now my young padwan, you reach the true level of rules examination in which the correct answer is: As you wish.

This is the vaguest rules area of the book, and as the writers have stated a bit of a hazy area- on purpose. I would suggest taking a look at the house rules on charging in the game I have online that I posted earlier- its in the houserules section. Take what you like, leave the rest.

The RAW leaves a lot of questions to be answered, the biggest being how can the combat round stop for two people after one has charging- especially in the middle of, say, a war.

As far as some of the movement questions:

[quote Mortimer]How many CAs does it take to move 8m (standard human movespeed)? If I can move 8m in one round and it only takes 1 CA, what can I do with the other CAs?[/quote]

I believe the concept is, you can move up to 8 meters in a single round. Once those movements are used, you have essentially "overextended" your self- planted your feet, come to a halt, etc.- and are no longer allowed to move anymore- unless you sprint which you can do for up to 32 additional meters per round (which brings up some of the same issues as charging). Personally, I put serious limitation on what can and can not be done while sprinting- but the RAW is nothing can be done at a percentage better than your Athletics score. As far as what else you can do with your CA's- anything but move

This means if you move all 8 meters and Attack on your first CA it is completely possible that someone could flank you, or just run right by you (if you haven't engaged them). These could easily be house ruled with a common sense "you can't do that." ruling from the GM, although any rules lawyers in your group may have a fit.

Which is the general difficulty with the movement rules in general. They are a bit less rigid which allows for more flexibility, but less consistency, which can irk some players.

 

[Mortimer]

Ah...

Now my young padwan, you reach the true level of rules examination in which the correct answer is: As you wish.

I think I'm actually ok with my current understanding. I should be able to adjudicate sufficiently well for my players. I would just prefer to know how others do it to see if they have any better ideas.

This is the vaguest rules area of the book, and as the writers have stated a bit of a hazy area- on purpose. I would suggest taking a look at the house rules on charging in the game I have online that I posted earlier- its in the houserules section. Take what you like, leave the rest.

Your house rules on charging are actually what got me started looking at it.

 

[Mortimer]

You can not move more than 8m total in a round, but you can spread this over as many Actions as you want.

The Move Action is for when you only want to move with an Action.

Some Actions, such as casting, limit the amount a character can move to 4m with that action. The character can still move 8m in a round, just not combined with the casting action.

Combining a move with another action is for the purpose of reaching the point where the action takes place (an attack, grabbing a torch from a wall sconce, etc.). So you may Move then Act, but not the other way around. You cannot attack then move 8m as one action.

Sprinting

A sprint takes a full round, therefore a sprint must be begun in Phase 1 of the round with the first Action available to the sprinter. The sprinter may still use other CA's to defend himself throughout the round.

Apparently this is Mongoose Pete's explanation on how movement is supposed to work. The person who wrote it attributed it to him anyway. I figured I'd post it in case anyone saw this topic and wanted a solid answer.

Before I found this I had already come up with a system that I liked a little better, so I'll just stick with that.