D&D 5E Movement; Opportunity Attacks and Disengage

[Dax Doomslayer]

Hi Folks,
Question on a couple of questions that popped up in my first 5E game last night both basically dealing with Opportunity Attacks. The first is movement and OAs. Am I reading correctly that a PC/Creature can basically run around another PC/Creature without provoking an OA provided they stay in reach? Thus say a monk can literally run a circle around a monster without suffering an OA? The other is with the Disengage Action. Can this be used 'offensively' in that one uses it to basically bypass a room of mooks in a room to position themselves to get to the back of a room near the BBEG without suffering OAs? Disengage states: "your movement does not provoke opportunity attacks for the rest of the turn". I'm not seeing anything in here where it states leave combat etc. So someone may use it to move past creatures to get to the BBEG who is hiding behind such creatures (obviously if there is a path only) without an OA. Is this correct? Any insight is appreciated. Thanks!!

 

[fjw70]

Yes on both accounts.

 

[Jeff Albertson]

Yep, everyone has Spring Attack in this edition, and you only provoke an OA when leaving an enemy's reach (in 3rd Ed you provoke an OA for sneezing).

 

[Shiroiken]

You can run circles around monsters without causing an OA, so long as you don't leave the reach of any monster. This usually isn't super useful, unless you use the Flanking optional rule (which is why I don't).

Disengage is poorly named in my opinion, because it implies a withdraw, but that's not always the case. IME, that's only about half the time. The other half is positioning yourself to threaten others (such as spellcasters).

 

[Mistwell]

Yes on both. Just remember, when needed the foes can use ready action.

 

[Dax Doomslayer]

Thanks for the replies folks. I agree Shiroiken, the name "Disengage" definitely should have been something different. Although the rule itself is very clear, it's the name of the action is the thing that caused some confusion (plus it runs a bit different to 3E/3.5 when the AoO was introduced). Mistwell that's a good point about the 'ready' action. I appreciate everyone's input and help!