Does this provoke an AofO?

[Taloras]

Ok. Enemy fighter downs PC swashbuckler. Cleric is standing behind PC swashbuckler. Cleric casts cure light wounds, reaches into swashbucklers square to touch downed swashbuckler. Does this provoke an AofO? Heres the setup. F=fighter, S=Swashbuckler, C=Cleric.

F S C

One person thought it would, as the cleric is reaching into the fighters threatened area. One person thought it wouldnt, as the cleric is out of reach of the fighter.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

No AoO. You actually have to be in a threatened square to provoke an AoO. Unless the fighter has reach, the cleric is not threatened, and free to cast Cure Light Wounds on his buddy.

 

[ScyldSceafing]

I think your misunderstanding is with the melee touch attack ... the cleric doesn't have to move into the swashbuckler's square to cast the spell on him.

 

[Sejs]

No AoO is provoked.

The Cleric is not within the Fighter's threatened area. It does not matter that the person being healed is, or that he's reaching a hand into said area - the cleric himself is not occupying a threatened square, and thus does not provoke an AoO.

 

[apesamongus]

I don't even see why the act of touching would provoke even if he did move into the threatened square for some reason. (although casting the spell might)

 

[the Jester]

On the other hand, many dms (including myself) will allow you to ready an action to strike someone 'reaching into' your threatened area.

 

[reveal]

On the other hand, many dms (including myself) will allow you to ready an action to strike someone 'reaching into' your threatened area.

The problem with that is it's a 5 foot square. A body does not necessarily take up the entire 5 feet. What if the body of the prone swashbuckler was up against the farthest edge of the 5 foot square and the cleric casts a touch spell? Why would the cleric actually have to reach into the square? What if the cleric simply touched part of the body along the edge with a finger? That's not reaching in.

Now let's say the swashbuckler has a backpack with a CLW potion in it and the cleric has no more healing spells available. Again, what if they backpack was up against the furthest edge of the swashbucklers square in such a way that the cleric doesn't actually reach in, but simply flips open the backup to get the potion. That's not reaching in either.

"Reaching in" would need to be well defined, I think, because, otherwise, you could open it up to interpretation way too much.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

What if the cleric rooted through the swashbuckler's backpack to find a healing potion? That would seem like a likely case for an AoO but (correct me if I'm wrong) the RAW don't support that.

As for the character being at the back foot of the square, it doesn't matter. What if he was in the front foot? The result is the same: no AoO.

 

[reveal]

What if the cleric rooted through the swashbuckler's backpack to find a healing potion? That would seem like a likely case for an AoO but (correct me if I'm wrong) the RAW don't support that.

As for the character being at the back foot of the square, it doesn't matter. What if he was in the front foot? The result is the same: no AoO.

I agree. Neither of those scenarios would provoke an AoO if the cleric was not in the enemy's threatened area.

My point was that there are too many variables involved in what constitutes "reaching in" to the square to decide whether or not it provokes an AoO.

 

[TheEvil]

As Sejs said, since the casting happens out of the enemy fighter's reach, there is no AoO, even if you rule that the cleric has to enter the swashbuckler's space to actually apply the healing. However, the rules are pretty clear about how reach works with touch spells, ans since touch attacks into threatened squares have never provoked, this one doesn't either. In any case, nothing in the RAW supports a AoO, so I am not sure where the supporter of one is getting his data. Did he cite anything?

As far as allowing a readied action to strike someone reaching into your threatened area, I believe you are now firmly in houserules territory. If I recall correctly, you don't even get an AoO against creatures with natural reach who initiate grapples, make unarmed strikes, and a host of other actions that would normally provoke and require some degree of physical contact, as long as they are standing outside your threat range. Anyone got back up for that, I can't seem to find the reference but I do know that it has been consistantly ruled that way in games I have played.

As far as searching a bag, backpack or any other such small container, get your #$%^& butt in that space punk! Can I search it from an adjacent space indeed!