I'm more interested in knowing this for an Order of the Shield Caviler ability. But this question also applies to a Phalanx Fighter.
Here's the ability in question related to the Phalanx:
Ready Pike (Ex)
At 5th level, a phalanx soldier can, once per day, ready a weapon with the brace property as an immediate action, gaining a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls. For every four levels beyond 5th, this bonus increases by +1, and he can use the ability one additional time per day. He cannot use this ability when flat-footed.
It's an immediate action, which means you can declare that you're doing this after the DM says, "Enemy 'A' is charging you." Right?
You still have to declare you're using this ability before the attack roll is called out AFAIK.
Okay, so now the part I'm more interested in knowing about:
Protect the Meek (Ex)
At 15th level, the cavalier can move to intercept foes. As an immediate action, he can move up to his speed (or his mount’s speed, if mounted) and make a single melee attack. This movement provokes attacks of opportunity as normal. The cavalier must end his movement adjacent to an enemy. On his next turn, the cavalier is staggered and cannot use this ability again for 1 round.
So I guess the major key questions I have are:
1) If enemy "A" is charging someone from the group and he uses this ability to move to the side of enemy "A" not in front of him, does it stop the charge regardless?
2) Would the enemy absolutely have to continue the charge?
3) Would it stop the charge completely if the Caviler moved in front of enemy "A"?
4) Would the enemy get to go ahead and use the charge attack on the Caviler?
EDIT:
5) Can I use this at any point during an enemy's charge, or do I have to use this ability before/after the charge movement has commenced?
1) No, simply being attacked while he is charging does not stop your enemy's charge.
2) Probably, if possible. If you tripped him with your melee attack, he obviously couldn't continue the charge
3) Your enemy couldn't continue the charge against the original target, because he no longer has a clear path, but he might alter the target of his charge to YOU who are blocking that charge path.
4) Ask your GM. It may not be absolute RAW, but it makes sense.
5) I think you can use it at any point.
Thanks for the reply!
I'd like to go a little more in depth into question 2.
If I moved off to the side of him, but still within melee range of course, can he alternate his attack to me instead, or would he have to continue the charge?
Also, if he continued the charge, would I get an attack of opportunity?
Designating a target is a free action, so once your turn resumes after being interupted yes you can change targets. As another example, you can change targets several times in a full attack.
AoO, if you threaten a square he leaves then you get one yes
He could always just abandon the remainder of his turn and do nothing, but if he does continue the charge and that movement would provoke an attack of opportunity, there's no reason your cavalier couldn't take it, as you're not staggered until his next turn.
Awesome! Thank you!
So I get the AoO thing, makes perfect sense.
Just to elaborate even further on the switching targets thing though.
Are you allowed to change the target of your charge after you've started the charge?
I could understand someone stepping in front of your charge and you just hitting them instead, but if I move behind the target, I don't see why they would be able to stop mid-charge, turn around and hit me.
And if you're able to change targets mid-charge, that makes the Phalanx Soldier's ability useless if the enemy sees him ready his lance and decides to attack someone else instead.
He could always just abandon the remainder of his turn and do nothing, but if he does continue the charge and that movement would provoke an attack of opportunity, there's no reason your cavalier couldn't take it, as you're not staggered until his next turn.
this is correct as well. he can abandon his plan, but since he has already used a full round action to start a charge he will have no actions left to use, so hed be giving up an attack when he could just use it against the new target
it would be different if he were just taking a move and an attack and was interrupted during the move because then he would still have an unused standard that he could re direct. that's not what you asked about, just thought id point it out
You can't change your charge path once you've started down it. You're limited to a straight line. You can abort the charge entirely and stop (losing the rest of your movement) if, for example, there's an unseen pit along your path (you're not required to plunge into it) or an invisible barrier that you crash into. Most GMs will let you change the target of the charge to the barrier (or if the cavalier interposed himself between the charger and the original target).
However, most probably wouldn't allow the charger to stop mid-charge and attack a different target if he still had a path to his original.
As to the phalax soldier, wait to take your immediate action until the charger is in your weapon range. No reason to tip him off early.
Awesome! Thank you!
So I get the AoO thing, makes perfect sense.
Just to elaborate even further on the switching targets thing though.
Are you allowed to change the target of your charge after you've started the charge?
I could understand someone stepping in front of your charge and you just hitting them instead, but if I move behind the target, I don't see why they would be able to stop mid-charge, turn around and hit me.
And if you're able to change targets mid-charge, that makes the Phalanx Soldier's ability useless if the enemy sees him ready his lance and decides to attack someone else instead.
changing targets is a free action, free actions can be taken at anoy point during your turn. yes you can change targets after you've declared and started the charge. you can not alter the path of the charge unless you have the appropriate feat though, so the new target must be threatened by the original path of the charge
changing targets is a free action, free actions can be taken at anoy point during your turn. yes you can change targets after you've declared and started the charge. you can not alter the path of the charge unless you have the appropriate feat though, so the new target must be threatened by the original path of the chargeAwesome! Thank you!
So I get the AoO thing, makes perfect sense.
Just to elaborate even further on the switching targets thing though.
Are you allowed to change the target of your charge after you've started the charge?
I could understand someone stepping in front of your charge and you just hitting them instead, but if I move behind the target, I don't see why they would be able to stop mid-charge, turn around and hit me.
And if you're able to change targets mid-charge, that makes the Phalanx Soldier's ability useless if the enemy sees him ready his lance and decides to attack someone else instead.
Interesting. Can you show me where I can find this in case my DM asks?
which part?
im having trouble finding the feat I mentioned. it may have been a 3.5 only feat which would render it irrelevant. all that would mean though is that the new target would need to be threatened by the original path of the charge
the rest is pretty self explanatory if you think about a full attack. if yur surrounded by foes you don't have to take all yur attacks on the same enemy, you can attack 1 guy once then change targets and attack the next guy and so on. a full attack isn't broken up into pieces, its simply one full round action same as a charge, but you can change targets pretty much at will
i could try to find something for you to reference if you really need it though
I guess the "Changing targets is a free action" part.
The changing the path of the charge I was almost positive you couldn't do anyway, as it states that in the charge I think.
Also, this occurred to me as I was typing:
If they start the charge, and I move behind them after they've only moved 5ft, they can't end their charge because they haven't started the charge yet, right?
So would they have to continue the charge then? Or would it basically be them stopping their charge to do a 5ft step + Full Attacks?
This would basically be them interrupting their current action to change their mind and do something else after they've committed to it... which, IMO seems kind of cheap.
Or, it might even allow a charging enemy to see that someone has readied a spear and then stop altogether, again, seems cheap because it completely ruins a major class feature.
it looks like the name of the feat that allows you to change direction while charging is Psionic Charge and it was a 3.5 feat, so i guess its inadmissible, my bad.
The rest of what i said is still pretty relevant to your case though. Im not seeing where it states that its a free action to change targets, but theres no other option if you can do it several times during a full attack.
as for blocking their charge at only 5 feet, that's a toughie. im not sure about RAW on this one so id prolly hit the messageboards myself lol. my first instinct would probably be to allow them to choose another way to spend their actions such as taking a full attack as you mentioned, or whatever else they want. continuing the charge would certainly be out of the question though.