DM's and Rules Lawyers - How Would You Rule this Deadly Situation?

[Herremann the Wise]

Hi Everyone,

This came up in our last session; I'd be curious as to how you would rule it as a DM.

The group are in a dire battle with a Greater Stone Golem. The fighter of the group is 10 foot away from the 15 foot reach Golem and he's hurting (down to 40hp from almost 180hp).
Directly behind him upon the ground is a Phantom Steed, designed for a rider who had just died. Surrounding the affair is a mass of Psuedonatural Centipedes chewing into the Stone Golem.
The fighters only means of retreat is to go through the squares occupied by the landbound, mindless Phantom Steed. The player says his character tries to move through these squares to escape the Golem.

What do you as the DM rule with the fighter attempting to take this action?

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

PS: This caused no end of consternation during the last gaming session. While most thought the DM's ruling somewhat curious, his reasonings were sound. Unfortunately, it caused one of "those" arguments.

 

[ElvishBard]

So was he trying to withdraw away from the golem and the steed, or go away from the golem to try riding the steed?

 

[Herremann the Wise]

So was he trying to withdraw away from the golem and the steed, or go away from the golem to try riding the steed?

The fighter wished to move through the Phantom Steed's square and beyond to "safety". (There was no specific use of the word "withdrawing")

I just want to keep things neutral at the moment without colouring it with how our DM ruled.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

The phantom steed is an allied conjured creature. You may always move through a square occupied by an ally. The fighter cannot successfully take the withdraw action, because he's 10 feet into a 15 foot threatened area, and so would provoke an attack of opportunity anyway on his way out. The fighter can move through the steed, but will provoke an AoO from the golem (assuming the golem has any left after the centipedes do their thing...conjured critters are great for eating AoOs).

It seems pretty straightforward to me. Any other rulings I'm going to want to see page references for.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Yes, so long as he didn't end his move in an occupied square. The summoned steed is for these purposes a 'friendly character' as the only two options are 'friendly' and 'opponent'.

 

[FireLance]

Moving through a Square
Friend: You can move through a square occupied by a friendly character, unless you are charging. When you move through a square occupied by a friendly character, that character doesn't provide you with cover.
Opponent: You can't move through a square occupied by an opponent, unless the opponent is helpless. You can move through a square occupied by a helpless opponent without penalty. (Some creatures, particularly very large ones, may present an obstacle even when helpless. In such cases, each square you move through counts as 2 squares.)

Emphasis mine. I would say that the phantom steed is more of a friend than an opponent, so moving through its squares would not provide the fighter with cover.

The phantom steed is a quasi-real, horse-like creature, not an object, so I would not allow it to be treated as a statue, which does provide cover bonuses:

Statue: Most statues function as wide pillars, taking up a square and providing cover. Some statues are smaller and act as slender pillars. A DC 15 Climb check allows a character to climb a statue.

Finally, I would not allow the mount/dismount trick on two counts:
1. The phantom steed was not specifically created for the fighter, so it would not function as a mount for him.
2. Although mounting and dismounting does not draw an AOO, the fighter has to leave a threatened square in order to mount the phantom steed, and that does draw an AOO.

 

[Silveras]

The phantom steed is an allied conjured creature. You may always move through a square occupied by an ally. The fighter cannot successfully take the withdraw action, because he's 10 feet into a 15 foot threatened area, and so would provoke an attack of opportunity anyway on his way out. The fighter can move through the steed, but will provoke an AoO from the golem (assuming the golem has any left after the centipedes do their thing...conjured critters are great for eating AoOs).

It seems pretty straightforward to me. Any other rulings I'm going to want to see page references for.

Uh, as I read the situation, the Fighter is not 10 feet "into" the 15 foot reach, he's 10 feet "out from" (5 ft in).

Nothing in the Withdraw action says the Fighter cannot take it (PHb, p.143), and in fact it specifically mentions exiting threatened spaces after the first (which is not considered threatened in a Withdraw situation).

After the first 5 ft square, the Fighter would be outside the threatened area, and free to move off without AoO. The Phantom Steed, as a conjured ally, would not hinder the Fighter's movement through its area.

 

[Infiniti2000]

I would rule as Dr. Awkward (and FireLance) did and agree that it is pretty clear. To Silveras, I think you got it confused. The fighter is 10ft away from the golem -- i.e. 2 squares. Presuming the fighter is medium, he still has to move through the 3rd square (15ft) away from the golem. So, the fighter cannot successfully withdraw. He could, however, spring attack or tumble.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

As I understand the setup, we have:

G_FP

Where G=golem, F=fighter, and P=phantom steed. So the golem's reach extends all the way through the square in which the phantom steed resides (a total of 15').

I'm a bit uncertain of what FireLance is ruling, since the two halves of his statement seem to be contradictory:

I would say that the phantom steed is more of a friend than an opponent, so moving through its squares would not provide the fighter with cover.

The phantom steed is a quasi-real, horse-like creature, not an object, so I would not allow it to be treated as a statue, which does provide cover bonuses

FireLance, are you saying the steed would or would not provide cover? If it provides cover at all, it would block AoOs attempted in that square, and therefore the fighter could Withdraw, which would negate AoOs from the square he's in, then move through the steed's square (ally's square can be freely moved through) and the cover (statue) would prevent an AoO there as well, allowing for a full Withdraw without taking an AoO.

Myself, I wouldn't treat the steed as a statue at all. I'd treat it as any other summoned creature, which means it does not provide cover, and since its square is still within the golem's reach, the fighter would provoke an AoO moving through that space.

A phantom steed can only be ridden by the person it was created for, so the mount/dismount trick wouldn't be possible, and is thus irrelevant.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

[Edit]I am no longer confused how far away the fighter is. Regardless the fighter should have withdrawn through the ally to where the cleric is for a heal spell.

Not saying "I withdraw" when your character has 180hps is unbelievable because this is something that should have been mastered when the fighter only had 10hps. Players & dms are right to expect each other to be explicit over the statement of combat maneuvers because endlessly having to seek clarification will make players like me irate & snappish. If the player had to ret-con then they deserve the level loss.