How often do you provoke an AoO on purpose?

[Jedi_Solo]

I don't avoid them if there is a reason not to.

I have provoked them in the past so someone else wouldn't have to. If I have to be somewhere on the map to attack/flank/block an escape then I have to be over there. If that provokes at AoO - so be it.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

But why opponent should take it if it seems unreasonable? Not sure what rules say but at least Id allow not to take AoO to take one later.

It may have been obvious to the DM who has some inkling of the Monk's AC and knew that the Monk could have easily Tumbled and suspected that the Monk is trying to help out another AC.

But an NPC who has never fought this Monk before could easily fail to perceive one of these factors, and therefore react in a way that is suboptimal overall. If the DM roleplays the NPC correctly, this will usually (but not always) work.

 

[scholz]

It may have been obvious to the DM who has some inkling of the Monk's AC and knew that the Monk could have easily Tumbled and suspected that the Monk is trying to help out another AC.

But an NPC who has never fought this Monk before could easily fail to perceive one of these factors, and therefore react in a way that is suboptimal overall. If the DM roleplays the NPC correctly, this will usually (but not always) work.

I think an easy test for this, is doing the reverse to the PCs. If they are facing a group a foes, and one with an apparently high AC provokes an attack of opportunity, will the PCs take it, or wait to see what that other guy is going to do. My money says 9/10 they will take the attack unless it is from some wimpy summoned creature or something. Better to get one attack for free than none. If the PCs do not take the AOO, the BBEG can always change its strategy. I think that is a major reason why people will take opportunity shots when they can.

 

[Razilin]

Karmic Strike, Robilar's Gambit, Mobility, and similar "high risk-big reward" tactics and feats make provoking AoOs surprisingly appealing to me. Of course, its requisite to have Tumble as a backup, for those situations when you need to move through a threatened square but don't have the hp to soak up the attack at the moment.

 

[sniffles]

I'd say <10% of combats. Occasionally I will allow my character to intentionally provoke AoOs in order to get to another point in the location so my character can, for example, aid another character or attack a different opponent. If I'm playing the fighter and I end up facing off a bunch of low-level mooks that the other PCs can easily finish off while the boss monster is attacking the wizard, I'm going to go over there and attack the boss monster, even if that provokes an AoO from 5 mooks on the way, as long as my character isn't too badly hurt already to risk it.

I get the impression that a lot of players are terrified of AoOs and avoid provoking them at all cost. I don't understand this attitude.

I also get the impression that a lot of players and GMs think you have to make an AoO whenever circumstances allow. I don't understand this attitude, either. If your character is already in combat with someone else and another character runs by, why would the first character take his attention away from his current opponent to make a strike at the passing character? Sure, if the first character is fighting someone who's badly hurt or he knows isn't much of a threat, then it makes sense for him to attack the passerby. But if he's engaged in a life-or-death struggle with someone at or better than his own combat skill level, then maybe he'd better just keep his eyes on his current opponent.

I think turn-based combat tends to make you forget that combat rounds are only 6 seconds long and most of this stuff is actually happening almost simultaneously.

 

[blargney the second]

I just provoked one last night from a Colossal Scorpion so my buddies wouldn't get plastered by its 30' reach. Mobility really saved my bacon on that one!
-blarg

 

[JiffyPopTart]

We are playing AoW and one of our group created an Ogre fighter as a replacement character at around 9-10th level. He was cocky.

His second round of combat, EVER, with the character was "I charge that gnoll". The GM reminded him he would take an AoO coming in with the charge, since the gnoll had a longspear. The player said "I take the AoO" already imagining pasting the gnoll and disregarding the possibility of harm.

The magical longspear was set to receive a charge.
A crit was rolled.
A player lost a character in two combat rounds of introduction.

The phrase "I take the AO" in our group now is code for "I am purposefully doing something very stupid".

DS

 

[Nail]

The phrase "I take the AoO" in our group now is code for "I am purposefully doing something very stupid".

Nice!