[RPG] How to know which attack a creature would use for an opportunity attack

attackdnd-5emonstersopportunity-attackreactions

Take for example a Ruffian CR 1/2 creature, he has a Multiattack Action of 2 Shortswords both with a reach of 5 ft so when something provokes an Opportunity Attack against it, it is obvious that the Ruffian will take one Shortsword attack on the provoking creature because he only has one type of attack.

But, what about an Adult Dragon with a more complicated Multiattack Action of 1 Bite, 10 ft range that deal 2d10 + Str; and 2 Claws, 5 ft range that deal 2d6 + Str? In addition to the Multiattack, the Dragon also has a Tail attack with a range of 15 ft and deals 2d8+Str.

So, how do I know which attack to use?

Does a creature provoke an Opportunity Attack when it moves 10 ft away? (i.e. Bite)
Or does it provoke an Opportunity Attack when it moves 5 ft away? (i.e. Claw)

Best Answer

PHB p.195

You can make an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach. To make the opportunity attack, you use your reaction to make one melee attack against the provoking creature.

MM p.11

MULTIATTACK

A creature that can make multiple attacks on its turn has the Multiattack ability. A creature can't use Multiattack when making an opportunity attack, which must be a single melee attack.

There are 2 possible interpretations:

A creature's reach is a singular thing defined by the reach of its furthest melee attack capability, or
Each and every melee attack capability grants the creature a reach; a creature has as many reaches as it has melee attack types.

Option 1

Your ruffian, whose longest melee reach is 5 feet (shortsword), if you move from within 5 feet to outside 5 feet without using the Disengage action, he can attack you with 1 shortsword if he has his reaction available.

For your dragon, whose longest melee reach is 15 feet, if you move from within 15 feet to outside 15 feet without using the Disengage action, he can attack you with 1 tail attack (the only one that will reach), if he has his reaction available.

Option 2

For the ruffian, this interpretation makes no difference.

For the dragon, it has 3 reaches - Claws 5 feet, Bite 10 feet and Tail 15 feet. If it has a reaction available and you move:

From 5 feet to 10 feet, it can attack with any one of Claws, Bite and Tail,
From 10 feet to 15 feet, it can attack with any one of Bite and Tail,
From 15 feet to 20 feet, it can attack with its Tail.

As the dragon only has 1 reaction per turn it can only elect to make one of these even if your movement triggers all 3.

It does provoke an attack of opportunity

If the dragon leaves the reach of the creature, then it will provoke an attack of opportunity. Like you said, the action doesn't specifically preclude this.

For further evidence, PHB 292 states that a prone creature has disadvantage on attack rolls. Even if the creature is knocked prone by the wing attack, it can make an attack of opportunity (with disadvantage) against the dragon.

[RPG] Does the Goblin Boss’s Redirect Attack provoke an opportunity attack

Yes, if the second Goblin is not within the Reach of the thing making the opportunity attack

It seems a bit weird, however the criteria for triggering an opportunity attack are:

You are moving out of the reach of a hostile creature
This movement is from one of your Actions, Bonus Actions, Movement or Reaction
You have not taken the Disengage action
You are not Teleporting

For this question we can discount Point 4, as the Goblin Boss can't teleport.

We'll also ignore Disengaging for now.

For Point 2, the movement is by the Goblin Boss' Reaction, which fulfills that criteria

For Point 1, if the swapping with the second Goblin does not cause the Goblin Boss to leave the Reach of any hostile creature, it will not trigger an Opportunity attack. In the diagrams below, the first set of movement will not trigger an opportunity attack, while the second set will.

EG    ->    EB
B           G


EBG   ->    EGB

E - Enemy; 
G - Goblin; 
B - Goblin Boss

Note that wherever the second Goblin is moved from, it does not trigger an Opportunity attack from anything as its movement is forced by the Goblin Boss.

As for using Disengage (via Nimble Escape), it only stops OAs for the rest of your Turn, not the entire Round.

So, if someone had Readied an action to hit the Goblin Boss when the Boss did a specific thing, then the Goblin Boss did that thing on the Boss' turn, and in Reaction the Boss used Redirect Attack, that would not trigger an OA, wherever it moved, as it is still the Boss' Turn so Disengage is still in effect. But normally, Disengage would not help for this.

So, how do I know which attack to use?

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[RPG] Does a Dragon’s Wing Attack movement provoke Attacks of Opportunity

It does provoke an attack of opportunity

[RPG] Does the Goblin Boss’s Redirect Attack provoke an opportunity attack

Yes, if the second Goblin is not within the Reach of the thing making the opportunity attack

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