Best variant AoO rule?

[Ry]

People have been houseruling AoOs since 3.0 came out. What's the best variant - either from a published d20 system or someone's house rule?

 

[jeffh]

People have been houseruling AoOs since 3.0 came out. What's the best variant - either from a published d20 system or someone's house rule?

Iron Heroes. You provoke an AoO if you move more than 25% of your movement rate inside of someone's threatened area, or take a standard or full-round action other than straightforward melee attacks inside someone's threatened area.

 

[Crothian]

I think the best alt AoO is just get rid of them.

 

[jeffh]

I think the best alt AoO is just get rid of them.

And give mages and archers free reign, remove much of the game's positional tactics, and render guarding vulnerable characters pretty much impossible? No thank you.

 

[Darklone]

I think the best alt AoO is just get rid of them.

The easiest one I know is to get rid of AoOs AND to forbid everything that would provoke an AoO.

So no moving through threatened areas, no shooting next to a melee opponent, no spellcasting next to enemies...

It works and it's easy.

Not that I use it too often, I'm a tactics freak.

 

[Celebrim]

The only thing worse than having to deal with AoO is having to deal with all the situations that provoke AoO without them.

I speak from experience, as a DM that was well on the way to independently developing the AoO in 1st edition. The game is much simplier to arbitrate if you have AoO than if you don't, because you have clear guidelines for what players can safely do and you have much less arguing over the rules and fewer fiat rulings you are forced to hand down. This lets you concentrate on game play.

And to be perfectly frank, if you can't memorize the AoO rules well enough to serve, then you don't need to be DMing. They aren't that bloody complicated.

If you must simplify them down consider the rules to be the following:

"Swift actions never provoke an AoO. Otherwise, if you are in a threatened area and you do anything at all that doesn't directly involve protecting yourself, you provoke an AoO."

 

[EditorBFG]

And to be perfectly frank, if you can't memorize the AoO rules well enough to serve, then you don't need to be DMing. They aren't that bloody complicated.

For me, I shy away from AoO not because I can't remember the rules, but because we don't use minis or maps. Makes it hard to arbitrate.

There a good way to use AoO without a map?

 

[Celebrim]

For me, I shy away from AoO not because I can't remember the rules, but because we don't use minis or maps. Makes it hard to arbitrate.

There a good way to use AoO without a map?

Now that I can sympathize with.

Yes, there is. Abstract the situation. I rarely used minatures in 1st edition because I found that they encouraged players to experience the adventure in the third person perspective, rather than as something that was in their imagination happening to them. Most of the time all you really need to keep track of is whether or not someone is standing next to someone else. As for movement, assume that players can reach anyone in range without provoking an AoO unless that person is obviously being 'guarded' in some fashion. This will usually be obvious from social context. If the PC's or in a fight with a band of orcs led by a shaman, if there is at least as many orcs as PC's left, attempting to by pass them to get to the shaman provokes an AoO. Otherwise, assume the 'free' PC can get to the shaman without incident.

 

[PeelSeel2]

I threw AoO's out. Recently, however, I have brought the rules back with a twist. Normally the AoO's where 'free'; you didn't give up your standard and move or your full round action. In my campaign, it uses your action. So if you lost initiative, and an enemy who has it on you does something to provoke an AoO, you can take your actions then to react to the actions of the NPC. If another NPC does something to provoke an AoO after you have taken your action, then you cannot take advantage of it. Works great.

 

[Liquidsabre]

To enhance a swashbuckling flavor for a game I'm considering using this:

Movement within 5-ft. of a creature does not provoke Attacks of Opportunity. Movement through spaces threatened by creatures beyond 5-ft, either through reach weaponry or natural reach, provoke Attacks of Opportunity as normal, but only beyond 5-ft.

With AoOs functioning as normal otherwise. To allow the effective "blocking" I added a Guard Action (move action) to threaten all spaces adjacent to the character for movement.