Tell Me Everything There Is To Know About Push, Pull & Slide

[ourchair]

No, really.

I'm pretty much confident about how this mechanic is handled, etc., but it seems to be the one thing that players keep asking me to clarifiy, and then after I clarify, the next week they ask about it again and it keeps bogging down the game.

Is there something I might be missing on this? AFAIK, it is forced movement that does not provoke opportunity attacks and the terms only differ insofar as which direction the forced movement goes.

 

[the Jester]

Pretty much.

Pull: every square of movement must put the target closer to the puller.

Push: every square of movement must put the target farther away from the pusher.

Slide: move the target wherever you want (within the limitations of how many squares of movement you're inflictiing).

A few other points:

If forced movement would put the target into hazardous terrain, such as over a precipice, they get an immediate saving throw to fall prone in the last square before the hazardous terrain. (There is some debate about whether this applies to hazardous terrain other than precipices.)

Forced movement, as you note, does NOT trigger opportunity attacks.

You can always choose to push, pull or slide a target less than the maximum number of squares that you're allowed to (although pushes, pulls and slides triggered by certain terrain features may not always allow this).

Hope this helps!

 

[MadLordOfMilk]

Push/pull/slide also breaks grabs.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Pull: every square of movement must put the target closer to the puller.

Push: every square of movement must put the target farther away from the pusher.

Slide: move the target wherever you want (within the limitations of how many squares of movement you're inflictiing).

Jester, think you got your pushes and pulls mixed up in your original post. Reworked it for you in the quote above.

Excellent description, though.

 

[jbear]

Also doing that in areas of difficult terrain also cost extra movement. So pushing an enemy back into difficult terrain means you'd need to Push 2 to achieve it.

Your players should use terrain to their advantage (as should your monsters) when they force movement. Pulling an enemy of a ledge for example, or pushing them off a bridge, or sliding them across the room into the burning fire. The creature who is being forced into these dangerous areas is entitled a Saving Throw, before falling off the roof for example. If they succeed they manage to throw themselves down on the ground at the edge of the threatening area. If they fail they fall or land in the fire (taking extra damage depending on the intensity of the fire or the distance of the fall)

 

[Saeviomagy]

Forced movement also ignores difficult terrain.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

If forced movement would put the target into hazardous terrain, such as over a precipice, they get an immediate saving throw to fall prone in the last square before the hazardous terrain. (There is some debate about whether this applies to hazardous terrain other than precipices.)

There is actually no debate about this at all. Any attempt to force move someone into hazardous terrain grants a saving throw. The DMG is 100% clear on this point. Some people will argue that harmful spell zones should grant saves too, but this is not supported by the rules, though it is a common house-rule.

Its hard to comprehensively cover all the possible interactions between forced movement, powers, and items. There are a few gray areas. One involves what happens when a power specifies restrictions on a forced move that cannot be met. Usually this comes up with martial powers that specify things like "slide your opponent one square to a square adjacent to you" or the opposite problem "slide the target to the nearest square adjacent to you" and the target is say a dwarf. There's pretty good common consensus on those but no exact rule.

 

[DarkLord Of DForce]

Hmm, just out of curiosity, what about Teleport?

I mean, if I use sequestering strike to drop my target over a bottomless ravine, do they still get a saving throw?

I can easily understand how push, pull, and slide would have to give them a chance, but if the teleport distance is more than 1 square beyond the edge of the ravine, and they don't have a reach beyond 1, then....

Thanks!

 

[sfedi]

Also doing that in areas of difficult terrain also cost extra movement. So pushing an enemy back into difficult terrain means you'd need to Push 2 to achieve it.

No, forced movement ignores difficult terrain.

Also, you can't change the altitude of the target using forced movement.

Forced movement doesn't count as "willingly moves"

And there is some debate as if forced movement counts as "moves".
Common houserule is that it doesn't (i.e. moves = willingly moves).

 

[Mirtek]

Hmm, just out of curiosity, what about Teleport?

I mean, if I use sequestering strike to drop my target over a bottomless ravine, do they still get a saving throw?

I can easily understand how push, pull, and slide would have to give them a chance, but if the teleport distance is more than 1 square beyond the edge of the ravine, and they don't have a reach beyond 1, then....

Thanks!

Forced movement is a game term, which refers solely to push/pull/slide and to nothing else that force someone to move. Teleportation is no considered forced movement and does not grant any saving throws at the moment.

However the designers have already stated their intend to add a saving throw in such situations to the teleport rules.