You can deftly move up to a foe, strike, and withdraw before he can react.
Prerequisites: Dex 13, Dodge, Mobility, base attack bonus +4.
Benefit: As a full-round action, you can move up to your speed and make a single melee attack without provoking any attacks of opportunity from the target of your attack. You can move both before and after the attack, but you must move at least 10 feet before the attack and the total distance that you move cannot be greater than your speed. You cannot use this ability to attack a foe that is adjacent to you at the start of your turn.
Normal: You cannot move before and after an attack.
So here is my question...
Say my character starts with 1 square between him and a foe, and is using a reach weapon. I need to move 10 feet before attacking. Can I move 5 feet away from the enemy, then 5 feet right back to my starting square (moving 10 feet in total), and then attack from my starting square?
I agree that this sounds a little cheesy, but I cannot find anything online or in the rules that state that the 10 feet of movement must be toward the target, such as is mentioned with a charge (that the movement must be in a straight line, and must be to the closest square from which an attack can be mounted).
Or how about if there is a pillar between A and the foe? Can A move around the pillar to get into position before attacking?
It's just that everything I can find that is actually written about Spring Attack just says "must move 10 feet before attack", and does not specify whether that 10 feet must be toward the target, or can be around a corner, or away from the target, or anything else. It just says "must move 10 feet". I don't think this is an oversight, as the charge rules were much more specific about allowable movement.
