AoO in 3d

[GreyVulpine]

As we all know, moving out of a threatened square provokes an Attack of Opportunity. This is all explained in great detail in the 2d grid/battlemap setting. Are there any rules for AoOs in 3d combat?

Do monsters threaten the area above them, as well as around?

Say you're fighting a efreeti/ghost/air elemental or any other monster with flying and perfect manuverability, would it provoke an AoO if it flew straight up, trying to get away from the fight?

As a wizard, if you cast levitate or fly on an ally, would they provoke an AoO if they flew upwards/away?

Say you cast gust of wind, and it blows an enemy across one of your ally's threatened squares, would it provoke an AoO?

If I cast Defenestrating Sphere, a spell that deals damage, knocks an enemy prone, and flings them upwards, and direct it at an enemy that one of my allies is fighting, would the enemy provoke an AoO as it's flung upwards and away from the battle?

-GV

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

While I don't know of any rules per se covering AoOs in 3-D, I have run enough aquatic and aerial encounters to say that I pretty much run my games in such a way that creatures do threaten spaces uniformly in all directions.

And thus, all AoO rules apply in all directions as well.

IOW, I essentially read "5' Reach" as "5' Radius Reach."

 

[Thanee]

Yep, I think it works the same way in 3d.

i.e. anything within melee reach is threatened.

Bye
Thanee

 

[thedmstrikes]

In most places in the book and the SRD attacks of opportunity are talked about as if you are using the grid system for 2d fighting, however, when it talks about reach, it gives distances for this and converts the distances into grid spaces. This gives you your reference for determining distance for threat range in a 3d environment (either aquatic or aerial). That said, there a couple of other things that come into play with that third dimension:

withdraw and spring attack (mobility) can include up or down movement (charge also, but still in a straight line, mind your math for the distances)

spell effects that are area based are now in a third dimension also

remember, backstab was renamed sneak attack in the new edition to do away with the whole facing issue, so threats are all around reagrdless of facing, this will include up and down. That said, I would assume the block of the creature in question as opposed to the placement of the threatening appendage for calculating these distances (the same is done for the 2d versions in all the examples from the rulebooks).

 

[Vegepygmy]

While I don't know of any rules per se covering AoOs in 3-D, I have run enough aquatic and aerial encounters to say that I pretty much run my games in such a way that creatures do threaten spaces uniformly in all directions.

And thus, all AoO rules apply in all directions as well.

Ditto.

One of the coolest AoOs I ever made as a player was on an enemy who tried to jump down from a ledge above me into the space next to me while I was fighting with a ranseur (which has reach). I critted on the AoO for triple damage and killed him instantly; describing how I turned just in time to catch and impale him on the tip of my weapon really brought the encounter to life for me.

 

[kitsune9]

As we all know, moving out of a threatened square provokes an Attack of Opportunity. This is all explained in great detail in the 2d grid/battlemap setting. Are there any rules for AoOs in 3d combat?

Do monsters threaten the area above them, as well as around?

Say you're fighting a efreeti/ghost/air elemental or any other monster with flying and perfect manuverability, would it provoke an AoO if it flew straight up, trying to get away from the fight?

As a wizard, if you cast levitate or fly on an ally, would they provoke an AoO if they flew upwards/away?

Say you cast gust of wind, and it blows an enemy across one of your ally's threatened squares, would it provoke an AoO?

If I cast Defenestrating Sphere, a spell that deals damage, knocks an enemy prone, and flings them upwards, and direct it at an enemy that one of my allies is fighting, would the enemy provoke an AoO as it's flung upwards and away from the battle?

-GV

When I ran higher level games in aerial environments, I considered all areas above and below to be threatening.