AoO and Cleave?

[Negative Zero]

silly as this may sound, here goes:
assuming that you still threaten other foes, does cleave kick in if you drop an opponent with an AoO? (say from one of them tries drinking a potion, or trying to move through you threatened space or cast a spell etc.)

~NegZ

 

[Crothian]

Cleave kicks in whenever you deal enough damage to fall a foe. Be it WWA, AoO, or standard attack.

 

[Jeremy]

As long as you haven't used your cleave attack yet for the round.

 

[Forrester]

Of course, the fact that you can get an attack on someone that you normally wouldn't be able to, just because his buddy screwed up, is a bit . . . odd. I've heard of campaigns (and I'm in one) where Cleaves aren't allowed off of AoOs.

 

[Magus_Jerel]

Yes - you do get the cleave "bonus attack".

As far as the realism goes... if your buddy the wizard drops that fireball too close - you might get burned as is.

If a spellcaster is
1. gutsy enough to cast a spell in melee combat
2. dumb enough to get into melee in the first place
3. dumb enough NOT to have taken a bunch of ranks in concentration and cast defensively
4. takes every precaution, but is just unlucky enough to botch the cast defensively roll...
5. is "dropped" by the AoO

Ever heard of Murphy's Laws?

of course... if it can't go wrong, it will go wrong, and things will go wrong at the worst possible time, and in the worst possible order...

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Of course, the fact that you can get an attack on someone that you normally wouldn't be able to, just because his buddy screwed up, is a bit . . . odd. I've heard of campaigns (and I'm in one) where Cleaves aren't allowed off of AoOs.

Well, it depends on how you view what's actually happening, I think. Think of Fighter Bob fighting against two hobgoblins. One of the hobgoblins is hurt pretty bad, so it tries to drink a potion. Bob sees his chance, grips his greatsword in both hands, and takes a mighty swing at the hobgoblin with the potion. Already wounded, the blow cuts the would-be potion drinker to the ground. Not only that, but having expected more resistance, Bob really put his back into the blow, and it carries on to slam into the next hobgoblin as well.

If you think of each attack roll as a separate offensive maneuver against a specific foe, then yes, it seems silly that foe A's AoO will give you an attack against foe B. But if you see the entire Cleave "event" as being the results of one mighty swing, it's pretty sensible.

 

[dr_nukem]

4. takes every precaution, but is just unlucky enough to botch the cast defensively roll...
5. is "dropped" by the AoO

You might want to re-look at Defensive Casting. If you fail your defensive cast check, you DO NOT provoke an AoO...your spell simply fails and you loose it.

SRD:
Casting a spell while on the defensive does not provoke an attack of opportunity. It does require a Concentration check (DC 15 + spell level). Failure means that the combatant loses the spell.

 

[Negative Zero]

thanks guys, i figured that it would work, but it seemed ... i dunno, off(?) to me. 'preciate the responses.

~NegZ

 

[Belares]

I think unless you have combat reflexes then you cannot get that other attack and the the creature/person invokes the AoO rule.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Vaxalon]

I think unless you have combat reflexes then you cannot get that other attack and the the creature/person invokes the AoO rule.

Fine. Think that, and be wrong. It's a dandy house rule, by the way, but according to the core you don't need CR in order to get your cleave off of an AoO.