Surprise and Flash Maneuvers
All of these maneuvers, and the many possibilities they provide for characters
to customize their fighting styles, should give you the idea that the DM
should be encouraging wild, extravagant, interesting maneuvers and styles in combat.
This is a lot more entertaining than ordinary, plodding swing vs. swing combat.
Therefore, the DM should reward intelligent, creative efforts in combat by
granting them bonuses to attack rolls and damage.
Examples:
A lightly-armored hero with the Acrobatics nonweapon proficiency could charge
a foe, then use his Acrobatics to flip over him and strike him from the rear;
the DM might give him a bonus to attack rolls in addition to striking at a part
of the target's body that is unprotected by a shield.
A crossbowman could use a Called Shot against the rope holding the chandelier,
causing the chandelier to come crashing down onto the villain's head; instead
of suffering a massive attack penalty for such a preposterous shot, the DM
might give the player an attack bonus for the surprise value of the attack, plus a
percentage change for knockout, as per the Attacking Without Killing section of
the Player's Handbook.
A swashbuckler running up a flight of stairs with guardsmen in hot pursuit
could tumble a stack of casks down the stairs behind him; the DM could give him a
Pull/Trip maneuver against each one of those guardsmen, and even an improved
chance to attack rolls, for attempting this classic move.
On the other hand, a player might come up with a plan or maneuver that is
merely foolish or abusive to the campaign. The DM can assign such a maneuver
minuses to attack rolls and damage.
Examples:
Rathnar's player decides that if Rathnar makes faces at an orc he is fighting,
then the orc will become spooked and run away. When Rathnar attempts this, the
orc proceeds to make faces right back at him, then begins the process of
cutting Rathnar to ribbons.
Later, after some time at the healer's guild, Rathnar is in better armor and
is in dire combat with another orc. Rathnar decides that he'll tuck and roll
between the orc's legs, stand up behind him, and cleave him in twain from behind.
However, his player has failed to consider that Rathnar is in bulky plate mail
and knows nothing about acrobatics. The DM assigns Rathnar a stiff penalty to
his Dexterity roll when Rathnar tries the maneuver. Rathnar ends up flat on his
back, banging against the orc's legs with the orc looming over him, and the DM
assigns the orc a bonus to attack rolls Rathnar because of the hero's clumsy
position.
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