As I understand the 5-Foot Step, it can be taken to move 1 Square while still being able to perform a Full Attack without evoking an Attack of Opportunity. Does this mean that I can still Tumble in order to get the benefit from Acrobatic Strike? Or does the Tumble HAVE to avoid an Attack of Opportunity in order to get the bonus?
[RPG] The 5-Foot Step and Acrobatic Strike
dnd-3.5efeats
Related Solutions
It's reasonably straightforward.
- If Jack provokes an attack of opportunity (which means he didn't make a Tumble check to avoid it), then
- If a guy in the hall chooses to attack Jack (they might not, after seeing the first couple dissolve in a red mist), Jack may choose to attack them, if Jack still has an AoO for the round (Combat Reflexes only gives you up to your DEX bonus).
- If that guy hits Jack, Jack may choose to attack him again, if jack still has an AoO for the round (Combat Reflexes only gives you up to your DEX bonus).
- Repeat.
You never have to take an attack of opportunity, either Jack or his opponents.
This chart may help:
The feat Step Up triggers only versus a 5-ft. Step
Following the link, you'll see that the 5-ft. step is a specific action. Although other actions allow movement of only 5 ft. these don't meet the feat Step Up's conditions as moving only 5 ft. is different from taking a 5-ft. step.
The game provides no rationale
It's unclear in the rules how the character can differentiate between a 5 ft. step and, for example, taking the Withdraw action and only taking 5 ft. of movement, but somehow the character can. The game abstracts much of the character's ability to read the battlefield. If a rationale is necessary to maintain immersion, just say 5-ft. step, because it behaves differently mechanically anyway, obviously looks different to the character, and be done.
Best Answer
Acrobatic Strike is a poorly written feat that does not make any sense.
It requires that you Tumble to avoid an Attack of Opportunity, and gives you a bonus against the foe who otherwise would have made an Attack of Opportunity.
The problem with this is that you do not get to make a Tumble check when an opponent announces his intent to make an Attack of Opportunity; you have to do it before you move. And once you’ve done so, you do not provoke at all, and no one is making any Attacks of Opportunity. The wording of Acrobatic Strike states that you only get the bonus against an opponent from whom you’ve avoided an Attack of Opportunity, but if you never provoked he never got the option to choose whether or not to make one in the first place.
And fixes like assuming that you get the bonus against anyone who you would have provoked from had you not made the check are also awkward. What if a character had Reach you were unaware of, and you would have provoked an Attack of Opportunity but had not realized it? What if you would have provoked, but the target had no Attacks of Opportunity remaining? Or if you’d observed him having made one Attack of Opportunity, but he has Combat Reflexes?
Overall, the feat is poorly designed, and ultimately the effect, however you rule it, is fairly weak. I recommend just not bothering with it at all.
But you can Tumble on a 5-ft. Step, as it is movement, and as long as you hit DC 15 (unless you take a −10 penalty to move at full speed, though, you don’t actually go anywhere), you avoid Attacks of Opportunity. Not that 5-ft. Steps provoke anyway, but that does not seem relevant; Tumble doesn’t have any restriction of that sort, nor does Acrobatic Strike.