Whirlwind Attack and Striking Into a Close Combat - accidentally target a rear ally?

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Plane

If you're striking in an arc chopping at neck level I don't know how you'd actually omit hitting an ally in that arc though, that part's always been weird.

Or that's not a literal description of what's actually happening. Sure, that's just what videogame characters do in a lot of action RPGs - spin madly at high RPM while rigidly holding a weapon out and moving across the ground. But you could use the same name for an attack where you're not focusing just on one primary target, but just rapidly changing facing and making individual strikes (rapid strikes, though not Rapid Strikes) at individual targets positioned around you. The whirler has the option of not striking at any individual next to them. They could even spare a foe if they wanted.

You could, of course, decide that such an attack deserves some sort of IFF requirement to make that snap decision, resulting in occasional errors. But, as you say, it's supposed to be a cinematic wuxia/chambara/supers kind of thing, so maybe you don't want to bog it down with a series of Perception checks and mistakes.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Or that's not a literal description of what's actually happening. Sure, that's just what videogame characters do in a lot of action RPGs - spin madly at high RPM while rigidly holding a weapon out and moving across the ground. But you could use the same name for an attack where you're not focusing just on one primary target, but just rapidly changing facing and making individual strikes (rapid strikes, though not Rapid Strikes) at individual targets positioned around you. The whirler has the option of not striking at any individual next to them. They could even spare a foe if they wanted.

Yeah, I’ve always envisioned Whirlwind Attack as involving doing a 360 turn while striking foes individually, not as a Barbarian from Diablo II holding a weapon out and spinning like a buzzsaw.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Yeah, I’ve always envisioned Whirlwind Attack as involving doing a 360 turn while striking foes individually, not as a Barbarian from Diablo II holding a weapon out and spinning like a buzzsaw.

Seems like in either case we should have a version used with two weapons which splits the attacks between them