AoOs against invisible foes?

[Voadam]

Do you provoke AoOs when you are invisible and your foes don't have blindsight?

 

[Egres]

From the SRD:

You can’t execute an attack of opportunity against an opponent with total concealment, even if you know what square or squares the opponent occupies.

 

[Psimancer]

However, some DMs may allow you to get around this with a True Strike, as '...you are not affected by the miss chance that applies to attackers trying to strike a concealed target...' (SRD - True Strike)

 

[rkanodia]

I agree that it might be in the spirit of the game to allow the attack of opportunity if you've got True Strike (and would certainly give the benefit of the doubt to a creative player) but I'm pretty sure the rules as written don't allow it. After all, the rule about AoO's vs total concealment doesn't say anything about miss chances.

 

[Saeviomagy]

However, some DMs may allow you to get around this with a True Strike, as '...you are not affected by the miss chance that applies to attackers trying to strike a concealed target...' (SRD - True Strike)

And would be wrong. The target still has full concealment, true strike merely ignores the miss chance of that concealment, not the other effects.

 

[shilsen]

As rakanodia and Saeviomagy said, true strike would help if you got to take an AoO, but since it doesn't actually allow you to do so, it is irrelevant here.

 

[Psimancer]

Strictly speaking, by the black and white of the rules, correct, you can’t AoO an invisible opponent… and hence the use of the words ‘some DMs’. But I’ve seen one DM allow it, and it was a mighty compelling argument that he had…

True Strike is a divination spell that gives you a ‘…temporary, intuitive insight into the immediate future during your next attack…’ Effectively, the spell allows you to strike at your target at the most fortuitous time… so, if an invisible opponent did something that could provoke; the True Strike would kick in and guided your blow…

Does this break game balance? No. It’s a one shot… and there is no guarantee that it will work…

Is it in the spirit of the game? You bet. It’s a clever utilisation of a resource…

Is it in strict accordance with the rules? No…

And before anyone starts going on about, “…It’s wrong, it’s not RAW…” I know, but this was one of those things that, in my opinion, was a value add to the hobby… and after all, are we not here to enrich the actual playing of the game?

Coincidently, Li Shenron has just posted a poll asking, “How far would you go against the RAW to promote creativity?”… My answer, this is how far I would go…

 

[Li Shenron]

Coincidently, Li Shenron has just posted a poll asking, “How far would you go against the RAW to promote creativity?”… My answer, this is how far I would go…

Oh yeah! But I'm not sure if I'd allow this...

I it would be acceptable to make TS work here from a power perspective. Surely someone else can find an example when this is going to be too good... but for the moment to me it would seem not that great: if you get an AoO against the invisible creature, your TS expires with the AoO and you don't use it next round as you thought you would. You still have to know which square the target is otherwise you won't do the AoO anyway.

However it's this last part which makes me doubt. It would be saying that TS allows you to percieve what the invisible creature is doing, not precisely but still enough for you to get your AoO. It's not overpowered or anything, it's just I have a hard explaining that in-character...

 

[shilsen]

However it's this last part which makes me doubt. It would be saying that TS allows you to percieve what the invisible creature is doing, not precisely but still enough for you to get your AoO. It's not overpowered or anything, it's just I have a hard explaining that in-character...

Right. It opens up a can of worms, like having PCs cast true strike whenever invisible opponents are nearby, since if it lets you perceive them enough to be able to take an AoO, it should let one percieve them enough to know where they are.

 

[hong]

Right. It opens up a can of worms, like having PCs cast true strike whenever invisible opponents are nearby, since if it lets you perceive them enough to be able to take an AoO, it should let one percieve them enough to know where they are.

The spell lasts all of one round. Big deal.