Does this provoke an AoO?

[Pielorinho]

--|b
ooBBG
--|.

Okay, B=Bad Guy. G=Good Guy with a longspear. --=wall, |=wall.

The westernmost bad guy wants to move to "b", so he moves east 5' and north 5'. The question is, does he provoke an AoO from G?

I think he does, but he may not: in his starting position, he receives cover from the easternmost bad guy, and when he moves forward, the good guy's longspear no longer threatens him.

Any ideas?

Daniel

 

[hong]

AoOs are resolved after the provoking action is initiated, but before it's completed. The AoO would be resolved in this case using B's starting space, which gets cover. Thus, no AoO.

 

[reanjr]

--|b
ooBBG
--|.

Okay, B=Bad Guy. G=Good Guy with a longspear. --=wall, |=wall.

The westernmost bad guy wants to move to "b", so he moves east 5' and north 5'. The question is, does he provoke an AoO from G?

I think he does, but he may not: in his starting position, he receives cover from the easternmost bad guy, and when he moves forward, the good guy's longspear no longer threatens him.

Any ideas?

Daniel

If all he is doing is moving, then no he doesn't. If he is moving only, he does not provoke an AoO from the square he is leaving.

And he's got cover, so he doesn't anyway? [edit: meant as question]

[edit] One thing I'm unsure of here is whether this would provoke in the first place. It's a corner case. Couldn't he move diagonally? Is this covered in the rules?

 

[Thanee]

Yes, of course. He leaves a threatened square, and therefore provokes an AoO.

He will benefit from cover, however, since the AoO is resolved while he is still in the first square, therefore the AoO cannot be executed.

He could use the Withdraw action to not provoke an AoO in this situation, since only the first square is threatened, the second is not (unless, of course, G has Improved Unarmed Strike, etc), but there wouldn't be much point in doing so, since G cannot execute the AoO, anyways.

Bye
Thanee

 

[dcollins]

...in his starting position, he receives cover from the easternmost bad guy, and when he moves forward, the good guy's longspear no longer threatens him.

I agree with that, hence "no AOO". (Disclaimer: I play 3.0 and it's possible some subtlety in 3.5 cover changes this.)

 

[wedgeski]

All else being equal, both his first move (east) and his next move (north) qualify for provoking AoO's. However, I agree that 'G' is never in a position to capitalise due to cover (in the first case) and being in an adjacent square (in the second case).

No free attacks for G today.

 

[Pielorinho]

OKay, a related question: does the west bad guy actually get cover? The closest I can fidn to a reference in the srd is this line:


Soft Cover: Creatures, even your enemies, can provide you with cover against ranged attacks, giving you a +4 bonus to AC. However, such soft cover provides no bonus on Reflex saves, nor does soft cover allow you to make a Hide check.

[bolding added]

Which, as you can see, doesn't apply in this case, as the attack isn't ranged, but rather is reach.

Daniel

 

[Thanee]

To determine whether your target has cover from your ranged attack, choose a corner of your square. If any line from this corner to any corner of the target’s square passes through a square or border that blocks line of effect or provides cover, or through a square occupied by a creature, the target has cover (+4 to AC).

When making a melee attack against an adjacent target, your target has cover if any line from your square to the target’s square goes through a wall (including a low wall). When making a melee attack against a target that isn’t adjacent to you (such as with a reach weapon), use the rules for determining cover from ranged attacks.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

Note, that by the rules, every creature gives cover to itself, since to reach the backcorners of the square your line has to cross the square itself.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Pielorinho]

Thanks, Thanee! Sounds like my postgame ruling was completely wrong. This doesn't sit well with me--I have trouble visualizing how this would work--but it seems pretty unambiguous in the rules.

Thanks all!
Daniel