Does Acrobatics let you stand up from prone without triggering an AoO?


Rules Questions


The title says it all.

Doug M.


Not by RAW, no.

For convenience:

relevant Acrobatics skill text:
You can keep your balance while traversing narrow or treacherous surfaces. You can also dive, flip, jump, and roll to avoid attacks and overcome obstacles.

Check: You can use Acrobatics to move on narrow surfaces and uneven ground without falling. A successful check allows you to move at half speed across such surfaces—only one check is needed per round. Use the following table to determine the base DC, which is then modified by the Acrobatics skill modifiers noted below. While you are using Acrobatics in this way, you are considered flat-footed and lose your Dexterity bonus to your AC (if any). If you take damage while using Acrobatics, you must immediately make another Acrobatics check at the same DC to avoid falling or being knocked prone.

In addition, 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...

Acrobatics generally assumes that you're actually utilizing your movement, not just a move-equivalent action (which is what 'standing from prone' is). The most you could do would be to try an Acrobatics check at +5 DC to roll five feet away from the enemy without provoking; it's a full-round action, but it puts some distance between you and the foe (even if he can close it and still full attack next turn - I didn't say it was necessarily going to save you... ;) ).

Silver Crusade

Unfortunately no, that rule comes from 4th ed where you could use Acrobatics to get up as a swift action and not provoke AoO. You could houserule it in where you need to be trained to do so with all ACP applying.

Short answer, No.

Liberty's Edge

Brother Alester wrote:
Unfortunately no, that rule comes from 4th ed where you could use Acrobatics to get up as a swift action and not provoke AoO.

Um, in D&D 4e standing up is a Move action that doesn't provoke an Opportunity Attack anyway (there is no such thing as a Swift action in 4e)


You need Monkey Style.

RPG Superstar 2015 Top 8

Per the rules, no--or rather, there is no printed rule that describes how you may do so. Correct me if I am wrong, but there is not a rule that actually SAYS that you strictly cannot do so, just there is not a mechanic described for how it might be possible.

I might allow it as a standard action with an Acrobatics check DC equal to the DC it normally would be for moving through a creature's threatened area (i.e., the creature's CMD).

The reason for the Standard action is "stand from prone" is a move action, IIRC. Therefore I'd make it take a little longer since you are doing a complex maneuver to stand up safely. One could argue it could still be a move action since you're still making it harder by adding the skill check.


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As others have said, by RAW, no.

I have seen it house ruled in games that you can use acrobatics, as a move action, to stand up and avoid the AoO. From what I observed it made tripping characters w/ high acrobatics a lot less useful (as they would just jump up and get an attack anyway), so I might agree w/ DeathQuaker that making it a standard action may be more balanced (or at least not make trip focused characters feel like they wasted their feats). I'd have to play test it to be very confident either way though.


There is a general rule for skills that more or less says “Don’t say they can’t do it, set a high enough DC”. I’d say 40 or use Deathquakers idea. But no, there is no specific rule that allows this. Some class features such as Deft Stand for the Skirmisher Ranger.

I don;t know of a rogue talent that does this, oddly.

Shadow Lodge

RAW no, but you can use ki stand feat, or stand-up rogue talent to stand up quickly. Or you can stand up as a full-round action to provoke no AaO, I think. I say that houserule, either Deathquaker's idea or vs. opposed AaO roll as a move action.


I have always considered this a big oversight in the rules. Tons of trained combatants in the world, and almost none of them know how to protect themselves when they stand up from prone. Only monks and rogue-ish classes.

My houserule, since RAW doesn't cover this, is that anybody can use Acrobatics while prone (except for jumping). It adds +5 to the DC of whatever you're trying to do. So moving through a threatened square, +5 for the DC if you begin prone. This means a standing human with a move of 30' could move up to 15 feet using Acrobatics, per the rules, or if he starts prone, he could do the same exact things but with +5 to the DC.

It would basically be the same tumbling, handspringing, rolling, dodging, etc., whatever he would do if he started on his feet, but it would begin from prone and be a little harder to pull off.


I have a standing house rule for Acrobatics that you can take a standard action to perform a 'kip up'- DC is based on the rules for moving through a threatened square (highest threatening foe's CMD + 5, +2 for each additional threatening opponent). Failure means that they get their AoOs and you fall prone again.


Xaratherus wrote:
I have a standing house rule for Acrobatics that you can take a standard action to perform a 'kip up'- DC is based on the rules for moving through a threatened square (highest threatening foe's CMD + 5, +2 for each additional threatening opponent). Failure means that they get their AoOs and you fall prone again.

Just as a point of order, the DC for tumbling through a threatened square is not opponent's CMD +5 (much less "highest" CMD). The +5 is if you're moving through the opponent's space, as in, the squares he's occupying.

Anyway, this question has been answered and every response now is just a "this is our house rule". It might be best to take it to the House Rules forum now.


DM_Blake wrote:

I have always considered this a big oversight in the rules. Tons of trained combatants in the world, and almost none of them know how to protect themselves when they stand up from prone. Only monks and rogue-ish classes.

My houserule, since RAW doesn't cover this, is that anybody can use Acrobatics while prone (except for jumping). It adds +5 to the DC of whatever you're trying to do. So moving through a threatened square, +5 for the DC if you begin prone. This means a standing human with a move of 30' could move up to 15 feet using Acrobatics, per the rules, or if he starts prone, he could do the same exact things but with +5 to the DC.

It would basically be the same tumbling, handspringing, rolling, dodging, etc., whatever he would do if he started on his feet, but it would begin from prone and be a little harder to pull off.

