Pathfinder 2e Opportunity Attacks – Does Hitting an Opponent With an Opportunity Attack Stop Their Movement?

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Disrupting Actions

Various abilities and conditions, such as an Attack of Opportunity, can disrupt an action. When an action is disrupted, you still use the actions or reactions you committed and you still expend any costs, but the action’s effects don’t occur.

I'm confused about the part where it says "the action's effects don't occur".

Attack of Opportunity

Trigger: A creature within your reach uses a manipulate action or a move action, makes a ranged attack, or leaves a square during a move action it’s using.

For example, a creature uses the stride action to move 20ft back. The monk, who was on melee range, gets an attack as soon as the move action is declared (before leaving the square). The monk hits, so "the effects don't occur". My interpretation is that the effect of that action was "moving 20ft back". However, at the same time, it says that "you still use the actions you committed".

Can someone clarify these rules? Thank you.

Best Answer

Opportunity attacks do not stop movement

The Attack of Opportunity rule continues with the following description after the trigger section, for the actual attack:

You lash out at a foe that leaves an opening. Make a melee Strike against the triggering creature. If your attack is a critical hit and the trigger was a manipulate action, you disrupt that action. This Strike doesn’t count toward your multiple attack penalty, and your multiple attack penalty doesn’t apply to this Strike.

You are not automatically disrupting the triggering action with an attack of opportunity, only when it is a critical hit and the action was a manipulate action. But it still is true that an Attack of Opportunity can disrupt an action, in that specific case (as mentioned in the Disrupting Actions section).

A move action is not a manipulate action, so you never can disrupt it with an attack of opportunity, and the Disrupting Action rule never gets invoked, not even if you happen to hit them with a critical hit. You never get to the "the effects don't occur" part, as you are not disrupting the move action in the first place. They can move away unhindered, unless you happen to kill them with your attack.

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