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[MrMyth]

I'm not entirely certain this works.

Polearm Gamble: "When a nonadjacent enemy enters a square adjacent to you, you can make an opportunity attack with a polearm against that enemy."

Opportunity Attacks can invalidate the action that triggered them - but in this case, the enemy has already entered the space when your attack goes off. Yes, he cannot move any further - but he already arrived in that spot. Your attack takes place with him in the square adjacent to you.

Compare this to normal Opportunity Attacks, which are triggered when enemies leave squares - hence why you can hit them and stop them from moving any farther, in conjunction with your fighter abilities. Which is a different series of events that what happens with Polearm Gamble.

I'm not positive of this - interrupts are a tricky thing - but the fact that it is triggered after he has already arrived next to you strikes me as preventing you from stopping his movement prior to that point.

 

[Waneta]

I'm not entirely certain this works.

Polearm Gamble: "When a nonadjacent enemy enters a square adjacent to you, you can make an opportunity attack with a polearm against that enemy."

Opportunity Attacks can invalidate the action that triggered them - but in this case, the enemy has already entered the space when your attack goes off. Yes, he cannot move any further - but he already arrived in that spot. Your attack takes place with him in the square adjacent to you.

Compare this to normal Opportunity Attacks, which are triggered when enemies leave squares - hence why you can hit them and stop them from moving any farther, in conjunction with your fighter abilities. Which is a different series of events that what happens with Polearm Gamble.

I'm not positive of this - interrupts are a tricky thing - but the fact that it is triggered after he has already arrived next to you strikes me as preventing you from stopping his movement prior to that point.

Except the Fighter, specifically, has the ability Combat Superiority which makes an enemy struck by their opportunity attack stop moving. How does this work with enemies trying to move away from the fighter? Do they end up in the square adjacent to the fighter, or one square away.

 

[AidyBaby]

I think the feat gives an OA when the opponent is already adjacent ("enters a square adjacent to you"). It's effectively introducing threatening reach for PCs, but only when specifically moving to adjacent rather than through squares within reach.

The fighter ability simply means that after the OA the opponent loses the rest of his movement for that move action, and unless he has his standard action left or an action point, finishes his turn adjacent.

 

[parcival42]

I think the feat gives an OA when the opponent is already adjacent ("enters a square adjacent to you"). It's effectively introducing threatening reach for PCs, but only when specifically moving to adjacent rather than through squares within reach.

The fighter ability simply means that after the OA the opponent loses the rest of his movement for that move action, and unless he has his standard action left or an action point, finishes his turn adjacent.

This.

 

[unobserved]

No, it's correct. The creature uses it's move action and standard action to get past the fighter, getting attacked in the process. Unless the creature has Action points, all it can do after that is standing before the mage and look cool. It's a dangerous move to make, sometimes probably worth it but it puts the creature in a precarious situation.

He can also use his standard action to charge the squishy. Granting combat advantage isn't a big deal now that the fighter already used his OA.

 

[MrMyth]

Except the Fighter, specifically, has the ability Combat Superiority which makes an enemy struck by their opportunity attack stop moving. How does this work with enemies trying to move away from the fighter? Do they end up in the square adjacent to the fighter, or one square away.

Well, that's the difference between normal Opportunity Attacks, and those granted by Polearm Gamble.

A normal Opportunity Attack triggers when the target attempts to leave the square - and thus, if the fighter hits him, he doesn't succeed in moving away.

Polearm Gamble grants an OA in response to the enemy having entered the square next to you - thus, by the time you swing, he's already in place and his movement can't be stopped.

At least, that is how I'm reading it thus far.

 

[Zaruthustran]

Only affects moves, not shifts.

So the first time someone tries to charge or move right up to the fighter, he might get stopped by the OA (the OA might miss after all, and there is a gamble involved), but after that he can just shift up to you.

True, true. He could move adjacent, get hit and stopped by the OA, then spend his standard action to shift adjacent.

But assuming the original OA hit, that shift would trigger a second OA thanks to Warpriest's Challenge. If that OA hit, the movement would again be stopped. Now the monster is still 1 square away, and has only a minor action remaining.

While a cool concept for a character's style, that there is the key weakness. It depends on facing a single foe in a large open space with no other tactical or terrain considerations, which we all know is a dangerous dependency.

Besides, a Fighter's strongest role is getting up in the enemy's face and restricting their movement. This tactic is the opposite, with the Fighter running away and hoping their foe chases after them instead of turning around and laying into a softer target. It might work if you want to try and play a Fighter as more of a striker than a defender, but it's definately got downsides.

True, and as I said in the OP, this isn't some kind of magic super build or anything. Just something I found interesting. I *like* that polearm fighters can keep enemies at bay. Imagine two (or ten) fighters side by side, both built as above. That'd stop a charge cold. And it should; that's what polearms are for.

So, just like always, this guy goes out in front to block for his party's squishies. Anyone moving adjacent to him draws an OA. If that hits, the enemy is stopped, safely out of reach of anyone. Sure, if the enemy decides to blow his standard action on another move (or charge, even) then he's going to get by--but that's no different than if Glen were a sword-and-board fighter. Monsters that want to move past a fighter--ANY fighter--can do so if they're willing to draw an attack, and are okay with not being able to do anything except hiss once they reach their destination.

 

[Zaruthustran]

Polearm Gamble grants an OA in response to the enemy having entered the square next to you - thus, by the time you swing, he's already in place and his movement can't be stopped.

At least, that is how I'm reading it thus far.

That's a reasonable conclusion, but it's incorrect.

Opportunity Attacks are immediate actions. There are two types of immediate actions: interrupt, and reaction.

What you describe above is a reaction. Reactions take place after the triggering action is completed.

Opportunity Attacks are interrupts. The rule says that "an immediate interrupt lets you jump in when a certain trigger condition arises, acting before the trigger resolves. If an interrupt invalidates the triggering action, that action is lost. For example, an enemy makes a melee attack against you, but you use a power that lets you shift away as an immediate interrupt. If your enemy can no longer reach you, the
enemy’s attack action is lost."

So the trigger is "enemy moves adjacent", but if you successfully hit, that action--moving adjacent--is interrupted, and never completes. The enemy is stuck where you hit him.

Here's more from Opportunity Attack, specifically: "Interrupts Target’s Action: An opportunity action takes place before the target finishes its action."

In other words, the enemy says "I'm moving adjacent!" and Glen says "Okay, but I get to attack you first. Whack. Sorry, you're stuck on the end of my glaive, 1 square away."

Them's the rules.

 

[Valdier]

Would charge get past this since you move as part of the attack and are not actually taking a "move" action.

 

[Kordeth]

Would charge get past this since you move as part of the attack and are not actually taking a "move" action.

No, because polearm gamble doesn't say anything about "when an enemy takes a move action," it says "when an enemy enters a square adjacent to you."