Multiple Attack Penalty and Reactions


Rules Discussion

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I'm sure this is answered somewhere and I haven't been able to find it with a quick search, but my group is going to be here a just a few minutes and I can't keep looking. Apologies in advance if this is easily found.

Reactions seem to ignore the MAP, but what about a second strike in one reaction? Does MAP apply normally? I'm assuming it would but I'm not positive.


Quote:
The multiple attack penalty applies only during your turn, so you don’t have to keep track of it if you can perform an Attack of Opportunity or a similar reaction that lets you make a Strike on someone else’s turn.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Thanks. I know that rule. It just seemed a bit much for multiple strikes in one reaction. I'll go with no MAP.

Shadow Lodge

What are your PCs using that allows multiple strikes as a reaction?


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Well, readied action flurry of blows would be multiple strikes in one reaction... but readied actions specifically do have MAP.


Taja the Barbarian wrote:
What are your PCs using that allows multiple strikes as a reaction?

A Fighter with Combat Reflexes gets 2 Attacks of Opportunity.


HammerJack wrote:
Well, readied action flurry of blows would be multiple strikes in one reaction... but readied actions specifically do have MAP.

That's not entirely correct.

Quote:
If you have a multiple attack penalty and your readied action is an attack action, your readied attack takes the multiple attack penalty you had at the time you used Ready. This is one of the few times the multiple attack penalty applies when it’s not your turn.

If you had 0 MAP and readied Flurry of Blows, Hunted Shot, Twin Takedown, etc... You would get 0 MAP on both Strikes.


TomParker wrote:
Thanks. I know that rule. It just seemed a bit much for multiple strikes in one reaction. I'll go with no MAP.

This sounds familiar. You group is playing Age of Ashes book 2 and they're on that gold mine?

We had a similar debate regarding the monster (Vrock) that had such a insanely strong reaction. Turns out it is supposed to work that way, but flying in this edition is way harder (and you can trip flying creatures, to knock them to the floor) since flying creatures need to expend one action to either fly up to their speed or just to hover in place (making them with 2 effective actions, not that though in the end).

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Taja the Barbarian wrote:
What are your PCs using that allows multiple strikes as a reaction?

Nothing. In the case that prompted this question, they have a combat coming up with a Giant Bat.

Bestiary for Giant Bat wrote:
Wing Thrash / Reaction Trigger An adjacent enemy damages the giant bat. Effect The bat makes one or two wing Strikes—one against the triggering creature and one against another adjacent creature.

So if there are two PCs adjacent to the giant bat, it's going to get two separate strikes against two different PCs in a single reaction.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Lightning Raven wrote:
This sounds familiar. You group is playing Age of Ashes book 2 and they're on that gold mine?

Not quite, but same idea. Creature reaction that allows two strikes.


I would say that in the case of Wing Thrash, neither attack would be hindered by MAP. This is because it is a "dedicated" reaction like AoO, which don't suffer from MAP.

A readied Flurry of Blows however would both suffer from any MAP you had when you readied the action, and the second attack would suffer from the MAP generated by the first. If not, you have a case of being able to "waive" a -10 penalty simply by readying an action rather than using it during your turn.

Imagine; a Monk makes a strike, then readies a Flurry of Blows with a trigger of "my turn ends" or something equally silly. If neither attack suffered from further MAP, both attacks would be at -4 (if agile anyway) rather than one at -4 and a second at -8 as they would if those attacks were made during their turn.

This is a huge benefit, especially if they are fighting a foe with a High AC. Forgoing a 4th attack at -8 is worth getting 2 strikes at -4 in that situation, thus justifying the extra action cost of that flurry.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
beowulf99 wrote:
I would say that in the case of Wing Thrash, neither attack would be hindered by MAP. This is because it is a "dedicated" reaction like AoO, which don't suffer from MAP.

Thanks. The more I thought about this, the more I agree. They've stated several times in the CRB that MAP doesn't apply outside your turn. I think they would have called it out in the creature's ability if MAP did apply.

Quote:
A readied Flurry of Blows however would both suffer from any MAP you had when you readied the action, and the second attack would suffer from the MAP generated by the first. If not, you have a case of being able to "waive" a -10 penalty simply by readying an action rather than using it during your turn.

Yeah, a readied action is completely different. Totally agree with this. My original question was unrelated to readied actions, but I probably should have quoted the ability to avoid the tangent.

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