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My GM and I have been trying to find the answer to this with no luck so far.
Does anyone know where is says you can make special attacks like trip, grapple, or bull rush as an Attack of Opportunity?
I've only seen, can find, that it says make an attack not a special attack. I swear I've seen it somewhere but I have not been able to find it again...
(My GM does not allow special attacks for AoO's since he hasn't read it.
Thanks in advance for any input.
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From the SRD:
Making an Attack of Opportunity
An attack of opportunity is a single melee attack, and you can only make one per round. You don’t have to make an attack of opportunity if you don’t want to.
So, an AoO is a melee attack. Let's see which of the attacks you listed (and a couple of others) is also a melee attack.
Trip
You can try to trip an opponent as an unarmed melee attack. You can only trip an opponent who is one size category larger than you, the same size, or smaller.
Looks like Trip fits the bill.
Starting a Grapple
To start a grapple, you need to grab and hold your target. Starting a grapple requires a successful melee attack roll. If you get multiple attacks, you can attempt to start a grapple multiple times (at successively lower base attack bonuses).
Grapple is in.
Bull Rush
You can make a bull rush as a standard action (an attack) or as part of a charge. When you make a bull rush, you attempt to push an opponent straight back instead of damaging him. You can only bull rush an opponent who is one size category larger than you, the same size, or smaller.
Bull Rush is out.
Disarm
As a melee attack, you may attempt to disarm your opponent. If you do so with a weapon, you knock the opponent’s weapon out of his hands and to the ground. If you attempt the disarm while unarmed, you end up with the weapon in your hand.
Disarm = yes.
Sunder
You can use a melee attack with a slashing or bludgeoning weapon to strike a weapon or shield that your opponent is holding. If you’re attempting to sunder a weapon or shield, follow the steps outlined here. (Attacking held objects other than weapons or shields is covered below.)
Sunder is a go.
Contributor
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This is one area of the rules that has always been a bit murky for me... just becasue some of those attacks provoke attacks of opportunity themselves.
So someone moves past you and provokes an attack of opportunity. You respond by trying to trip them, which provokes an attack of opportunity. They hit you with their sword, negating your trip attempt.
It just seems weird to me.
MY gut response has been to not allow special actions that of themselve provoke attacks of opportunity, which means you would need to use improved trip to trip as an AoO. But I know that's not in the RAW.
A: I run past B.
B: I attempt to trip A as an AoO.
A: Well, I attempt to hit B with my sword as an AoO.
How this is resolved:
A moves up to B.
A rolls a full attack bonus attack on B. If he hits, he does damage to B.
B rolls his Trip on A. If he hits, A falls down. If he misses, A completes his normal plan.
Taking the sword hit from an AoO doesn't prevent the trip attempt.
So someone moves past you and provokes an attack of opportunity. You respond by trying to trip them, which provokes an attack of opportunity. They hit you with their sword, negating your trip attempt.
From the FAQ:
" An attack of opportunity is adjudicated just like any other attack, and it is subject to the same rules (including provoking additional attacks of opportunity)."A little further explanation:
"These attacks are performed in a “Last In, First Out” sequence. The last attack of opportunity declared is the first one resolved, with the remaining attacks resolved in reverse order of their declaration, assuming the character can still make the attack."
The example in the Q/A is a fighter trying to trip a cleric (provoking an AoO). The cleric attempts to sunder the fighter's weapon with his free attack (provoking an AoO). So the fighter would take his AoO first.
It's possible that the succesful AoO would ruin the action that provoked it(as in Rambling Scribe's example above). It's also possible to get long AoO "chains" but only if one or more combatants have Combat Reflexes.
How my group has always played it is that if your action for an AoO would draw its own AoO, then you can't do it. This is why you can't do an unarmed attack for an AoO unless you have the Improved Unarmed feat.
I had serious issues with this myself and did some research on it when a player of mine started tripping as his AoO every time. Turned out after looking at it that he can do that. Huh? I say, and allowed it.
But I'll tell you what. Spiked chains, combat reflexes, and improved trip become a killer combo given this situation. :-)
A note on AoO when standing from prone: I've heard it explained that one cannot (successfully) trip an opponent as an AoO when they are standing from a prone position. The logic goes something like this:
The Provoker is prone. The Provoker provokes. The Provoker is still prone when he provokes (he will not be rid of the prone condition until after the provoking action is completed). Thus, when the Provoked makes his AoO, the Provoker is technically still prone, and thus cannot be tripped again.
Now, I don't think damage taken during the move action required to stand causes the action to fail; i.e., you can't fail to stand up because someone smacks you in the process. Thus, trip attempts against a character made standing from prone automatically fail, and simply doing damage to a character standing from prone does not stop him from standing. So, a trip character should be able to get up and take an action of some sort before getting tripped again.
I've heard people argue against this train of thought due to it being "unrealistic" (saying that it makes perfect sense to knock someone back down as they attempt to get up). This may be true, but considering the power of trip attacks, I think that the RAW allows one to stand without fear of being tripped again simply as a matter of balance.
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What you can do when somebody is standing up is you can disarm him with your AoO. Then, when he goes to pick up his weapon (after finishing the action in which he stood up), you trip him again. In between attacks of opportunity, take your regular attacks to damage. Iterate to taste.
BTW, I've not done this, nor have any of my players. But, knowing how it works, I can do it back if necessary. Mutually assured annoyance.
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MY gut response has been to not allow special actions that of themselve provoke attacks of opportunity, which means you would need to use improved trip to trip as an AoO. But I know that's not in the RAW.
How my group has always played it is that if your action for an AoO would draw its own AoO, then you can't do it. This is why you can't do an unarmed attack for an AoO unless you have the Improved Unarmed feat.
That's what my GM does. It does kind of make sense.
Thanks for the replies gang. I appreciate it.
I had serious issues with this myself and did some research on it when a player of mine started tripping as his AoO every time. Turned out after looking at it that he can do that. Huh? I say, and allowed it.
But I'll tell you what. Spiked chains, combat reflexes, and improved trip become a killer combo given this situation. :-)
At low levels yes, very effective. As time goes on the tactic becomes much less effective and the character has spent two, maybe three, feats to pull it off. If your fighting orcs you can trip, if your fighting Owlbears chances are your just going to loose your chain. At higher level if they are not huge and have four legs then they probably can tumble, or teleport, or they have a magic item that negates AoO.
In my game this build was very popular and then one day everyone abandoned it completely as being worthless and a waste of feats. Now it only comes up when I use the build - its very effective even at high levels against PC types if one uses a Hill Giant fighter to do the tripping.