Opportunity Attack Rules Clarification

[ladycass]

I am a long term 3.0 - 3.5 DM just breaking into 4th edition with a group composed of both long term experienced players and total new players.

I have a player who is debating my concept of Opportunity Attacks and after reading and reading I still do not agree with his view. I hate to penalize a good player if I am wrong (and it is always a distinct possiblity) so I was hoping I could get some perspectives here.

The PHB says an attack of opportunity is provoked whenever an "enemy leaves a square adjacent to you". The Opportunity Action interrupts target's action and "takes place before the target finishes its action". It also says, " You can't make an opportunity attack unless you are able to make a melee attack".

The argument is this. My player feels that when you are moving directly out of a threatened square but not into another threatened square you do not provoke. He thinks this because once you end that 5 foot movement you are no longer in a threatened area and thus no melee attack is possible. I interperate the text to mean that "as" you move they get a swipe at you so they still have reach.

He is going to show me something from the monster manuel he feels underscores his point about how this works and he has drawn me diagrams. We are sceduled to go over it before the next game because I don't allow rules debates during game session. Do any of you have helpful perspectives or info on this for me? I am most interested in any material that may suggest I am interpreting the rule wrong.

 

[Karui_Kage]

You are in the right. As soon as he leaves that first square, he takes the opportunity attack.

There is a way around this. You CAN spend one movement action to do a Shift (1 square move), that does not provoke opportunity attacks. You can then spend another movement action to take a normal move. This will get you away from any opportunity attacks, but mean using both your Move and Standard actions for Movement.

If he just wants to do a move away, then yes, he does provoke.

 

[ladycass]

I have pointed out the "shift" and that they seem to have worked to move away from the concept of free 5 foot steps all together. I am not quite sure the crux of his argument yet but he did mention that it relies on reading about a dying character finishing his movement in the next square. It does say that if a character is made dead or dying they do not "complete thier action" but I would not think that applied to a movement of only 5 feet as I can clearly invision a dying character falling over into the square he was heading toward.

 

[MarkB]

You are correct. Since the Opportunity Attack is an Immediate Interrupt, it is resolved before the opponent leaves your threatened area, thus he is still within range of your attack.

When your friend shows you his Monster Manual examples, make sure you check what type of movement is specified in them. It is only normal movement that provokes OAs - i.e. moving up to your speed as a Move action. Shifting (whether it is shifting a single square as a Move action, or some other variant accessed through Feats, Class Features or Powers) does not provoke, and neither does forced movement of any kind. If your friend's examples involve such forms of movement, they are irrelevant to the question.

 

[Tony Vargas]

You are correct: attempting to leave the adjacent square triggers the OA, which interrupts the target's movement /before/ he's left the square.

 

[Kordeth]

I have pointed out the "shift" and that they seem to have worked to move away from the concept of free 5 foot steps all together. I am not quite sure the crux of his argument yet but he did mention that it relies on reading about a dying character finishing his movement in the next square. It does say that if a character is made dead or dying they do not "complete thier action" but I would not think that applied to a movement of only 5 feet as I can clearly invision a dying character falling over into the square he was heading toward.

Your player is definitely wrong. The only way to not provoke an OA through normal movement (i.e. not teleport or forced movement) is to shift. The book is very clear that interrupt actions take place before you resolve the action that trigger them (PHB p. 268). Page 290 addresses resolving the triggering action after the attack:

After the opportunity attack, the creature resumes its action. If the target is reduced to 0 hit points or fewer by the opportunity attack, it can’t finish its action because it’s dead or dying.

The rules are clear: If you leave a threatened square, you provoke an OA. This OA resolves before your movement, meaning you're still in the threatened square when the OA is made. After the OA, assuming the target isn't unconscious or dead (and assuming there was no effect on the OA that stops him, like the fighter's combat challenge), then he moves out of the threatened square.

EDIT: Also, be sure to point out to him monsters with powers like "Flyby Attack." (Most of the dragons have this, if not all of them), which specifically calls out that the creature doesn't provoke OAs when moving away from the target of the attack. In other words, not provoking an OA for moving away is a special ability of certain powers. If you don't have them, you're out of luck.

 

[mlund]

Check out the different Movement actions.

"Run," "Squeeze," and "Walk" provoke Opportunity Attacks when you leave a threatened square.

Opportunity Attacks are covered in detail on page 290 of the Player's Handbook. In particular, it specifies that they INTERRUPT whatever provoked them - happened first. It also addresses that if the OA drops or kills the enemy they do not complete their Action.

- Marty Lund

 

[ryryguy]

You may also wish to note the interplay between opportunity attacks and the fighter feature Combat Superiority. When the fighter successfully hits a marked target with an opportunity attack that was provoked by movement, the target's move is cancelled. (*) Because an opportunity attack is an interrupt and not a reaction, the target's move stops in the square he was trying to leave. If it didn't work in this way, the fighter's "stickiness" would be greatly reduced.

Of course the target can still use another action to move at that point if he has any actions remaining. The fighter can't stop him again in the same way because he is only allowed one opportunity action per turn.

* - I don't have the book in front of me so you should double check my description of Combat Superiority, it might not be 100% correct... but the part about stopping in the triggering square is correct, I'm sure.

 

[Zaruthustran]

As others have said: your player is wrong. When you get together, carefully go over the rules regarding interrupts. Seriously, read them together line-by-line. It's a bit tedious, but the rules are actually well-written and very clear.

It might help to picture moving from square A to square B as a two-step process:

1. You leave square A.
2. You enter square B.

The OA happens between step 1 and step 2, before step 1 completes.

Since 4E uses interrupts, virtually every action in the game can be envisioned that way: you initiate an action, check for interrupts, and then the action resolves.

 

[Ceylin]

One further question I had about OA's and Combat Superiority. If a warrior is using Pole-arm Gamble - which grants OA's when a non-adjacent enemy enters an adjacent square - does that prevent their movement on a hit as well? If so - then they would have a tough time moving next to a pole-arm warrior.