Actually, RAW does cover this in detail, but you are still free to houserule however you want.

From the Acrobatics skill:

Quote:

In addition, you can move through a threatened square without provoking an attack of opportunity from an enemy by using Acrobatics.

(Irrelevant sentences omitted for brevity)
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.

This is also discussed in various feats, talents, and class abilities:

Standing up from prone:
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/combat.html#_stand-up
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/classes/rogue.html#_rogue-talents-stand- up
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateCombat/ultimateCombatFeats.html# _monkey-style
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/coreClasses/druid.html#_savanna -ambush
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/prestigeClasses/battleHerald.ht ml#_pincer-maneuver
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateMagic/ultimateMagicFeats.html#_k i-stand

Moving while prone:
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/classes/rogue.html#_rogue-talents-rogue- crawl

Silver Crusade

In 3.5's Complete Adventurer it said you could stand up as a free action (instead of a move action) if you made a DC35 Tumble check, although you still provoked an AoO as usual.

In Complete Scoundrel there were two skill tricks which helped: Nimble Stand let you stand up from prone as a move action without provoking (it required 8 ranks in Tumble), and Back On Your Feet let you do the same as an immediate action (requiring 12 ranks). Skill tricks could only be used once per encounter each.

PF didn't import skill tricks; perhaps they weren't allowed to. Shame.

In 4th ed standing up from prone did not provoke an Opportunity Attack.


Oladon wrote:
Just as a point of order, the DC for tumbling through a threatened square is not opponent's CMD +5 (much less "highest" CMD). The +5 is if you're moving through the opponent's space, as in, the squares he's occupying.

While I agree that the highest CMD is an alteration (it would be the CMD of the creature through whose square you're moving, normally), I don't see a real semantic difference between "moving through an opponent's square" and "moving through an opponent's space" (although I admit that the table and text use that term); even if you tumble through the space - the four squares - occupied by a large creature, you only provoke once from each threatening foe because you can only provoke once for movement.

[edit]
@Gwen Smith: It does cover using Acrobatics while prone, but not standing up from prone without provoking. The remainder details of the Acrobatics skill all assume that you are moving from one square to another, not taking a move-equivalent action without leaving your square.

For example, the text you quoted regarding moving through a foe's space means exactly that - you are actually moving through his square. You couldn't do that while prone, since you are limited to five feet of movement; you'd end up in the enemy's square


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Brother Alester wrote:

Unfortunately no, that rule comes from 4th ed where you could use Acrobatics to get up as a swift action and not provoke AoO. You could houserule it in where you need to be trained to do so with all ACP applying.

Short answer, No.

Actually it was a 3.0/3.5 later addition to Tumbling that said you can make a DC 35 Tumble check to stand up from prone without provoking an attack of opportunity. It was in the Rules Compendium but it may have first shown up in the Epic Level Handbook, just for reference sake.

Silver Crusade

p94 of the 3.5 Rules Compendium wrote:
If you succeed on a DC Tumble check, you can stand up from prone as a free action. Standing in this way still provokes attacks of opportunity.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

You are correct, it has been years since I even referenced that so I was going off the top of my head. I believe that as mentioned, the Kip Up feats and abilities were out there but not much beyond Monkey Style in Pathfinder.


Gwen Smith wrote:
DM_Blake wrote:

My houserule, since RAW doesn't cover this, is that anybody can use Acrobatics while prone (except for jumping). It adds +5 to the DC of whatever you're trying to do. So moving through a threatened square, +5 for the DC if you begin prone. This means a standing human with a move of 30' could move up to 15 feet using Acrobatics, per the rules, or if he starts prone, he could do the same exact things but with +5 to the DC.

Actually, RAW does cover this in detail, but you are still free to houserule however you want.

From the Acrobatics skill:

Quote:

In addition, you can move through a threatened square without provoking an attack of opportunity from an enemy by using Acrobatics.

(Irrelevant sentences omitted for brevity)
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.

I guess I should have been clear that my house rule is supposed to replace this ridiculous rule - I don't think it makes sense that a trained combatant (or even an untrained one) can only move 5' in six seconds, requiring an acrobatics check in the process.

My version adds the same difficulty, but allows you to do everything (except jump) that you could do if you started on your feet instead of prone (e.g. moving half your movement rate as a move action). This matches (as a simplified game mechanic) the basic tumbling skills that any white belt in Aikido, Judo, or Jujitsu can manage.

Basically, if you can start on your feet, tumble 15' through threatened squares and end on your feet, all in one move action, then you can do the exact same thing if you start from prone but it adds +5 to the DC.


Xaratherus wrote:
Oladon wrote:
Just as a point of order, the DC for tumbling through a threatened square is not opponent's CMD +5 (much less "highest" CMD). The +5 is if you're moving through the opponent's space, as in, the squares he's occupying.
While I agree that the highest CMD is an alteration (it would be the CMD of the creature through whose square you're moving, normally), I don't see a real semantic difference between "moving through an opponent's square" and "moving through an opponent's space" (although I admit that the table and text use that term); even if you tumble through the space - the four squares - occupied by a large creature, you only provoke once from each threatening foe because you can only provoke once for movement.

"Opponent's threatened space" != "opponent's space". This is the confusion you seem to be having.


Oladon wrote:
Xaratherus wrote:
Oladon wrote:
Just as a point of order, the DC for tumbling through a threatened square is not opponent's CMD +5 (much less "highest" CMD). The +5 is if you're moving through the opponent's space, as in, the squares he's occupying.

[edit]I see. I typo'ed what I meant in the post. My apologies. I meant "through the opponent's square" not "through the opponent's threatened square".

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