| Artificial 20 |
Square Occupied by Creature Three Sizes Larger or Smaller
Any creature can move through a square occupied by a creature three size categories larger than itself.
A big creature can move through a square occupied by a creature three size categories smaller than it is. Creatures moving through squares occupied by other creatures provoke attacks of opportunity from those creatures.
You must have a clear path toward the opponent, and nothing can hinder your movement (such as difficult terrain or obstacles). You must move to the closest space from which you can attack the opponent. If this space is occupied or otherwise blocked, you can't charge. If any line from your starting space to the ending space passes through a square that blocks movement, slows movement, or contains a creature (even an ally), you can't charge. Helpless creatures don't stop a charge.
What is the intended combined behaviour of these rules?
"A big creature can move through a square occupied by a creature three size categories smaller than it is" this part indicates a sufficiently smaller creature cannot block movement any more than a blade of grass.
Movement During a Charge is, obviously, a form of movement, and begins with "You must have a clear path toward the opponent, and nothing can hinder your movement (such as difficult terrain or obstacles)". If this opening line is stating the rule's intent, then a much smaller creature is neither difficult terrain or an obstacle. However, there's a later part saying that "If any line from your starting space to the ending space passes through a square that blocks movement, slows movement, or contains a creature (even an ally), you can't charge". Allies do not normally obstruct movement, so this seems an intended extra restriction.
To put this in a scenario:
- PC1 is standing in the open, total defending.
- Colossal Monster 1 (CM1) is standing a moderate distance from PC1 across open terrain, and on their turn charges them.
- PC2 is invisible, has eluded CM1's perception, and is positioned in CM1's charge lane such that CM1's charge will end with PC2 directly "behind" CM1 (adjacent to CM1, on the opposite side from PC1).
I figure when CM1 charges either:
- PC2 violates the conditions for CM1's charge, causing the charge to fail, I would guess directly in front of the comparatively tiny PC2 that somehow halted CM1's momentum without acting.
- CM1 moves through PC2's space, provoking an attack of opportunity that PC2 can take on any one of the 5-foot increments of movement that are valid AoO targets. If PC2 was an epic trip master somehow able to successfully trip CM1, they would probably wait until the creature no longer overlapped with them before dropping it on its face.
I've presented a situation where a creature will "force the issue", as it doesn't have the knowledge to avoid the move by either avoiding or attacking the intervening character, but I'm generally curious if CM1 could, if sufficiently intelligent, knowingly charge past a row of puny foot soldiers, enduring the AoOs, to attack a VIP target further back.
I'm looking for a rule-based, if possible PFS-robust answer rather than well-meaning but homebrewed suggestions, please :).