Attacks of Opportunity in Holmes Basic (pg 20):
“If combat is broken off, the fleeing party must accept an attack without any return on his part, the attacker adding +2 to his die roll for hit probability, and the armor class of the fleeing party can not include a shield”
and
“A character in melee may withdraw from combat if there is space beside or behind him to withdraw into. His opponent gets a free swing at him as he does so with an attacker bonus of +2 on the die roll, and shields do not count as protection when withdrawing”
and
“If an opposing figure is killed or withdraws, the attacker may advance or pursue immediately — if the player desires — or he may take some other action.”
Left in response to a query on the Rockett Science blog:
http://rockettscience.com/2013/04/13/how-long-have-opportunity-attacks-been-around-in-fantasy-rpgs/
I think it's just about the only situation in which such an attack is okay for me. From what I remember 3e took it way further and you now had attacks whenever someone was "close to you" and not engaged. That way lies madness since you cannot resolve combat cleanly in your head anymore. Just my $0.02 of course.
ReplyDeleteI played 3e for years. The only situation where you would draw an attack of opportunity that would have gotten a free attack (or outright prohibition) in AD&D is the one for reach weapons. That one is totally reasonable.
ReplyDeleteI've never played 3E, so I don't know the actual definition of an AoO - I was just going by what was said in that post.
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