Third Action

[Gortle]

Knight of the Last Call have made their best video yet. This is a good talk about options as to what to do with your characters third action. If you are new and wondering what you can do, then you are going to get some good ideas here.

[Ravingdork]

Just watched it. I highly recommend!

I've already shared it with all my friends.

[Ascalaphus]

Yeah that's pretty nice, it's very beginner friendly (and generally friendly). I like how they weave clear examples in to show the Why of their advice.

I want to change the paradigm a bit. Let's not call it "third action"; let's talk about "first action".

If you're going to Demoralize, or Recall Knowledge - wouldn't it be better to do that before you attack? If you succeed at Demoralize, enemy AC went down and you might hit harder. If you succeed at Recall Knowledge, maybe you find out that you should use your Versatile S weapon to slash the zombie instead of stab it.

Calling it a First Action changes the attitude a bit; clearly the first action is something you made plans for, it's not a desperate attempt to claw back some value from a last action if you're already at high MAP.

[HumbleGamer]

Ascalaphus wrote:

I want to change the paradigm a bit. Let's not call it "third action"; let's talk about "first action".

That's definitely the best way to deal with the 3 action system.

It's not rare to see players wondering what to do with their "last" action, while the real question should have been "What could I do with my 3 actions".

Leaving apart that many players are not used to the MAP, and coming from other d20 system ( 3.5, 1e, 5e ) could make things hard to accept.

Sometimes, reading posts or talking with people, I feel that what is missing might be being objective towards the list of given choices.

For example:

Quote:

Recall Knowledge is a waste of actions

or

Quote:

I can't do anything else after have cast my spell, so I'll just cast the shield cantrip

eventually

Quote:

The aid action uses my reaction too, so it's not worth it. I prefer to always try to land an AoO or using some other offensive reaction, unless I play a spellcaster

To enhance what Ascalaphus already pointed out, I want to add that considering the actions as a party pool ( yay ) of choices, may also be helpful and rewarding for the player.

For example, the caster might find useful making a good use of recall knowledge, or using guidance on the fighter.

The Barbarian Might use Sudden charge to end the first stride next to his goblin ally, who'd be able to scuttle, then proceed to the enemy and hit him ( using hist last action as second attack ).

The rogue about to sneak next to a trap to disarm it would benefit from the aid action of a nearby ally.

And so on.

[Gisher]

That was a really good video. Thanks for the link. :)

[Pixel Popper]

HumbleGamer wrote:

Quote:

I can't do anything else after have cast my spell, so I'll just cast the shield cantrip

Following up on the "first action" perspective mentioned earlier, I like to remind those casters that, with a little investment, and Bon Mot can make you Will Save spells more potent.

[Gortle]

Another good video on Actions and Movement. The effect of Attack of Oppourtunity not being there for monsters by default

Which leads to why Attack of Oppourtunity is good even if you don't get to attack with it.

[graystone]

Pixel Popper wrote:

Following up on the "first action" perspective mentioned earlier, I like to remind those casters that, with a little investment, and Bon Mot can make you Will Save spells more potent.

Bon Mot is highly variable in usefulness depending on your foes: you fight mostly creatures that can understand you and it can be pretty awesome. You instead fight a bunch of mindless and/or can understand your language animals or golems and it's a waste of a skill feat.

[HumbleGamer]

graystone wrote:

Pixel Popper wrote:

Following up on the "first action" perspective mentioned earlier, I like to remind those casters that, with a little investment, and Bon Mot can make you Will Save spells more potent.

Bon Mot is highly variable in usefulness depending on your foes: you fight mostly creatures that can understand you and it can be pretty awesome. You instead fight a bunch of mindless and/or can understand your language animals or golems and it's a waste of a skill feat.

It seems reasonable that the feat might not work on some enemies.

But it's nice to have give the fact that many creatures speaks common.

The worst case scenario is that you use it against a sentient creature ( so you won't throw it against beasts, animals, golem, etc by default) who doesn't understand common, and you waste an action.

At higher levels, tongues gest you 8 hours of "speak all languages", making things easier.

[*Khan*]

Gortle wrote:

Another good video on Actions and Movement. The effect of Attack of Oppourtunity not being there for monsters by default

Which leads to why Attack of Oppourtunity is good even if you don't get to attack with it.

Nice video. Have you made a video about combat maneuvers yet - like shove, trip, grapple or disarm?

[Gortle]

They aren't mine :) I'm just highlighting good content.

[graystone]

HumbleGamer wrote:

It seems reasonable that the feat might not work on some enemies.

Sure, but people should go in knowing it's not as usable as Demoralize is. I've seen a Wit Swashbuckler that was quite disappointed by how often it didn't work in the game we played. It's worth asking the DM what kinds of creatures you'll meet in the game before you take things like Bon Mot.