First round of combat, Initiative and Attacks of Opportunity

[Devastation Bob]

Monster A and Hero B begin an encounter, there's no suprise and Monster A has higher initiative. Hero B has a reach weapon. If Monster A moves to attack B, does B get an attack of opportunity even though he hasn't acted yet?

[Skeld]

I've always gone by this:

Quote:

Flat-Footed

A character who has not yet acted during a combat is flat-footed, unable to react normally to the situation. A flat-footed character loses his Dexterity bonus to AC and Combat Maneuver Defense (CMD) (if any) and cannot make attacks of opportunity, unless he has the Combat Reflexes feat or Uncanny Dodge class ability.

Characters with Uncanny Dodge retain their Dexterity bonus to their AC and can make attacks of opportunity before they have acted in the first round of combat.

I admit that I'm very sloppy in how I handle it though.

-Skeld

[The Human Diversion]

Devastation Bob wrote:

Monster A and Hero B begin an encounter, there's no suprise and Monster A has higher initiative. Hero B has a reach weapon. If Monster A moves to attack B, does B get an attack of opportunity even though he hasn't acted yet?

The answer: it depends

Hero B will only get an attack of opportunity if he has combat reflexes and the monster moves through a threatened square.

[Joe M.]

Skeld is correct. You're flat footed until your first turn, so you can't make AOOs.

But since any good reach combatant has Combat Reflexes, which lets you AOO while flat-footed, you should be fine in this situation. :-)

[Gwen Smith]

Most people forget about Uncanny Dodge, which is really important since most barbarians and bloodragers get it at level 2. A character with Uncanny Dodge "cannot be caught flat-footed, even if the attacker is invisible."

[Skeld]

OP didn't mention Combat Reflexes, so I didn't want to assume the player had it. ;)

-Skeld

[Devastation Bob]

Thanks everyone, that was a big help!