Charging as a Standard action

[Ilium]

The SRD has this to say about charging:

If you are able to take only a standard action or a move action on your turn, you can still charge, but you are only allowed to move up to your speed (instead of up to double your speed). You can’t use this option unless you are restricted to taking only a standard action or move action on your turn.

This has always bugged me to no end. Charging is a full-round action, unless you can't take a full-round action, in which case it's a standard or even a move action. Weird rules exceptions bother me. So why not just make Charge a standard action like other special attack types? Obviously you would only be able to move up to your speed, not double your speed. This would allow someone to move and charge in a single round, I know, but I don't see that as a problem. It would also allow you to Ready a charge, which I think you should be able to do.

All other rules would stay the same and Charge would no longer be a weird exception.

So tell me what I'm missing.

 

[ValhallaGH]

It would allow you to draw your weapon on a charge without the Quickdraw feat, making that feat even weaker.
You'd be able to make turning charges. "I move thirty feet to the corner and then I Charge the kobold sorcerer."

I can't think of any major reasons not to do it, but it doesn't feel right to me. Running at someone, full speed, to cave in their skull feels like a full round action, not a standard or move action.

 

[Pbartender]

You'd be able to make turning charges. "I move thirty feet to the corner and then I Charge the kobold sorcerer."

This, I think, is the big one.

It would also mean that you could move after the charge... "I charge thirty feet to attack the kobold sorcerer, then I move another thirty feet and take cover behind the tree."

 

[Ilium]

This, I think, is the big one.

It would also mean that you could move after the charge... "I charge thirty feet to attack the kobold sorcerer, then I move another thirty feet and take cover behind the tree."

Ah, now that could be a problem. One of the hallmarks of a charge is that you are lowering your guard to some degree. That's not much of a penalty if you can then move away before suffering the consequences.

I don't have a problem with the turning charge, since you still have the requirement that you have to move at least 10 feet, and any movement that is part of the charge still needs to be a straight line, etc. That was part of my logic: If you can sometimes charge as a standard action, why not always?

I suppose I could add something like "the Charge must be the last action taken on your turn."

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Pbartender]

That was part of my logic: If you can sometimes charge as a standard action, why not always?

Conversely, if you can always charge as a standard attack, why ever make a standard attack?

With such a change, I can see standard action charges becoming the preferred method of attack after movment for mid-high level characters.

 

[Ilium]

Conversely, if you can always charge as a standard attack, why ever make a standard attack?

With such a change, I can see standard action charges becoming the preferred method of attack after movment for mid-high level characters.

Maybe my group is weird, but they never charge. Part of my motivation for this is to get it to happen more often.

I see charging as pretty balanced, since if you charge you get an AC penalty, and there are still the movement restrictions that make it hard to do more than once a combat.

 

[Pbartender]

Maybe my group is weird, but they never charge. Part of my motivation for this is to get it to happen more often.

Generally, I usually see it either in the surprise/first round of combat -- Someone desperately want to attack an enemy while he's still flatfooted, but the enemy is more than a single movement away.

I see charging as pretty balanced, since if you charge you get an AC penalty, and there are still the movement restrictions that make it hard to do more than once a combat.

The trouble is, if you switch to a standard action, then partically all of those movement restrictions go away... You just use a movement action to position yourself, then you charge 30'.

In fact, consider a Scout engaged in combat, who tumbles 10 feet away from his opponent, then charges that same opponent, gaining not only the bonuses and penalties from charging but also the skirmish benefits.

 

[Ilium]

The trouble is, if you switch to a standard action, then partically all of those movement restrictions go away... You just use a movement action to position yourself, then you charge 30'.

In fact, consider a Scout engaged in combat, who tumbles 10 feet away from his opponent, then charges that same opponent, gaining not only the bonuses and penalties from charging but also the skirmish benefits.

Good point. This is the sort of thing I was looking for: the abuses I didn't think of.

I begin to understand why the rule is so funky.

 

[comrade raoul]

Consider simply ruling that anyone can charge as a standard or full-round action, but that, on any round in which a character charges, she may only take (a) free actions; (b) a swift (or immediate) actions; or (c) an action explicitly allowed as part of a charge.

In practice, this preserves the existing rules, but maybe it does so slightly more neatly?

 

[frankthedm]

Wotc does not want people to be able to Ready Partial Charges. This slid through into 3.0 and caused a lot of headaches.

I think readying a partial charge is a reasonable part of reading an attack provided;

1. No 5 foot step is allowed when taking the readied attack
2. Any distance moved before the Ready was made must be in a straight line. The charge MUST maintain this line or it is wasted.
3. I, the DM, am entitled to plot your intercept course for fast moving foes.