AoO, reach, and counter AoOs

[James McMurray]

A while back (probably quite a while) someone mentioned an article or FAQ entry that said that a creature with reach that provokes an AoO with a natural weapon can still be hit.

For instance, a dragon is 10' away from Joe Schmoe (and his 5' reach sword). The dragon uses its reach to perform a disarm, but does not have Improved Disarm, so he provokes an AoO. Because the dragon's body part has to enter the fighter's threateed area to hit the sword, the fighter gets to take his AoO, even though the dragon's main body is outside of his 5' threatened zone.

I'm not wanting to argue the merits of the rule or anything, just wondering if someone could please point me to the WotC article, sage advice column or even thread reply that made the ruling.

Thanks!

 

[Camarath]

I am not sure if this is what you are looking for but here is this entry from the Main FAQ.

I know a spellcaster can’t deliver a touch spell with a
weapon, but can a spellcaster deliver a touch spell by
touching an opponent’s weapon? For example, suppose an
enemy fighter has a weapon with a 10-foot reach. Can a
spellcaster step into the area that fighter threatens and
touch the weapon to affect the wielder? Is there a limit on
how far a touch spell can travel through equipment?
For the purposes of most magical effects, touching a
creature’s equipment is exactly the same as touching the
creature. That’s why touch attacks ignore armor, natural armor,
and shields. The point of contact does have to be fairly close to
the target’s body, though.
There is no set limit to how far away a spellcaster can be
when delivering a touch spell, but the basic requirement is
being able to reach into the space the creature occupies. For
example, a human occupies a 5-foot space. Thus, a foe must be
able to reach into that space to deliver a touch attack, even if a
piece of the human’s equipment (such as 50 feet of dangling
rope or a manufactured reach weapon) sticks out of the space.
A creature with natural reach is an exception to this rule—
you can use a touch spell against such a creature by touching
one of its natural reach weapons, even if its body is out of your
reach. Such a tactic might require some preparation, however.
If a creature can reach you with a natural weapon (such as a
bite, claw, or tentacle), you can ready an action to use a touch
spell against that natural weapon when it is used to make a
melee attack against you. Though casting a spell usually
requires a standard action, you can cast the spell and try to
touch the target as your readied action, so long as the spell’s
casting time is 1 action or less. (This is just like casting a spell
and making a touch attack as part of your regular action.) If the
spell has a longer casting time, you must first cast it and then
hold the charge until it can be delivered to pull off this
maneuver.

 

[Hypersmurf]

A while back (probably quite a while) someone mentioned an article or FAQ entry that said that a creature with reach that provokes an AoO with a natural weapon can still be hit

That...

I'm not wanting to argue the merits of the rule or anything...

... oh.

... just wondering if someone could please point me to the WotC article, sage advice column or even thread reply that made the ruling.

I have a vague recollection that it included the rule that if someone provoked an AoO with a Reach weapon, you could take the AoO as a Sunder or Disarm (which makes whips suck even more than whips normally suck, since a/ every attack with a whip provokes an AoO, and b/ whips don't have much in the way of hardness or hit points). So I'd give fair odds that it was included with the "Sunder is not a standard action" Sage Advice in... a recent Dragon?

-Hyp.