I was wondering about some AoO rules when it came to movement. Let's say Wizard stands infront of an enemy npc, can he move around that foe while he stays adjecent to him all the way, like circle around him, or did that provoke AoO.
Or was it so leaving a threatened space did that. If I have Fly spell on, can I 5-ft up and stab him from there? :D
It's whenever you leave a threatened square, not leaving the enemy's threatened area. So running around an enemy but staying within their threatened range does provoke an AoO.
I personally would say you can 5-foot step up (I think of height as being divided into the same 5x5 foot squares as the rest of the map). Of course, if you can still attack your enemy without some form of reach, then I think they can still attack you. I'm not entirely sure if that's how flight is usually run though.
You provoke attacks of opportunity when you leave a threatened square. Moving from one location to another location within an opponent's reach generally means they may make an attack on you. Specifically -- it doesn't matter where you're going, it matters where you're leaving from.
There are exceptions to this. If you perform a 5 foot step, your initial square is not considered threatened. You may attempt to use Acrobatics to tumble through opponents' threatened squares without incurring AoOs. You may use the Withdraw action, with which your initial square is not considered threatened and you may move further than you would with a 5 foot step. You may also prevent opponents from attacking you with AoOs by causing them to no longer threaten, or by claiming Cover or Concealment relative to them.
However, there is a limit on AoOs: An Attack of Opportunity can only be made once for each opportunity. Even if you have Combat Reflexes and could make four AoOs in one round, you can only attack an opponent once for, say, casting a spell from a scroll.
The sum of your movement counts as one opportunity. Your opponent may not make an attack against you every time you leave a threatened square -- just once per round. As many people like to say, once they've attacked you, you may 'dance circles around your enemy' without further risk.
However, some things characters do may count as more opportunities than they seem to be. You probably know that casting a spell provokes an opportunity, and that performing a ranged attack provokes an attack of opportunity; it has been ruled that if a spellcaster casts a spell that includes a ranged touch attack (such as scorching ray), then the casting of the spell counts as an opportunity and the ranged attack counts as a separate opportunity. Yes, if you cast acid splash next to an enemy, he might get to strike you twice for it. You'd better cast defensively -- then he can only attack you for it once!
Flying also merits a comment: To my knowledge, there is no manner of flight in Pathfinder that grants you the ability to ascend without moving at half speed. The fly spell specifically says that you may ascend at half speed. The Fly skill dictates that creatures normally may ascend at a 45-degree angle at half speed, and that creatures may break this rule with a successful Fly check; but the chart only mentions rising at an angle greater than 45-degrees.
Thanks for the info Troubleshooter. While it's all helpful and refreshing to read, it was mostly the whole "Moving inside enemy reach" kinda thing, mostly for tactical purposes like flanking or bullrushing.
To add on the OP, what if a PC leaves a threatened square (thus provoking) leaves the threatened area of an enemy and then reenters a threatened square then leaves that one, would the second one provoke?
All of your movement in a round is considered to be a single opportunity, so each opponent may make only one AoO based on that movement.
Is it all of your movement for the round or just for each move. If a cleric moved up to a target cast a quickened spells then moved again and a giant threatened the square before the casting square and the casting square would it have 2 or three AoOs to make if it had CR and a 16+ dex
Normally, a creature cannot move, cast a spell (even a quickened spell), then move.
There are perhaps some few circumstances where that could happen. If you have Fly-by Attack, then you can take a Standard action that interrupts your Move, then continue the rest of your movement. There also existed a 3.x feat that allowed you to move, cast and move.
Let's assume the cleric is flying with Fly-by Attack so the situation still works. If the creature moved, cast a quickened spell, then moved -- all within a threatened area -- then it would only provoke an attack of opportunity once for movement. Further, quickened spells do not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Moving out of more than one square threatened by the
same opponent in the same round doesn’t count as more
than one opportunity for that opponent. All these attacks
are at your full normal attack bonus
Why can't I take two move actions with a swift or free action in between.
The flyby example is a still one movement I am talking about using both my move action and my standard action to move stopping to cast in between
It's irrelevant. Even if you use two Move actions to move in a turn, you still don't provoke more than once for movement.