Multiple 5ft steps?

[Artoomis]

Another thing is that with a normal Move action, you can decide to move only 5ft (for example not to provoke AoO) instead of your full speed.

No, that's wrong. You only avoid an AoO if the only move you make in a round is your 5-foot step. If that's all you do, then you are not using a Move action at all.

 

[Zhure]

PHB, page 117, bullet note:
" If your entire move for the round is 5 feet (a 5-foot step), enemies do not get attacks of opportunity for you moving."

So if for some reason you take a second 5-foot step, like if you were hasted, this second 5-foot step wouldn't be a protected one because it wouldn't be "your entire move for the round."

Greg

 

[Zhure]

There are only two ways I know of to get more than one 5' step in a round. The first is with Pressing Attack. The second is with a feat from Rokugan that you can take more than once that allows you to take multiple 5' steps inbetween cleave attempts (in effect a superior version of supreme cleave).

Master Samurai (S&F) gets this as a the Supreme Cleave ability. There are a few other PrC's that grant it, but I don't recall them off the top of my head.

Greg

 

[AuraSeer]

Master Samurai (S&F) gets this as a the Supreme Cleave ability. There are a few other PrC's that grant it, but I don't recall them off the top of my head.

No, that's not how it works. The Master Samurai can take his 5' step in between one Cleave attack and the next, but he still only gets one 5' step per round. This is in the Sword & Fist FAQ.

 

[Zhure]

Stupid FAQ

 

[AuraSeer]

PHB, page 117, bullet note:
" If your entire move for the round is 5 feet (a 5-foot step), enemies do not get attacks of opportunity for you moving."

So if for some reason you take a second 5-foot step, like if you were hasted, this second 5-foot step wouldn't be a protected one because it wouldn't be "your entire move for the round."

Technically, your first 5' step wouldn't be protected either, since it was not "your entire move for the round." Since it's usually not feasible to go back and redo actions in the middle of combat, I prevent players from making other moves if they have already taken a 5' step.

Take this situation:
I'm standing next to a monster, and I take a 5' step to get out of reach. I then cast Haste on myself, and I want to move again. But since I took a 5' step already this round, I cannot move any more.

If I wanted to move away, cast Haste, and then move again, I could do so, but I wouldn't be able to take a 5' step. I would first take a normal Move action to retreat from the monster, and draw an AoO. (It doesn't matter how far I travel.) I then cast my Haste, and use my extra partial action for another normal Move.

In short, a Move action is different from a 5' step, and you cannot take both in the same round.

 

[Zhure]

Technically, your first 5' step wouldn't be protected either, since it was not "your entire move for the round." Since it's usually not feasible to go back and redo actions in the middle of combat, I prevent players from making other moves if they have already taken a 5' step.

Absolutely. So there's a caveat that once you invoke a 5-step, you're done doing any moves, though you can still do MEA's.

GReg

 

[Artoomis]

PHB, page 117, bullet note:
" If your entire move for the round is 5 feet (a 5-foot step), enemies do not get attacks of opportunity for you moving."

So if for some reason you take a second 5-foot step, like if you were hasted, this second 5-foot step wouldn't be a protected one because it wouldn't be "your entire move for the round."

Greg

No, that's not right either.

You get one, and only one 5-foot step per round. You cannot get another one at all. A 5-foot step that does not avoid an AoO, as you propose above, does not meet the definition of a 5-foot step, and so cannot be done.

In the above scenario, if you take a 5-foot step you just declared that you will take no other movement in the round. That includes a 5-foot step that you might otherwise be allowed to take, but can't becasue you only get one per round.

This has been argued ad nauseum and proved previously using only the PHB.

It's a simple rule, really. Don't move otherwise, and you may take a 5-foot step.

Another way to think of this is to state that, if you take NO movement at all in a round, then you make make ONE "positional adjustment." That positional adjustment is, of course, the 5-foot step.

 

[Zhure]

See my unedited post above.

Greg

 

[kreynolds]

See my unedited post above.

Which one?