[RPG] Is merely being armed sufficient to threaten an area

dnd-3.5eflankingopportunity-attack

A typical flat-footed creature can't make attacks of opportunity, but does a flat-footed creature still enable allies to benefit from flanking if the creature's appropriately armed? Similarly, does an armed creature still technically threaten a square even if it currently can't make attacks or attacks of opportunity, whether because it's flat-footed, exhausted its attacks of opportunity, petrified, or even dead?

Example

It's the first round of combat. The sinister achaierai goes first, taking a double move that places it adjacent to Bob who conveniently possesses the feat Improved Unarmed Strike. Chris goes next, taking a normal move—while drawing his longspear—that places him in a position to flank with Bob the goofy Acheron-spawned bird-beast. Chris takes a standard action to make a standard attack.

Does Bob's mere armed presence enable Chris to gain the benefits of flanking the achaierai?

enter image description here An achaierai. They're 15 feet tall and arrive in flocks of 5–8.

Best Answer

From the D&D Glossary: threaten:

To be able to attack in melee without moving from your current space. A creature typically threatens all squares within its natural reach, even when it is not its turn to take an action. For a Medium or Small creature this usually includes all squares adjacent to its space. Larger creatures threaten more squares, while smaller creatures may not threaten any squares except their own.

Source: PHB

As long as the creature could make an attack on its own turn, it threatens a square. As an example of when a character could be armed and not threaten an area, during the surprise round, I would argue that a character does not threaten any squares, because they would not have a turn in the initiative order. Similarly, a petrified or dead creature would not normally be able to attack on its turn, and therefore, would not be a threat.

In your example, since this appears to be a standard round of combat (and not the surprise round), and both Bob and Chris are aware of the threat and engaged in combat with it, Bob would provide a flanking bonus.

Hope this helps.