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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BlubSeabass" data-source="post: 5517571" data-attributes="member: 87308">HD in spell descriptionSometimes, indeed, you'll see HD being mentioned in spell descriptions, like in sleep or Planar Ally. Most of the times, this means the number of HD you can affect. It doesn't matter what kind of HD it is (d6, d8, etc.), it just looks at how much it can affect. For example, sleep would allow you to put 4HD worth of creatures to sleep. Kiramor, for example, has 6 HD, and would be unaffected. Two normal wolves with 2 HD (2d8+4, bestiary pag. 274) would both be affected, since 2+2 = 4HD, but the third wolf in the area would be unaffected (since it can only affect up to 4HD). Remember, its about the ammount of HD, not the actual HP!Why is this? Well, for many monsters and humanoid enemies, HD roughly represents the level of the monster. So a low level spell like sleep shouldn't be affecting high level monsters. As I said before, this is not entirely fair, since the HD does not equal for the same level. A human needs 6 class levels (and thus 6 HD) to be just as strong as a "challenge level 6" animal who has 9 HD. That's because human HD's have so much benefits (class features), while animals HD's only raise stats. So ironically, the HD-defined spells are weaker against the targets who should be weaker! With a 4 HD sleep you could affect a level 4 human (1 HD per level), but only a "challenge level 2" animal with 4 HD (roughly 1.5-2 HD per level).Attack of OpportunitiesAttack of Opportunities (AoO) are the free instant attacks you describe, and one of the main reasons why Pathfinder can be such a tactical game. You can only make one AoO each round. To start, a character gains an attack of opportunity against an enemy, if that enemy moves out of his threatened area. You can only threaten with a melee weapon. There are other actions who provoke an attack of opportunity as well, they are all listed on pag 183 of your core rulebook. See this as leaving an opening for the opponent to strike.This does interrupt battle quite some times. Surrounding a player with 2 enemies, would for example grant flanking bonusses to the attackers. But now, when that player wants to get out of the situation, she must endure 2 attacks of opportunities! This is all about tactical movement and placement. As you have noted however, you can avoid these attacks of opportunities. 5-foot step a free action that allows you to move 5 feet without provoking an AoO. It does however not allow you to move anymore in the same turn you used it. Withdraw allows you to move double your speed, and this movement doesn't provoke an AoO for the first square you leave. How would you use this? Well, offensively, AoO are a great way to discourage movement, and you can lock in enemies. They also break concentration of spellcasters when they're casting a spell, forcing them to do a concentration check. Some feats give great bonusses. Combat Reflexes allow you to do more attacks of opportunities, and Stand Still allows you to stop someones movement with an AoO. Defensively, 5 ft steps can make you move out of a threatened area so you can cast your spells or shoot your bow without worrying and without getting a AoO. Withdraw is great when you're in a pickle and need to move away fast.Hope that clears things up!</blockquote>

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