Question about Fighters

[Bronz]

Fighters have a class feature called Combat Challenge that allows that fighter to mark on a hit or miss, and be able to make a melee basic attack against any adjacent marked enemy who shifts or makes an attack that does not include the fighter as an immediate interrupt.

My question is this: Is this immediate interrupt a special kind of opportunity action or is it really just the fighter's immediate action for the round? If it really is just the immediate action this is a severe limitation, as Combat Superiority and quite a few feats improve Opportunity Attacks (which are a special immediate reaction) but nothing to improve the main feature of the fighter class. Not to mention you can only do this once per round and if you do you forgo any use of any immediate power for that round.

Does anyone have any insight into which this is?

 

[ForbidenMaster]

As it says in the description, its an immediate interupt, not an OA.

 

[Bronz]

I guess I'm just curious why they would completely de-synergize abilities like that, if that is indeed what that ability means.

 

[NightMoor]

Characters are allowed on Immediate Interrupt per "turn" as far as I know, which means you can get to use one per creature's turn which activates.

Yes, it does not count as an opportunity attack, but if you look a little more closely you'll notice that a vast majority of +dmg type magic items only work on Basic Melee Attacks (which is exactly the kind of attack you get as an immediate interrupt), which means you can pump up your immediate swipes into brutally devastating hits, making it a lose-lose situation for things that try to get away from you.

 

[The Little Raven]

I guess I'm just curious why they would completely de-synergize abilities like that, if that is indeed what that ability means.

Because it's not intended that a fighter stop them from shifting, but rather that they get off a blow before the enemy can safely move out of range.

 

[ForbidenMaster]

Characters are allowed on Immediate Interrupt per "turn" as far as I know, which means you can get to use one per creature's turn which activates.

Its per round.

 

[Xorn]

Its per round.

This is correct. One Immediate action per ROUND (not on your turn, either), and one Opportunity action per TURN (also not on your own turn).

Try the fighter mechanic in action. Fighter swings at a guard drake, marking it. Rogue uses Deft Strike to move past the drake, provoking an opportunity attack. The fighter gets to swing at the drake if it takes the attack (and being an animal it does, at least once before learning not to), will most likely miss the rogue (who is a halfling with artful dodger), and get nailed by the fighter. Not to mention it's going to get a sneak attack by the rogue now, too.

If any intelligent creature sees the combo, from then on in the combat I usually won't try the OA, because it's going to miss anyway--it's a matter of eating two attacks or one at that point.

And getting AWAY from a fighter is a pain that you pay for. Our fighter is careful to position himself where a single shift will not get clear of his OAs, and it's brutal.

 

[Gloombunny]

I guess I'm just curious why they would completely de-synergize abilities like that, if that is indeed what that ability means.

Think of it like this. A typical character gets to do nothing to an enemy that shifts away from it, and gets a basic attack against an enemy that moves away from it. A fighter gets an upgrade to both situations - he gets to make a basic attack against an enemy that shifts, and a beefed-up attack against an enemy that moves. This way the enemy still has some incentive to shift instead of move.

If the fighter got an opportunity attack against a shifting enemy, then a) the enemy would always try for the full move, since it gains nothing from merely shifting, and b) the fighter would be significantly more powerful than he already is.

 

[NorthSaber]

I just have to say that both OAs (with Combat Superiority) and Combat Challenge are pretty awesome if you get into situations where you can use them! I had a lot of fun with my fighter last night, finished 2 or 3 enemies (minions and wounded enemies) just with OA and CC, and was a general nuisance (and even a real danger) to all enemies nearby.

One thing I noticed is that even though I wield a reach weapon (longspear), it's almost always better to end my movement adjacent to an enemy - you don't get OA or CC at reach 2 and your job is usually to keep the enemy next to you and away from the others...

 

[EvilGM]

It doesn't help that they muddy the situation with different wording....

Combat Challenge (PHB pg 76) says nothing about opportunity attack, it is listed as an immediate interrupt.

Distracting Shield (PHB pg 194) refers to the attack granted by Combat Challenge

The table (I know, not the most reliable information) of feats (PHB pg 196), lists Distracting Shield summary as "Target hit by opportunity attack takes -2 to attack rolls."

Potent Challenge (feat) is the same way.

Shield Push (feat) in the table of feats however refers to "target hit by Combat Challenge attack"

What does it all mean?