Whether the caster uses a 5ft step, acrobatics, or a concentration check to cast a spell after getting rushed by a melee when out of position is kind of irrelevant? Using a 5ft step might not require a check, but it also leaves your squishy caster right very close to the threat, it's not unbalanced at all. NPC archers will just stand in threat areas making ranged attacks and dying, they don't even use acrobatics and try and get out of threat, and a lot of enemies will just run through and eat AoOs if they decide a certain target is important. The 5ft step in turn-based is to stop melee characters getting completely cucked because the enemy is 0.2ft outside their reach - and this happens a lot due to the lack of a hex or grid system. Without the 5ft step, melee characters would be unable to make their full attack even more than they usually aren't, and in the most frustrating ways imaginable.
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Hopefully this should be an ultimate solution to default vanilla dumb AI.