Knocking someone prone (with shield slam for instance) can put them in a disadvantageous situation to give you fortune dice and him misfortune dice in any upcomming exchange.

However.

Getting up from prone is a maneuver, so it's not going to have much effect on the target. The round you attack with shield slam, he well be down and if he acts after you, then he will get up and gain no misfortune dice and you will get no fortune dice on the next attack. If he has already acted then any allied you have may benefit, but most likely he'll act before you the next round, getting up before you act. I know some tinkering with initiative could be used with benefit to act after the target one round and then before the target the next round.

It just seems being knocked prone isn't really something to be very worried about.

Can't find the rules covering prone but if they don't already inclue the following then I would house rule them in.

1) Takes a full turn to go from prone to standing.
Attempts to stand automatically go last.
All manouver points are lost when knocked down. Thus characters can not stand up on the round they are knocked down. (you spent your manouver hitting the dirt) .

2) A normal agility skill check will need to be made to stand back up if engaged.
+ 1 difficulty level per engaged enemy
-1 per friend helping you up or protecting you
If the character has specialist agility skills such as acrobat they may use them to add dice to the roll.

3) Prone characters can forgo attempting to stand in order to defend themselves or to dodge (roll out of the way)
In this case the engaged foes loose the bonus for prone enemies, but the player can not attack or make any action other than dodge or block.

4) Attempts to melee from prone would add 2 challenge dice. Plus possibly more depending on terrain.
E.g. 2 Dice for a bar-room floor, but 3 in a shrub, bramble and root covered forest etc.

That would make it very useful to knock down a foe - you generally get a free swing at him even if he manages to stand up. And can keep him down if he fluffs his roll, or you outnumber him.

It also makes it difficult for the prone character to do anything but dodge away or try to get up

Say you knock down an Ungor, then use a manouver or two to disengage. That Ungor then uses their 1 free manouver to get up and the if they want to move to attack, they must take a wound, as they take wounds for each time they would collect a Fatigue/Stress token.

I am actually in the process of writting a story that has a guard who is unwilling to move from his post and will be, hopefully anyway, very hard to persuade to simply let PCs' past. I am hoping that a show of physical strength ie:Knocking the Guard down will be the option the players take - I have a plan, that if the Guard is knocked down, to make this outcome to have an effect on a later event.

I'm considering making a house rule that is something along the lines of prone characters lose their soak value if attacked in hand to hand combat. This should represent the relative ease of say, pushing a sword through a pinned target. I think soak is the best way to do this, as defence would still play apart. A shield will still deflect a stab if you are on the ground, but should that sword strike home, you're in trouble. This would make forcing enemies prone a more viable tactic.

I do also like the suggestions that Stuntie has made.

Aiding a teammate against that foe would take a maneuver and only work for the next attack.

Knocking them down gives a free fortune die for all your allies to attack him, provided they get to act before his next turn comes around.

i'm with juriel. the biggest advantage, besides being funny, is that if you plan to go first then your teammates who are probably weaker in melee get to kick him while he is down. plus, location. knocking someone down on a dirt road might not matter. but knocking someone down in a stream might drown them if they are in heavy armor or whatever.

As alluded to by Krusader too, although reversed ... if you knock someone down, they must spend their free maneuver to stand up and, should they desire (or be compelled) to flee, they must spend additional maneuvers to disengage and move away. That's an additional Wound or fatigue you inflicted.

Juriel and Bindlespin also have a good point for having allies in a fight.

Doesn't drawing/changing weapons take a maneuver as well? Knock them down (maybe a check to keep ahold of whatever's in-hand?) before they draw their sword. They stand up, but still don't have a weapon out, burn a fatigue for that second maneuver like mentioned above for moving away.

I might suggest an agility test to keep hold of a weapon being knocked prone

youd then need another maneuver to recover your weapon as well as stand

I agree that being knocked prone isn't a big deal, but it's not like that's the only thing that Shield Slam has to offer.

Shield Slam lets you roll Resilience to attack, which could be good if your career doesn't have Weapon Skill but does have Resilience (such as Bailiff, Boatman, Coachman, Commoner, Dockhand, Ratcatcher, Watchman and Zealot). It can set-up your next attack by giving you an extra Expertise die. And it can work if some situation or action has stolen or broken your main weapon. Knocking them prone is just one small factor in making the card work.

I mean, if there were a "Trip" card that only knocked people prone, then we might need prone to matter more. But there's a number of flavorful and minor mechanical reasons to use a card like Shield Slam, and it's not just in hope of getting the boons that will knock someone prone.

r_b_bergstrom said:

After one of my players used it with great success I have to agree with you. The other bonuses on the action card are very nice as well.

Keep in mind that initiative in WH3E is fluid as well. If you know that you are going to knock an enemy down this turn, tell your party... and go last in the round. Knock your opponent down, disengage with your free maneuver, and the next round, see if the party will let you go first.

If you have initiative over your opponent, reengage with your free maneuver and attack them while they're down. Better yet, if you have an attack card that includes a free engage such as Path of the Summer Gale or Stooping Hawk Leap, use that, and then disengage again with the free maneuver.

Even if your adversaries have the option of moving first, as pointed out earlier, your opponent will suffer a wound standing and then reengaging - or they'll forfeit their attack getting to their feet and *not* reengaging. You can both attack first and force them to make this choice by using the options described above, and if the rest of your party gets to act and take advantage of the situation before the GM chooses to have the prone opponent act, so much the better. This is also a fantastic tactic to use if you're playing a lightly armored character working in conjunction with someone more durable who stays engaged with the opponent.

TL;DR version: It's worth bothering because it opens up a lot of tactical options for your party if timed properly.