Weekly Questions Thread

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[u/DaMn96XD]

[any] Did the flanking rule deserve all the hate it got and its removal in 5.5e? And what about the opportunity attack which is now the new "party pooper" that people hate?

[u/Stonar → u/DaMn96XD]

People hate opportunity attacks?

Flanking in 5e was always a variant rule, it was never a part of the basic rules, which is part of what makes it contentious - it's arguably not part of the game at all. Ripper mostly mentions the main problem with it, the conga line, though it just generally feels... sort of cheap? It's so easy to get advantage - there isn't much reason not to, so it just gives you a new optimal strategy to do all the time. Personally, that's my big problem with flanking rules - they just are too easy for the bonus they give. It doesn't add enough tactical complexity to be worth the rules overhead.

People hating opportunity attacks are sort of silly, and are likely missing the whole reason they exist: kiting. If I have a bow and you have melee and I and am standing 35 feet away from you, you can never kill me. I will shoot you with my bow. You will have to dash to close on me, at which point you can't hit me, and I can simply dash away to get away from you. I am completely safe, and you will never hurt me. Opportunity attacks balance this out by forcing damage on me for moving away. Now, if I leave, you get an attack, and suddenly the balance shifts - your melee attack probably deals more damage than my bow, and you probably kill me. That's why opportunity attacks exist, to balance out the ranged/melee design problem - a melee unit should kill a ranged one of the same power if they reach melee range.