Dodge Feat Clarification Please?

[Raduin711]

This seems like a pretty dumb question, but...

Dodge [General]
Prerequisite
Dex 13.

Benefit
During your action, you designate an opponent and receive a +1 dodge bonus to Armor Class against attacks from that opponent. You can select a new opponent on any action.

A condition that makes you lose your Dexterity bonus to Armor Class (if any) also makes you lose dodge bonuses. Also, dodge bonuses stack with each other, unlike most other types of bonuses.

Special
A fighter may select Dodge as one of his fighter bonus feats.

My question is in regards to how to interpret the boldfaced statement...

In previous campaigns, my dm has interpreted this to mean "you can select a new opponent any time anybody takes an action" (because it doesn't specify whose action) which means, any time. I remember a campaign or two where the player had to announce they were using the feat every time they were attacked. "I'm dodging!" gets really irritating the 100th time you've heard it.

This never sounded right to me, but thats how we did it.

Anyway, we've revised the way the feat works. Now you pick the subject of your dodge any time during your turn.

But why the statement "you can select a new opponent on any action?" then?

Does this mean that I can select a new opponent any time I take an action, even outside of my turn, like for instance, during an AoO? Is this statement completely extraneous?

 

[Fortain]

The main interpretation (according to the boards) is that, on your turn, you can select who you use Dodge on. On your next turn, you can change that at any time during your turn. The "on any action" basically means it's a free action to change it. Although, a common house-rule is that Dodge gives you a flat +1 dodge bonus, since the "on any action" is a bit ambiguous. If I was the DM, I'd rule it as a flat +1; YMMV.

 

[Raduin711]

Has the sage answered this question yet?

I tried to find an archive on wizards.com but the only archive I could find didn't go back very far.