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I was invisible, waiting in ambush for some dwarf zombie to happen by me. When it came close enough, I popped and attacked. Then he stopped his movement, and hit me after my attack of opportunity. Then it was my turn and I did my thing then took a 5' step back to draw it out to where the rest of my party could get to it easier. At that point the GM had it attack me. We all responded with "he doesn't get an attack of opportunity" and he just said "I know".
We're only using the core rule book. Is there anything in there that could allow for that? Honestly, I think he just did it because he's always complaining about how 5' step is dumb. It wasn't a readied attack because he'd just used move/attack on his previous turn. I obviously don't know everything there is to know, so that's why I'm asking.
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I was invisible, waiting in ambush for some dwarf zombie to happen by me. When it came close enough, I popped and attacked. Then he stopped his movement, and hit me after my attack of opportunity. Then it was my turn and I did my thing then took a 5' step back to draw it out to where the rest of my party could get to it easier. At that point the GM had it attack me. We all responded with "he doesn't get an attack of opportunity" and he just said "I know".
We're only using the core rule book. Is there anything in there that could allow for that? Honestly, I think he just did it because he's always complaining about how 5' step is dumb. It wasn't a readied attack because he'd just used move/attack on his previous turn. I obviously don't know everything there is to know, so that's why I'm asking.
Ready does the job. Not one I would use for a zombie, but it does the job just fine.
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Ready does the job. Not one I would use for a zombie, but it does the job just fine.I was invisible, waiting in ambush for some dwarf zombie to happen by me. When it came close enough, I popped and attacked. Then he stopped his movement, and hit me after my attack of opportunity. Then it was my turn and I did my thing then took a 5' step back to draw it out to where the rest of my party could get to it easier. At that point the GM had it attack me. We all responded with "he doesn't get an attack of opportunity" and he just said "I know".
We're only using the core rule book. Is there anything in there that could allow for that? Honestly, I think he just did it because he's always complaining about how 5' step is dumb. It wasn't a readied attack because he'd just used move/attack on his previous turn. I obviously don't know everything there is to know, so that's why I'm asking.
How can anything be readied after spending a round of moving then attacking (as stated above)?
The feat step up and strike from the apg.
Just because you're not using other sources doesn't mean your dm isn't.
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How can anything be readied after spending a round of moving then attacking (as stated above)?
I don't think anything allows for this, and he definitely couldn't have readied an action. Your DM has made a house rule that doesn't seem to be popular with the group. I would suggest talking to him about it with the group and, if he decides to keep the house rule, use it against him at every opportunity.
Well Zombies should have the staggered condition, which means a Move OR and Standard action, each round. Not both in the same round. Not all Zombies have staggered, so that may be OK here.
A 5' step cannot provoke attack of opportunity without step up feat, something a Zombie shouldn't have.
A readied action uses your current turn in lieu of taking an action next turn. If your selected action is used this turn you cannot use a readied action for that type next turn. (Zombie moved and attacked = no move slots available for readied action), also, zombies are unintelligent and likely shouldn't get to make such tactical decisions on their own anyways (Not sure on RAW there).
GM should not have attacked you for a 5' step, if he doesn't like 5' steps it should be a clear and consistent house rule that everyone is aware of. (Some mobility monk builds rely on 5' steps to exist at all).
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a) assuming the zombie isn't using a template, it only gets either a move or a standard action each round - so it can't stop and then attack you like it did
b) short of readied actions, which your zombie could not perform given the circumstance, there's no way to get an AOO on a 5ft-stepping enemy purely in core. Even outside of core, there's no way for a zombie to get access to those abilities.
Ask your DM what was going on. He may have some justification for it, but you deserve to be told that justification and judge for yourself whether it was reasonable.
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He can't be readied. It wasn't an aoo.
Your GM is doing something that a lot of GM's tend to do where they don't really describe whats happening and feel that because you're "only" the player that they don't need to explain the rules behind what they're doing.
Some do it as a way of preventing metagaming. I see it as just kind of cheap. Obviously we don't need to, and shouldn't know all the details of a monster right away, but when the interesting quirk comes up they should explain it when asked.
But I think thats what happened. Some kind of unique trait that the GM just didnt explain.
Y'know, I don't necessarily agree. I play with some pretty darned advanced players and frankly the standard monster mashup of DR/SR/Combat Reflexes/AC/resistances/immunity/FH/regeneration just doesn't draw their attention any more.
Gone are the days where the player is in awe because a troll gets back up a minute after it's "killed". "OMFG, what do we do?!?" Gone are the days where a succubus can actually pass itself off as someone a PC might actually want to kiss. No. Now it's all about carrying different weapons for different DR, and having magic circle against evil up to deal with charms and influence spells, and it's all about death ward so heaven-forbid a monster tries to enervate, nothing bad comes of it. Basically, there's no WONDER anymore.
