So, I have a monk with Boots of Levitation, and of course it's causing me no end of headaches because he wants to use them in ways never intended by the original spell.
Question 1: If you are using a Move action to Levitate yourself, can you also use Acrobatics to avoid Attacks of Opportunity from this movement?
My gut answer is, "No," because it's like having a rope attached to the back of your neck and being pulled upwards. You don't have a vertical "movement speed" and you're not moving; you're being moved. But I'm open to counterarguments. My feeling is that no matter how dodgy you are, if someone dangles you from the end of a rope you're a pinata.
Question 2: If you have forward momentum, do you retain it?
The monk has a ludicrous speed of around 80, so he wants to turn Levitate into a poor man's Fly. I was initially OK with this, but it's turned into an every-session headache as he argues that he can angle himself diagonally and upwards to move above and behind enemies indoors... right between the reach of their weapons and that 15' ceiling, angling himself perfectly up there... for no particular reason. And if Levitate preserves momentum and has no "dampeners" on horizontal movement, it seems like Levitating in a strong breeze would be... unwise.
In short, the more I allow, the sillier his arguments become as to what I should allow. He's thinking full Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-style wire-fighting. I'm thinking, "The wires can pull you up, and down. And that's it. Have fun with that."
Opinions, arguments, and inevitable sidetracks are all welcome.
2 is easy. No your momentum does not keep you moving because you have to stop moving, then use an action to activate the boots to levitate. Since you can't use them during a move action, your movement (i.e. momentum) has ended, so you have no forward momentum to harness. Doesn't work for "other creature" since it happens on your turn, so they are not moving any longer.
I would say no to the first as well. Since he has nothing to move against he can dodge out of the way. The spell already takes this into account due to the penalties for attacking.
1: Yes actually. Directing the levitation is a move action, you can make acro checks as part of a move action. Specifically moving through threatened squares is possible with a successful acro check and reduces you to half speed (10 ft of vertical movement in this case since the max for levitation is 20').
2:No. There is no conservation of momentum in pathfinder, each move action is completely separate from every other move action. Your monk can move 80' one turn, then on the next turn he can use his move action to levitate straight up or down to a max of 20 absolute feet of levitation. (There is a sort of exception if you end your turn 564'+ in the air and are not flying/levitating in a blog post somewhere, but in that case you continue to fall on the next turn).
1: Yes actually. Directing the levitation is a move action, you can make acro checks as part of a move action. Specifically moving through threatened squares is possible with a successful acro check and reduces you to half speed (10 ft of vertical movement in this case since the max for levitation is 20').
...puts on Rules Lawyer hat and prepares to duck and cover...
In addition, you can move through a threatened square without provoking an attack of opportunity from an enemy by using Acrobatics.
.
It doesn't say, "As part of a move action," it says, "You can move."
Directing Levitate isn't "movement", it's "concentrating". The result happens to be that whatever you're levitating (which in this case is you) moves...
Yes, I'm splitting hairs here... but getting two conflicting answers in the first two posts means hairs must be split...
[Insert terrible barber joke here]
Initiating gratuitous pat on the back.
If you're not 'moving' then you're not provoking AoOs anyways.
LOL. Fair enough. If I'm going to 'rules lawyer', I deserve that one...
[Insert terrible barber joke here]
Initiating gratuitous pat on the back.
FIVE POSTS?!?!?
You gave me FIVE POSTS?!?!?!
What are you, like TL and you follow me around the boards?!?!
Shoo! Shoo!