Lys wrote:
There's already an Optional Rule in 3e that introduces something like that. Fleeing From Combat on page 229: "A character who wants to move to get away from a close combat fight he is involved in can only do so if his Initiative Test result is higher than that of his opponents." In my game, we interpreted it as also preventing you from running past enemies whose initiative wasn't lower than yours.
Wow, that's too harsh, to the point of boring combat. Only people with high initiatives ever get to move. It also means no chance for escape for archers and casters who get into melee.
Lys wrote:
As for facing, the way we ran it was that in characters were always facing either whoever they attacked that turn, or whoever first attacked them that turn, whichever happened first. So the Swordmaster running past an enemy to strike his back would not necessarily blindside her opponent because he can immediately turn to face her (though he can choose a different facing if he wants). After her attack the both of them with their chosen facings and cannot move for the rest of the turn, which the other combatants can exploit appropriately. This set-up worked pretty well for my group in terms of making fights interesting, dynamic, and tactical.
We came up with something similar:
"Targets may change their facing out of turn 1/round, if another character moves alongside their border."
So a Thief who charges directly into their Blindside still gets the attack into their back. But you can't move the 3 hexes around to the Blindside and not have the target follow you.
We also treat hexes around an active, aware enemy as difficult terrain, costing 2 hexes of move each. So far, it has curbed the sprinting around in tight quarters, without negating movement entirely, and avoiding adding another roll to it (Attack of Opportunity or Dex roll to move through).
