Types of Movement

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Types of Movement

Forced Movement

Most forced movement is handled via the Combat Maneuver system, but there is an added class of "automatic" forced movement which is occasionally available. Forced movement allows the attacking party to move the attacked party a number of squares. It is not possible to resist this movement unless you have a special power or ability which specifically opposes such movement. This forced movement ignores the penalties to movement for rough terrain, but must be into unoccupied squares. The attacked creature may be moved into hazardous squares such as a pit or trap, but in such a case the victim is allowed a reflex save versus a DC of 10 + one-half the level of the attacker (round down). If the save is made, the forced move ends in the square before the hazard would be entered.

Forced movement never provokes attacks of opportunity.

Push

A Push is forced movement in which a creature is moved by an attacker in a path away from the attacker. Each square of this forced movement must be further away from the attacker's square(s) than the square being exited. If any squares in the desired path are blocked or occupied by any creatures (friend or foe) the push ends in the square prior to this obstruction.

Pull

A Pull is forced movement in which a creature is moved by an attacker in a path toward the attacker. Each square of this forced movement must be closer to the attacker's square(s) than the square being exited. If any squares in the desired path are blocked or occupied by any creatures (friend or foe) the pull ends in the square prior to this obstruction.

Slide

A Slide is forced movement in which a creature is moved by an attacker in any path the attacker wishes. If any squares in the desired path are blocked or occupied by any creatures (friend or foe) the slide ends in the square prior to this obstruction.

Distance, Movement, and Area of Effect

Accounting for distance and movement is a complex topic, and large amounts of thought went into this. For these variant rules, Pathfinder's Distance, Movement, and Area of Effect rules are the 'standard'. Namely, measure all movement in squares, face-to-face moves are 1 for 1, and diagonal moves are 1, then 2, then 1 for 1. Area of effects are represented by templates and precisely defined.

This approach is simple, but is not very flexible and introduces several issues. For example, there is no template for a 25 foot cone, so how do you determine the area of such a custom area of effect? Why is the template for a sixty foot cone actually eighty feet wide? How do you determine the exact size of a sixty foot cone that has been doubled in size by a meta-magic feat? What about a sixty foot radius circle? Why is the area of a sixty foot line cut in half if it is laid down in a diagonal?

Moreover, these variant rules introduce several high-maneuverability classes, namely, the prowler, the monk, and the brawler. In addition to the maneuver classes, several classes may gain area of effect attacks, such as epic bards and fighters, and of course the spell-casters. In order to make play smoother and more enjoyable in such a fluid environment, it is strongly recommended that the following variant rules be used for measuring distance, movement, and area of effects.

ALL distances and movement are counted as "1 for 1." There is no penalty for moving in diagonal lines. This has the effect of greatly simplifying the work of determining ranges and allows high-maneuverability classes to play much faster.

ALL areas of effect are simplified.

Line areas of effect are counted as 1 for 1 in all directions. For simplicity, it is recommended that a primary target square within the attack's range be chosen, and then the squares of the line are counted out 'through' that primary target square. Any creatures beyond the primary target in cases where the line is moving in any diagonal are adjudicated by placing a string or ruler along the path between the center of the attacker and the center of the primary target square. Squares whose center are nearest the line are part of the line attack. The GM is the final arbiter of close calls on diagonal line attacks.

Templates are no longer used for circles or cones. The area of effect for all common cones and circles are reduced to squares, based upon the conversions below. This simplifies placing AOE's considerably, and allows custom sizes or widened spells to be used easily.

Placement Rules

No-range attacks (usually cones) are placed by ensuring that any square of the AOE must have one point of adjacency, either a side or a corner, with one of the attacker's squares. For example, a size Medium wizard uses Burning Hands. This spell has a fifteen-foot-cone area of effect. In these rules, the cone template is not used, and instead the Area of Effect is converted to a three by three square. The location of the effect of the spell must be adjacent to either a side or a corner of one of the caster's squares. Since the wizard is size Medium and thus has only one square, the Burning Hands AOE must be adjacent to either a side or a corner of that square.

