I'm referring to it as, the feint. It's abstract, of course, since this is Old Guard AD&D, and I'm often kind of vague myself. Maybe it's just the venom.Anyway, in combat, the feint would be any sudden and unexpected action or move which throws the opponent off his stride. A feint may be a stop thrust, a hurled object, a kick in the crotch, even a sudden shout.
A feint is used to disengage from and escape an opponent the PC has decided is out of his league, or to buy time for others of his party to complete actions of their own.
To preform a feint, the PC must declare his intention to do so when his turn to act comes. The player must roll to hit normally, and if a hit is indicated, the feint has succeeded.
The opponent is surprised by the unforeseen move, and looses his action for that round.
The feinter may use the round to run away without fear of an attack as he retreats. He may use the round to attack again. Or he may use the round to preform any other action which he can accomplish in a single round.
The feint may only be used by fighters and thieves, and associated sub-classes.
The point of this would be to escape from a combat the PC cannot win, or to buy time for another PC to get off a spell, or slam a door, or stuff the halfling down the latrine, or whatever.
Do any of youse guys use a similar rule? How has it worked out for you? I don't have any newer edition stuff, so I don't know if they have a similar rule or not.
