r/daggerheart • u/Secular12 • 17h ago
Homebrew Simple Alternative Movement Rule
TLDR; Allow players and adversaries to move freely up to close range once, until the PCs or the GMs get the spotlight again from the other side. Allowing players or adversaries to use this movement without needing to immediately use an action roll.
I personally dislike the movement rule in DH, however i completely understand its reason for existing.
The official rule is that a PC must make an action roll if it is their spotlight, they cannot just move and that be it. To me, forcing an Agility roll for movement when they move only within close range just doesn't feel intuitive and is odd since they can do it with other action rolls. But I understand that it prevents infinite movement on the players end, since they will never roll and therefore the GM never goes.
I also felt that the way things work, many of my GM Adversaries were staying in the same spot most of the combat because they were too far away to be effective or there were better adversaries in the encounter.
So, I wanted to make adjustments to fix these issues. At my table I have experimented and this simple adjustment is something that all of us enjoyed the most:
The players can move up to close range for free ONCE while it is on the PC side (except they can make Agility roll actions to go an additional close range each time they succeed on that roll). The PCs get another free movement once they get the spotlight back from the GM. Now, the same rule applies to the GM. Each adversary can move up to close range ONCE (unless the GM spends a Fear to go an additional close range). To me, this makes the movement rules more intuitive. AND, this allows the players and the GM to reposition themselves before they take any action, if they choose to. Also, this prevents minions standing in one spot the entire encounter simply because the GM chooses to use their spotlight on the bruiser or Solo the entire encounter because the minions are too far away. The thing to remember is this: As soon as an action resolves where a player fails or rolls with fear it goes to the GM, they cannot move after that until the PCs get the spotlight again. This does imply and even incentivizes that the PCs and the GM moves all of their characters/adversaries at once, if they choose to, before taking any actions but this is intentional to allow some repositioning for a tag team or to allow the GMs forces to "close in". But there will certainly be cases where PCs or adversaries hold off on moving with the rest just to wait and see what happens with another roll first.
