Bullrushing & AoOs... It's not the question you think it is.

[DrSpunj]

Makes a load of sense what with the brutal and somewhat chaotic nature of a physical bull rush heh.

Right! So can anyone explain to me why no similar rule is applied to melee attacking someone involved in a grapple? I mean, if you have a 25% chance of hitting your ally while he pushes this orc more or less in one expected direction, why do you have zero chance of hitting your buddy when he's in the same square as the orc and they're mixing it up like two wrestlers in a (5' square) cage-match?

And if a Large Ogre bullrushes your Halfling ally, you still have a 25% chance to stick the little guy, right? Same with a Fiendish Huge Dire Ape?

Thanks.

DrSpunj

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Bull Rush Accidental Strikes

DrSpunj, for one, the AoO against the Bull rushed pair happens alot faster than a normal attack against a grappling pair. You have more time to target the correct body in the latter situation.

For two.. the core rules tend to assume everyone is the same size. Why? I don't know. It gets annoying.

Perhaps a house rule where the percentile chance is modified when the characters are a different size then Medium. If the Target is bigger than Medium, subtract 5% per size category to the chance to hit. If the Target is smaller than Medium, add 5% per size category to hit. Reverse for the Ally.
In this manner, the AoO against the Ogre would have a 15% chance of striking the Halfing.
An AoO against the halfling would have a 35% chance to strike the Ogre.

 

[Torm]

Wouldn't it matter whether the creature being bullrushed took any movement that round? 'Cause if they hadn't, it seems like it could count as their 5-foot step, no? I know what the Bullrush rules say, but I'm not what you'd call a strict constructionist.

 

[Pbartender]

Wouldn't it matter whether the creature being bullrushed took any movement that round? 'Cause if they hadn't, it seems like it could count as their 5-foot step, no? I know what the Bullrush rules say, but I'm not what you'd call a strict constructionist.

I was ignoring that complication and assuming that the bull rush oved the defender at least 10 feet.