D&D 5E (2014) [5E][OOC] Across the Faerun-iverse

[hafrogman]

Anything we're waiting on here or just busy? Since Schmoe is the only one who can act...

 

[Egon]

No, you're waiting on me to recognize that Schmoe posted that he was going full defense.

 

[Schmoe]

No worries. Let me know if there's a better way for me to post my actions. I can see how it might have been missed in the middle of the OOC paragraph.

 

[Egon]

[MENTION=913]Schmoe[/MENTION], your post indicates you are moving. Is this correct? Are you positioning yourself between the Goblin and the southwest tunnel? I ask because you would be exposing yourself to an Attack of Opportunity by doing so. So before I adjudicate, I have to make sure you are aware of this and that this is what you want to do. Of course, you don't have to move; I just need clarification based on what you have in your IC post.

 

[Schmoe]

[MENTION=913]Schmoe[/MENTION], your post indicates you are moving. Is this correct? Are you positioning yourself between the Goblin and the southwest tunnel? I ask because you would be exposing yourself to an Attack of Opportunity by doing so. So before I adjudicate, I have to make sure you are aware of this and that this is what you want to do. Of course, you don't have to move; I just need clarification based on what you have in your IC post.

Maybe I'm unclear on 5e rules. I just wanted to shift 5 feet, never moving out of the threatened area of the goblin. Does this incur an AoO? I thought AoO's were an optional rule, but I'm away from my books right now. At any rate, if it is an AoO I won't move.

 

[Egon]

Ok, here is the rule from the PHB on page 195:

In a fight, everyone is constantly watching for enemies to drop their guard. You can rarely move heedlessly past your foes without putting yourself in danger; doing so provokes an opportunity attack.

You can make an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach. To make the opportunity attack, you use your reaction to make one melee attack against the provoking creature. The attack interrupts the provoking creature's movement, occurring right before the creature leaves your reach.

You can avoid provoking an opportunity attack by taking the Disengage action. You also don't provoke an opportunity attack when you teleport or when someone or something moves you without using your movement, action, or reaction. For example, you don't provoke an opportunity attack if an explosion hurls you out of a foe's reach or if gravity causes you to fall past an enemy.

The key stuff in this rule is reach. The only thing the book states about reach for melee combat is also on page 195:

Most creatures have a 5-foot reach and can thus attack targets within 5 feet of them when making a melee attack. Certain creatures (typically those larger than Medium) have melee attacks with a greater reach than 5 feet, as noted in their descriptions.

So now, I'm a bit confused on this rule. I know in previous editions, the AoO was used whenever you moved through a creature's reach area. Even if you started in a reach area and moved to a reach area, you'd provoke the AoO.

As you wouldn't be moving OUT of the Goblin's reach, the AoO shouldn't apply, right? You never leave his reach, instead moving inside his reach area to get to another point he could potentially reach. Which is the way I'm reading this.

Am I wrong about this now? Doesn't this really hose those players with reach weapons then by allowing creatures to move within their reach area and not be exposed to an AoO so long as they stay within reach the whole time during movement?

 

[Kobold Stew]

As you wouldn't be moving OUT of the Goblin's reach, the AoO shouldn't apply, right?

This is my understanding as well.

 

[Forged Fury]

It's how it works. Reach weapons (i.e. Polearms pretty much) are seem to be intended in 5E to either be used behind the front ranks or in conjunction with Polearm Master/Sentinel feats (<- Which make the option pretty awesome).

Then again, in standard 3E, you couldn't even hit anything within 5' of you with a polearm unless you had the feat that let you pop them with the haft of your weapon (granted, you could 5' step then, but sometimes you couldn't or didn't want to move), so there's that.

 

[hafrogman]

That is correct. You can circle a creature inside their reach, but if you attempt to leave their reach, you need to disengage or suffer AoO/OA

 

[Egon]

[MENTION=23484]Kobold Stew[/MENTION], please be explicit with your movement. Why? The Goblin has a reach weapon (scimitar, which I've mentioned), and I'm concerned about AoO's. If you move into and then out of his reach, you'll open yourself up. I know you are trying to gore/shove him, but with a reach weapon, I want to make sure you aren't opening yourself up here.

I know - as a GM I should just let you do what you are going to do and then deal with the consequences. I'm not in the business of hosing players, and as I don't know every single rule there is (and will never claim to), I like to make sure we are all on the same page.