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<blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 5093563" data-attributes="member: 2011">There is no &quot;why it provokes&quot; other than &quot;that's the rules&quot;. It actually has nothing to do with this type of in character rationalization.The reason you do not provoke in the former case is not because you &quot;don't lower your guard&quot;. You do not provoke in the former case because the rules state that you don't.You do provoke in the latter case because the rules state that you do, not because it actually makes sense (for example, in martial arts, people are taught how to retreat while keeping up their guard, it's actually pretty darn simple).In this type of example, the creature being tossed aside by the Giant is doing uncontrolled movement. From a logical perspective, he should drop his guard a lot more than the creature just moving away, but that's not what the rules state.This is no different than the prone unconscious PC on the ground should drop his guard a lot more than the prone conscious PC doing an action which provokes, but the rules do not work that way.Fluff-wise, a lot of this stuff doesn't make a lot of sense. Crunch-wise, it's balanced and hence the reason for the rules the way they are written. But OAs in general don't make a whole heck of a lot of sense. Casting this type of spell provokes, but casting this other type doesn't. Moving past a foe provokes, even if that foe is busy with another target. Being distracted by two foes doesn't provoke. Lots of stuff which should doesn't and some stuff which shouldn't does. Meh.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="KarinsDad, post: 5093563, member: 2011"] There is no "why it provokes" other than "that's the rules". It actually has nothing to do with this type of in character rationalization. The reason you do not provoke in the former case is not because you "don't lower your guard". You do not provoke in the former case because the rules state that you don't. You do provoke in the latter case because the rules state that you do, not because it actually makes sense (for example, in martial arts, people are taught how to retreat while keeping up their guard, it's actually pretty darn simple). In this type of example, the creature being tossed aside by the Giant is doing uncontrolled movement. From a logical perspective, he should drop his guard a lot more than the creature just moving away, but that's not what the rules state. This is no different than the prone unconscious PC on the ground should drop his guard a lot more than the prone conscious PC doing an action which provokes, but the rules do not work that way. Fluff-wise, a lot of this stuff doesn't make a lot of sense. Crunch-wise, it's balanced and hence the reason for the rules the way they are written. But OAs in general don't make a whole heck of a lot of sense. Casting this type of spell provokes, but casting this other type doesn't. Moving past a foe provokes, even if that foe is busy with another target. Being distracted by two foes doesn't provoke. Lots of stuff which should doesn't and some stuff which shouldn't does. Meh. [/QUOTE]

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