Sustain Provokes?

[Ryujin]

I would suspect that it depends on what action is required on the sustain line.

Sustain minor = no
Sustain move = no
Sustain standard = yes

I couldn't find an unoquivocal answer on the Wizards site, but then the search function pretty much sucks.

 

[Caliban]

Is there an official answer to this very important (yes, I'm playing a wizard...) question ?

I sent in a series of questions to Customer Service about this, and in the end I concluded that the action of Sustaining does not provoke, but if you use an action make a ranged or area attack that will provoke (usually sustain allows you to use an other action to attack with the power, but in some cases the action of sustaining it also allows you to make an attack - and that would provoke). If the power automatically attacks without requiring an action from you, then you don't provoke an OA.

You "use" a power when you activate it, but you also "use" a power when you attack with it - despite what Hypersmurf stated, I do not believe the term "use" has a single defined meaning in the 4e rules. Much like the term "attack" it is used to mean slightly different things at different times based on context, and trying to use the same meaning for every instance of the word is incorrect.

 

[Dragonblade]

My ruling is that sustain should not provoke regardless of what action it takes to sustain or what sustaining does. Only the initial activation of a ranged or area attack power should provoke OAs. Thats how we play it in all the games I play in and it has not been an issue.

 

[gribble]

The OA comes from using a power; it's the Use a Power action that provokes.

Not quite sure where you're getting this from:

Opportunity attacks are triggered by an enemy leaving a square adjacent to you or by an adjacent enemy making a ranged attack or an area attack.

I read that as the source of the attack being irrelevant. If sustaining a power grants you a ranged or area attack (distinct from allowing a conjured effect to attack again) and an enemy is adjacent to you, the enemy would be granted an OA.

In the specific case of the power mentioned (Summons of Khirad), you could interpret it either way. The sustain action (obviously) doesn't provoke, but the attack it grants may. Note that the sustain doesn't specify the type of the attack... though it would be reasonable to assume it's ranged, like the parent power (in which case it would provoke an OA from any adjacent enemies).

 

[Fede]

My ruling is that sustain should not provoke regardless of what action it takes to sustain or what sustaining does. Only the initial activation of a ranged or area attack power should provoke OAs. Thats how we play it in all the games I play in and it has not been an issue.

That's the way i play it.

 

[Artoomis]

Since gribble is correct and

Opportunity attacks are triggered by an enemy leaving a square adjacent to you or by an adjacent enemy making a ranged attack or an area attack.

The question really should be, then, is the Minor Action of "Sustain," in this case, actually making a ranged attack?

I have quoted the power below, leaving out some key non-relevant data for copyright reasons

Daily <snipped non-relevant text>
Standard Action Ranged 10
Target: One creature
Attack: Constitution vs. Will
Hit: <snipped non-relevant text>
Sustain Minor: Make a Constitution vs. Will attack against the target. On a hit <snipped non-relevant text> the effect ends.

Hmmm....

Looks to me like the attack made by the Minor action is still a ranged attack, so this would indeed provoke an OA.

This leads to another related question:

What happens if after the initial attack the target moves outside of the range?

 

[Sunglare]

So....
1. Wizard cast Freezing cloud
2. There are creatures in Freezing Cloud
3. Some creatures move to surrond Wizard
4. It's the start of the creatures turn in the Freezing Cloud
5. Wizard rolls to hit creatures in cloud.
6. Creatures around wizard get to make Opprotunity Attacks on Wizard

???????????
Seems pretty messed up to me but if you apply the the logic that the sustain action follows the same descriptor of the initial attack (melee, range, close, area) then it would apply to this wizard situation too.
Seems best that unless a Sustain action actually says to make another range or area attack it does not cause an opprotunity attack.

Summons of Khirad initial attack says "Standard Action Ranged 10."
but the Sustain only says "Sustain minor" and does not say "Sustain minor range 10."

Another question we can ask ourselves when analyzing if the sustain is considered a ranged attack is is it limited to the range of the inital attack too? If one was to argue that the sustain is considered range because the initial attack is then one can not sustain the power if they go beyond the range of the initial attack.

 

[Artoomis]

So....
1. Wizard cast Freezing cloud
2. There are creatures in Freezing Cloud
3. Some creatures move to surrond Wizard
4. It's the start of the creatures turn in the Freezing Cloud
5. Wizard rolls to hit creatures in cloud.
6. Creatures around wizard get to make Opprotunity Attacks on Wizard
...

I would not think so. This is pretty obviously an on-going effect and requires no sustaining action.

"Sustain minor" and does not say "Sustain minor range 10."

And thus the key question is whether the attack involved in the sutaining minor action is a ranged attack or not.

Further research:

When you are adjacent to an enemy, the enemy can't ... use an area power...wihtout ... allowing you to take an opportunity attack...

But, is not using a Minor Action to sustain a power still using that power? I would think so.

As opposed to a power that creates something that does not need to be sustained (Freezing Cloud, for example).

I think the power in question here is in the minority in that using a minor action gives you an attack roll, so this one is kind of special.

Again, though, the key question is whether the attack granted by the minor action of sustaining the power is a ranged attack or not. I do have have a defintive andwer for that, though I would tend to think so.

 

[Ryujin]

My ruling is that sustain should not provoke regardless of what action it takes to sustain or what sustaining does. Only the initial activation of a ranged or area attack power should provoke OAs. Thats how we play it in all the games I play in and it has not been an issue.

That's a ruling that I could live with.

 

[gribble]

It's certainly not clear cut. If the attack is not the type of the original power, then what type is it (melee, ranged, close, area)? If ranged, what is the range?
Is it some (otherwise never encountered in the rules) "untyped" type of attack?

I don't have the answers, but it seems to me (even if it does throw up some weird situations), that the attack type and range should be the same as the initial power. Perhaps with a caveat that if the power is a conjuration, the sustain attack is instead made by the conjuration. I.e.: melee for something like a flaming sphere or bigby's hand, or close (with an area equal to the zone or wall) for zones/walls.