Opportunity Attacks??

[Lost in Thyme]

I hope this is the correct place for this question regarding Opportunity Attacks.

In older editions of DnD, if you entered an area that an enemies threatens, without taking a 5 ft step, then they got to take an Attack of Opportunity on you.
In 4e, an enemy only gets an Opportunity Attack, if you leave a square they threaten.

I personally like the change, the people I play with don't.

So, I've decided to ask you all, hopefully without starting any flame wars or edition wars, why was the change made?

What would happen if it got house ruled back it? (Attack of Opportunity on entering a threatened square)

How would it effect the balance of the game?

More importantly to me, how would it effect the powers of a Paladin, a Rogue, a Fighter, and a Warlock?

Note, I'm not the GM for this game of DnD, even though I might run this same group later. The GM for the game hasn't currently ruled AoO on entering back in, but he is thinking about it.

So thank you for any answers or support you can give.
I'm sorry if this question has been asked before.
If links to older threads on this subject exist, I'd love to see them.
I'm sorry if my grammar or spelling is bad, I took sleep meds over 2.5 hours ago, and I'm not thinking clearly.

Peace and Long Life

 

[Fredrik Svanberg]

In older editions of DnD, if you entered an area that an enemies threatens, without taking a 5 ft step, then they got to take an Attack of Opportunity on you.

No, the rule has always (at least for the last edition) been that you provoke an attack when you leave a square they threaten.

In 4e, an enemy only gets an Opportunity Attack, if you leave a square they threaten.

I personally like the change, the people I play with don't.

So, I've decided to ask you all, hopefully without starting any flame wars or edition wars, why was the change made?

It wasn't.

What would happen if it got house ruled back it? (Attack of Opportunity on entering a threatened square)

It would cause all kinds of problems.

How would it effect the balance of the game?

Probably not too much but it would make fights a lot slower and less interesting.

More importantly to me, how would it effect the powers of a Paladin, a Rogue, a Fighter, and a Warlock?

Anyone with good ranged attacks would be at an advantage.

Note, I'm not the GM for this game of DnD, even though I might run this same group later. The GM for the game hasn't currently ruled AoO on entering back in, but he is thinking about it.

So thank you for any answers or support you can give.
I'm sorry if this question has been asked before.
If links to older threads on this subject exist, I'd love to see them.
I'm sorry if my grammar or spelling is bad, I took sleep meds over 2.5 hours ago, and I'm not thinking clearly.

Peace and Long Life

 

[Lost in Thyme]

Thank you.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I hope this is the correct place for this question regarding Opportunity Attacks.

In older editions of DnD, if you entered an area that an enemies threatens, without taking a 5 ft step, then they got to take an Attack of Opportunity on you.
In 4e, an enemy only gets an Opportunity Attack, if you leave a square they threaten.

As Fredrik says, in 3e AoO was provoked by leaving a threatened square. 4e hasn't changed that.

Cheers

 

[Lost in Thyme]

So, I have conformed that this rule did not exist in 3.x.
I still don't know if it exists in 2nd or earlier.

But what I'd like to know is how much would it effect 4ed DnD. (AoO on entering)
Manyly the powers of the Rogue, Paladin, Fighter, Warlock.

Thank you.

 

[Fredrik Svanberg]

Well, Fighters would probably be affected the most since they don't have many ranged powers - I can't think of any at all. Fighters and other melee classes will start using reach weapons exclusively, as will all enemies that can use weapons. In 4E reach weapons don't extend your threatened space so you can stay 2 squares away and not have to worry about it - effectively nullifying your proposed change.

Warlocks and rogues would be affected the least since they can continue killing things from a distance without having to worry about going into melee and taking opportunity attacks.

 

[Plane Sailing]

It didn't exist in 2e or earlier either - they didn't have 'Attacks of Opportunity" as such, although if you moved away from somebody that you were in combat with they got a free attack against you.

AoO on entering would cripple any melee combatant, as it means that they would have to receive an attack just for moving into combat.

I don't think it would be a viable rule for the game - there are reasons why there has never been attacks for moving into threatened squares!

Cheers

 

[jtrowell]

AoO have always been triggered when leaving a square, not when entering one.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/attacksOfOpportunity.htm#provokinganAttackofOpportunity

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.

 

[Lost in Thyme]

Thanks everyone for your help so far.

My only problem now, is that since the other people have been house ruling AoO since 2nd if not earilier, how do I convince them that it is a bad idea to include the house rule in 4th edition?

 

[Danceofmasks]

It makes str-based builds disproportionately powerful.