Mounted Combat and Full Attack With Bow

[Artoomis]

I'm a barbarian who's just entered an evil chapel. I need to drop a talisman on the altar, but the room is guarded by a zombie....Does the zombie receive an AoO when I leave the green square the second time?

-Hyp.

Darn right he does.

Technically, no, but that's getting a bit too technical for me. It's clear the rules did not anticipate someone wanting to move in circles saying "neener, neener, you can't hit me" because the square he started in is unthreatened no matter how many times he moves through it.

Of course, I assume that the DM is allowing the "talisman drop" as an allowed free action that can be taken during the FRA of "Withdraw."

I further assume that any reasonable DM would allow you one chance, and one chance ONLY, to have the "square you start out in is not considered threatened by any opponent you can see."

 

[MarkB]

OFF-TOPIC
Someone really really needs to start recording Hyp's hack-fu. I'd glady host it if someone would find all the relevant threads.

Seriously. The number of times I read his posts and think "the rules don't really say that, do they-? <flip-flip-flip through SRD> Oh bloody hell, they really do." The rules would be a lot more tightly written, and need a lot less errata, if they'd been fully Hypersmurf'd before publication.

 

[kerbarian]

The reason you incur no AoO is because the horse's Withdraw action causes the square you're in to not be considered threatened, so you can leave it with no problem. The fact that this also causes the horse to not provoke an AoO has no bearing on whether or not you do.

If the "not considered threatened" property of the square isn't considered to only apply to the horse's movement during that round, then how long does it last? The rules don't specify, so does that mean the square is permanently not threatened? Does it last for the duration of the horse's withdraw action?

If the latter, does it mean that this would be legal:

----------\
     ..E..|
     AA...|
----\AA...|
    |     |
    | B   |
    |     |

Player B readies an action to move around the corner as soon as Player A (on his horse) moves. Player A takes the withdraw action, making the 'A' squares not threatened by enemy E wielding a spiked chain (the dots represent E's threat range). Now Player B's readied action triggers, and he dashes around the corner through A's space, avoiding an AoO from the enemy, because A's squares were made non-threatened by the withdraw action.

 

[Sithobi1]

I think I2k actually meant his nethack-fu. Nethack is a rogue-like game with ascii graphics.

 

[Artoomis]

Seriously. The number of times I read his posts and think "the rules don't really say that, do they-? <flip-flip-flip through SRD> Oh bloody hell, they really do." The rules would be a lot more tightly written, and need a lot less errata, if they'd been fully Hypersmurf'd before publication.

Maybe, maybe not. The ability to read the published rules and, over time, find all the little quirks and inconsistencies does not necessarily imply the ability to edit them before they are published.

Very different skill set.

Still, that said, I should think a once-over by Hypersmurf would still add value.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I further assume that any reasonable DM would allow you one chance, and one chance ONLY, to have the "square you start out in is not considered threatened by any opponent you can see."

See, that solves all the Readied action issues.

If the square you start in is only not considered threatened until you're out of it, then it prevents an AoO on both horse and rider (since the rider is, by definition, leaving the square at the same time as the horse), but there's no problem with other people (or even the horse) subsequently occupying that square, since its non-threatenedness has worn off by that point.

-Hyp.

 

[Hypersmurf]

If the "not considered threatened" property of the square isn't considered to only apply to the horse's movement during that round, then how long does it last? The rules don't specify, so does that mean the square is permanently not threatened? Does it last for the duration of the horse's withdraw action?

That's exactly the question my zombie example addresses - how long does the non-threatenedness last? (See previous reply to Artoomis.)

-Hyp.

 

[Artoomis]

See, that solves all the Readied action issues.

If the square you start in is only not considered threatened until you're out of it, then it prevents an AoO on both horse and rider (since the rider is, by definition, leaving the square at the same time as the horse), but there's no problem with other people (or even the horse) subsequently occupying that square, since its non-threatenedness has worn off by that point.

-Hyp.

Ah, but you are presuming that it does not apply ONLY to the one doing the moving. That's quite a presumption.

This is a question of intent vs. the letter of the rules. Yet another case for a DM ruling.

 

[ElectricDragon]

If instead it were a wizard (with his familiar on his shoulder) doing the withdraw action; would the familiar draw an attack of opportunity?

Ciao
Dave

P.S.
Also Kerbarian: The withdrawing horse and rider (A) would draw an attack of opportunity for the 2nd space it moved out of from the spiked chain wielding enemy.

 

[MarkB]

If instead it were a wizard (with his familiar on his shoulder) doing the withdraw action; would the familiar draw an attack of opportunity?

If the familiar attempted to take an action during that withdrawal, I'd say yes. If not, I'd assume it was also taking the Withdraw full-round action.