Flanking, SA, and AoO

[PrinceZane]

Last night 2 situations occurred that hadn't happened before, and could easily happen again. Was just curious to check various points of view as how the ruling would/should be.

Situation 1. A creature is being flanked by the rogue (me) and our wizard who is under greater invis spell. Flanking (put loosely) is basically confusion among the person being flanked as to where his next attack is coming from. SA is granted if the char is able if in a flanking situation. The mob, however, has no idea that the wizard is there (no scent, tremorsense, see invis, etc.). According to combat rules, he is flanked because he is treatened on opposite sides. However, according to flanking, since he is unaware he is threatened on both sides, he focuses purely on the rogue. Would SA be applicable since he's flanked, or not since he's still "focused" on the 1 PC?

Situation 2. Alot less story like. Simply, can a caster cast a spell (be it any spell or purely offensive) as an attack of opportunity, or does it have to be a standard "weapon" attack? I know the PHB says "An AoO is a single melee attack..." but doesn't that kind of hamper casters for things/npcs "taking advantage" of AoO situations since's the caster (in specific our wizard) isn't a melee threat? Would house ruling they can make an "aggressive standard action" against the provoker be ok? Keeping balance seems to be an issue, just curious on thoughts...

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

#1) Awareness on the part of the defender is not required for flanking. It might seem odd, but that's the way it's written.

#2) Attacks only. If the Wizard in question had cast, say, Chill Touch, he could use up one of the spell's charges in an AoO, but he could not cast the spell and then attack. I would not allow "offensive standard actions." Consider the ramifications: the fighter reaches for a potion, and the wizard gets to cast an extra fireball spell.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Flanking (put loosely) is basically confusion among the person being flanked as to where his next attack is coming from.

Well, no. Flanking (put loosely) is basically where I'm making a melee attack, and a creature friendly to me and directly opposite threatens the opponent.

If that bothers you, you might want to implement Skip Williams' house rule - an invisible creature cannot grant a flanking bonus to an ally. But it's not a requirement for flanking in the RAW.

Situation 2. Alot less story like. Simply, can a caster cast a spell (be it any spell or purely offensive) as an attack of opportunity, or does it have to be a standard "weapon" attack? I know the PHB says "An AoO is a single melee attack..." but doesn't that kind of hamper casters for things/npcs "taking advantage" of AoO situations since's the caster (in specific our wizard) isn't a melee threat? Would house ruling they can make an "aggressive standard action" against the provoker be ok? Keeping balance seems to be an issue, just curious on thoughts...

I think there's a psionic feat that allows a manifester to manifest a power with a range of touch to be used against an opponent who provokes an AoO... but normally, no. Melee attacks only.

-Hyp.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Situation 1. One more comment on this is that the wizard must indeed be threatening the opponent. That is, he must have a melee weapon in hand (that threatens) or he must have improved unarmed strike or a spell charge held (like chill touch). If the wizard does not threaten, then flanking does not occur. You probably realize this already, but I know that many people do not.

 

[PrinceZane]

Thanks.. These replies are pretty much what we figured. DM ruled that even though the NPC was unaware of the invisible wizard, "technically" he was still threatening so SA was awarded (yay me!). The other situation never "came up" per say, just one of those "I wonder..." We pretty much decided no, based on the Fireball example mentioned above. Would definitely throw things off balance.

Anyway, thanks for the imput as usual.