Attacks of opportunity happen before the action that triggered them. Therefore, the AoO occurs before you stand, and are still prone.
From the FAQ: (It is specifically about trip, but it answers this question as well.)
Trip: When a prone character stands up and provokes an attack of opportunity, can I use that attack to trip the character again?
No. The attack of opportunity is triggered before the action that triggered it is resolved. In this case, the target is still prone when the attack of opportunity occurs (and you get the normal bonuses when making such an attack). Since the trip combat maneuver does not prevent the target's action, the target then stands up.
Jeraa is correct. AoOs resolve before the action that triggered them.
It's not time-traveling. It's a necessary compromise so we can break down the rules and adjudicate them fairly and consistently. Absolutely nothing in real life gets segmented in nice ordered turns, where you patiently stand there while 3 other people bash you with weapons and another fires off a magic missile at you, then while they step back and you get your turn to bash one or more of them...
I just ... absolutely none of it makes sense if you look at it in a way that expects the game to mirror reality.
/rant
Do you also feel that attacks of opportunity forcing concentration checks to complete a spell is time travel? This seems to be the same idea. The stander is in the process of standing, so we have to decide whether they're closer to standing or not. As it turns out, you're more vulnerable when you're closer to the ground. So it makes sense that's when you provoke.
As an added bonus, this prevents trip-locking.
Why do you say it's before you start standing? I see it being called out as before you resolve (i.e. finish) standing, but I see no reason to conclude it's before you've begun.
Crimeo, if you have a problem with how the rules work and want them to work in a more "realistic" way from your point of view, take it to the houserule forums.
AoOs for spellcasting use the same language as for standing. From the rules for concentration, "The interrupting event strikes during spellcasting if it comes between the time you started and the time you complete a spell (for a spell with a casting time of 1 full round or more) or if it comes in response to your casting the spell (such as an attack of opportunity provoked by the spell or a contingent attack, such as a readied action)."
If the AoO is during casting, it's during standing, so there's no time travel issue.
It doesn't matter how you justify it, it's clearly how the rules work. The AoO is resolved before the action that triggered it. Call it time travel, it's irrelevant how you decide to justify it.
Back to the original poster's question, yes, you are still prone when you provoke the attack of opportunity so you take the penalties like -4 to AC and such.
The good news is that since you are already prone, you cannot be made to fall prone so you will be able to stand at that time.
If it was not so, then you could be tripped as you stood up and could face an endless loop of being knocked prone by something such as a wolf.
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Back to the original poster's question, yes, you are still prone when you provoke the attack of opportunity so you take the penalties like -4 to AC and such.
The good news is that since you are already prone, you cannot be made to fall prone so you will be able to stand at that time.
If it was not so, then you could be tripped as you stood up and could face an endless loop of being knocked prone by something such as a wolf.
Welcome to the ugly world of the triplock, which the FAQ was specifically added to remove.
Of course, that doesn't prevent some of the uglier combat maneuver combos out there, such as the Greater Trip/Improved Disarm/Combat Reflexes scenario.
Trip, which provokes an AoO
Disarm - target is now prone and weaponless, possibly even totally empty-handed.
At which point, you get your iteratives, if any, against the lower AC of the prone target.
Then they provoke standing up.
And provoke if they need to pick up their fallen weapon. (Always have at least one backup weapon, if you use weapons)
Which is a longer way to get a triplock, but possible.
I would prefer not to have to do that, but I don't know how to fix it, it would be too big of a mess at this point for one guy to rewrite confidently. And readied actions are too interesting of a tactical element to make such an immersion detail worth banning them IMO.
The fix is trivial. Stop narrating it as a time travel function. The rules define the mechanics only. You can narrate it however you want to explain those mechanics. The narration for this one is easy:
Creature is prone.You see it roll over onto its stomach and put its hands beneath it.
This is a perfect time to take an AoO.
Has it stood up yet? No.
Is it clear that it is going to try and stand up? Yes.
Did this narrative explanation require any warping of time? No.
JB explained in a post (somewhere around here) why AoO's and readied actions go before the triggering action - it is simply because there is no 'middle of another characters action' rule, and explaining that mechanically would be much more complicated than the simple rule of stating it goes before the triggering action.
Welcome to the ugly world of the triplock, which the FAQ was specifically added to remove.
The FAQ did not remove the trip lock possibility, it never existed. The FAQ just explains why it never existed.
I would prefer not to have to do that, but I don't know how to fix it, it would be too big of a mess at this point for one guy to rewrite confidently. And readied actions are too interesting of a tactical element to make such an immersion detail worth banning them IMO.The fix is trivial. Stop narrating it as a time travel function. The rules define the mechanics only. You can narrate it however you want to explain those mechanics. The narration for this one is easy:
Creature is prone.
You see it roll over onto its stomach and put its hands beneath it.
This is a perfect time to take an AoO.
Has it stood up yet? No.
Is it clear that it is going to try and stand up? Yes.
Did this narrative explanation require any warping of time? No.JB explained in a post (somewhere around here) why AoO's and readied actions go before the triggering action - it is simply because there is no 'middle of another characters action' rule, and explaining that mechanically would be much more complicated than the simple rule of stating it goes before the triggering action.
Why would anyone need to roll over and do a push up?
Just jump up weith your feet: I do it in real life all the time. Rolling over takes more time then just getting up quickly. Now, maybe if you are overweight or less trained in the Ninja* arts you can't but that is just a theory.
*I've practiced being a ninja fake like so much. People sometimes have no idea I'm walking behind them or beside them unless I want to be seen. The jumping to my feet thing as well took practice, but I saw it on tv and wanted to do it too.
@Starbuck_II - Is there a way to stand up without provoking? Yes. Both logically and in Pathfinder (there is a rogue talent and a swashbuckler ability). But both require special training that are not available to everybody, just how not everybody can jump strait up to their feet without their hands. I hope that helps you apply logic to the rules.
The action occurs before the action that triggers it is 'resolved', not before it begins to occur.Those (bolded) added words do not exist in the book in the relevant location to interrupts. Apparently they do in the FAQ. Again, if you want to treat the FAQ as an errata as to the timeline in the book, and give precedence to that new timeline, then okay. I'm not actually sure which is officially supposed to take precedence when they disagree, it might be FAQs.
AoOs for spellcasting use the same language as for standing. From the rules for concentration, "The interrupting event strikes during spellcasting if it comes between the time you started and the time you complete a spell (for a spell with a casting time of 1 full round or more) or if it comes in response to your casting the spell (such as an attack of opportunity provoked by the spell or a contingent attack, such as a readied action)."In that case, it is not time traveling in the first example quoted ('1 full round or more' length spells), but it is in the second, because "as a readied action" refers you to the readied action text, which says "The action occurs before the action that triggers it." <--with a period.
So at best, we have:
* Getting up from prone -- realistic timeline, by special FAQ decree.
* Concentration check happening during a 1 full round or longer spell -- realistic timeline.
* Concentration check in response to casting a spell -- time traveling
* Readied actions in general -- time traveling
I've thought about this as well. A potential fix (though hard to implement) is to assign 'action times' to everything, i.e. standard actions take, say, four initiative counts to complete...
so you start casting at 17, continue casting through 18, 19 and complete on twenty.
If someone attacks with a dagger (action time 1 or 2, perhaps), they can strike within that window...
Actual implementation isn't something I have seriously considered, but the 'time travel' aspect of readied actions has always kind of rubbed me the wrong way.