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I just ran a combat where PCs fought a bunch of Large creature, and I was really dissatisfied with how immobile the big creatures were. Then I thought about this in the extreme - a gargantuan or colossal creature still only gets a 5' step. So just brain-storming here, what if your "5' step" was actually equal to your base-size?
No change for Medium and Small creature (who are effectively treated as having a 5' base in most situations).
Tiny creatures would only get a 2.5' step.
Large creatures would get a 10' step. THAT makes big a little scarier. Those long legs could actually take big steps. They'd be able to get a lot more full attacks because they could close those gaps with steps rather than moves. If they've got 10' reach too, you'd have to be 20' away to be safe. Enlarge Person would get another benefit.
Huge creatures could really move around in battle and be truly scary. With a 15' reach, the safe zone would be 30' out. You'd have to use ranged weapons or Spring Attack to be able to get in and out, otherwise you're in full attack range.
Definitely something to the monsters' advantage, but like I've said, I've been disappointed by some of the bigger critters' staying power lately, so I'd like to find another way to give their size some umph.
Any other thoughts on consequences?
I think it should be, "If they can reach it, then they can step it."
I think it should be, "If they can reach it, then they can step it."
I like this a bit better. It's not such an extreme change (consider a great wyrm dragon moving 30 ft. as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity) and it better represents the creature being able to move around in the area it threatens. I would add a caveat that the reach must be with a natural weapon.
It should not be based on size, it should be based on speed. If you're size Huge but still have speed 30, you're clearly one hell of a clumsy oaf. If you're a medium creature with speed 90, you can clearly cover more ground in the blink of an eye than a normal human.
The mistake is taking "5 ft step" so literally. It does not need to be one step, it is an adjustment.
Of course, the problem with doing this is that spellcasters are the best at buffing speed, usually via flight spells (you can 5 ft step in the air), and most people including myself would not wish to give casters such a buff.
This makes large (or larger) creatures to be virtually inescapable and able to bring their full attacks to bear much more easily than medium creatures. It's a pretty drastic change imo.
Big creatures aren't more graceful than smaller ones. Elephants for example can be pretty good about certain kinds of movement, but they're not as nimble as many 4 legged creatures that are smaller and lighter. From a realism perspective, it's a matter of physics and biomechanics. As a proportion of body size, bigger animals are usually slower to move than bigger animals. A grasshopper can jump 20 times it's body size in a long jump, while an african elephant (30 feet long) is lucky if it can clear 4 feet, or about 1/8th of it's body length. A flea, which is even smaller, can jump over 100 times it's body length in height.
Instead of just making it a rule, I would test out a monster that gets this free movement and try them out, different sizes even.
No, not a good idea.
A large or huge creature can slightly adjust (5 ft) its position without providing an opportunity to it's enemies but if they move too much, then that larger body will just provide so much yummy target moving by you, that its really hard not to stab at it.
Also from a balance point of view, not good.
I could accept that it's tied to speed. If you're 60 ft landspeed, you get a second 5 ft step, 90 ft gives you a third.
Like others have said it should be based on your movement speed not your size.
You know, a 15' step would make monks so much better.
Master Arminas