Melee while running: need your views

1. You are pursuing an enemy in a foot chase. You are right behind him and your speeds are equal. Can you hit him? If so, can you continue running, or must you stop to deliver the blow? If you can hit him, would your blow be penalized due to the motion of your body as it runs?

2. Same as No. 1, but you are faster than your quarry.

It seems to me that you strike him, but that your blow would be somewhat weak.

I agree that a chase shot would be weak because you'd be unable to focus your strength into the blow without unbalancing oneself while running, perhaps the attacker must call whether its a running shot or a focused shot, a focused shot would be full strenght but would break contact and give the pursued a distance advantage, of course being hit full strength while running would probably unbalance the target as well.

Both people would be required to pass a saving roll to avoid flailing into the dirt.

kubera wrote:

[...] perhaps the attacker must call whether its a running shot or a focused shot, a focused shot would be full strenght but would break contact and give the pursued a distance advantage [...]

I like this.

running could negate defensive dexterity bonus
running could also negate attack strength bonus

then like carter suggests either party could choose to use their bonus at the price of being able to maintain the chase.

this is like a safety chasing a guy running for a touchdown. he may be able to grab the guy but be too small to bring him down unless he uses all his force and if he misses he is left behind. and/or the guy running could start actively trying to avoid his chaser by turning etc. but then leaves himself open for other people to catch up.

ok that is my only nod to superbowl

I think that it would also depend on the weapon that the pursuer is using as well. Daggers, knives, darts, etc. would be easy to use, but something like a longsword would certainly overbalance someone if they swung it while running.

you can't interrupt the normal motion of your stride without losing speed. any kind of full force attack is going to interrupt you stride. even reaching out and grabbing will tend to affect how fast you can run. certainly carrying things makes you slower, and that is why people drop what ever they are holding when they run away. you can't throw something hard without a particular motion that interrupts stride nor can you properly aim a crossbow, wand or even a gun while you are running full out.

or something

Almost all actions even the passing of a batton by a professional athelete endanger the stride and balance. Using a pole weapon Vs a non moving figure would be the least difficult but in a chase with swung weapon would be damn hard and should certainly need dex, or saving rolls not to face plant durring or after the attempted strike.

size makes it more difficult but all swung weapons would be dangerous unless you had tensors boots of the warrior. teh he....

Both of you have made some excellent points that hadn't occurred to me.

Over the past week or so, I have worked out in my mind a combat sequence system that I am very pleased with. Here's how it fits this topic:

If you attack or defend in the same round you move, your combat rolls are penalized. (This also applies to the pursued if he wishes to dodge/parry/block.)

Proposed rule: An attacker must stop moving to strike a blow. Since a round is 1 second, he won't be completely out of the chase if he fails to incapacitate his foe: A non-moving character can accelerate to his full speed in 2 rounds (i.e., can move at half his top speed in the first round). A normal human sprints at 30 feet/round, so in the next round after striking, the pursuer will only be able to cover 15 feet while his victim covers the full 30 feet. Thus, by striking his quarry, the pursuer will end up 15 feet behind. I think this is quite acceptably realistic.

I would still think a save to stay upright might be in order but you don't want to make it over complex

Hmm,. not crazy about the last save idea.. seems to over complicate things, You want to keep the action moving (pun intended).
I like the ideas that you CAN strike while in motion but at the loss of STR bonus (half?), and opponent would lose some of DEX bonus (half?) in order to keep up same pace.
Loss of speed as you mentioned, by attacker is also apt, but thinking about it for a moment, and a person striking with a spear (thrusting weapon) would not be as off balanced as a sword-weilding attacker ... maybe less of a loss of speed?

over complicating aren't I?...