Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Beerwolf 03-18-06, 07:45 PM	Alright, as a new DM I'm trying to understand "Attack of Opportunity". Example #1: Character A (Fighter) wants to fire a crossbow at Character B (Wizard). The Players handbook states "An attack of Opportunity" for firing a ranged weapon. The Wizard would also recieve "An attack of Opportunity" if they cast a spell .. How does this work :confused: Example #2: Two Fighters are in combat against a Wizard. A third Fighter wants to fire a crossbow at the Wizard ... This presents "An attack of Opportunity" ... How can the Wizard (who is already in combat with the two fighters) get "An attack of Opportunity" against the Fighter who is firing the crossbow :confused: Example #3: A Fighter is using a longbow to fire at creature other characters are engaged with. Is there an "Attack of Opportunity" each round they fire the longbow :confused: Please help me out. Thanks. :(
Xaxor 03-18-06, 08:05 PM	One important thing to remember is that the characters have to be threatened by, or be threatening another creature to get a A(ttack)o(f)O(pportunity). If you have two fighters in melee, and one uses a ranged weapon on the other, the one being fired upon gets an AoO. Again, if a Wizard or Cleric tries to cast a spell while threatened by an enemy, they cause an AoO. The concept of threatening (in a melee sense) is very important to the AoO system. Normally, that requires a character to wield a melee weapon, or have Improved Unarmed Strike. They then threaten all adjacent squares, all 8 of them, unless they are wielding a reach weapon. It sounds complicated, but it really isn't. Give the combat chapter in the Player's Handbook a thorough reading, at least twice. You'll need it.
9JACK9 03-18-06, 08:08 PM	Well, let me see if I can help... Example #1: Character A (Fighter) wants to fire a crossbow at Character B (Wizard).( The wizard gets an attack of opportunity because he's trying to use a ranged weapon right in the middle of melee combat. IE: Because the fighter's not five feet away, and he's right up close and personal with the wizard, the wizard gets an AOO. The Players handbook states "An attack of Opportunity" for firing a ranged weapon. The Wizard would also recieve "An attack of Opportunity" if they cast a spell .. How does this work :confused: The same goes for the wizard, in this case: He's not swinging a sword or a mace, he's waving his hands around while the bad guys standing within reach of him. Hence, the fighter gets an attack on the wizard. Example #2: Two Fighters are in combat against a Wizard. A third Fighter wants to fire a crossbow at the Wizard ... This presents "An attack of Opportunity" ... How can the Wizard (who is already in combat with the two fighters) get "An attack of Opportunity" against the Fighter who is firing the crossbow :confused: For the same reason, the fighter's using a ranged weapon in the thick of combat. So long as the fighter's shooting from a square right next to the wizard, and the wizard has a melee weapon in his hands, the wizard gets a free swing. And in example #3, the answer is still the same. However, none of these problems will ever come up, as long as there's no way the fighters weapon can reach into the wizards square. For instance, if right before the wizard casts "Magic Missile", he takes a 5' step back, out of the fighters Greatsword range, the fighter dosn't get an AOO. If the two fighters are hacking apart a orge, and the third fighter decides that he's going to shoot arrows from 40' away, the orge will never get a free attack, because the orge can't reach him. I hope that clears it up a little bit... hopefully I understood the questions enough to give you a credible answer...
DeadlyDM 03-18-06, 08:08 PM	Alright, as a new DM I'm trying to understand "Attack of Opportunity". Example #1: Character A (Fighter) wants to fire a crossbow at Character B (Wizard). The Players handbook states "An attack of Opportunity" for firing a ranged weapon. The Wizard would also recieve "An attack of Opportunity" if they cast a spell .. How does this work :confused: Against an opponent armed with a melee weapon a wizard can attempt to cast defensively (making a concentration check, rules are in skill description) to avoid attracting an AoO. However, you cannot make an AoO with a ranged weapon thus in this situation the wizard can cast away without worrying about this opponent. Example #2: Two Fighters are in combat against a Wizard. A third Fighter wants to fire a crossbow at the Wizard ... This presents "An attack of Opportunity" ... How can the Wizard (who is already in combat with the two fighters) get "An attack of Opportunity" against the Fighter who is firing the crossbow :confused: Unless the attacker with the x-bow is within reach of the wizard, and the wizard is armed with a melee weapon (or has the improved unarmed strike feat), the wizard cannot make an AoO against this opponent. So, if the wizard has a staff or dagger (examples) and the x-bow wielding fighter is in an adjacent square (ie. within 5ft), then yes the wizard gets an AoO irrespective of the other two fighters with whom he is also in combat. Example #3: A Fighter is using a longbow to fire at creature other characters are engaged with. Is there an "Attack of Opportunity" each round they fire the longbow :confused: This is the same as #2: there is never an AoO against an opponent using a ranged weapon against you unless you (or an ally) has reach on them. Note though that unless the fighter has the precise shot feat he'll attract a -4 penalty to his attack roll; this represents the fact that his buddies are in melee combat with his target, and by doing so are making the shot more difficult. hope this helps :)
