FACING for Prone figures

[Skarg]

Originally Posted by Helborn

This where we will have to disagree. Keep in mind that a thrown SPELL can be aimed at any adjacent hex including rear and side ones. So, not exactly like thrown weapons. Also pg 115 says that they are TARGETED like thrown weapons.

The reason I mentioned spells was to give an example where the rules similarly said "exactly like" but would more clearly be weird to take that "exactly" literally.

It's off the point, but I also don't think a wizard can target Thrown Spells behind their (usually 180 degree) vision, since they can't see to target there... unless they have Eyes Behind or something (it might do to just know about some static target back there?), but I think that's a grey area in the rules (or one I've forgotten if it's made clear somewhere).

I wouldn't really object to using the facing modifiers for thrown weapons IF they only applied where they do for melee weapons: from one hex away only. After all, TFT diagrams facing and ranged front/rear zones quite clearly, but never specifies side and rear arcs more than one hex away. On the other hand, there's also usually nearly zero reason to throw a weapon at someone close enough to hit normally.

Originally Posted by Helborn

What do you mean there are no 2 hex figures? What about horses (pg 130) and wyverns to just name two? A 6 foot individual will definitely occupy 2 hexes when prone. A Dwarf or other humanoid won't.

I didn't write "there are no 2 hex figures", I wrote that there were no 2-hex figure facing diagrams until later products, as one example of why I'd say bodies were not 2-hex figures, as otherwise they would have needed to have been diagrammed in Melee, have some rule reference anywhere to them being 2-hex figures, hopefully some sort of rule for how that works and how you determine which second hex to use, what to do about hand-to-hand combat. Instead, all of the references to fallen figures talk about their hex (always singular).

I like GURPS and wouldn't mind house rules for 2-hex bodies in TFT, but I think it's clear that RAW TFT has humanoid bodies taking up one hex.

As for geometry, I don't see an inconsistency since bodies don't necessarily lie stretched out, the hexes are 4 feet across, and the obstacle effect of a body or prone active figure is significant and I think more like where the torso is - the arms or legs being partly in another hex or two shouldn't affect movement and footing as they do in the rules.

Also it is rather more complex to handle two-hex prone figures. GURPS has much more elaborate position rules, which I like but I think make more sense for GURPS' more specific detail level (3-foot hexes, 1-second turns, more detailed actions etc) and I expect the "keep TFT simple" players wouldn't want to add to TFT.

[JLV]

Originally Posted by Skarg

Hcobb has mentioned (in his own way) several times over the past months that (to paraphrase in a way that makes more sense to me) the rules don't explain facing for prone figures, which is important because prone figures can cast spells and use ranged attacks.

(I didn't bother to answer this before, because I thought he was just making silly side-comments about the letter of the rules, which seemed to me not worth the effort to address, but it recently threadjacked the other "Prone figures" question thread and seems to be causing confusion, so I started this new thread.)

Seems to me it's extremely easy to handle: Have prone figures declare a facing, which determines which way they are looking, and gives them a 180-degree field of view for spells, ranged attacks, and other acts of observation etc.

Hcobb's point that the rules say prone figures have no front hexes is irrelevant, it seems to me, because front hexes do not apply to most spells or ranged attacks anyway - the 180-degree field of view has always determined that, so there is no real issue to make confusing remarks about.

A simple way to determine which way a prone figure is facing for launching its own attacks is to simply place the "prone" marker on the side of the hex the figure is "facing."