Musings and Ramblings: Hold the Door!

[Wids]

The "Bioware Battle Dance" is all well and good for conveying the sense of a dynamic fight, right?  You know how it goes.  Start swinging at each other.  Sidestep a little to the left.  Swing, swing, thrust, sidestep a little to the right.  Critical Hit, ooh, now step forward as your enemy steps back!  Swing, swing, sidestep left.  Chop, thrust, sidestep right.  Step forward, swing, chop, step forward, thrust, thrust, step back.  And so on.

But problems arise when the Bioware Battle Dance pre-empts common sense...like when trying to block a doorway in order to avoid getting swamped by an entire enemy mob, for example.  Then it becomes "Swing, chop, sidestep a little and bump into a wall.  Chop, thrust, sidestep back to the left.  Chop, swing, step forward.  Swing, swing, step forward.  Thrust, swing, step forward, ARRRRGH, why did you advance through the doorway?!?  Now you're getting hit from three sides!  Let them come to you, you flippin' idiot!!!"

It's too bad that the only way to resist the Bioware Battle Dance, stand your ground and block that damned doorway come hell or high water is to become a Dwarven Defender, and most characters just ain't got time for that.  Wouldn't it be nice if Bioware had included a "Stand Your Ground" movement option, which behaves like the Dwarven Defender's Defensive Stance without any of the fancy Armor Class buffs and whatever other bonuses (namely, simply sprouting roots and not moving from the spot unless maybe something big, strong and more than capable of pushing you off that spot — like a bulette — comes along and does just that)?

It would also be a nice option to have when fighting those pain-in-the-butt harpies, who have a bad habit of backward-hopping so far that they lure you into provoking Attacks of Opportunity.  Stupid characters!  Stop chasing the stupid harpies!  Let them come to you, dadgummit!

I just had to get that off my chest.  Stupid Bioware Battle Dance....  

[Wids]

More Adventures in Bioware Battle-Dancing!

"All right, the climactic battle!  Let's give Bugface the Cursed what-for!"

"Uh oh.  Now you spot the trap in this room, and it's right next to you and all the kobolds you're fighting.  The kobolds are immune to the trap, of course."

"Stop your shuffling around!  You're going to step on the trap with all that sidestepping and advancing and whatnot!  Don't step on the trap.  Don't step on the trap!  Don't step on the bloody trap!"  




"You stepped on the trap."  

[Snubletraad]

You know you can force your character into a sidestep, right?

[Wids]

Yes, but in the middle of a battle it's a bit of a reluctant thing to pull off.  "I'm mashing Q!  Hey!  I'm mashing Q!  Stop swinging at that goblin's head and step aside!  Okay, let me try mashing E.  Finally!  Thank you."

(Plus, there were Alphabet the Cursed and three or four kobolds all around Zedorya. And the trap, of course. My movement options were already a bit limited.)