AOO against opponents with natural reach

[mattmaz]

Do large sized characters provoke AOO from medium sized creatures that cannot reach them? Normally a trip or sunder attack would provoke an AOO, but what happens when the creature cannot normally reach character who provoked the AOO?

Example: Half-ogre attempts to sunder a human's weapon. Neither is using a reach weapon, but the half-ogre has a natural 10ft reach. Does the human get an AOO on the half-orge, even though it is outside his reach?

 

[clark411]

In order to make an AOO you have to a) have reason to AOO and b) threaten the recipient. In the instance you're stating, unless the medium creature has a reach weapon, he does not get to AOO the large reaching creature.

Unless my gaming group has assumed yet another official rule into being

 

[Darklone]

IIRC it's not well explained in the books, but some FAQ questions hinted at the possibility to make AoOs against reach creatures ... after all, they have to attack you with some limb. Personally, I would allow a disarm or sunder as well.

 

[dcollins]

By the rules, the answer is "no" -- you need to threaten to make an AOO. There's a FAQ entry that opens the door to readying an attack against a reach attack, but it doesn't mention AOO's as I recall.

 

[Nareau]

It's always been my understanding that by the rules, you can't do this:
1) You must threaten an opponent to take an attack of opportunity against it.
2) Medium-size creatures using most weapons do not threaten creatures 10' away.
3) A creature with natural reach of 10' or more can attack an opponent from 10' away; this attack may provoke an AoO that cannot be taken.

However, I have seen grappling used and abused in several games. If an ogre can grab an opponent from a distance without risking the AoO, this becomes an *even more* viable tactic. So this is house-ruled in my campaign. I say, "Sure, you can slice at the ogre's grubby hands with your sword as he lunges towards you."

Spider

 

[Legildur]

Just be careful about Disarm:

Step 1 does provoke an AOO - I'd say that you'd have to be threatening the opponent in order to be eligible to take the AOO.

Step 2 opposed rolls - not relevant here.

Step 3 Consequences - specifically states that if you fail to disarm opponent that they get a counter disarm attempt. It doesn't say anything about an AOO, so I'd say that you don't need to be threatening your opponent to do this.

 

[dcollins]

Reply to last: And yet the Disarm rules by themselves also require that you be threatening the target.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Reply to last: And yet the Disarm rules by themselves also require that you be threatening the target.

Well, it can be argued that they only require you threaten the target to initiate a Disarm attempt, since that's the part that's performed "as a melee attack", which is what requires you to be in reach of your target.

The counter-disarm just requires an opposed roll.

-Hyp.

 

[melkoriii]

No were does it say (under reach weapons or creatures with reach) that you do not draw AoO for actions like Sunder or the result of a failed Trip/Disarm.

As the Feats and actions say you ether draw an AoO or a Trip/Disarm, you do.

 

[Hypersmurf]

No were does it say (under reach weapons or creatures with reach) that you do not draw AoO for actions like Sunder or the result of a failed Trip/Disarm.

But you only draw an AoO for taking certain actions in a threatened area. You're not in a threatened area, so you don't provoke an AoO.

The result of a failed Trip/Disarm is not covered by that clause, so it's a different story.

But you can't provoke an AoO unless you're in a threatened area.

-Hyp.