From the rules it is clear that if a combat maneuver provokes an AoO, then if the attack hits the CMB takes a penalty equal to the damage.
It is not entirely clear if it applies to all attacks (or sources of damage) - can I ready an attack vs somebody trying to maintain a grapple against me? Can I ready magic missile to "interrupt" the enemy that is bullrushing my friend?
Essentially, is it similar to spell-casting in that it can be readied against and makes the spellcasting/maneuvering tougher to do?
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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I think I see the situation:
Under normal circumstances, if Character A tries to disarm Character B, that Disarm action provokes an attack of Opportunity. If Character B takes that AoO, and hits for, say, 10 points,...
Unless otherwise noted, performing a combat maneuver provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of the maneuver. If you are hit by the target, you take the damage normally and apply that amount as a penalty to the attack roll to perform the maneuver.
...then Character A suffers a -10 modifier on his attack roll. (Under the D&D 3.5 rules system, the Disarm maneuver simply fails.)
Your question comes when Character A has the Improved Disarm feat, and so doesn't provoke an Attack of Opportunity. You're asking, if Character B went first in the initiative round and held his action as a readied attack, could he deliver damage to Character A, and could that serve as a penalty to the Disarm attempt, in the same way the damage from the Attack of Opportunity would?
My answer is: he could do damage, but it wouldn't serve as a penalty to Character A's CMB roll.
Here's my reasoning: there are all sorts of ways that Character A could take damage from the Disarm attempt. (Character B could have a fire shield up, or a character adjacent to Character B could be taking an AoO, or the disarm attempt could trigger a contingency spell. Et cetera.) The rules specifically call out the damage from the target's Attack of Opportunity as the source of the CMB penalty. No AoO, no penalty. It's one of the major reasons to take Improved Disarm in the first place.
But consider spellcasting: if the caster casts defensively, he doesn't provoke - but readied actions can still interrupt his casting.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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True, but, the way I justify the rules in my own head, there's an entirely different mechanism and reason going on there. Damage interrupts spellcasting because it messes up the caster's concentration. Combat maneuvers don't need concentration. The Attack of Opportunity that they normally provoke simply gets in their way. That's why other kinds of damage don't mess up the maneuver; grappling somebody with a fire shield hurts, but it doesn't keep you from completing the maneuver. However, if you're not all that trained in grappling, your opponent can use your own inexperience as an opening to damage you, and that does interfere with the maneuver.
As I say, this is all my own interpretation, and not the Word of Bulmahn.
lol, yes, a WoB would be nice - for any number of rules questions :)