Can you avoid a bull rush?


3.5/d20/OGL


Aside from the AoO, and the opposed strength check...is there some way to avoid a bull rush...tumble...or something.

After reading the SRD there doesn't seem to be so much as a touch attack.


The Bull Rush is really just an attack, so there isn't really any way to avoid it anymore than there is another way to avoid a sword swing coming your way. Here are really the ways to stop a Bull Rush:

1) Do a ton of damage and kill them on the Attack of Opportunity that moving into their square provokes.

2) Be really strong. The actual Bull Rush is an opposed Strength check, so if you are stronger than your opponent you have a good chance of winning. (Gets tough with Monsters)

3) Have 4 legs... yep, you get a +4 bonus to your check for this one... I suppose you can ask your DM if he will count some training wheels as extra legs (or you can be mounted, but that is such a mundane way of doing things... go for the training wheels!)

4) Be of a larger size than your opponent. Get bonuses for this to. This makes Bull Rushing a great technique against smaller creatures like kobolds or goblins. Spells can help out with this check as well.

And that is really about it. No touch attacks, no dodging or anything else... just bellying on up and forcing someone back (you are in their square they need to step up and push you back or you need to leave).

Sean Mahoney


i could see calling for the touch attack. thats like saying a bull fighter has to kill the bull on the first run or be stronger than the bull.

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ClCATRlX wrote:
i could see calling for the touch attack. thats like saying a bull fighter has to kill the bull on the first run or be stronger than the bull.

There is no touch attack, just an AoO and the Opposed roll. Your example of the Bull and the Matador doesn't include the Concealment or miss chance his cape gives him...

For the most part a Bull Rush doesn't do any damage. The only way it can is if you get pushed into or over a hazard (like cliffs, fire pits, blade barriers, etc). There is the Dungeoncrasher Fighter Substitution levels from Dungeonscape that can do soemthing like 4d6 or 8d6 if they rush you into a wall or other solid object.


Since we're in the neighborhood of people being knocked on their butts, and since I've studied anatomy, I have to mention that 'prone' is consistently misused in the d20 SRD and in the D&D core books. In the rules it is used to mean 'lying on the ground,' when it actually means 'lying face down.' Lying face up is supine.

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jocundthejolly wrote:
Since we're in the neighborhood of people being knocked on their butts, and since I've studied anatomy, I have to mention that 'prone' is consistently misused in the d20 SRD and in the D&D core books. In the rules it is used to mean 'lying on the ground,' when it actually means 'lying face down.' Lying face up is supine.

Surely lying face down is prostrate?

Prone can be used for the same thing, but prone really means having an inclination toward - lying down is just a secondary meaning...


Sean Mahoney wrote:

And that is really about it. No touch attacks, no dodging or anything else... just bellying on up and forcing someone back (you are in their square they need to step up and push you back or you need to leave).

Sean Mahoney

Thanks for the clarification, seems to have satisfied my player...


Last two games I played Bull-Rush and Overrun were used to very critical effect. I think they may be underused for the effectiveness I just seen them doing. But then again the terrain was a rather crowded tavern, and a narrow sewer corridor.


Durendal wrote:

Aside from the AoO, and the opposed strength check...is there some way to avoid a bull rush...tumble...or something.

After reading the SRD there doesn't seem to be so much as a touch attack.

There is one other way to avoid a Bull Rush: ready an action to get out of the way. Somebody else posted about bull fighters and that is essentially what they do. If the character is in a situation where the Bull Rush seems likely this may be the safest bet.


ghettowedge wrote:
There is one other way to avoid a Bull Rush: ready an action to get out of the way. Somebody else posted about bull fighters and that is essentially what they do. If the character is in a situation where the Bull Rush seems likely this may be the safest bet.

Exactly. Although I've allowed a variant bull rush for years called an Opposed Bull Rush. If someone bull rushes you, you may bull rush back as an attack of opportunity.


varianor wrote:
ghettowedge wrote:
There is one other way to avoid a Bull Rush: ready an action to get out of the way. Somebody else posted about bull fighters and that is essentially what they do. If the character is in a situation where the Bull Rush seems likely this may be the safest bet.
Exactly. Although I've allowed a variant bull rush for years called an Opposed Bull Rush. If someone bull rushes you, you may bull rush back as an attack of opportunity.

Good one =)


varianor wrote:
I've allowed a variant bull rush for years called an Opposed Bull Rush. If someone bull rushes you, you may bull rush back as an attack of opportunity.

A similar (and RAW-legal) tactic is to use your AoO against the bull rusher to Trip him.


Vegepygmy wrote:
varianor wrote:
I've allowed a variant bull rush for years called an Opposed Bull Rush. If someone bull rushes you, you may bull rush back as an attack of opportunity.
A similar (and RAW-legal) tactic is to use your AoO against the bull rusher to Trip him.

This potentially sets up an AoO chain, as discussed HERE in WotC's Rules of the Game column.

Pretty cool idea.

Rez

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