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As the topic implies I believe Trample does not hit more than one target (without feats). I know some people in official and unofficial forums say yes it does but please hear me out. My Gm thought it hit multiple targets but it didn't even cross my mind that it did since overrun is single target. I thought it was a given to only hit one. And here I am to clear up the confusion about it. Maybe I am wrong but I can't see it any other way and here is why.
#1 Everyone can agree that standard overrun hits one target. I say that Trample IS overrun with some differences.
Overrun
As a standard action, taken during your move or as part of a charge, you can attempt to overrun your target, moving through its square. You can only overrun an opponent who is no more than one size category larger than you. If you do not have the Improved Overrun feat, or a similar ability, initiating an overrun provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver. If your overrun attempt fails, you stop in the space directly in front of the opponent, or the nearest open space in front of the creature if there are other creatures occupying that space.When you attempt to overrun a target, it can choose to avoid you, allowing you to pass through its square without requiring an attack. If your target does not avoid you, make a combat maneuver check as normal. If your maneuver is successful, you move through the target’s space. If your attack exceeds your opponent’s CMD by 5 or more, you move through the target’s space and the target is knocked prone. If the target has more than two legs, add +2 to the DC of the combat maneuver attack roll for each additional leg it has.
Trample (Ex)
As a full-round action, a creature with the trample ability can attempt to overrun any creature that is at least one size category Smaller than itself. This works just like the overrun combat maneuver, but the trampling creature does not need to make a check, it merely has to move over opponents in its path. Targets of a trample take an amount of damage equal to the trampling creature’s slam damage + 1-1/2 times its Str modifier. Targets of a trample can make an attack of opportunity, but at a –4 penalty. If targets forgo an attack of opportunity, they can attempt to avoid the trampling creature and receive a Reflex save to take half damage. The save DC against a creature’s trample attack is 10 + 1/2 the creature’s HD + the creature’s Str modifier (the exact DC is given in the creature’s descriptive text). A trampling creature can only deal trampling damage to each target once per round, no matter how many times its movement takes it over a target creature.
My bold key words are on "JUST LIKE" which means exactly like. The rest of the description are the difference from standard overrun... This doesn't mean it is similar to or comparable. It means it works word for word exactly like Overrun except with the difference following. So that means trample can only hit the same amount of targets as overrun which is one.
#2 But you say "the whole description is written plural". A plural description does not mean it hits multiple targets without specifically saying "Trample hits multiple targets"(which it does not). Just look at Greater Overrun.
Greater Overrun (Combat)
Benefit: You receive a +2 bonus on checks made to overrun a foe. This bonus stacks with the bonus granted by Improved Overrun. Whenever you overrun opponents, they provoke attacks of opportunity if they are knocked prone by your overrun.Normal: Creatures knocked prone by your overrun do not provoke an attack of opportunity.
As you can see greater overrun also talks about multiple targets but we already know overrun is a single target. The reason it talks about multiple targets is either because you hit multiple targets on consecutive turns or it's referring to the feats that allow overrun to hit multiple targets (Charge Through & Bulette charging leap)
#3 Now that we have established Trample is an overrun combat maneuver with modifications we can conclude that all feats that affect overrun also affect Trample. Ex: Improved & Greater Overrun, Charge through, Buletter Charging Style, Bulette leap and others. There may be arguments on some of those but that is not the topic of this discussion.
#4 A post by James Jacobs, who talks about trample and if it knocks people prone, says...
"Trample's better than overrun, because the person being trampled cannot just step out of they way. They either have to decide to try to avoid the trample by making a Reflex save, or they can take the trample and get an attack of opportunity. You aren't automatically knocked prone when your'e trampled, in any case."
That seems pretty clear that the text I bolded says trample is specific to one target
#5 Think of the power of trample IF it were multi-target. You could with a large creature potentially hit almost 100 guys in one turn if they were lined up right. Do you really think a single default ability should potentially be able to do over 1000 damage? Remember that typically overrun on a normal character requires at least 3 feats to hit more than one target and at least 4 feats to hit more than 2(and these targets don't take damage either). Should a single unaltered attack be significantly stronger than a fighter with 4 feats??
#6 You might ask why is that line at the very end of trample there that talks about trampling someone multiple times. The answer is with multiple feats you could potentially hit the same guy multiple times. With normal overrun from my interpretation you could hit the same guy multiple times if you had enough movement on a character that has the feat "Bulette Leap". A character with 30' movement could keep running someone over 3 times but again do no damage.
Conclusion: Trample is a single target full-round action that always hits. It can be made into a multi-target ability with extensive feat investment. With those feats it becomes a very powerful ability but without them is only slightly better than standard overrun.
I realize this goes against what some people believe but if I am right there are a lot of people who are wrong on how this (not so simple) one trick wonder works.