AoOs and special attacks

[comareddin]

When a character gets an attack of opportunity, can he use the attack to disarm/trip/whatever an opponent he threatens?

Com

 

[Dimwhit]

Yes for trip and disarm. The whatever depends on the attack. I believe (but don't quote me on it) that it has to be some sort of melee attack action. Trip, disarm, grapple, etc. Though actually, I'm not sure you can grapple, since it's an unarmed attack and you don't threaten normally for unarmed attacks.

 

[smootrk]

I had a similar situation come up yesterday while DM'ing. A critter was running away past some characters, thus granting them the AoO. One character wanted to use the attack to initiate a grapple to restrain the beastie.

We had a short debate over it (seconds) and I simply made the call, No, but it had to do mostly with having to drop weapon and grab the beast. I rationalized that the character in this case had to enter the other square to start a grapple. Everyone seemed OK with reasoning.

IMO I would expand that rationale to state that any special attacking manoever is not allowed during AoO, just standard attacks with whatever weapon that the character was previously holding. If a rules clarification can be found, I may alter my view a bit.

 

[Infiniti2000]

If you threaten with a weapon, you get an AoO. Once you have the ability to take that AoO, there's no restriction on what form the attack makes. So, you can threaten with a dagger and then make a grapple attempt that also provokes an AoO. You could sunder, trip, or disarm, too.

Houserule
I houserule that you have to use the weapon that you threatened with (actually, one of them if you have multiple weapons). This makes IUS a little more versatile and restricts tripping significantly. It also eliminates the inconsistency (IMO) that you can threaten with a dagger and trip with a foot while someone else without a dagger cannot trip (he doesn't threaten).

 

[Dimwhit]

Here's what I came up with:

An attack of opportunity is a single melee attack.

So any attack action that is a melee attack should work. Some examples I found from the SRD:

DISARM
As a melee attack, you may attempt to disarm your opponent.

SUNDER
You can use a melee attack with a slashing or bludgeoning weapon to strike a weapon or shield that your opponent is holding.

TRIP
You can try to trip an opponent as an unarmed melee attack.

Tripping with a Weapon: Some weapons can be used to make trip attacks. In this case, you make a melee touch attack with the weapon instead of an unarmed melee touch attack, and you don’t provoke an attack of opportunity.

So with trip, I think you need a trip weapon to be able to do it, otherwise it's an unarmed attack, and most characters don't threatend with unarmed attacks.

I'm pretty sure you can't grapple, however, as it does not appear to be a melee attack.

Hope that helps!

 

[darthkilmor]

I'm pretty sure you can't grapple, however, as it does not appear to be a melee attack.

Starting a Grapple

To start a grapple, you need to grab and hold your target. Starting a grapple requires a successful melee attack roll.

even better,

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/actionsInCombat.htm

On the table,

These attack forms substitute for a melee attack, not an action. As melee attacks, they can be used once in an attack or charge action, one or more times in a full attack action, or even as an attack of opportunity.

Listed are:
disarm
grapple
trip an opponent

So you can't sunder, but other than that...

 

[Dimwhit]

Interesting, though I can't see why you couldn't sunder as an AoO. It's just a regular melee attack. Methinks that table left one off.

 

[Infiniti2000]

You can sunder. The text trumps the table. Note that there's no restriction to attack with the weapon that you threatened with (that's a houserule as I've noted that I use).

 

[Dimwhit]

You can sunder. The text trumps the table. Note that there's no restriction to attack with the weapon that you threatened with (that's a houserule as I've noted that I use).

Meaning if you threaten with a sword, you could make an unarmed attack, like a grapple, anyway during an AoO? Interesting, and I think you're right.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Meaning if you threaten with a sword, you could make an unarmed attack, like a grapple, anyway during an AoO? Interesting, and I think you're right.

Yes, that's exactly right. I find it rather odd personally.