So. Strangely, my monsters occasionally have oddball abilities. Things that bring back the challenge and the wonder. "What?!? I hit him and he got STRONGER? What?!?" Nothing broken, nothing that doesn't feel like it fits the game, but not necessarily something that the players can recite chapter and verse, quoting the source book and page number for.
I'm not saying that's what happened here, but the idea that every monster's abilities should be open-book explained and documented upon encounter doesn't rub me the right way. You roll your knowledge check. You get to know the 1, 2, 3 or maybe 10 things you get to know for the 5, 10, 15, or maybe 50 you exceeded the DC by. That doesn't mean you know everything. Sorry. And some very rare, very juicy BBEG guys don't just rely on the classic defenses. Some zombies do weird stuff, like have vorpal teeth, or are fast zombies or maybe they "touchie-feely zombies" or whatever. It's up to the DM to make combat interesting, not documented.
Final word: there's a complete difference between what I'm talking about and a DM who just hand-waves because they didn't know the rules well enough. That I grant.
Monsters cheat.
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I'll agree, Rushley, but only after the thing is over. Until the characters find out, the players shouldn't know that the reason the critter is acting weird is because of a variant magic item or because it was born under the third moon of the third year of the third king's rule. "I know that's not the way things usually work, but that's what happens" is a fine answer in the interim.
A better answer might be, "Roll Perception - you notice the zombie has some kind of tendrils in the ground that react to your movement before you even realize you had decided. It seems to give him a preternatural awareness." This gives a description and leads the way to investigations. Sometimes the character just doesn't have the awareness to notice the mechanism, though.
Fair enough. Tone matters. I admit I was adding a "Trust me" with a knowing smirk to the DM's response in my head.
If acknowledgement that there's more to the story is all the content you're after then I think we're on the same page. Thanks for clarifying. :-)
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This isn't so much about how my GM responded, just about if there was anything that would allow it to happen in the CRB. I'm fine with it hitting me as long as it wasn't just because of me taking a move (which shouldn't have happened because of the 5' step).
If the creature had some special ability or something that the GM made up or found elsewhere that's fine. I didn't press the issue then because it was in the middle of the scenario and didn't ask about it after because we didn't have time to run through the whole thing so I didn't want to "spoil" the rest of the encounter in case something like this happened again.
Well Zombies should have the staggered condition, which means a Move OR and Standard action, each round. Not both in the same round.
What a zombie can do is charge. Might seem like move and attack from the outside.
About the attacking on 5ft step I don't know.
Within normal game material it doesn't seem possible.
But, the best part of being a GM is that you do not always need to follow the rules the players are limited to. While at times this can seem unfair, it is sometimes necessary to do so challenge a group or create certain situations. However, with great power comes great responsibility. And such things should not be abused or overdone.
In this case, it sounds like you GM simply forgot the rules, or was frustrated and decided to ignore them. As long as it didn't cause major problems later in the encounter I would simply continue along and not worry about it.
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Well Zombies should have the staggered condition, which means a Move OR and Standard action, each round. Not both in the same round.What a zombie can do is charge. Might seem like move and attack from the outside.
It couldn't charge in these circumstances, as it wasn't aware of the (invisible) foe at the start of the move.
He can't be readied. It wasn't an aoo.
Your GM is doing something that a lot of GM's tend to do where they don't really describe whats happening and feel that because you're "only" the player that they don't need to explain the rules behind what they're doing.
Some do it as a way of preventing metagaming. I see it as just kind of cheap. Obviously we don't need to, and shouldn't know all the details of a monster right away, but when the interesting quirk comes up they should explain it when asked.
But I think thats what happened. Some kind of unique trait that the GM just didnt explain.
Y'know, I don't necessarily agree. I play with some pretty darned advanced players and frankly the standard monster mashup of DR/SR/Combat Reflexes/AC/resistances/immunity/FH/regeneration just doesn't draw their attention any more.
Gone are the days where the player is in awe because a troll gets back up a minute after it's "killed". "OMFG, what do we do?!?" Gone are the days where a succubus can actually pass itself off as someone a PC might actually want to kiss. No. Now it's all about carrying different weapons for different DR, and having magic circle against evil up to deal with charms and influence spells, and it's all about death ward so heaven-forbid a monster tries to enervate, nothing bad comes of it. Basically, there's no WONDER anymore.
Those days only exist when you are relatively new to the system. After a while you start to learn the abilities so nothing is a real surprise anymore. That is why I like to use new monsters. :)
The feat step up and strike from the apg.
Just because you're not using other sources doesn't mean your dm isn't.
Plus, the GM can just create custom monsters and custom abilities. This is int he core books.