Dispute on Charger feat movement.

Hello fellows players/DM's.

Last sunday my players achieved level 4 and started messing around with feats, my barbarian player choose the Charger feat and sparked the following debate:

He says that the text "If you move at least 10 feet in a straight line toward a target " means he can approach in straight line  that ends beside the target, the following image exemplify his reasoning:

He insists that the red one should be a valid movement for triggering charger. Consider the starting point of the red line just for example, you can put it even at 30 ft.

The red line is in no way whatsoever moving "straight toward the target." It does not work. The two green lines, obviously, do.

The red line is pretty obviously not moving 10 feet toward the target. It is moving at most 7.5 feet toward the target and then moving away from it. 

It's pretty clear what the intent is for how Charger is supposed to work. The idea is that you're starting some distance away from the target and charging toward it to attack it. Trying to shoehorn other types of movement into it is not really interpreting the rules in good faith. If I were DMing, I would shut that down immediately.

"Toward" means each square traveled must bring the character closer to the target.

Quote from Natrel >>

"Toward" means each square traveled must bring the character closer to the target.

The common dictionary definition means that you are moving "in the direction of" the target destination in addition to merely ending up in a location that is "closer to" the target destination than you were before.

When playing on a grid, it's sometimes ambiguous what counts as moving towards a target. However, I don't see any reasonable interpretation where the red arrow would qualify.

My rule of thumb for moving towards target is that each space/square moved must be closer to it so that red trajectory doesn't count as the first square is still within 5 feet. 

I agree with the consensus in the thread, and I just wanted to share another thread that I think is related to your post Kilne: Grappler + Charger, which has a very interesting discussion about the meaning of "toward".

From that thread, this is my little contribution to this one: when I read "toward" in the book, my interpretation is that you close distance to the creature or target. For example:

- Forceful Blow. The target is pushed 15 feet straight away from you. You can then move up to half your Speed straight toward the target without provoking Opportunity Attacks.

- Elemental Strikes. [...] On a failed save, you can move the target up to 10 feet toward or away from you, as elemental energy swirls around it.

- Telekinetic Shove. [...] the target must succeed on a Strength saving throw (DC 8 plus the ability modifier of the score increased by this feat and your Proficiency Bonus) or be moved 5 feet toward or away from you.

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Bonus: Forced Movement Direction and Other Topics?

Quote from Plaguescarred >>

My rule of thumb for moving towards target is that each space/square moved must be closer to it so that red trajectory doesn't count as the first square is still within 5 feet. 

In my opinion, this is still way too loose.

For example, on the graphic given in the OP, consider what happens if we move the entire horizontal green arrow upwards two squares.  In my opinion, such an arrow is not pointed toward the red square despite each square along the arrow being closer to it than the square behind it.  Or keep the tail of that arrow at it's new position ((-5, 2) in terms of grid squares) but then point the arrow directly southeast.  Again, in my opinion, such an arrow is not pointed toward the red square despite each square along that arrow being closer to it than the square behind it.  The arrows are required to actually point toward the red square as both of the green arrows do in the OP's graphic.

Arrow pointing to me that is more appropriate when saying "in straight line" where i see "toward" as possibly less precise as long as its loosely in direction of. Best example i believe is you can still be moving in a direction when moving in zigzag.

I find it work well enougth at my table but Your Mileage May Vary.

In many military games at a small scale, there is a disclaimer that toward does not mean a straight line if you enter a kill zone.  If you are using LOS blocking terrain, you can use that as toward movement even though you might be going 180 degrees from the target for a short distance.

If there are no ranged weapons that may not make sense as why you aren't moving closer every step or if there is no LOS blocking terain.

Personally, I think the flavor and idea of the ability should inform edge cases like this more than the actual RAW readings, so the red arrow would in no way qualify.

I would rule that all three of those squares are connected to the controlled space and therefore none of them are moving closer to the target. 

Thank you all for answering my question in this topic, I've read all your posts and dug further into the rabbit hole of threads that Tarod_ posted.

In the end what surprised me most is that there isn't a official clarification  by WOTC but I guess they prefer to let it open to debate/interpretation.

Anyway, I've sent this line of discussion to my player to read, then we met and discussed about what would be better for our table.

I proposed two things:

1) If the intent of the player is to shove the creature away, it MUST have the last 10 feet of movement in a perspective that makes him FACING DIRECTLY FORWARD the target. This means that if i trace a arrow from the center of his token in the direction of movement this arrow must touch the center of target token.
2) If the intent is to only do the extra d8 damage then we let it be that the last 10 feet can be in PROXIMITY ( 5ft around the target) giving that in last 10 ft he did a straight line movement. This is to satisfy the fantasy idea of a barbarian charging in midst of battle and using that momentum to swing his weapon to hit a adjacent target not necessarily shoving him away but hitting sideways. 

We both agreed to pursue this course of action.

Thank you all for the time you took to read and answer, have fun in your games.