How often do you provoke an AoO on purpose?

[Pyrex]

But surely if you had a fire shield up they wouldn't bother hitting you.

That depends on the Int score of the creatures you're fighting.

 

[scholz]

My present character does it fairly routinely. As the primary meleeist in the group, I like to give the spell casters and missilers as much leeway as possible. I also have the best AC, so if I can suck up the AOOs the rest of the party has more freedom.
My guy is also Lawful Good, and really just a good guy.
"Here let me take that for you... ugh. There you go, fire that arrow of yours."

 

[Len]

It depends on the character. Among my recent chars:

Rogue: Never. Because Tumble always works, right?

Wizard: Never. I'd rather lose the spell than get pasted.

Fighter: Sometimes. Got hitpoints, got Mobility, and sometimes I need to go after a particular bad guy or get in front of a good guy.

Ranger: Last session I did my best to avoid AoOs when I was low on HP and we were facing some real nasties. Didn't matter, I went down anyway. (But I survived, unlike some.)

 

[Kelleris]

That depends on the Int score of the creatures you're fighting.

And the DM. At one point I was fighting the aforementioned - and supposedly intelligent - duergar in treant form and with fire shield and stoneskin up. I charged down a crowded corridor with the treant's trample ability, and dwarf after dwarf went "take an AoO, bounce off adamantine DR or natural armor, get set on fire, get trampled to death." Seven of them in total, I think, and not a one of them elected to take the Reflex save against the trample instead of the AoO. It was surreal...

 

[Sian]

I would do this all the time with my dodge-mobility tree equipped Tengu samurai. +5 to an already buff AC is awful hard to hit, and lets the rest of the group move around with impunity. (Provided the critter doesn't have combat reflexes)

 

[hong]

I can remember the one and only time somebody in a game provoked an AoO deliberately. One PC had just got taken down to -8 or -9 hp and we wanted to pour a cure potion down his throat. But the bugbear with the scythe was still standing there looking mean, ready to smack anyone who tried something like that. So another PC runs past, the bugbear takes a swing (and misses!), and we woke the unconscious guy up.

That's the one time since 3E's release that I've seen an AoO deliberately provoked.

 

[wildstarsreach]

I accept AoE anytime that it makes tactical sense win the combat.

 

[Nail]

AoO

An AoE is "Area of Effect", and it used for spells.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

depends on the personality of the character. My current CG Kord worshipper is a bit overconfident and sometimes reckless. So she is entirely willing to provoke if she isn't really low on HP. My NG bard-who-thinks-she's-a-cleric, on the other hand is a very tactical thinker and takes pains not to provoke.

 

[dren]

I would say anywhere from 30-50% of encounters. About half of those are the correct decisions as they are done so good or better AC characters will often provoke an AoO at the start of an particular melee round, to provide an opportunity for weaker AC characters to flee. Obviously not a great tactic of the beast has combat reflexes, but I've seen this tactic used almost every game.