Monday, March 25, 2013

Question of the Week

So here is a question straight from Charlie for all to debate upon:

Should Opportunity Attacks be limited to once per round?  

7 comments:

  1. Reading page 268 of the Player's Handbook I discovered the following:

    OPPORTUNITY ACTION
    ✦ Trigger: Opportunity actions allow you to take an
    action in response to an enemy letting its guard
    down. The one type of opportunity action that every
    combatant can take is an opportunity attack (page
    290). Opportunity attacks are triggered by an enemy
    leaving a square adjacent to you or by an adjacent
    enemy making a ranged attack or an area attack.
    ✦ Once per Combatant’s Turn: You can take no
    more than one opportunity action on each other
    combatant’s turn. You can’t take an opportunity
    action on your own turn.
    ✦ Interrupts Action: An opportunity action interrupts
    the action that triggered it.


    IN other words, there is something called opportunity actions. An Opportunity attack is simple one of those actions that is triggered by an enemy leaving a space adjacent to your own. You are allowed to take an opportunity attack once per other combatant's turn (See Once Per Combatants Turn explanation above). You cannot take an opportunity action on your own turn.

    Anyway this is what I've found in the core rule book. So, this doesn't mean you get an unlimited number of Opportunity attack..you only get one per combatants turn.

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  2. Also on page 290..it reads under OPPORTUNITY ATTACK:

    One per Combatant’s Turn: You can take only one
    opportunity action during another combatant’s turn,
    but you can take any number during a round.


    This all being said..its ultimately what we decide as a group.

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  3. Talking to Charlie,
    IF you have 150 creatures try to run past you on each of their turns, Should you be able to attack each one of them during their attempt?
    In this situation, I say yes you should be able to attack.

    IF you are surrounded by creatures, and they all step back on their turns, Should you be able to attack each one.
    In this situation, I say maybe not. I think you should be able to attack the ones within site of the direction you are facing. But not the ones behind you.

    IF our group is trying to sneak past a strong creature in a room, the first few make their rolls and successfully sneak. Then someone fails their rolls and alerts the monster. Shouldn't the monster now have the opportunity to attack the rest of the group even if they successfully make sneak rolls, just because the monster now knows we are there?

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    Replies
    1. If you alert the monster of your presence, then everyone rolls initiative and battle would commence (with the person who alerted him being closest to him or right beside him depending on the map).

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  4. Nathan,

    To your first IF - yes that's the way I believe it should work

    second IF - Heres what page 290 says:

    ✦ Able to Attack: You can’t make an opportunity
    attack unless you are able to make a melee basic
    attack and you can see your enemy.

    So can you see your enemy if your back is turned? So has this ever been possible?


    third IF - This is where Opportunity Actions come into play. This is at the discretion of the DM. I believe the Monster would then have available Opportunity Actions so it would work just as you have listed. In other words, since one person failed the sneak roll, the monster is now awares - or has Opprotunity, and he can spend a number of Opportunity Actions for each player that hasn't passed by. I think this is why they make a distinction between Opportunity Actions and an Opportunity Attack.

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  5. What defines your back? The direction your figure is facing? The direction of your last action? It is a bit ambiguous to easily define which way you are facing. You could just as easily have turned around as a free action. The rules cater more towards clarity than to making logical sense in every scenario in which they are applied.

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  6. I agree. When you read the rules for line of sight..then it really doesn't matter what direction your figure is facing..
    (Page 273 of PHB)
    To determine whether you can see a
    target, pick a corner of your space and
    trace an imaginary line from that corner
    to any part of the target’s space. You can see
    the target if at least one line doesn’t pass through or
    touch an object or an effect—such as a wall, a thick
    curtain, or a cloud of fog—that blocks your vision.

    ReplyDelete