[House Rule] Charging as a standard action

[Orion Paxis]

As a GM I find the charging rules a bit restrictive. I'm thinking of making it a standard action by removing the restriction that says you can only use it as a standard action when you are only allowed a single action. I'd keep everything else the same.

Anyone see any quagmires or unforeseen power shifts I might be creating?

[Ascalaphus]

Well, you can turn corners, by first taking a Move action, then Charging in a different direction.

And you can draw a weapon in that first Move if you have a +1 BAB, without shortening your Charge range.

Any other abilities that work as a move action (lots of class abilities and feats) can now be combined with charging....

All in all, I think there'll be a LOT of surprises if you do this.

[Orion Paxis]

Ascalaphus wrote:

Well, you can turn corners, by first taking a Move action, then Charging in a different direction.

And you can draw a weapon in that first Move if you have a +1 BAB, without shortening your Charge range.

Any other abilities that work as a move action (lots of class abilities and feats) can now be combined with charging....

All in all, I think there'll be a LOT of surprises if you do this.

I'm OK with combining charge with things like drawing a weapon, turning corners or getting up from prone. When I think of action movies and novels I can see all those things happening. I think for the most part the bonus to hit is reasonably offset by the penalty to AC for an action that is still situational.

I'm more concerned about some combo of feats and class abilities that I might not have thought of of if this will this benefit once particular class in some odd way.

One such degenerate move is "if only one square away from a foe back up one square then charge forward 2 squares to get charge bonus". That would definitely fit my new RA-reWritten, but not my RAI.

[Ascalaphus]

I think for the most part Charge works pretty well. If you have a full round, you can move-attack to turn corners. Charging is for attacking things at maximum range, where you can only hit them if you accelerate to the point where turning isn't practical anymore, or if you need a little more to-hit.

[wintersrage]

There is a feat in the The Complete Advanced Feat book called

fleet of foot:

You can turn while running or charging.
Prerequisite: Dex 15, Run
Benefit: When charging, you can make a single direction
change of 90 degrees or less. You must move at least 10 ft.
after the direction change. You can’t use this feat if your base
speed is reduced due to armor or encumbrance.
Normal: Without this feat, you must charge in a straight
line.

[Atarlost]

This isn't actually anything unprecedented. Rhino Charge lets you ready a half-speed charge (like what you can make in a surprise round or if staggered) and readying an action is a standard action, which leaves you with that move action. Ready for something you know without a doubt is going to happen like "my target takes any action." If your GM doesn't accept that as a readied action trigger arrange for a friend to always delay until right after you and take some predictable action.

If you can live with this you can live with standard action charges.

[RedEric]

Atarlost wrote:

If you can live with this you can live with standard action charges.

I think living with that feat and standard action charges are on completely different levels. There's drawbacks to the Rhino charge feat, like spending a feat and needing it to be a readied action. Whereas being able to charge at any standard action is a huge benefit to action economy without requiring any resources spent on it.

Personally, I can't recommend this house rule. It largely negates the trip combat maneuver. What's the point in tripping someone if they can get back up and charge all at once?