When does an AoO refill?

[Psyduck]

Do you receive your attack of opportunity back after the round, on your turn, or a round after your attack of opportunity?

 

[Vaxalon]

We do it on your turn, because we've done away with the turn boundary. By the rules, you do it on the turn boundary.

 

[SpikeyFreak]

Do you receive your attack of opportunity back after the round, on your turn, or a round after your attack of opportunity?

Everything that is n/round resets on the turn for the character who can do it n/round.

--Power Spikey

 

[KarinsDad]

We do it on your turn, because we've done away with the turn boundary. By the rules, you do it on the turn boundary.

Are you sure about that?

I seem to recall this exact question coming up over a year ago and nobody could find any specific rules on it. The book says something like once per round, but does not specify exactly what that means.

Turn boundaries also make the least amount of sense.

Reseting on the initiative makes the most sense, but it can run into a problem with a Readied action. For example:

1 25 Readies
1 18 AoOs
1 12 Ready Action occurs, resets initiative to 12
2 21 Does he get an AoO?
2 15 Does he get an AoO?

Here, I would think that the simpliest rule would be to reset the AoO on 2 12 even though it was slightly more than a round since his last AoO and since his original initiative.

 

[Psyduck]

YEAH

That's why I was wondering if it should reset a round after the AoO occurred. The reason is I had a monk that had mobility, and would run around as many opponents as possible to get rid of their AoOs. Now if they go right after me, my efforts (and possible bruises) are waisted.

 

[Christian]

The reason is I had a monk that had mobility, and would run around as many opponents as possible to get rid of their AoOs. Now if they go right after me, my efforts (and possible bruises) are wasted.

Ayup, it sure is. My monk uses the same strategy, primarily to let his spellcasting allies easily use touch spells without having to cast defensively. I either (a) ask my allies to delay their actions until after mine & before the opponent's, or (b) delay my action until right after the opponent's to get him to spend his AoO right at the beginning of his round.

From the gaming session of two weeks ago:

DM: OK, make your tumble check.

Me: I'm not tumbling, just moving past him to the flanking position.

DM: I know what you're trying to do!

Me: But does the NPC?

DM: Well, he's a smart as I am, I think. (Pause, grumble.) Someday, one of these guys will have combat reflexes.

Me:

(The enemy in question was a fairly powerful undead, for our level. I wasn't all that effective against him, and the Cha 8 cleric wasn't having a lot of luck with his turning checks. But when he switched to cure moderate wounds, he started laying some serious hurting on the beastie.)

 

[Virago]

On PHB p. 122, it says:

"If you have the Combat Reflexes feat ... you can add your Dexterity modifier to the number of attacks of opportunity you can make between actions."

This strongly implies that resetting on the turn boundary is hogwash.

In KD's example, I'd rule the AoOs recharge on round 2 initiative 12. The Ready" on 1/25 is the end of your first turn -- your next turn starts on 2/12. PHB p. 134: "The ready action lets you prepare to take an action later, after your turn is over but before your next one has begun."

So it's clear an extra personal turn/round isn't being generated by the ready.

I think it's pretty clear that AoOs are meant to reset every personal round. It really only makes sense that it happens at the beginning, because otherwise one may ask "when does flat-footedness go away?"

That is, A starts his turn flatfooted. He moves past B drawing an AoO. B decides to do an unarmed attack on A, who is armed. It seems obvious that A can indeed take the AoO, that they charge up at the beginning of A's action.

All of this is a bit overkill. Of course AoOs recharge at the beginning of each of your turns Interpreting "round" a la 2E is kooky, "round" a la spell duration is a hassle.

 

[Gromm]

In the above example, you would not get an AoO until 12 since that is your new initiative. Just the price of readying an action.
Not to mention it keeps people with spiked chains from say readying an action to attack anyone that gets within 5' just to reset their AoOs.
Doing anything else opens the door to timing loopholes that could be exploited, though I doubt in the big picture it would make a big deal.

 

[Crothian]

Well, they should reset at your action, but the important thing is you only get one a round without combat reflexes. So, it doesn't matter if you reset, a full round hasn't gone by yet so you won't get any more AoO until next round.

 

[Demogorge]

My monk uses the same strategy, primarily to let his spellcasting allies easily use touch spells without having to cast defensively.

I believe touching an opponent with a touch spell is considered an armed attack and does not provoke an attack of oppurtunity. You still provoke an AOO while casting within reach of them, but you can hold the charge indefinately.

Correct me if I'm wrong.