There are two common methods of avoiding such an attack—the 5-foot step and the withdraw action. Some actions, when performed in a threatened square, provoke attacks of opportunity as you divert your attention from the battle. Actions in Combat notes many of the actions that provoke attacks of opportunity.
When does a combatant let her guard down?
Sometimes a combatant in a melee lets her guard down. In this case, combatants near her can take advantage of her lapse in defense to attack her for free. These free attacks are called attacks of opportunity. You threaten all squares into which you can make a melee attack, even when it is not your action.
What happens when you take action in combat?
Most spells do have a casting time of 1 action, so a spellcaster often uses his or her action in combat to cast such a spell. When you take the Dash action, you gain extra movement for the current turn. The increase equals your speed, after applying any modifiers.
Can a creature make an attack of opportunity?
An enemy that takes certain actions while in a threatened square provokes an attack of opportunity from you. If you’re unarmed, you don’t normally threaten any squares and thus can’t make attacks of opportunity. Most creatures of Medium or smaller size have a reach of only 5 feet.
When does an opportunity attack become impossible to complete?
If the interrupted action becomes impossible to complete, for example, if the opportunity attack reduces the enemy to 0 hit points, the interrupted action is lost. A character can take any number of opportunity actions per round, but no more than one opportunity action during each other combatant’s turn.
Can a non-creature provoke an opportunity attack?
When you’re adjacent to an enemy, that enemy can’t move past you or use a ranged power or an area power without putting itself in danger by allowing you to take an opportunity attack against it. Per the FAQ for Player’s Handbook 2, non-creatures (such as the shaman spirit companion) do not provoke opportunity attacks.
What does threat mean in attack of opportunity?
You threaten all squares into which you can make a melee attack, even when it is not your action. Generally, that means everything in all squares adjacent to your space (including diagonally). An enemy that takes certain actions while in a threatened square provokes an attack of opportunity from you.
