Taking a Hit


Rules Questions


Are there any rules for allowing an attack to hit you? If I wanted to get hit by an attack that someone aimed at me, what would my AC be? For melee I assume it would be an auto hit (maybe), but what about for ranged attacks?


Not that I know of. But your AC assumes you're trying to avoid getting hit. If you're standing still, perhaps take a penalty equivalent to having a dex of 0.


I assume you could at least make yourself flat-footed to the attack, maybe even count your dexterity as 0 (for another -5 to your AC).

Now, I would also expect that your attacker would be able to tell that you let yourself get hit. I'd let you make a bluff check to fool them about that, though.


Since there are rules for allowing a friend to automatically touch you it is implied that you can forgo avoidance.


Even if your character "forgoes avoidance", there's still a decent chance their armor and defensive magic auras will push the attack aside. This is even more true for ranged attacks, which are more susceptible to missing due to aiming inaccuracies.

Note that battle is also a continuous affair, so it may not be realistic to allow your character to "sit still" against a single attack, but "keep dodging" versus enemy attacks.

Still, I'd probably allow a character to use an effective dexterity of 0 and reduce their dodge bonus to 0 against an ally's attack, if they desire. (but this is completely GM-fiat house rule territory here)


Not knowing the scenario its hard to judge.

Are you talking a tough man's precursor to a bar fight (go ahead, I'll give you the first shot, right here on the chin.) or are we talking about jumping in front of the party in the middle of some grand melee (TAKE ME NOW!), or are we talking interposing your character between an attacker and his intended target. Ruling for each is different. In either case the attacker may not want to attack your character in the first place. In the first example I'd call it a role-playing free-be, in the last your providing cover to the intended target (+4 to AC). If during the grand melee example you could, in my opinion, reduce yourself to a flatfooted condition.


An earlier discussion of the subject.

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