A size Huge dragon breathing a sixty foot cone of fire is resolved as follows: A size Huge creature occupies a three by three square. A sixty foot cone is defined as an 8x8 square. The 8x8 square of the area of effect must be placed so that it is 'touching' any edge or corner of the 3x3 square of the dragon's space.

Ranged area of effect attacks are not determined by adjacency to the attacker's square. Instead, they are counted out from a central target point. All 'odd number' areas of effect are centered upon a target square. All 'even number' areas of effect are centered upon an intersection 'targeting cross-hair' formed by four squares.

Conversion of Areas of Effect

Many of the larger areas of effect have been reduced in size to balance the fact that corners are no longer being cut out by the old 3:2 diagonal rules. The total affected area is still usually greater under these variant rules. This reduction also allows for simplification of the Widen Spell metamagic feat, which simply doubles the listed axis values. For example, a 30-foot cone with Widen Spell applied grows from a 5x5 square to a 10x10 square.

• Cones
  • 15 foot cone becomes a 3x3 square around a target square
  • 30 foot cone becomes a 5x5 square around a target square
  • 60 foot cone becomes an 8x8 square around a target intersection point
• Circles
  • 5 foot radius becomes a 2x2 square around a target intersection point
  • 10 foot radius becomes a 4x4 square around a target intersection point
  • 15 foot radius becomes a 5x5 square around a target square
  • 20 foot radius becomes a 6x6 square around a target intersection point
  • 30 foot radius becomes a 9x9 square around a target square
  • 40 foot radius becomes a 12x12 square around a target intersection point

Three Dimensional Movement

For three dimensional movement, it is strongly recommended to use the above variant rules for counting movement, distance, and areas of effect. The reason is simple: when calculating the range between two objects at different altitudes, using the old rules required trigonometry or guesswork. In the 1 for 1 counting rules, the different altitudes can be ignored, as long as the difference in altitude is equal to or less than the difference between the figures.

For example, a ranger wants to shoot an orc who is hiding thirty feet high in a tree. In these rules, as long as the ranger is thirty feet or more away from the base of the tree, the range is simply defined as the range to the tree's square. If the ranger is closer than thirty feet to the base of the tree, the range is simply thirty feet, no matter where he moves around the base of the tree. This is a tremendous simplification and makes gameplay much faster and smoother.

For this reason, it is strongly recommended that referees enforce 'altitude ceilings' in three dimensional encounters. This is readily accomplished inside large buildings and caves, etc. Outdoors, it is usually simplest to abstract 'up' and 'down', so that the maximum distance between two combatants is always defined as the distance between their figures on the map. Alternatively, the referee may rule by fiat that cloud cover, or a tree canopy, or hazardous smoke/vapor, etc, limits the maximum altitude at which combat is possible.

If these rules are followed, then range and area of effect in three-dimensional movement is no different than in 2-dimensional movement. All squares are visualized as cubes. Moving from cube to cube may be done from face-to-face, or edge to edge, or corner to corner. All moves and ranges are counted as 1 for 1.

As a corollary to this, when three dimensional movement is being used, all characters are considered to be represented as cubes in space, not squares on the map. The cube is a number of squares high equal to the number of squares per side of the figure's size.

Thus, a small or medium creature occupies a cube five feet on a side. A large creature occupies a cube ten feet on a side. A huge creature occupies a cube fifteen feet on a side. Larger creatures continue using this same progression. For game balance reasons, the same number of smaller creatures will fill a cube as fill a same size square. Two Small creatures may occupy a five foot cube without squeezing. Four tiny creatures fill a cube, etc. This rule is to prevent dozens and dozens of enemies from filling a single space.

This system makes it much easier to accommodate feats of derring-do. For example, how high up is a Huge Elephant's back? Fifteen feet! So if a player character jumps to the back of an elephant, that is how far away they are from the ground. The bottom of the character's cube rests upon the top of the elephants cube, and reach and range are determined accordingly.

All cubes that border either a side, edge, or corner are considered adjacent in three dimensional movement.

Reach now affects all adjacent cubes, including the one above your head (and beneath your feet) as well as the ones above and below your adjacent squares.

Areas of effect, defined above as squares, are simply counted as cubes in three dimensional movement. Odd-sized cubes are centered upon a target cube, even-sized cubes are targeted upon the three-axis intersection of eight cubes.