D&D 5E Clarification - Opportunity attacks

[Astrosicebear]

My group was discussing the lack of "5ft step" action, and if it was needed for AoO. I argued it was not needed because you only provoke an opportunity attack when you LEAVE a hostile creature's reach. They argued that each square counted as leaving reach, I argued there are no "squares" in core rules, and reach was linked to creature/weapon size. They said this sounded silly because if you are a monk with 50ft of movement, you could literally dance around a creature/character, doing circles around them, without leaving reach and provoking.

Sure I could wait for the DMG and grid based combat rules to be formalized. Or i could house rule a 5ft step "move" action, or rule that reach is any "threatened" square...

Interested to hear clarifications, or other similar experiences/rulings.

 

[fjw70]

Your interpretation is correct. You have to leave the reach entirely to provoke.

i wouldn't put in a 5ft step. The disengage action gets to out of reach safely.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Interested to hear clarifications, or other similar experiences/rulings.

Yes, you can run around someone without provoking. The idea being that while circling them you are facing them and keeping your guard up. You are "running" by sidestepping. Which is different from turning your back and walking away. You can also keep your guard up and back away slowly, but that takes your action for the round.

 

[Thaumaturge]

You can make an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach.

Out of your reach, not out of a square in your reach.

I agree with fjw70.

Thaumaturge.

 

[jrowland]

Yes. A monk can literally circle an opponent without drawing an AoO. You are either in reach or not in reach, if in reach you are "in combat" or "engaged" or whatever term you want to use. Leaving the "engagement" or "combat" draws an AoO.

But its Rulings, not Rules. Go with what feels right for you and your group. If you want to import most of the grid-combat rules from 4E, I think it would work well enough with little or no changes. No need to wait for DMG or convoluted house rules if you are already comfortable with 4E.

 

[Agamon]

They said this sounded silly because if you are a monk with 50ft of movement, you could literally dance around a creature/character, doing circles around them, without leaving reach and provoking.

It's also not against the rules to spend your action standing there picking your nose. That would be pretty silly, too. Also equally pointless.

Seriously, though, maybe they need to watch a Jackie Chan movie to see why this is cool, not silly.

 

[zoroaster100]

On the other hand, if you are trying 5th edition to see if you like it, I suggest at least trying it per the standard rules first to see if you enjoy the streamlined simplified nature of faster combats and more time for roleplaying and exploration in a session. As the others pointed out, your interpretation of the rules as written for fifth edition was correct, OP.

 

[Sir Brennen]

Yes. A monk can literally circle an opponent without drawing an AoO. You are either in reach or not in reach, if in reach you are "in combat" or "engaged" or whatever term you want to use. Leaving the "engagement" or "combat" draws an AoO.

This is probably the clearest summation of the rule's intent. If you're within your foe's reach, you're keeping your attention and guard up on the foe, and he can still attack you normally. When you leave their reach, you're moving away and have to be focused at least somewhat on where you're going, and you're not optimally positioned to be able to strike back, which is part of what prevents the foe from normally having that extra opening. Keeping that defense up is what Disengage is for.

 

[Plaguescarred]

There's a feat which i can't the name that actually cause creature to provoke as your players envisoned it. Someone with their PHB handy could probably point it out for me.

 

[Paraxis]

There's a feat which i can't the name that actually cause creature to provoke as your players envisoned it. Someone with their PHB handy could probably point it out for me.

There was in the playtest, it got changed a little.

The feat is now called Sentinel, and the important part is this.
Creatures within 5 feet of you provoke opportunity attacks from you even if they take the Disengage action before leaving your reach.

Something else to note since we are talking OA's and reach, reach weapons only increase your reach when you attack with them, so on your turn, not on your opponents turns. So enemies provoke when they leave an adjacent square and move away from you even if you have a polearm.