TOPIC: Range Combat Comment

Starting to think - bring a small yellow post-it with a big red “R” in it, and paste it into your token before you slide.

It would be interesting if combat boards, along with pucks had red "Ranged" magnets you could stick on your tokens. Your token would only be ranged if it had a "Ranged" magnet on it. This would be helpful for distinguishing if a hammer was thrown or not.

This may be an easy solution, why not just allow one method of attacking? In rooms in the past they have said there are combats that are melee only or ranged only, but that can be changed to having an insane AC for one and a normal AC for the other if it is a problem.

Most people build to use either ranged or melee not both, and while the option of switching appeals to some, there are too many DMs that miss it. (I had to remind 1/2 of the combat DMs that I was ranged).

I have a simple solution. Yellow highlighter color in the primary attack.

Ed

Druegar wrote: {dons Coach Coordinator hat}
As long as the highlighting doesn't get out of control, I'm cool with it. But if it gets abused, it gets the axe.

Pack your highlighters everyone!

michelle kanarski wrote: I have an idea that could help with this issue going forward. Unfortunately, it doesn't solve the thrown weapon issue and doesn't help anyone using older tokens. What if the background of weapon tokens indicated whether the token was melee or ranged? Maybe a more "white" background for melee and a more "gray" background for ranged, for example. Then, the party card could be shaded to match with the melee column being white and the ranged column being gray. This would help the DMs scan more easily between the token and the party card and match stats up appropriately. Perhaps thrown weapons could have a 1/2 & 1/2 background and the player needs to announce melee or ranged. Maybe to simplify, there's a rule that thrown weapons are melee by default unless announced as ranged.
.

Umm I sorta love this idea. Simple and efficient with any easy visual reference.

Only real problem I see is that none of the existing tokens will match. But I really hope TPtB seriously consider something like this.

I think the Combat GMs need more breaks, especially if they are running more complicated rooms. One of the GMs on my N3 run just didn't seem to care anymore, and i know they are an experienced GM.

Or maybe changes should be looked at for combat and the amount going on, or even an assistant. I know its fasted paced and rough, but it has only gotten progressively worse in the past 5 years in my opinion.

Mekra wrote: I think the Combat GMs need more breaks, especially if they are running more complicated rooms. One of the GMs on my N3 run just didn't seem to care anymore, and i know they are an experienced GM.

Or maybe changes should be looked at for combat and the amount going on, or even an assistant. I know its fasted paced and rough, but it has only gotten progressively worse in the past 5 years in my opinion.

The entire game has been growing ever more complex, and I think were close to capacity for how far it can be pushing in the constraints of the time available. Even in coaching the number of tokens with +dex/-con on something similar have made things a lot harder to manage. I imagine there are similar issues adjudicating combat with the complexity of rules around free actions etc.

Picc wrote:

Mekra wrote: I think the Combat GMs need more breaks, especially if they are running more complicated rooms. One of the GMs on my N3 run just didn't seem to care anymore, and i know they are an experienced GM.

Or maybe changes should be looked at for combat and the amount going on, or even an assistant. I know its fasted paced and rough, but it has only gotten progressively worse in the past 5 years in my opinion.

The entire game has been growing ever more complex, and I think were close to capacity for how far it can be pushing in the constraints of the time available. Even in coaching the number of tokens with +dex/-con on something similar have made things a lot harder to manage. I imagine there are similar issues adjudicating combat with the complexity of rules around free actions etc.

As a coach, I actively encourage EVERYONE to get either the App, the Excel spreadsheet, or one of the Web based character generators. I often have a few each con that will download and input their tokens while in the Coaching room. This helps a lot but we definitely need to get the word out further about the ease of using one of the pregenerators.

Thanks Kaledor, I think this is a really interesting topic. I had a few shots this year that I thought should have hit and never thought of this as an issue. I'll definitely make sure the DM is aware that I'm using ranged in the future.

Cheers

My solution for a couple runs this years was to draw an arrow through stats that would never matter to stats that should be used (Monk with Flying Fist gloves, arrow over ranged stats to melee states; Rogue buddy with ranged build, arrow over melee stats to ranged stats). This seemed to help.

Its an issue with wizard spells that slide as well.
With so few, I always tell the DM I am evoking my Bat Figurine +4 before I slide. With my inherent +8, my Elf hits the static AC 15 on a 3. My wife's wizard has a +6 range, a Hat of Intellect +2 and the Bat +4, so also hits on the 3.
I slide an 8 and the DM says "Miss".
It just takes some diligence.
But it is so high speed and chaotic, I honestly have no idea how combat DM's keep everything straight.