greywulf said:
The player on the other hand, probably doesn't understand it because it's such an obtuse, badly written piece of rules tripe. This from me, a gamer with almost 30 years' experience. I know bad rules when I see them, and AoO is one of the worst.
Wow. You sure you've been playing for 30 years, and can't get AoOs?
Were 20 of those years spent playing games with the rules complexity of Candyland?
[EDIT: I see, later on, that you qualified that you just don't like them, rather than don't get them. Still, though ... Strange thing to get all bent out of shape on.]
AoOs just aren't that complicated, and can be boiled down to three / four questions.
1a. Did you move away from someone wielding something spikey?; or
1b. Did you move up to someone A) really big, wielding something spikey, or B) with a long pokey stick?
2. Did you do so carefully?
If the answers to the above are "Yes" and "No," respectively, you've provoked an AoO.
3. Did you do something stupid while being menaced by someone wielding something spikey?
If the answer to the above is "Yes," then you've provoked an AoO.
Done!