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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 5880728" data-attributes="member: 92305">You're operating from a fallacy. The combat round in D&D is abstract--at least it is for melee (it's not for ranged weapons). Whether you're talking about a one minute (AD&D) or six second (3.x) combat round, the melee part of it is handled abstractly. One attack throw does not necessarily equal one swing of the sword (although it could). Remember, D&D has its roots in miniature wargaming. With those types of games, one figure may represent an entire squardron of tanks. Yet, when two tank figures come base to base, one attack roll is made for each side with that roll determining, in an abstract way, the amount of damage each side took. D&D is really no different than that. The "figure" represented in one character, instead of an entire battalion of men or a tank squadron. But, still, the single d20 attack throw for melee is an abstract way to come up with how hurt each side got during that combat round. Take this scene from Spartacus, for example.  [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHtSs3mrqrA"]Ep. 4 Scene Clip "Spartacus Fight" - YouTube[/ame] We'll call it 30 seconds long to account for the two slow motions shots.   In 3.x, for a character with one attack per round, that would be a total of 5 attacks.  Yet, if you count them, the character performs 10 attacks. Does this mean that the character is at least 6th level and gets 2 attacks per round?  Maybe.  That could very well be true. But, this scene could also represent a 4th level character with one attack per round. Why? Because it's abastract. When you hit your target with your dagger and do 6 points of damage on him (4 pts plus STR bonus), this could mean that  you hit your target once and did 6 points of damage. Or, it could mean that you hit your target twice, doing 1 point on one stroke and 5 points on the other. Or, it could mean that you hit six different times, doing 1 point each. Or, it could mean....a lot of things. It's abstract.     So, to bring this around to the Question in the OP:  How do you rationalize Attacks of Opportunity. If two characters are fighting, and a second foe gets close enough to hit, is there a chance that your character took a swing at him too? There's your rationalization.  Melee combat rounds are abstract.  They're not die for blow situations all the time.  The attack throw can mean a lot of different things happened during the combat round.</blockquote>

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