Lunge, hover and attacking when flying

[Adjathazar]

Hey all

A few quick questions:
If a creature/character with the feats 'lunge' and 'hover' chooses to attack an opponent from above while flying himself, can he use hover to stay in place above the target at 10 feet distance, and then use lunge to attack his target below, while the target, who has normal size and 5-foor reach, would not be able to retaliate?

Would the situation be any different if the attacker was not a character, but a creature with natural attacks?

If the attacker also had combat reflexes and high dex, would he be granted an AoO for any targets passing under him while hovering?

Could lunge be used with fly-by attack to hinder an enemy AoO when disengaging?

Also, can a flying creature such as a roc, which presumably stand on it's legs when on the ground, only attack using it's bite when 'grounded', or is it assumed that the roc makes a small leap or something, in order to bring its claws into action?

Thanks in advance :-)

[Artoo]

Adjathazar wrote:

Hey all

A few quick questions:
If a creature/character with the feats 'lunge' and 'hover' chooses to attack an opponent from above while flying himself, can he use hover to stay in place above the target at 10 feet distance, and then use lunge to attack his target below, while the target, who has normal size and 5-foor reach, would not be able to retaliate?

Would the situation be any different if the attacker was not a character, but a creature with natural attacks?

Yes to both. I might rule that the player being attacked could ready an action to hit the attacker, but strictly speaking that wouldn't work.

Adjathazar wrote:

If the attacker also had combat reflexes and high dex, would he be granted an AoO for any targets passing under him while hovering?

No. Lunge increases your reach until the end of your turn. So they wouldn't have the extra reach from it during other character's turns.

Adjathazar wrote:

Could lunge be used with fly-by attack to hinder an enemy AoO when disengaging?

Seems reasonable, I don't see any reason those two feats wouldn't work together.

Adjathazar wrote:

Also, can a flying creature such as a roc, which presumably stand on it's legs when on the ground, only attack using it's bite when 'grounded', or is it assumed that the roc makes a small leap or something, in order to bring its claws into action?

The Roc can still attack with it's talons even when it isn't flying, you can flavor that any way you like.

[Solusek]

Quote:

The Roc can still attack with it's talons even when it isn't flying, you can flavor that any way you like.

I like to pretend that it has martial arts training and is doing spinning talon kicks.

[Bizbag]

This is how they do it.

[Sealbreaker]

I would also probably argue that attacking an enemy like that gives you the advantage of higher ground.

[Zaister]

Artoo wrote:

Yes to both. I might rule that the player being attacked could ready an action to hit the attacker, but strictly speaking that wouldn't work.

Actually, the Strike Back feat allows you to do just that. So without the feat, you should not be able to do that.