Can you Cleave after your Whirlwind?

[Flexor the Mighty!]

A fighter last night was surrounded by Kuo-Toa. He did his Whirlwind attack and dropped two fo the three BEM's. Then since he hit he said he could use his cleave feat to do another attack on the survivor. Is this possible? If not please point me to the rule.

 

[kreynolds]

A fighter last night was surrounded by Kuo-Toa. He did his Whirlwind attack and dropped two fo the three BEM's. Then since he hit he said he could use his cleave feat to do another attack on the survivor. Is this possible? If not please point me to the rule.

Cleave is available to use any time you drop an opponent with a blow, even during a whirlwind. Naturally, you are still limited to using it once per round, unless you have Great Cleave.

 

[mikebr99]

Re: Re: Can you Cleave after your Whirlwind?

Cleave is available to use any time you drop an opponent with a blow, even during a whirlwind. Naturally, you are still limited to using it once per round, unless you have Great Cleave.

I'll second you this time kr...

Stop the whirlwind when the baddie falls, complete the cleave, then continue the whirlwind.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Cool. I think that clears it all up.

 

[Tony Vargas]

You're supposed to resolve the Cleave immediately, but, as long as he dropped the last victim of his whirlwind, he should be able to Cleave into the survivor.

The way I run it, personally, is that when you drop an opponent in the midst of a Whirlwind, and have Cleave, the guy you Cleave into becomes the next target for the Whirlwind. Thus, you can't 'go back' and hit someone again, if you've already Whirlwinded them. It's mainly to prevent abuse with Great Cleave.

 

[hong]

Another abuse-prevention method is to allow one cleave per opponent per round, even if you have Great Cleave.

 

[Tony Vargas]

That certainly works, though it also prevents you from Great Cleaving through the trivial baddies into the real baddie with your regular itterative attacks - which /does/ strike me as a reasonable thing to allow...

I mean the idea that orcs are nothin' to you these days, and you can whipe out a few of 'em while still fighting thier Ogre Mage boss at full effectiveness seems OK, while the idea that, since the Ogre Mage brought some orcs with him, you get an extra seven attacks against him at full BAB might be just a bit off...

 

[Storm Raven]

A fighter last night was surrounded by Kuo-Toa. He did his Whirlwind attack and dropped two fo the three BEM's. Then since he hit he said he could use his cleave feat to do another attack on the survivor. Is this possible? If not please point me to the rule.

From the D&D FAQ:

Do the Whirlwind Attack and Cleave feats stack? For example, can I use Cleave to get extra attacks if a Whirlwind Attack kills one of my targets? You can use Cleave only once a round. If you have the Great Cleave feat, however, you can cleave each time you drop an opponent, even when the opponent drops in a Whirlwind Attack. (When a foe drops, resolve the extra cleave attack before finishing the rest of the attack rolls in the Whirlwind Attacks).

So, yes, you can cleave after you drop someone via a Whirlwind Attack.

 

[smetzger]

while the idea that, since the Ogre Mage brought some orcs with him, you get an extra seven attacks against him at full BAB might be just a bit off...

Thats what I call the Fezik syndrom.
"I just figured out why I am having so much trouble fighting you. I usually fight mobs. You use different techniques when you are fighting a single apponent as opposed to a whole bunch."

*:> Scott

 

[Tony Vargas]

Thats what I call the Fezik syndrom.
"I just figured out why I am having so much trouble fighting you. I usually fight mobs. You use different techniques when you are fighting a single apponent as opposed to a whole bunch."

*:> Scott

That was a funny line. Mobs of normal folks as opposed to one 'high level' type does require very different 'moves' (like, oh, Great Cleave). But, if Fezik had been fighting a bunch of goobs in addition, he might have taken down all the goobs, but he wouldn't have done as well - or at least not any better - against the real opponent.

What Fezik was lamenting his choice of feats...