anyway to avoid aoo when gaining focus?

[Drakeskull]

I was also wondering if there was a way to avoid aoo when gaining my psychic focus.

 

[Starglim]

Certainly. You can make a Concentration check to use a skill defensively. Concentration is a skill. Thus you can make a Concentration check (DC 15) to avoid AoO, followed by Concentration (DC 20) to regain focus. You cannot take 10 since you are threatened. If you fail either check, you don't regain focus.

 

[ARandomGod]

Certainly. You can make a Concentration check to use a skill defensively. Concentration is a skill. Thus you can make a Concentration check (DC 15) to avoid AoO, followed by Concentration (DC 20) to regain focus. You cannot take 10 since you are threatened. If you fail either check, you don't regain focus.

But do you first have to make a concentration check to use the concentration skill defensively? This could change many campaigns....

(sorry)

<No he's not.>

(Quiet You!)

 

[Jhulae]

Yes. In that instance, it's similar to 'casting on the defensive', like a spellcaster would.

If that 'defensive' roll is failed, then the other action can't be taken.

 

[VorpalStare]

To Clarify:

The concentration check is made as part of the action it applies to. If the concentration check fails, the action was started, but not completed.

So in the relevant case above, if either concentration check (to use the skill defensively (DC 15), or to gain focus (full-round action, probably, DC 20) fails, the entire full-round action is used and the character does not gain psionic focus.

No AOO is provoked in any case.

 

[azhrei_fje]

To Clarify:

The concentration check is made as part of the action it applies to. If the concentration check fails, the action was started, but not completed.

So in the relevant case above, if either concentration check (to use the skill defensively (DC 15), or to gain focus (full-round action, probably, DC 20) fails, the entire full-round action is used and the character does not gain psionic focus.

No AOO is provoked in any case.

Er, no. If you fail to use the skill defensively, then the AoO is provoked. However, if you succeed on that roll, the AoO is prevented and it doesn't matter if you fail on the second check (to regain focus). Note that if you fail the second one, if you try again on the following round, you must roll both Concentration checks again (unless you've moved out of the threatened area; the full-round action to regain focus allows the 5' step, after all).

 

[Chorn]

Er, no. If you fail to use the skill defensively, then the AoO is provoked.

You have it wrong. Failing a Concentration check to do something on the defensive will not provoke the AoO that you were trying to avoid in the first place. Doing something on the defensive means your attention is split between avoiding AoOs and completing your spell or skill check. The AoO won't happen because it was never provoked in the first place because you were paying enough attention not to get hit. The defensive check is there to represent failing your main action because your more active defense interfered with its completion.

 

[CronoDekar]

What Chorn said. The pertinent part out of the SRD ( http://srd.plush.org/skillsCon.html ):

Special: You can use Concentration to cast a spell, use a spell-like ability, or use a skill defensively, so as to avoid attacks of opportunity altogether. This doesn’t apply to other actions that might provoke attacks of opportunity. The DC of the check is 15 (plus the spell’s level, if casting a spell or using a spell-like ability defensively). If the Concentration check succeeds, you may attempt the action normally without provoking any attacks of opportunity. A successful Concentration check still doesn’t allow you to take 10 on another check if you are in a stressful situation; you must make the check normally. If the Concentration check fails, the related action also automatically fails (with any appropriate ramifications), and the action is wasted, just as if your concentration had been disrupted by a distraction.