Well, I've read through a few boards, and through a few books, and I haven't been able to find a ruling on the effects on movement speed by being prone.  You still have a Dexterity score, so should be able to move, but how fast?  Is it at 1/2 or 1/4 your move speed, perhaps?  If someone could tell me where/if there is a ruling on this, I would greatly appreciate it.

On a similar subject, are there, perhaps, rulings regarding to circumstance bonus to skills while being prone?  I'd imagine one could Hide more easily while laying down, but may have some trouble with Move Silently.

Known Effects/Actions Regarding Being Prone:  -4 melee Attack and AC, +4 AC against ranged.  Free Action (I suppose this would become a swift action in actuality, since Swift Actions weren't around in the PHB) to drop to prone, Move Action that provokes AoOs to stand up.
This message was last edited by the user at 18:28, Mon 23 Aug 2010.

Page 142 of the PHB states your move speed while crawling is 5'

Thank you.  I suppose I was focusing too much on the prone condition to look for words to similar effect.

Anyone know if there are feats/class abilities to modify that?  Or would such have to be homebrew material?
This message was last edited by the user at 19:21, Mon 23 Aug 2010.

DC 35 Tumble Roll will let you stand from prone as a free action, falling prone is always a free action.

Certain races have an undocumented immunity to being prone according to rules of the game for trip. Example oozes and nagas. Thief acrobat has kip-up which removes the AoO from trip, but not the action cost. There might be more.

I was actually referring to movement while prone...something like a Fast Crawl.  But I wasn't aware of all of those.  I know there are some that make standing faster (feats, skills and class abilities), and some that let you do some things while prone (sometimes just reducing penalties, as with Prone Attack).

Could you please post where this is listed? I've always thought you could do this, but whenever I've looked for it in a rulebook, I've never been able to find it.

It's even in the SRD, under Epic rules: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/skills.htm#tumble

If you want books; it's in the Epic Level Handbook, Complete Adventurer and Oriental Adventures. Maybe even others, but those are the ones I know.
This message was last edited by the user at 00:13, Tue 24 Aug 2010.

The thief acrobat kip up ability makes standing up from prone a free action (and free actions don't provoke AoO's -- the ability also explicitly says that it doesn't provoke an AoO).  So, you could stand up as a free action, move/attack normally, then drop back down as a free action.

There's also a feat in Complete Warrior called Prone Attack that lets you stand up from prone as a free action after a successful attack made while prone (and you also don't have the normal penalty for attacking while prone).

I could see an argument being made for successful climb checks letting you "climb" over the ground, but that would make monkeys the best prone sneakers, which would be strange.

There's really nothing else related to going prone because in D&D going prone really doesn't do anything for you.  Dropping prone gives an AC bonus to ranged attacks, but an AC penalty to melee attacks and usually there's at least one or two melee attackers in a group.  You don't get a Hide or Move Silently bonus, so being prone is usually regarded as a penalty, even though it's just a status effect.

Edit: You might go prone to take advantage of cover from a low wall, I guess, but usually people don't go "prone" they just crouch down so that they can still walk around normally without having to stand up.
This message was last edited by the user at 01:31, Tue 24 Aug 2010.

I've been trying to find more uses for it.  Cover was one of the major ones, as I imagine, if you are using such cover, opponents would start readying actions to attack when you come out from behind it.

Also, prone seems a lot more useful in somewhat higher tech level campaigns.  For instance, anything with firearms (which, though I don't think it is explicitly stated, would be usable while prone like a crossbow is).  That bonus to AC against ranged would be really useful in longer range combat (two groups sniping each other from multiple range increments apart), which really starts coming into play when you edge toward mass combat and following a small party during it.

As I'm planning on running a campaign where tech level is likely to have rudimentary firearms, and some level of mass combat as seen by a small party, I want to make sure I have the existant rules down regarding some of the more obscure things (like most things related to the prone condition, I know a lot of people who refuse to accept that one retains their Dex bonus while Prone).  That way I know what is written in stone, as it were, and what I will need to House Rule.

Yeah, being prone is a lot more useful in high tech when everyone has a blaster instead of a sword.  Back when Living Force was around, one guy would always carry a chair around with him so that he could drop into it for the "crouching" benefit or whatever it was called (it's been a decade so I don't even remember what the benefit was now).  Him and his chair, though, good times. :)

Yeah, you still have your Dex bonus -- you see people rolling around on the ground evading sword thrusts all the time in movies and if that isn't dodging out of the way, then I don't know what dodging is. ;)

You're just lying on the ground, you aren't incapacitated in any way otherwise. I'm fat and even I can dodge a kick while prone. :P

You can, so your dex bonus still applies.  However, the melee penalty is still correct; it's a lot easier to kick a guy on the ground than to punch or kick him when he's standing up.   That is true even if he knows prone defensive techniques from martial arts (but less so).  If you have a weapon with any reach at all (i.e. more than a dagger) then him being prone is a severe handicap, whether he knows the techniques or not.  I realize that d20 doesn't try to capture such interactions, so just giving a straight -4 penalty to AC is appropriate, even a bit generous, IMHO.

I know these things regarding Dex.  I was just saying I know people who still dispute it, as a way of showing it is, in some ways, a bit of a controversy...and most of that is because it isn't really explored all that much.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20040608a

Is the wizards site where it states you can only crawl while prone. It's not on the SRD.

Didn't think there was a thread necromancy rule on here but this thread was the first google search while I was looking so I though I would be polite and add the link.