What are some offensive ways to deny an opponent his ability to threaten squares?

[TarionzCousin]

Chop off your opponent's arms and legs.

 

[Empirate]

A whip has a 15 foot reach, but its a weird weapon. Treated more like a ranged attack than a melee weapon, and does pretty much zero damage to anything you'd actually want to use it against.

An opponent who is Stunned, dazed or Blinded gets no attack of opportunity. Note that Blinded still threatens, for purposes of providing flank bonuses. At least I think so.

Total concealment, such as some fog effects provide. Any kind of concealment stops Sneak Attack, if that factors into the discussion at all. (Hilarious that a Rogue is less dangerous in a dark alley than in the open.)

Entangling effects deny the target their Dex bonus, and so makes them vulnerable to Sneak Attack, but they still threaten and can make AoE.

Sunder or Disarm their weapons removes most AoE ability. That is, an unarmed opponent doesn't threaten.

Those are the ones that come to mind right off hand.

Oh, I almost forgot: Kill them. Dead (or unconscious) opponents don't threaten.

Minor nitpicks:
Whips don't work like ranged weapons in 3.5, though they did in 3.0.
Entangling attacks don't make you lose your Dex bonus, they just impose a -4 penalty to Dex. So no SA vulnerability.



Blinding/concealment: Here's the relevant rules text:

You cannot make an attack of opportunity against a foe that you cannot see (unless you have the blindsight special quality), and you cannot make an attack of opportunity when you're flat-footed (unless you have the Combat Reflexes feat).

[...]

Concealed Creatures: You don't threaten any creature that has total concealment against you (though you can attack into the concealed creature's space and hope for a hit). The blindsight special quality negates foes' concealment when they're within range. Some special qualities, such as blindsense and scent, can reveal an unseen foe's location but don't negate concealment. Similarly, you can use a Listen or Spot check to locate an unseen creature, but that does not negate concealment, so you cannot make an attack of opportunity against that foe.

So no, you don't threaten when you're blind!

Also of interest: cover negates AoOs.

 

[Dandu]

Blinding them, I think, is one...
Grappling with is another, I think...

I coulda swore that netting/entangling an opponent denied them the ability to threaten squares... but it doesn't seem to. I think it's funny to conceive how a netted victim could swing a spiked chain 10' out from under it, or how a mace is going to swing and hit effectively from under a barbed net... Sure, I can conceive piercing weapons might threaten from under a net, but slashing/bashing weapons?

Attacking invisibly does, sorta... but i'm looking for OFFENSIVE tactics, not defensive ones...

Any ideas?

Kill them.

 

[Empirate]

Hmm... nobody mentioned Douse the Flames etc.?