Flanking is an optional rule. It says that if characters are in melee with the same creature and on opposite sides of the target, the characters have advantage on melee attacks. Many tables seem to use the rule but I don’t. There are two main aspects which make flanking a rule which makes the game less not more interesting:
- Flanking makes advantage from other sources worthless.
- Flanking doesn’t incentivize interesting positioning.
In addition, there’s an alternative to flanking which can make combats more dynamic and cinematic.
Flanking and other sources of advantage
Why even cast faerie fire when you can flank? Why hide for sneak attack? Flanking is the easiest way to get advantage. No roll necessary, just stand on opposite sides of the target. Without flanking getting advantage becomes a significant goal for any combat. Players look for opportunities to gain or grant advantage. And we DMs can offer advantage situationally. The enemy was grappled with a natural 20 on the grapple check? Perhaps the next attack has advantage against it. If the melee characters have advantage anyways, these kinds of situations become meaningless.
Flanking and positioning
Advantage is so good, so impactful that characters will do almost anything to get it. Especially melee martial characters. With flanking, therefore, standing on opposite sides of an enemy becomes the single overriding goal of positioning. Any other considerations don’t really matter. Taking cover, exploring magical monuments, using terrain features… if there’s a simple way to get advantage, that’s the way characters should position.
In my experience, that makes combat less interesting. If I can predict where the melee characters are going every time initiative is rolled, it’s a less interesting game.
Cinematic advantage
Here’s an alternative put forward by Mike Shea from slyflourish.com: cinematic advantage. Basically, characters can gain advantage on attacks for doing something cinematic. An ability check determines whether the character is successful in their cinematic attempt.
For example, a character wants to swing from a chandelier and then land a jumping dagger strike on an enemy. Clearly cinematic. We tell the player that they can attempt a DC 14 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to gain advantage on their next attack. However, if they fail, the character has disadvantage on the next attack. Clear stakes, a tactical decision, and a cinematic move. While it takes more time than flanking, this version of gaining advantage is more engaging, more cinematic, and therefore more interesting for the game.
Flanking is not the default
Flanking is not the default. And that’s good, I believe. There are more interesting ways to get advantage which flanking negates. We can use flanking in some games. For example, for a combat in tight corridors, we could decide that flanking is actually so effective that we’ll use the rule.
But in my experience, a game is more interesting if flanking is not the default for every session.
