Another AoO Question????

[Turin Turambar]

In my gaming session tonight, one of my Paladin characters almost fumbled his attack role with his Falchion whilst in melee combat. He was using the weapon 2-handed. If he did manage to fumble, but kept grip on the sword, just losing his balance, or the weapon misses the target and the momentum carries his sword and body into an unready position to defend himself. Is there a rule to apply an AoO upon this type of fumble? Giving the chance for the foe to take an action after he leaves himself wide open for attack????

 

[IceBear]

I don't think, by the offical rules, there are fumbles (I think it's a variant rule in the DMG maybe). As such, there is no AoO for fumbles. IF you want to house rule that a fumble leads to an AoO, then that's fine, but there is nothing in the rules on it (at least I don't think so).

IceBear

 

[Hypersmurf]

"Fumble provokes an AoO" is, however, my favourite of all the Fumble House Rules I've seen.

-Hyp.

 

[shilsen]

"Fumble provokes an AoO" is, however, my favourite of all the Fumble House Rules I've seen.

-Hyp.

Interesting idea. Do you require the fumble to be confirmed, as with a critical?

 

[Turin Turambar]

Confirming a fumble, like the critical is what we do. Generally when a player rolls a 1, then follows with another 1, or sometimes a 2, then its a bad result. I will probably use this AoO variant for future sessions......

 

[Hypersmurf]

Interesting idea. Do you require the fumble to be confirmed, as with a critical?

As yet, I haven't implemented any fumble house rules... but this one strikes me as more elegant than others like "weapon breaks", "hit self", "hit ally", "drop sword", or "consult percentile table".

-Hyp.

 

[RJSmalls]

Fumble House Rule

Ed's note: I know this has turned into a House Rule thread, or perhaps always was one, but nonetheless, here's our fumble house rule.

Critical Fumbles – Armed, Unarmed, and Targeted Spell Attacks: If a natural “1” is rolled on an attack roll, a Critical Fumble Threat exists. Roll 1d20 again. If the second result would indicate a miss, then a Critical Fumble has occurred. The character may take no further actions during the round his Critical Fumble occurred, and may not take AO’s on any enemies until his next initiative.

Roll 1d6 and consult the following chart unless two natural 1’s have been rolled, in which case a Major Fumble occurs automatically.

1d6 Results

1-3 Minor Fumble: Drop weapon, spell backfires (1d6 per spell level, Ref save for ½)

4-6 Major Fumble: Drop weapon, spell backfires (1d6 per
spell level, Ref save for ½), provokes AO’s, fumbler loses any Dex bonus to AC

Note: Any spell that cannot result in a Critical Hit cannot result in a Critical Fumble, i.e. applicable spells are those that require a to-hit roll.

RJ