In the description of flanking, it states you get the flank bonus because your opponent has to turn back and forth between the two opponents (not a quote, just typing from memory).
Now turning back and forth sounds like a willful act to me. What if the flanked person decides not to do that? For example, a party of high level guys is fighting a dragon (or some other big bad guy with decent intelligence). If they cast summon monster I and have a celestial badger attack it from the rear (suppose they can't get around it for whatever reason), does the Dragon HAVE to pay attention to the little idiot badger? Or can it ignore it?
It seems to me that no intelligent monster would pay attention to the badger, thus giving the entire party of people in front of it (the only real threat) a +2 to hit. Granted, it seems like the badger would get the benefits of being invisible (since he is being intentionally NOT watched).
Similiarly can the PC's do it also, to ignore 1 opponent to attack another? If you don't have much of a dex bonus, and 1 opponent is much more powerful than the other, it seems to be a reasonable thing to want to do.
Given that reasoning, if you can choose NOT to be flanked (and thereby grant effective invisibility to an opponent), can you choose to flank yourself even when only fighting 1 person?
Why you may ask? Suppose that someone is supposed to be watching the parties rear to make sure reinforcements don't sneak up behind during the fight. Can one person decide to "turn back and forth" while fighting, granting his opponent a +2 to hit him, but allowing him to make spot checks to the rear every round?
Now turning back and forth sounds like a willful act to me. What if the flanked person decides not to do that? For example, a party of high level guys is fighting a dragon (or some other big bad guy with decent intelligence). If they cast summon monster I and have a celestial badger attack it from the rear (suppose they can't get around it for whatever reason), does the Dragon HAVE to pay attention to the little idiot badger? Or can it ignore it?
It seems to me that no intelligent monster would pay attention to the badger, thus giving the entire party of people in front of it (the only real threat) a +2 to hit. Granted, it seems like the badger would get the benefits of being invisible (since he is being intentionally NOT watched).
Similiarly can the PC's do it also, to ignore 1 opponent to attack another? If you don't have much of a dex bonus, and 1 opponent is much more powerful than the other, it seems to be a reasonable thing to want to do.
Given that reasoning, if you can choose NOT to be flanked (and thereby grant effective invisibility to an opponent), can you choose to flank yourself even when only fighting 1 person?
Why you may ask? Suppose that someone is supposed to be watching the parties rear to make sure reinforcements don't sneak up behind during the fight. Can one person decide to "turn back and forth" while fighting, granting his opponent a +2 to hit him, but allowing him to make spot checks to the rear every round?