Disarm, Sunder and taking damage on an AoO

[Grayhawk]

PHB 3.5 p.155 & 158:

If you take any damage on the AoO you provoke when trying a Disarm the attempt fails, but not so if you'd tried Sundering instead.

Why do you think this is?

Or was it maybe an oversight in the Sunder write-up?

(In 3.0 there was nothing about a damaging AoO foiling either attempt.)

 

[Epametheus]

There seems to have been lots of oversights with Sunder.

I guess they did that so that you have to have the feats if you want to use Disarm and Sunder against a opponent of equivalent skill.