LG vs. N: Lawful Good Victorious!

[Infiniti2000]

Oh, I see what you're saying. You never hover to a location, you stop and hover at a location. Then, how could Not fly straight up if she's not hovering? Her maneuverability doesn't allow it, but the hover feat does. Is the hover feat just a misnomer for that case? Dunno, you make a good point. Anyway, I feel badly for those poor Neutral creatures (yeah, right). One thing's sure, though, you can't take a 5ft-step while hovering unless you have Good or Perfect maneuverability (does MonkeyBoy?).

Assuming MonkeyBoy has Good+ manueverability, Not hovers forward 5ft to 100N85E30Z, provoking an AoO since it's not a 5ft-step for hovering with the feat -- does MonkeyBoy take it?

 

[Gansk]

Then, how could Not fly straight up if she's not hovering? Her maneuverability doesn't allow it, but the hover feat does. Is the hover feat just a misnomer for that case?

She had to use the Hover feat to fly straight up, so she was "hovering". That means she could take a full round action in the following round, but no free five foot step. That's what PJS allowed, so everything's kosher. There are not too many Neutral dragons, so I don't think very many Neutral creatures could have been shortchanged by this ruling.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Gotchya. Btw, have I mentioned I hate flying?

 

[PJSlavner]

I hate flying, too.

MonkeyBoy is using the Hover feat, so he did not move last time. A creature with Air Mastery not having good flying maneuverability is as stupid as an earth elemental not having tremor sense.

MonkeyBoy is still at 100N80E30Z. Go ahead, Not.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Not tries to grapple MonkeyBoy, putting 5 points into combat expertise. "By Bahamut, I knew I shouldn't have learned Extend Spell."

 

[PJSlavner]

OOC: But with Extend Spell detect magic can last two minutes.

MonkeyBoy tries to grab Not's wings with his AoO. He manages to poke at Not's wings with his tail (rolled 25 touch attack), but is not successful in stopping Not's wings (18 vs. 29 Str check).

All three grapple checks are unsuccessful (lowest touch attack roll 20 (good enough); grapple checks: 30 vs. 33; 30 vs. 31; 26 vs. 28).

Round 553: MonkeyBoy smacks Not with his mace twice and bites (worst roll 27) for a total of 22 points of damage. With his third mace attack he tries to snarl Not's wings up again. He does it (rolled 20 touch attack; 21 vs. 18 Str check). Not's wings stop moving. MonkeyBoy attacks with his mace again, but does not even make contact (rolled 10). Not falls to the ground, taking 11 points of damage from the fall. Not has 37 HP remaining, and is at 100N90E.

 

[Infiniti2000]

OOC: Goodness, what pathetic grapple checks. Are you using your d4? Oh wait, even your d4 can't roll a 5.

OOC: Holy crap, 4 mace attacks and a Snarl special ability? Are you sure you didn't introduce this monkey 3 CR's too early?

Not will breathe weakening gas at MonkeyBoy and stand up.

 

[PJSlavner]

OOC: Remember that the grapple checks had -5 assigned to them because of combat expertise, and each one was -5 worse than the one before.

The Snarl was a trip attack, but that is how it would look against a creature that is using wings to fly.

MonkeyBoy is as strong as ever (rolled 26 Fort save). Not can breathe again in round 557.

Round 554: MonkeyBoy hovers up to 100N90E60Z, and another bolt of lightning hits Not, who dodges (rolled 21 Ref save) and takes 4 points of electrical damage. Not has 33 HP remaining.

 

[Infiniti2000]

All OOC

Re: Combat Expertise
That's what I figured happened, but I don't agree that grapple checks get hampered by combat expertise, because they are not attack rolls. I'm aware of the iterative penalty, but that first roll was the one that mattered. In any case, this particular ruling affects every grapple check and the subsequent rounds as Not lost by less than 5 on each.

Re: Snarl
Oh, okay. Pretty sweet maneuver actually. Gansk said before that he's using the RotG article, which is a good choice. But, the question I have is that you can't normally trip with a mace. Is that more description or something special? I'm guessing that the 4th attack was the AoO on Not?

 

[PJSlavner]

OOC: The second sentence on page 156 says, "A grapple check is like a melee attack roll." That is what I used for my ruling, plus combat expertise taking a penalty from attack rolls.

That was more descriptive of the mace. MonkeyBoy was using his tail which was holding the mace. Actually, I got my information regarding the trip from the 3.5 rules FAQ.