No AoO?

[fiddlerjones]

I still use them, but at a -4 penalty to the attack roll. I was a fencer in college, and I can tell you from a "real-life experience" point of view, the Attack of Opportunity mechanics break down in actual "combat".

Thing is, it's very rare that anyone does something that would provoke an AoO in fencing. It's a bunch of 5-foot steps, armed disarm attempts, and regular attacks.

 

[EditorBFG]

1.) Has anyone ever tried this?

All the time. Since we don't use miniatures or a grid map, it is hard to have AoO anyway, see we ditched them.

2.) If so, how did it work out?

Pretty well. Speeds up gameplay alot. We use the Combat Instincts feat from Spycraft to replace Combat Reflexes, and it takes Combat Reflexes' place for requirements and whatnot. This lets people who really want to have some way of capitalizing on opponent's errors have it without everyone needing to worry about positioning so much.

3.) How do you think the game would benefit/suffer from no AoO?

I think it would be fine without.

 

[frankthedm]

Thing is, it's very rare that anyone does something that would provoke an AoO in fencing. It's a bunch of 5-foot steps, armed disarm attempts, and regular attacks.

And in fencing, the combat ends at first hit IIRC. Most participants are fighting defensively, have the ranks in tumble and expertising for full. A duel where both sides taking –4 to -9 to hit for +2 to +8 AC going to first blood is a bit different from a chop each other apart D&D melee.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

If you fence "by the rules", you guys are right. But we sometimes had practice sessions where the instructor would divide all the students into two teams. It looked like an Errol Flynn movie gone bad in most cases, but it was a blast. Just try defending yourself against three of the "Cardinal's Guards" at once. Madness, I tell you.

 

[Dremmen]

My 2 cents here is that A Game of Thrones d20 doesn't use AoO. It has a simple paragraph that explains that if you run up to a guy with a weapon longer than yours, he gets to attack you first. If both you and him have a same size weapon, the defender attacks first. Lastly, if you are attacking with say a spear or other long weapon, then you get to attack the defender first.

Makes sense to me. As far as AoO's other functions...*shrug* nothing that I miss.