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So the entry on being prone says this:
Prone: The character is lying on the ground. A prone attacker has a –4 penalty on melee attack rolls and cannot use a ranged weapon (except for a crossbow). A prone defender gains a +4 bonus to Armor Class against ranged attacks, but takes a –4 penalty to AC against melee attacks.
Standing up is a move-equivalent action that provokes an attack of opportunity.
Now, as far as move options go, if a prone person tries to move away, they are “crawling,” which is a 5-foot move action, provoking an attack of opportunity. Got that part:
Crawling: You can crawl 5 feet as a move action. Crawling incurs attacks of opportunity from any attackers who threaten you at any point of your crawl. A crawling character is considered prone and must take a move action to stand up, provoking an attack of opportunity.
In PFS, it had been ruled that I could 5-foot-step during a move action of standing up and not incur an attack of opportunity, but the folks here seem to be really opposed to that idea, so I’ll concede that point (for now) and say that’s not going to happen.
What I’m wondering about now are the melee combat options available to a prone character. The only modification given above is a –4 penalty. So am I to assume that pretty much all non-movement options are available? Iterative attacks/total defense/fighting defensively/two-handed use of a one-handed weapon/two-weapon fighting/etc.—as long as the character is taking the –4 penalty?
So the entry on being prone says this:
Prone: The character is lying on the ground. A prone attacker has a –4 penalty on melee attack rolls and cannot use a ranged weapon (except for a crossbow). A prone defender gains a +4 bonus to Armor Class against ranged attacks, but takes a –4 penalty to AC against melee attacks.
Standing up is a move-equivalent action that provokes an attack of opportunity.
Now, as far as move options go, if a prone person tries to move away, they are “crawling,” which is a 5-foot move action, provoking an attack of opportunity. Got that part:
Crawling: You can crawl 5 feet as a move action. Crawling incurs attacks of opportunity from any attackers who threaten you at any point of your crawl. A crawling character is considered prone and must take a move action to stand up, provoking an attack of opportunity.In PFS, it had been ruled that I could 5-foot-step during a move action of standing up and not incur an attack of opportunity, but the folks here seem to be really opposed to that idea, so I’ll concede that point (for now) and say that’s not going to happen.
What I’m wondering about now are the melee combat options available to a prone character. The only modification given above is a –4 penalty. So am I to assume that pretty much all non-movement options are available? Iterative attacks/total defense/fighting defensively/two-handed use of a one-handed weapon/two-weapon fighting/etc.—as long as the character is taking the –4 penalty?
Pretty much, yea. You can attack, you just have to watch out for your weapon bouncing off the ground. Magic is also a good idea, if the spell dosent need an attack roll, it has no penalty.
Yeah. You can't 5 foot crawl, and you have to stand up (and get your whack of opportunity) and then 5 foot step away.
What I’m wondering about now are the melee combat options available to a prone character. The only modification given above is a –4 penalty. So am I to assume that pretty much all non-movement options are available? Iterative attacks/total defense/fighting defensively/two-handed use of a one-handed weapon/two-weapon fighting/etc.—as long as the character is taking the –4 penalty?
Yup. anything you can do with an attack you can do at a -4 penalty.. including fighting defensively and then standing up, or using combat expertise and then standing up, attempting to disarm your foe and then stand up (no weapon= no aoo), TRIP your opponent and then stand up (trip=-4 on the aoo) Grapple your opponent from the ground (an elementary schoolyard favorite)
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What I’m wondering about now are the melee combat options available to a prone character. The only modification given above is a –4 penalty. So am I to assume that pretty much all non-movement options are available? Iterative attacks/total defense/fighting defensively/two-handed use of a one-handed weapon/two-weapon fighting/etc.—as long as the character is taking the –4 penalty?
Yes, to all of these. You also threaten an area for attacks of opportunity (which take a -4 penalty) and flank.
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What I’m wondering about now are the melee combat options available to a prone character. The only modification given above is a –4 penalty. So am I to assume that pretty much all non-movement options are available? Iterative attacks/total defense/fighting defensively/two-handed use of a one-handed weapon/two-weapon fighting/etc.—as long as the character is taking the –4 penalty?Yes, to all of these. You also threaten an area for attacks of opportunity (which take a -4 penalty) and flank.
Ah so you continue to threaten, too, that’s interesting, hadn’t even considered that!
If it were up to me, I would say that you could also withdraw. (It doesn't say you can't.) So, you could move up to 10 ft. without provoking an AoO from an attacker threatening the first square that you move out of; but, you'd provoke from attackers threatening any square that you move into, due to crawling. And, you wouldn't be able to go diagonally in difficult terrain.
Under acrobatics, there's a usage that would also protect you from an AoO against the square that you move into, but you can only go 5 ft. per round. Your GM might even let you use it to stand up, given that standing up is normally a much smaller action than moving 5 ft.; if so, you could probably even use it that way in difficult terrain.
It's currently not let me edit my post, so please consider that last sentence to say, "Your GM might even let you use it to stand up; if so, you could probably even use it that way in difficult terrain."
A gun would fall under a ranged attack, which actually get bonuses when you are prone I believe. However, if you are in someones threatened area, you provoke from firing a ranged weapon.
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You can always go total defense then stand up. Total defence is a standard action. If you have 3 ranks in acrobatics you get a +6 bonus to ac rather than the usual +4. You lose your attack, and don't threaten that round, but you stand a better chance of surviving the AoO, and the AC bonus is good until your next round.
UC states that a firearm is like a X-bow and able to be used while Prone, but the other types of ranged weapons can't be used that way.
Also, rogues can take Stand Up as an ability, to make it a free action. Everyone else is getting hit!
just saw the thread title, thought this had the makings of a NSFW thread topic... :-)
Actually... there is a way to crawl while prone and avoid an AoO... but you need to use Acrobatics.
You can move through a threatened square without provoking an attack of opportunity from an enemy by using Acrobatics. When moving in this way, you move at half speed. You can move at full speed by increasing the DC of the check by 10. You cannot use Acrobatics to move past foes if your speed is reduced due to carrying a medium or heavy load or wearing medium or heavy armor. If an ability allows you to move at full speed under such conditions, you can use Acrobatics to move past foes. You can use Acrobatics in this way while prone, but doing so requires a full-round action to move 5 feet, and the DC is increased by 5. If you attempt to move though an enemy's space and fail the check, you lose the move action and provoke an attack of opportunity.
You can't use withdraw while on the ground, you (presumably one of the humanoid races without a crawl speed) can't use any of your listed movement speeds, thus you can't use withdraw. This came up ages ago.
Total Defense + Stand + 5 foot step is probably the best.