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this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2025
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pathfinder
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I like your idea of looking to the fiction, but I disagree with the outcome in this case if you do. Allies don't generally get in the way of each other, they cooperate. To both be in range of Reactive Strike, you're probably standing on opposite or at least adjacent sides of the same enemy, not one physically behind the other where blocking might make sense.
Your attempt to knock them back down shouldn't stop your ally attacking them as they try to stand.
The thing is, preventing someone from getting up - especially someone with any amount of combaat training - involves a lot more than just standing next to them. You have to get your weight on top of them, and then usually attack or manipulate one of the limbs.
That is not an act that leaves you out of the way. It kind of means being on top of the target, at least while you're forcing them baack down.
So, the Stay Down reaction kind of needs to be imagined as something that interferes with a strike that can be done without risking an ally.
But it doesn't require being on top of them for the whole 6 second round. I view it as a brief shove, disrupting their action. Someone else can easily act before or after you. Or, as you described it as a foot stomp, they could act at the same time, on a part of the body that is...not where your foot is.