Opportunity Attack Rules Clarification

[ourchair]

If they don't shift you can smack them if they shift no.

But why would one move instead of shift if one wanted to do what you said?

Excitement.

Misdeclaration.

Masochism.

A desire to be bloodied so they can get some race/class feature bloodied-dependent bonus.

Who knows?

 

[Black Knight Irios]

Not sure how I would rule about the Polearm Gamble. It does say it is used "when a nonadjacent enemy enters a square adjacent to you..." not "attempts to enter...". I need to think on that one.

24. Where is the target of your attack when you make an opportunity attack because of Polearm Gamble?

An opportunity attack interrupts the action that triggers it, so when you make the opportunity attack, the target is in the square it's leaving, assuming that square is within your melee reach.
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You can stop thinking now. The enemy is not adjacent when the OA happens.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Okay, I'm now worried that I've been reading the OA rules wrong.

My impression was that 4e was meant to increase the cost of disengaging by making the five foot step "shift" a move action, and lock them into melee by allowing them to scoot around a monster by NOT provoking OA since they remain within its threat range.

One of my players, a cleric, ironically is saying that I can beat the tar out of him and his party because the rules say when you leave a threatened square without shifting you provoke AO but doesn't qualify that the next square you step into must be a threatened one to NOT provoke AO.

Simply put, if the enemy was 5 on a numpad, moving from square 2 to square 6 provokes according to his interpretation. Meaning I get to smack players who try to do clockwork flanking.

Is this correct? If so, party spanking time!

That's correct, the OA rules don't depend on the square the character is moving into, only the one its leaving. You can't run circles around an enemy and not take an OA.

The designers got a little sloppy with their terminology. As clarified in the latest update ANYTHING that causes you go from one square to another is 'movement' and thus a 'move' and the creature in question has 'moved'. Shifts just don't ever provoke OAs by general rule. It IS easy to disengage by shifting, sort of. It burns a move action to go one square. This is fine if you don't need to disengage very far, the character can shift back a square and then walk/run away. If you have to actually FLEE though its a different story since the monster can simply move up a couple squares and charge you. In that case you really have to just turn tail and double move run to get away, which exposes you to an OA and a harsh defense penalty.

 

[Black Knight Irios]

As clarified in the latest update ANYTHING that causes you go from one square to another is 'movement' and thus a 'move' and the creature in question has 'moved'.

Could you please give me a link to that info or quote it with source.

 

[abyssaldeath]

Could you please give me a link to that info or quote it with source.

Ask and you shall receive.

move:
Whenever a creature, an object, or an effect leaves a square to enter another, it is moving, whether that move is done willingly or is forced. This means shifting, teleporting, and being pushed are all moves, for example.

 

[Black Knight Irios]

Thanks, for the quote.

Does this mean that I can combo polearm gamble with forced movement provided by my party to generate OAs?

 

[abyssaldeath]

Thanks, for the quote.

Does this mean that I can combo polearm gamble with forced movement provided by my party to generate OAs?

No, because forced movement doesn't trigger OA's unless a power or feat specifically references forced movement.

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

And in case you want the source for that:

Forced Movement

No Opportunity Actions: Forced movement does not provoke opportunity attacks or other opportunity actions.

 

[Black Knight Irios]

Man sometimes I feel...dumb...thx anyway

 

[Droogie128]

You are correct. Since the Opportunity Attack is an Immediate Interrupt, it is resolved before the opponent leaves your threatened area, thus he is still within range of your attack.

When your friend shows you his Monster Manual examples, make sure you check what type of movement is specified in them. It is only normal movement that provokes OAs - i.e. moving up to your speed as a Move action. Shifting (whether it is shifting a single square as a Move action, or some other variant accessed through Feats, Class Features or Powers) does not provoke, and neither does forced movement of any kind. If your friend's examples involve such forms of movement, they are irrelevant to the question.

An opportunity attack is not an immediate interrupt. It interrupts the action that provokes it, but an OA is not the same thing as an immediate interrupt. One is an immediate action, one is an opportunity action.