Avoiding AOO after being tripped

[Malcer]

In our last session I pitted my players against Goblin raiders who were mounted on worgs.
For the first time we discovered the deadliness of Trip as it provides an AOO if you want to get up.

Some of my players came up with the notion to crawl away in order to avoid the AOO. I could think of nothing in the rules that allows movement while you are prone. They were trying to make a 5-ft.-step to avoid the worgs while other players delayed them.

My thoughts were that even if a character is able to crawl for at least 5 ft. in a round, he would certainly provoke an AOO, but I led it slide because they were sorely outmatched and I didn't want to slow down combat with that question.

While I had no misgivings about my ruling for that encounter, I would like to come up with a sound interpretation of the rules for future encounters.

What do you think?

 

[shilsen]

Actually both your players and you were correct. See pg.142 of the PHB. One can crawl 5 ft. as a move action, but draws AoOs from anyone who threatens them.

 

[green slime]

Actually both your players and you were correct. See pg.142 of the PHB. One can crawl 5 ft. as a move action, but draws AoOs from anyone who threatens them.

Hmmm... by the rules.

But there isn't anything about rolling away, as per heroics in movies, while the thug tries to skewer you with a steam roller.

Or perhaps that belongs with the Tumble skill....or Mobility feat...

 

[Magic Slim]

In OA and the Epic book , IIRC, you can use your tumble skill to get up as a free action that doesn't provoke an AoO. Only problem is, the DC is 35!

Slim

 

[Darklone]

Well, you can always tumble the 5ft crawl with a -10 penalty for moving at full speed

Better take Improved Grapple and grapple the dude who trips you.

 

[Nail]

While I had no misgivings about my ruling for that encounter, I would like to come up with a sound interpretation of the rules for future encounters.

What do you think?

Easy:

MOVE ACTIONS

Crawling: You can crawl 5 feet as a move action. Crawling incurs attacks of opportunity from any attackers who threaten you at any point of your crawl.

And during that AoO, the Worgs trip them again.........or not. To be honest, the rules are mucho unclear here. I don't allow trips on people who are prone or crawling.

In any case: You let 'em off the hook. They were screwed, and owe their miserable lives to your beneficence. Make 'em pay!

 

[Magic Slim]

Well, you can always tumble the 5ft crawl with a -10 penalty for moving at full speed

Would that work, seriously? Would that be the way to get out of harm's way when prone?

Slim

 

[Darklone]

Well, the same arguments could be applied to running at full speed... let's have a look at the Tumble description...

SRD:
Tumble at one-half speed as part of normal movement, provoking no attacks of opportunity while doing so.
...
Accelerated Tumbling: You try to tumble past or through enemies more quickly than normal. By accepting a –10 penalty on your Tumble checks, you can move at your full speed instead of one-half your speed.
Action: Not applicable. Tumbling is part of movement, so a Tumble check is part of a move action.

Now what is normal movement?

Move
The simplest move action is moving your speed. If you take this kind of move action during your turn, you can’t also take a 5-foot step.
Many nonstandard modes of movement are covered under this category, including climbing (up to one-quarter of your speed) and swimming (up to one-quarter of your speed).
Accelerated Climbing: You can climb one-half your speed as a move action by accepting a –5 penalty on your Climb check.
Crawling: You can crawl 5 feet as a move action. Crawling incurs attacks of opportunity from any attackers who threaten you at any point of your crawl.

Well. It lists crawling at the same time as other non standard modes of movement such as climbing and swimming... Yet I am not 100% sure. The Tumble desc says normal movement... IMHO that excludes anything but walking (Perhaps even the double move action?)
OTOH, Tumble is part of the Move action and crawling is listed under Move actions... But that's no proof either.

 

[hong]

Personally, I'd allow a Tumble check (or Dex check if you don't have Tumble ranks) against DC 15 to stand up as a move action, without provoking an AoO.

 

[Malcer]

Crawling!

i completly missed the rules for crawling, thank you folks for pointing that out. I don't know whether crawling was an option under 3.0, but it surely never came up since standing up from prone used to be move-equivalent without drawing an AOO.

I will tell my players about that rule for future reference and will tell them about the option to tumble (thank you Darklone) even if that means that only Rogues can pull that off.

Trip is really mean!