Attacks of Opportunity

[Toadkiller Dog]

I have a question regarding AoOs. If someone moves through the threatened area of a character using a ranged weapon (a bow) and who has spiked gauntlet/cestus/armor spikes, or tries to grapple him, or does something else that would provoke an attack of opportunity, can the archer attack him? I am not sure whether you can attack with a melee weapon in the round in which you attacked with a ranged weapon, so I'd be grateful if someone could offer some insight into this problem.

[Dubiousnessocity]

Toadkiller Dog wrote:

I have a question regarding AoOs. If someone moves through the threatened area of a character using a ranged weapon (a bow) and who has spiked gauntlet/cestus/armor spikes, or tries to grapple him, or does something else that would provoke an attack of opportunity, can the archer attack him? I am not sure whether you can attack with a melee weapon in the round in which you attacked with a ranged weapon, so I'd be grateful if someone could offer some insight into this problem.

id allow it. especially if the archer has a weapon ready to do so like a cestus, or armor spikes.

[Red Wullf]

Toadkiller Dog wrote:

I have a question regarding AoOs. If someone moves through the threatened area of a character using a ranged weapon (a bow) and who has spiked gauntlet/cestus/armor spikes, or tries to grapple him, or does something else that would provoke an attack of opportunity, can the archer attack him? I am not sure whether you can attack with a melee weapon in the round in which you attacked with a ranged weapon, so I'd be grateful if someone could offer some insight into this problem.

With the spiked gauntlet/cestus/armor spikes, sure. Those weapons are "ready" pretty much at all times. However, there's some room to argue whether or not the character can fire a bow while wearing cestus (cesti?).

Cestus Image

Even gauntlets are iffy. I'd like to see someone effectively draw an arrow, knock it, and fire it while wearing these.

Of course, those are all matters of opinion. RAW says nothing, to my knowledge, about wearing these items and using a bow, so they can be used for the AoO.

[james maissen]

Toadkiller Dog wrote:

I have a question regarding AoOs. If someone moves through the threatened area of a character using a ranged weapon (a bow) and who has spiked gauntlet/cestus/armor spikes, or tries to grapple him, or does something else that would provoke an attack of opportunity, can the archer attack him? I am not sure whether you can attack with a melee weapon in the round in which you attacked with a ranged weapon, so I'd be grateful if someone could offer some insight into this problem.

First of all.. nice handle.

Secondly, it doesn't matter what you did in the prior round for purposes of AOOs. You could have full attacked, double moved or attacked with a different weapon, etc.

What matters is can you make an armed attack into that square?

And a character holding a bow in one hand and a spiked gauntlet in the other (or wearing armor spikes, etc) certainly can do so.

-James

[Toadkiller Dog]

Quote:

With the spiked gauntlet/cestus/armor spikes, sure. Those weapons are "ready" pretty much at all times. However, there's some room to argue whether or not the character can fire a bow while wearing cestus (cesti?).

Yeah, I can see how that could be an issue, although that's not the core of this problem. For simplicity's sake, let's just say that the archer has armor spikes.

[karkon]

There was an extensive thread on this subject recently that covered alot of ground but came to no real consensus. But reading it will give you a lot of viewpoints and arguments that will not be covered here.

http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/pathfinder/pathfinderR PG/rules/isThereAnyWayToGetAnAttackOfOpportunityWhileUsingABow

I think it matters what you did last round. If you fired a bow it took two hands to do so. One to hold it and one to grab an arrow and shoot (remember grabbing ammunition is a free action). After doing that you now have a free hand because you are not shooting when it is not your turn. So you could punch someone with your free hand.

If the DM does not buy that then Improved Unarmed attack solves the problem for you (or 1 level of monk) as you get to attack with whatever. Please note in the combat section: Unarmed Attacks: Striking for damage with punches, kicks, and head butts is much like attacking with a melee weapon... So you can hold you bow and kick or head butt if you have improved unarmed attack.

[james maissen]

karkon wrote:

I think it matters what you did last round. If you fired a bow it took two hands to do so. One to hold it and one to grab an arrow and shoot (remember grabbing ammunition is a free action). After doing that you now have a free hand because you are not shooting when it is not your turn. So you could punch someone with your free hand.

It does NOT matter what you did last round... I'm guessing that's what you meant to say.

It does matter what you can currently do without any free actions (say you have a dagger and shortsword in your left and right hands, IUS, armor spikes and a boot knife out.. on your turn you could make an attack with any of these.. thus you threaten with ALL of them... meanwhile even if you could drop that dagger as a free action, quickdraw a handaxe and then attack with it.. that's different).

-James

[The black raven]

You could even use your bow as an improvised weapon. I believe that you can take AoO with improvised weapons too.

Be aware that some GMs (such as mine) will consider it a great way to break your precious bow ;-)