Kage_Ryu 03-18-06, 08:10 PM	Alright, as a new DM I'm trying to understand "Attack of Opportunity". Example #1: Character A (Fighter) wants to fire a crossbow at Character B (Wizard). The Players handbook states "An attack of Opportunity" for firing a ranged weapon. The Wizard would also recieve "An attack of Opportunity" if they cast a spell .. How does this work :confused: You get one single melee attack against the person using the spell or using a ranged weapon within your threatened squares (For medium creatures, this is the adjacent squares unless you have reach weapons.) at your highest base attack bonus. You can only do one attack of opportunity per round unless you have the combat reflexes feat. Example #2: Two Fighters are in combat against a Wizard. A third Fighter wants to fire a crossbow at the Wizard ... This presents "An attack of Opportunity" ... How can the Wizard (who is already in combat with the two fighters) get "An attack of Opportunity" against the Fighter who is firing the crossbow :confused: Same as above. Remember, attacks of opportunity are made with melees weapons so it's whatever melee weapon they have out is. If it's an unarmed attack and they don't have improved unarmed strike feat, they provoke an attack of opportunity first. Example #3: A Fighter is using a longbow to fire at creature other characters are engaged with. Is there an "Attack of Opportunity" each round they fire the longbow :confused: Please help me out. Thanks. :( Attacking with the longbow does not provoke an attack of opportunity unless you are within threatened squares. Edit: Yeah, the post before mine explains it best.
Lord Ian Stark 03-18-06, 08:10 PM	Example #1: Character A (Fighter) wants to fire a crossbow at Character B (Wizard). The Players handbook states "An attack of Opportunity" for firing a ranged weapon. The Wizard would also recieve "An attack of Opportunity" if they cast a spell .. How does this work :confused: You need to see it play out on a battle map and understand what "threatening" an area is. (see below) If the wizard and Fighter are 30 feet apart, than neither one has to worry about an AoO (Attack of Opportunity) from each other as there is no one next to either of them threatening their position. So yes, their action would provoke an AoO if someone was threatening them. ATTACKS OF OPPORTUNITY Sometimes a combatant in a melee lets her guard down. In this case, combatants near her can take advantage of her lapse in defense to attack her for free. These free attacks are called attacks of opportunity. Threatened Squares: You threaten all squares into which you can make a melee attack, even when it is not your action. Generally, that means everything in all squares adjacent to your space (including diagonally). An enemy that takes certain actions while in a threatened square provokes an attack of opportunity from you. If you’re unarmed, you don’t normally threaten any squares and thus can’t make attacks of opportunity. Reach Weapons: Most creatures of Medium or smaller size have a reach of only 5 feet. This means that they can make melee attacks only against creatures up to 5 feet (1 square) away. However, Small and Medium creatures wielding reach weapons threaten more squares than a typical creature. In addition, most creatures larger than Medium have a natural reach of 10 feet or more. Provoking an Attack of Opportunity: Two kinds of actions can provoke attacks of opportunity: moving out of a threatened square and performing an action within a threatened square. Moving: Moving out of a threatened square usually provokes an attack of opportunity from the threatening opponent. There are two common methods of avoiding such an attack-the 5-foot-step and the withdraw action (see below). Making an Attack of Opportunity: An attack of opportunity is a single melee attack, and you can only make one per round. You don’t have to make an attack of opportunity if you don’t want to. An experienced character gets additional regular melee attacks (by using the full attack action), but at a lower attack bonus. You make your attack of opportunity, however, at your normal attack bonus-even if you’ve already attacked in the round. An attack of opportunity “interrupts” the normal flow of actions in the round. If an attack of opportunity is provoked, immediately resolve the attack of opportunity, then continue with the next character’s turn (or complete the current turn, if the attack of opportunity was provoked in the midst of a character’s turn).
Beerwolf 03-18-06, 08:23 PM	Okay. Now I understand how it works. Thanks everyone for your time and help! :cool:
Merestil Haye 03-18-06, 08:52 PM	Some more general advice. Find the tables listing the actions a character can take in combat, and note the ones that can provoke attacks of opportunity. Watch for them to come up. If a creature provokes an AoO, remember that to take the AoO, an opponent has to be threatening the provoking creature (ie have a melee weapon in hand, have a natural attack (such as a dragon's claw or a Ghoul's slam), or have the Improved Unarmed Strike feat. The opponent must also have already acted in the combat (ie is not flat-footed) or possess the Combat Reflexes feat.