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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="two" data-source="post: 3945990" data-attributes="member: 9002">No, I don't plan on buying any 4 stuff, but I am interested in it as a game, and to see if they will finally get rid of the inconsistent and stupid way that AOO's are handled currently.AOO's are, in 3e, "active."Meaning, if somebody does something that "breaks attention" or whatever flavor text you apply, they are punished by allowing the enemy to hit them with an AOO if (in enemy is in melee range, if they have not exceeded their AOO limit, etc.).Note that this is active.  A creature must DO something stupid in combat, like try to use a bow, or drink a potion, or stand up from prone, in oder to GENERATE an AOO.The reason that this "active AOO" system is stupid is clear enough.  There are times when being "passive" is much more dangerous than doing something "active" that generates an AOO.The canonical example is a fighter in combat. He is paralyzed  suddenly by an enemy wizard, and when his initiative comes around, he just stands there, paralyzed.  Let's say he is flanked by two enemies when this event happens (the paralysis).Now, if this fighter were ACTIVE and drank a potion, the two enemies would get two AOO's.  If he were ACTIVE and dropped to prone and then stood up again, ditto.  If he shot his bow in combat, two AOO's.  Yes he is paralyzed, which is certainly much worse than shooting a bow, or standing up from prone, etc. yet he is not penalized at all, because it is PASSIVE.  The player does not DO anything which generates an AOO, although his current condition (Paralyzed) should automatically allow an AOO - it's much worse to be paralyzed in combat than, say, distracted a few seconds by drinking a potion.That is the "common sense" solution.  Various conditions should allow for automatic AOO's (as if the person with the condition had done something active to generate an AOO).Paralysis is one of them, sleep another, blindness another (it is far worse to be blind in combat than, say, stand up from prone, assuming no magic/feats to make the blindness less a hindrance).Yet this creates a very difficult problem, because... well, being unconscious on the ground should also be a condition that generates an AOO. That's like standing up from prone, but worse, and easier to hit!And this means that if you are in combat, and get hit, and drop unconscious to the ground... in theory, all enemies surrounding you should get a free AOO on you (on the PC's turn), assuming the PC does not get healed immediately.This is real trouble, because it means that going down in combat is extremely dangerous.  You could have a situation where the initiative is something like:15 enemy114 pc113 enemy212 enemy3If enemy1 drops pc1 to -5, then at initiative 14 enemy1 gets a free aoo, as does enemy2 and enemy3 if they are in range.Meaning, the PC goes from unconscious to dead much of the time (because it does not use any action on the enemy's part, they will always choose to take this AOO).So that's the problem.  If you make AOO's somewhat realistic, it gets too dangerous when a PC is dropped negative (but not dead) in combat.But if you don't expand AOO's to include "passive" AOO's, the AOO system is just a seriously stupid hack.  Being paralyzed is not penalized, but reloading your crossbow is?You could further hack the hack by allowing passive AOO's but not when a PC drops unconscious, but that's a hack to partially fix the initial hack that is active AOO's.I don't see any solution except the obvious ones.1)  Get rid of AOO's, or2)  make them consistent by allowing passive AOO's, including going negative in combat.One fix which is a lot less of a hack would be free-action or immediate action healing by the cleric, allowing a downed PC to gain positive hit points right after going down, thus stopping any condition AOO's.  Maybe that is the only real decent solution... have spells/classes that allow for this.</blockquote>

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