Post/Author/DateTime	Post
RPGDudeNYC 10-21-04, 03:44 PM	At the risk of being a rules lawyer, I humbly submit... Situation: Monster has been lit on fire. Monster is actively trying to put out the fire on his body. Player tumbles past the monster and fails the DC 15 check to do so without provoking an attack of opportunity. Questions: 1. Does the monster get to take the attack of opportunity on the player? 2. Does the monster provoke its own attack of opportunity by trying to put out the fire? The reason I'm unsure about question #1 is because in my mind the monster is distracted and not looking for opportunities to attack at the moment. My view, though it might be wrong, is that the assumption behind attacks of opportunity is that combatants are paying attention to the actions of their foes. However, in my example the monster is only concerned with the fire that is burning it. The reason I'm unsure about question #2 is because in the description of attacks of opportunity the PHB says '...a combatant in melee lets her guard down. In this case, combatants near her can take advantage of her lapse in defense and attack her for free.' In my mind the monster who is distracted trying to put out the fire has let her guard down and those around can take advantage of her lapse in defense. The life of one of my players' characters' depends on the answer to question #1. So, before I declare that my monster gets an attack of opportunity against the char, I'd like to be sure. Thanks.
Fendoan 10-21-04, 03:55 PM	1. The monster does get the attack of opportunity against the player. Not only that, since he's flaming, you could also argue that he causes flame damage and has a chance of lighting the PC on fire as well if he hits. Just because he's on fire, and trying to put it out, doesn't mean he isn't going to smack down some PC that gets too close. 2. Trying to put out a fire on you does provoke an AoO. Just being on fire doesn't. If the monster had spent his turn before the PC moved, it doesn't. Only if the monster spends the time trying to put out the fire when the PC is in melee range, does the PC get an AoO. Any reasonably intelligent monster will will take a 5-foot step away before putting out the fire. A suicidal monster would just grapple the PC and take them both down. ;)
ClementWillowbreaker 10-21-04, 04:06 PM	The monster gets the opportunity. It doesn't have to take it. Normally, the only reason it wouldn't would be to save it for later. But in this case, it is perfectly sensible as the DM to run the monster as not caring that much at that very moment. You shouldn't tell your players, "Its on fire, so it won't take AoOs." But if they went through all the effort to light it on fire, or if it was kicking their butts, then show a little mercy and add a little realism.
RPGDudeNYC 10-21-04, 04:16 PM	Thanks for the quick responses. The players are being smart with their tactics so I think I'll be a merciful DM. The monster has no Intelligence (Int - ), so I don't have a problem playing it as though it's not smart enough to have good battle tactics. If it had an intelligence score at all I might think differently. Thanks again. Both responses are very helpful.
FitzNighteyes 10-21-04, 04:22 PM	Monster has been lit on fire. Monster is actively trying to put out the fire on his body.This means it just took an action to put out the fire the turn before, right? The SRD has an entry for this: Full Round Action Extinguish flames AoO=No I note that the DMG entry on catching on fire doesn't say what action type to use. But it does say "If no body of water is at hand, rolling on the ground or smothering the fire with cloaks or the like permits the character another save with a +4 bonus." Personally as a DM, I'd say rolling on the ground or smothering the fire is enought that the creature doesn't threaten anymore. So I would probably rule no AoO for the creature on fire in this case. Note that a character/monster on fire gets a DC 15 check every round for the flames to go out. Again, it doesn't say this requires any special action on that characters part.
DragonsArt 10-21-04, 04:30 PM	The SRD has an entry for this: Full Round Action Extinguish flames AoO=No I note that the DMG entry on catching on fire doesn't say what action type to use. But it does say "If no body of water is at hand, rolling on the ground or smothering the fire with cloaks or the like permits the character another save with a +4 bonus." If he's trying to extinquish the flames and doesn't have a cloak or other item, then he would be prone (and get -4 to his attacks).
FitzNighteyes 10-21-04, 04:38 PM	Yes, put he's not merely on the ground, he's rolling on it.
Finarin Panjoro 10-21-04, 04:54 PM	So would that constitute crawling which does provoke?
FitzNighteyes 10-21-04, 05:08 PM	Hey, that's a great rule. To put out fires, you have to crawl around. ;)