Interrupting a charge with a fatigue stike

[Yaramos]

Hi, all. I ran a game this weekend and the monk in the party threw a brain-twister my way. When an ogre went to charge PC "A" he ran right past PC "B", who got an AoO. PC "B" was a monk, and used his Stunning Fist on the AoO to apply the fatigued condition to the ogre. Now, while fatigued you can't run or charge. This brought up several questions:

• 1) Does becoming fatigued end his charge?
  
• 2) If it does end his charge, can he still attack someone other than his original target if he's in range?
  
• 3) If he doesn't get his attack, is he still considered to have charged and thus take a penalty to his AC?
  

It was ruled at the table that it did indeed end his charge, and he did not take an attack on anyone even though there were 3 other targets in range. I didn't give him the penalty to his AC, however. (Not that it mattered). It did make this particular Ogre a little anti-climactic, as he was destroyed before his next round of attacks could come around. (39-point crit was the deciding factor in this). However, looking at it with some time to reflect he should still have been able to attack someone in range, just as you can switch targets with multiple attacks.

I'd appeciate anyone's input on this. Thanks in advance.

[BigNorseWolf]

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1) Does becoming fatigued end his charge?

I would say yes. If you're doing something and the rules say you can no longer do it you have to stop. you stop flying when you're held, you stop casting at a target if you're blinded, you stop running if you're tripped.

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2) If it does end his charge, can he still attack someone other than his original target if he's in range?

I would say yes so long as he hasn't moved more than his movement speed. If he has exceeded his movement though, no, his charge was turned to a double move.

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3) If he doesn't get his attack, is he still considered to have charged and thus take a penalty to his AC?

I'm inclined to say no, he was forced to slow down so he's no longer charging.

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(39-point crit was the deciding factor in this)

Having the ogres head land in the next county sounds pretty climactic to me.

[Jagyr Ebonwood]

This is how I'd rule it:

If the ogre had already moved his speed or greater before getting smacked, then he has to stop moving in that square. If he hasn't yet moved his full speed, he may continue moving up to his speed (not the speed x2 that charge gives you). In either case, he still gets his attack for the round against an enemy in reach (probably the monk that hit him), but he does not get the +2 attack from charging. If he moved more than his full speed, I'd apply the -2 AC. If he moved equal to or less than his speed, I wouldn't apply it (though in either case I'd apply the penalty when the monk makes his AoO).

The exception to this is if the ogre was already in range of his target when the monk fatigued him. In this case, I'd allow all the normal benefits and drawbacks of charging to apply, since the monk is essentially fatiguing the ogre just as he is delivering the blow that the charge lead up to.

[Yaramos]

BigNorseWolf wrote:

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(39-point crit was the deciding factor in this)

Having the ogres head land in the next county sounds pretty climactic to me.

That was only the first strike, which brought him to just below half. The other attacks before his next turn finished him off. But you're right, I shouldn't just think about it being anti-climactic just because the first shot was a crit and not the last one.

To Jagyr - no, he was 5 feet from being in range of his original target, unfortunately. That was a little snagging point as well - it was the movement getting into range that provoked the AoO. Again, so as to not bog down our time slot I just ruled he was stopped before getting into range.

I agree with what's been posted here, that if he was interrupted prior to his base movement he would still have a standard action left (most likely being used to hit whoever stopped him).

Thanks again for the input!

[The Iron Gnome]

This is an old thread, but I didn't find any other relevant. I ran into the same problem of fatigue interrupting a charge (magus taking an attack of opportunity with the frostbite spell active) and thought to look here for any rulings, then disagreeing with what I saw felt the need to post my 2 cents:

Lets suppose a wizard casts a full round spell while standing next to an ogre, provokes an attack of opportunity, gets hit and fails his concentration check. Since his action was interrupted, would he be allowed to cast a different spell instead, or to move? It seems pretty clear to me that he would not, as this would essentially be taking back his turn.

The core rule book says "Charging is a special full-round action that allows you to move up to twice your speed and attack during the action."
The way I see it, the charging character declared a full round action and then partway through performing the action became incapable of completing it, therefore ending that action.

So from a purely rules standpoint I'd have to say the charging ogre stops his movement in the square where the fatigue hit him. He would still count as having charged gaining the bonuses and penalties for charging, but not get to attack. He could still take a swift action, but not a 5' step (since he charged).

[Diego Rossi]

The Iron Gnome wrote:

So from a purely rules standpoint I'd have to say the charging ogre stops his movement in the square where the fatigue hit him. He would still count as having charged gaining the bonuses and penalties for charging, but not get to attack. He could still take a swift action, but not a 5' step (since he charged).

I would say that it will be stopped in his track and suffer full penalties from charging, but he will still get to make an attack against an enemy in range, without the charge bonus.