Question about Reach and AoO

[jahvul]

Hello quick question for the board

Say if a monster like an ogre has 10' reach when you move up to engage him in combat does he get an attack of opportunity before you even reach him?

Basically I am looking for some explanation on how AoO and reach work together. Thank you!

[Nicos]

Yes. Unless you have a way to avoid provoking when moving, or you only movey 5ft you will provoke an AoO from the ogre.

[Sniggevert]

Yes. Leaving the square the ogre threatens at 5'~10' away from him provokes an AoO, same as if you left a square he threatened that was right next to him. The AoO interrupts the provoking action, so say if he tripped you when you tried to leave that square you would wind up prone and 5' away from the ogre, unable to attack him yourself (without reach).

[DM_Blake]

Yes.

But not because you move next to him, but rather, because you leave a square he threatens (which is always the rule for movement provoking an AoO regardless of reach).

So to draw a lame text example:

.

Y
.
.
.
R
A
O

(Y = you, O = Ogre, A = Adjacent to the ogre, R = Ogre's 10' reach)

The ogre is 30' away. You want to move next to him (space A). So you use your move action to move to that space and your standard action to stab the ogre with your longsword. But, you must move through space R where the ogre can hit you with his 10' reach.

Moving into R does not provoke, and neither does moving into A (moving into squares never provokes). However, moving out of R DOES provoke because the ogre threatens that square and you are moving out of it.

Hope that clears it up.

[jahvul]

Ah ok thanks everyone that helps a lot. This would seem to make reach weapons for PCS quite handy then as well.

[James Risner]

jahvul wrote:

ogre has 10' reach when you move up to engage him in combat does he get an attack of opportunity before you even reach him?

Note that 3.5 had an exemption to the diagonal rule in reach, which was removed in Pathfinder.

This has the implication of making Large enemies not be able to attack the four corners of their 10 ft reach area. This leaves a hole you can advance them without taking an AoO. Well, if you GM interpretation this omitting that way.

[Bad Sintax]

I'm pretty sure Sean K. Reynolds said you do get the AoO if you come in on the diagonal with reach weapons. So reach weapons have the contradictory qualities of not threatening the diagonal corners, however, if you are approached or charged on the diagonal, without a 5' step, you get an AoO.

[blahpers]

Correct. You can't game the grid via diagonal approach. RAW doesn't actually support getting the AoO that way, but RAI indisputably does.

[Samasboy1]

Here is Sean stating you can't use diagonal movement to prevent the AoO from Large creatures

[Gauss]

Here is the 3.5 exception poll showing 89.6% of people polled use the 3.5 exception. :)

- Gauss