D&D 5E (2014) Opportunity attack question

[Bennett]

So last night a dragon 20 ft. above us, swooped down, poison sprayed us, then flew 70 ft. in the air (which was said to be his movement speed).

Any opp. attack there?. We didnt get one

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

When you say "poison spray" do you mean the spell by that name, or the dragon's poison damage-dealing breath weapon?

I assume because you say "us" that the spray hit more than one character, which leads me to believe this was a breath weapon in play - and with that being the case it's hard to tell from the information you have given exactly how close the dragon had to be to whom in order to attack as it did.

But, in the general sense, it is far from impossible that a dragon could get all of the characters with a single breath weapon usage while not entering anyone of the characters' reach, and thus never leaving the characters' reach - which is the only way opportunity attacks are provoked (normally, at least).

 

[Bennett]

Breath weapon, sry. He hit 4 of us

 

[Lanliss]

The more important question is how close he got to you. I think a foe has to be within 5 feet of you( 1 square on most rpg maps) and then leave that area to provoke an Opp. Attack. If he hit you all from 10 feet up, no opp. Attack.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

Yep. The enemy has to leave your reach (usually 5', or 10' if you have a very long weapon such as a halberd - essentially within melee range/in your face/one square away) to trigger an OA. The distance is the same upwards too.

As breath is ranged, it's entirely plausible that this condition was never met, especially if the dragon remained airborne.

 

[Rabbitbait]

Yep, if your party does not have strong ranged attacks then you'd better run. Split up, find cover, find somewhere where the enemy can't fly. At worst, hope that one of you manages to get away while the dragon is busy melting the rest of you.

Dragons are tough, you don't want to meet them where they have the advantage.

 

[Li Shenron]

So last night a dragon 20 ft. above us, swooped down, poison sprayed us, then flew 70 ft. in the air (which was said to be his movement speed).

Any opp. attack there?. We didnt get one

As others said, OA are strictly melee attacks, and provoked only if an opponent leaves your reach (obviously, it needs to enter your reach first).

Just checked quickly and the dragon with shortest poison breath dragon range is Wyrmling Green Dragon, a 15ft cone. Standard PHB races have 5ft reach, increased to 10ft if using reach weapon. Thus totally possible even in the worst case for the dragon and best case for you, that there was no OA provoked.

 

[Redthistle]

Dragons are tough, you don't want to meet them where they have the advantage.

This Truth belongs on a tee shirt.

 

[Oofta]

This Truth belongs on a tee shirt.

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons because thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

But yeah, (dragon + breath weapon) - ranged attacks = bad day for adventurers. If you survive the strafing attack, it's best to split up and find cover.

 

[Plaguescarred]

So last night a dragon 20 ft. above us, swooped down, poison sprayed us, then flew

How many feet did he swoop down? Anything less than 15 feet shouldn't have provoked Opportunity Attack unless one of you had a reach weapon of some sort.