just looking for official paizo ruling here- standard action as an attack of opportunity

[themantheycallcris]

We ran into what seemed to us as an unclear area of the rules.

A character provoked an Attack of Opportunity. The baddie had this:

Grave Touch (Sp): As a standard action, you can make a melee touch attack that causes a living creature to become shaken for a number of rounds equal to 1/2 your wizard level (minimum 1). If you touch a shaken creature with this ability, it becomes frightened for 1 round if it has fewer Hit Dice than your wizard level. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier.

Can Grave Touch be used as an Attack of Opportunity? We had three basic interpretations at the table, not sure which of the three (if any) was correct...

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1) One interpretation of the rules was since it says you can "make a melee touch attack", and an Attack of Opportunity is a melee attack, it was ok to use as an attack of opportunity.

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2) Another interpretation was that because it's a spell like ability, it cannot be used as an Attack of Opportunity.

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3) Yet another interpretation was that it could not be used as an Attack of Opportunity because it is "As a standard action". Attack of Opportunity does not allow a "standard action" per se, but only specifically a plain ol' melee attack.
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We were able to deal with reasoning and table decisions. What I'm looking for here is an official Paizo position on this.

I've done a lot of searching and cannot find anything from Paizo that clarifies this. Please let me know if you have somewhere that Paizo does clarify.

Thanks!

[Orfamay Quest]

I don't believe there is an official statement, and I doubt you're going to get one. House rule and moce on.

By the way, argument #1 is obviously fallacious.

An AoO is a melee attack
A Grave Touch is a melee attack
Therefore, a Grave Touch is an Attack of Opportunity

... was well-known to the ancients as the Fallacy of the Excluded Middle.

[Mathwei ap Niall]

Standard actions can only be done on the characters turn and since Grave touch is a standard action it can't be done as an AoO.

Option 3 is the only legal choice.

[Bob Bob Bob]

...what's to argue?

PRD wrote:

Making an Attack of Opportunity: An attack of opportunity is a single melee attack...

From the PRD. It's a single melee attack, not any standard action. You can substitute combat maneuvers that replace a melee attack. You can be holding the charge and attack with a spell (because that's considered a melee attack you threaten with). Anything with a melee touch attack can also use that (provided it threatens so it can actually take the AoO). But if the power requires you to activate it, no. You can't take any actions outside of your turn except free and immediate (or have some exception, but I don't know any).

[Starglim]

An attack of opportunity is a melee attack, not any standard action.

This is not at all unclear or new. Putting "looking for official paizo ruling" in your thread title does nothing except to make it less likely anyone will answer your question (Paizo won't and other members might reasonably think you have no interest in their opinion).

This can work (and I've seen it work a couple of times) if the character uses a touch attack ability on his turn, misses or doesn't take the touch attack and holds the charge. He threatens and can take an AoO with the held charge.

[The Archive]

For even more clarity:

PRD wrote:

Some combat maneuvers substitute for a melee attack, not an action. As melee attacks, they can be used once in an attack or charge action, one or more times in a full-attack action, or even as an attack of opportunity. Others are used as a separate action.

Grave Touch having a separate, specified action is ineligible for use for an AoO; it is not a melee attack. Now, if we're talking about a lich or something else with a natural touch attack, that's a different story. In that case, the touch attack has no separate action and could be used.

[Magda Luckbender]

If the rules did allow any sort of action, even a free action, on an Attack of Opportunity, there are at least 100 exploits players will jump all over. For starters, Barbarians with Combat Reflexes would like to activate Rage on their AoO, as a Free Action. Seems one can't even do that.

Had the foe activated the ability the previous standard action it might still be holding the charge, in which case this might work. Comments?

[Diego Rossi]

To reiterate what has already been said:

1) Activating the power is a standard action, so you can activate it only when you have a standard action available. So, normally, during your turn.
It can't be activate while using a AoO.

2) You don't threaten with a weapon that you aren't wielding. So you can't say "I get a AoO, I activate my weapon and take it" (the touch).
You should take the AoO with a weapon that was already threatening the enemy.

3) It is a SP ability, so you can activate it during your turn, miss with the attack or not use it and held the charge.
In that situation you are threatening with it and you can use it in a AoO.

[Nefreet]

And, to re-reiterate, in a public forum it's considered bad etiquette to only ask for "official" answers, or that only employees respond to your query. Repeating that request multiple times just makes things worse. It:

1) sends the message that you don't care what other posters have to say, regardless of their level of experience (most employees were posters at one time, and some posters have more experience than employees!),

2) assumes that your question is more important than questions that aren't seeking "official" answers,

3) assumes the question is a grey area, when (in most cases) it's already been answered multiple times before. These forums aren't new, and there is a "search" feature.

Since this is the Rules Forum, and not the Advice Forum or the Homebrew Forum, people will do their best to provide you with appropriate answers to your questions. And if a poster responds with a Homebrew answer, you can bet that twice as many others will correct them, as well.

Hope that helps =)

[bbangerter]

Bob Bob Bob wrote:

You can't take any actions outside of your turn except free and immediate (or have some exception, but I don't know any).

Fixed.

Free actions cannot be taken outside of your turn, except where specifically allowed like speaking.

[The Archive]

bbangerter wrote:

Bob Bob Bob wrote:

You can't take any actions outside of your turn except free and immediate (or have some exception, but I don't know any).

Fixed.

Free actions cannot be taken outside of your turn, except where specifically allowed like speaking.

As well as Grab, Trip, Pull, Push and Rock Catching.

[Nefreet]

And reloading a Bow with Snap Shot.

[Bob Bob Bob]

That's why I left it in, and I should have been more clear that I meant the only types of actions you can take outside of your turn are specific free actions that give you an exception and immediate actions.