Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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I swear I read the whole thread to see if anyone explained it, but... why is it a problem to use Topple on a target if you're using a lance?
Is it just the inconvenience of having to be adjacent to the prone target? ie: you can't stay out of the prone orc's reach and benefit from their prone condition at the same time?
If that's the concern, then, yeah, I agree with most here that it's not worth the extra rules. I agree it's a clumsy rule as written, but honestly I think most tables would just hand-waive it and give the guy with the lance advantage anyway.
I don't think it has to be a viable strategy in many instances. If you're caught unarmed in an open field against a guy firing a heavy crossbow, you're either charging them bravely or hitting the deck and hoping they're not skilled. It's a last-ditch thing.
A lance is a reach weapon, so it lets you attack safely from 10' away. The rules for prone, though, state that anyone attacking a prone target from farther than 5' away has disadvantage -- it doesn't matter if the attack is ranged or melee. So if a person has a lance and knocks a target prone, they will then attack with disadvantage unless they get within 5' of the target. However, getting within 5' of the target exposes the lance user to regular melee attacks (albeit with disadvantage), opportunity attacks, and -- most importantly -- grappling. A prone being has no penalty to grapple. As such, losing reach on the lance is actually a pretty big deal.
Edit: Just wanted to add that if your table is homebrewing a hand wave for this situation, you are actually just making a new rule for prone. Why have it be unofficial when WotC could just update it for everyone and make it clear at every table how it would work?
So what? Reach weapons aren’t actually reliable for kiting in the first place, and if you’re somehow making it work then this is just a matter of presenting you with a tactical decision- do you want to prone the target to set them up for allies or improve your kiting, or do you want to keep attacking normally if able. This one niche scenario where you don’t get to have your cake and eat it too isn’t bad design- frankly, it’s really more indicative of well-balanced design.