Think outside the box

Play by post gives you a massive amount of freedom to roleplay what your character is doing. However, I understand that most people will probably just take that for granted and tell a story while sticking to the same basic routine. Let me explain. In 'The Anatomy of an Action/Fighting Scene" the example of Anolja using one of her at-will powers was used. This is fine and dandy and she added some good roleplay elements into it. But no matter how well you visualize the attack, it's still just an attack. What I want you guys to try is to think outside the box. You never know what you might get a conditional bonus for.

Let me show you what I mean...

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I don't currently have a grid handy but let's try this simple example without it.

KhurQuinn is currently 5 squares away from a goblin. For the purposes of this example we're going to forget that he's a sorcerer and can annihilate the poor creature from where he stands.

KhurQuinn narrows his eyes at the disgusting creature before him. Gritting his teeth he launches himself forward and runs toward the goblin. A few feet away from his target he plants the end of his staff on the ground and attempts to pole vault into a spin to get a little more power into his attack.

Now, you can see that KhurQuinn has set himself up nicely. At this point I would step in and say whether the move he is attempting is legal or not and what sort of additional check he'd have to make, if one is needed.

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Good move! Roll an acrobatics check to balance on your staff.

Staff planted firmly, he pushes off the ground.

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OOC: Acrobatics check + 2

The member 'KhurQuinn' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'20-Sided' :

Result : 8

Ooh. As you may have guessed. A 10 isn't going to cut it. But at least he didn't fail miserably.

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You jump off the ground but you don't get any extra power in your attack. Roll normally. This counts as a charge attack so you get no more actions after this. You also lose the +1 to attack for charges since you attempted to pole vault. Sorry!

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Now, if he had succeeded, I would probably have awarded some extra damage to the attack. Although I still would have taken away the +1 to the attack roll. Never said that thinking outside the box didn't have any consequences!

Managing little better then if he hadn't attempted the flashy move, the sorcerer lands on the ground and swings his staff at his enemy.

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OOC: Bummer on losing that +1!

Melee Basic Attack Roll + 7

The member 'KhurQuinn' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'20-Sided' :

Result : 18

Now THAT is a roll! Obviously our little sorcerer succeeded in the attack but we'll leave off things here. Hopefully this exercise will get you guys thinking about what kinds of things you can do to get that extra edge in combat and out of it!