Familiars (and other Tiny creatures) Movement and Attacking

[Markov Spiked Chain]

So I've got this nice Raven familiar, and I'm trying to figure out how the rules for Tiny creatures are supposed to work.

First off, there's a rule that you can never end your movement in the same square as another creature unless they're helpless. There don't seem to be any exceptions to this rule for Tiny or +/-3 Size categories, which only apply for Movement into through a square, not ending your turn. That would mean that Tiny creatures can never attack, though since they only have reach to their own square. So right off the bat, I have no idea how this is supposed to work, or how say a Stirge is ever supposed to be a real encounter.

So let's assume Tiny creatures can end their movement in another creature's square for the rest of the questions. I mostly want to figure out when and how I can get some attacks to Aid Other me for +2 to hit when possible.

My Raven is adjacent to an enemy. He walks into the Enemy's square. Does this provoke 1 or 2 Attacks of Opportunity? I'm assuming one, because one set of movement only provokes once, but could go either way.

Same setup, my Raven 5' steps. I'm assuming no AoO is provoked, since 5' steps never provoke.

Now my Raven is on my shoulder, we're both adjacent to an enemy, and have been the whole round. Can the Raven 5' step in and attack without provoking?

Same shoulder setup, but I move 30' to end adjacent to the enemy. Can the Raven 5' step in?

Now the Raven is in a familiar satchel and I take a move action to retreive him. Can he 5' step in and make a poke?

[SlimGauge]

Here's what some rules say:

rules wrote:

"Ending Your Movement: You can't end your movement in the same square as another creature unless it is helpless."

Ok, we knew about that one.

rules wrote:

"Very Small Creature: A Fine, Diminutive, or Tiny creature can move into or through an occupied square. The creature provokes attacks of opportunity when doing so.

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."

Nothing about remaining in an occupied square. Now some important bits

rules wrote:

"Tiny, Diminutive, and Fine Creatures: Very small creatures take up less than 1 square of space. This means that more than one such creature can fit into a single square. A Tiny creature typically occupies a space only 2-1/2 feet across, so four can fit into a single square. 25 Diminutive creatures or 100 Fine creatures can fit into a single square. Creatures that take up less than 1 square of space typically have a natural reach of 0 feet, meaning they can't reach into adjacent squares. They must enter an opponent's square to attack in melee. This provokes an attack of opportunity from the opponent. You can attack into your own square if you need to, so you can attack such creatures normally. Since they have no natural reach, they do not threaten the squares around them. You can move past them without provoking attacks of opportunity. They also can't flank an enemy."

The way I read all of the above is that a tiny creature must move or step into the square of the creature it is attempting to attack. If they so move, they provoke either for leaving a threatened square (if the creature they're attacking has the usual five foot reach) OR for entering an occupied square (if the creature they're attacking has no reach). I always took the italicized sentence to mean that entering an opponent's square always provokes regardless of how you did it (five-foot step or not) but even if that's not the case, you could only five foot step if you didn't otherwise move. Therefore, you'd USUALLY be moving in, probably using acrobatics as suggested below.

If the creature they're attacking is small or larger, they can't remain in the square after the attack and get bounced out (unless the attack made the defender helpless). If the creature they're attacking is smaller than small (tiny or smaller) they can remain in the square.

If your raven is riding your shoulder, it works kinda like being mounted, except you're the mount.

[Titania, the Summer Queen]

Tiny creatures can share the squares of enemies.

Tiny creatures can not 5 ft step.

Tiny creatures get bonus to acrobatics, use it. Get into the square that way.

Flying tiny creatures may use fly skill in place of acrobatics to move into opponents square.

If the enemy is using a reach weapon. Don't worry about an aoo.

[SlimGauge]

Titania, the Summer Queen wrote:

Tiny creatures can not 5 ft step.

Really ? Where can I find that gem ? I thought any creature with a speed greater than 5 feet who is not in or moving into difficult terrain could five foot step.

Titania, the Summer Queen wrote:

Flying tiny creatures may use fly skill in place of acrobatics to move into opponents square.

I can't find this one either. I'm sure you can FLY acrobatically, but that's not the same thing as substituting a FLY skill check for the Acrobatics skill check to move into/through a threatened area.

[Markov Spiked Chain]

Titania, the Summer Queen wrote:

Tiny creatures can share the squares of enemies.

Tiny creatures can not 5 ft step.

Tiny creatures get bonus to acrobatics, use it. Get into the square that way.

Flying tiny creatures may use fly skill in place of acrobatics to move into opponents square.

I can't see any of these in the rules? Acrobatics doesn't give a size bonus (just jump distance modifier) and I dont' see anything in Fly about letting you use it as Acorbatics?

[Markov Spiked Chain]

Thanks SlimGauge.

When you say "bounced" can they choose which square they bounce into? Does bouncing out provoke? I thought you just couldn't end your move illegally period (but that obviously leads to thing like TIny creatures never being able to attack Small creatures.)

[SlimGauge]

I used the not-a-rule-term "bounced". The rule I'm referring to is

rules wrote:

Accidentally Ending Movement in an Illegal Space: Sometimes a character ends its movement while moving through a space where it's not allowed to stop. When that happens, put your miniature in the last legal position you occupied, or the closest legal position, if there's a legal position that's closer.

So the answer is usually "the last legal position you occupied", i.e. the square you came from. Since you don't "move" there (you simply place your miniature there), there's no provoking for being bounced or shunted out to your last legal position. The rules I quoted for tiny and smaller creatures say they MUST move into the same square to attack, so that must be a case of a specific rule overriding the general rule that you can't end movement in another creature's square.

Tiny characters should invest in spring attack or flyby attack at the earliest opportunity to avoid the whole ball of wax.

[Titania, the Summer Queen]

Sorry bout that. You get a size bonus to fly skill checks. Apparently my GM was allowing fly in place of acrobatics.

Finally, it says finite, diminutive, and tiny creatures can move through or into a square containing someone larger. It doesn't say you have to move out of it at end of turn.

[Cevah]

Entering their square provokes. This cannot be avoided by acrobatics, as that only covers leaving a threatened square, and that is not the source for this AoO.

Not sure of RAW, but I have always thought that if you must enter the square to attack, you can stay there also.

/cevah