One touch options

Combat follows this sequence: Each round represents 6 seconds in the game world; there are 10 rounds in a minute of combat. A round normally allows each character involved in a combat situation to act.

For exceptions, see Attacks of Opportunity and Special Initiative Actions. When the rules refer to a "full round", they usually mean a span of time from a particular initiative count in one round to the same initiative count in the next round. Effects that last a certain number of rounds end just before the same initiative count that they began on. At the start of a battle, each combatant makes an initiative check. An initiative check is a Dexterity check. Each character applies his or her Dexterity modifier to the roll, as well as other modifiers from feats, spells, and other effects.

Characters act in order, counting down from the highest result to the lowest. In every round that follows, the characters act in the same order unless a character takes an action that results in his or her initiative changing; see Special Initiative Actions. If two or more combatants have the same initiative check result, the combatants who are tied act in order of total initiative modifier highest first.

If there is still a tie, the tied characters should roll to determine which one of them goes before the other. At the start of a battle, before you have had a chance to act specifically, before your first regular turn in the initiative orderyou are flat-footed. Barbarians and rogues of high enough level have the uncanny dodge extraordinary ability, which means that they cannot be caught flat-footed. Characters with uncanny dodge retain their Dexterity bonus to their AC and can make attacks of opportunity before they have acted in the first round of combat.

Sometimes all the combatants on a side are aware of their opponents, sometimes none are, and sometimes only some of them are. Sometimes a few combatants on each side are aware and the other combatants on each side are unaware. Determining awareness may call for Perception checks or other checks. If some but not all of the combatants are aware of their opponents, a surprise round happens before regular rounds begin.

In initiative order highest to lowestcombatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take a standard or move action during the surprise round. You can also take free actions during the surprise round. If no one or everyone is surprised, no surprise round occurs. Unaware combatants are flat-footed because they have not acted yet, so they lose any Dexterity bonus to AC.

Source : PRG:GMG Get this book AND support this site! Keeping track of whose turn it is during combat can be complicated. Combat is the most complex part of the game, and the easiest place for a session to bog down.

Anything that helps speed up combat means everyone gets more done and has more opportunities for fun. This can also be a useful place to record PC Perception checks and saves, so that you can make secret checks without asking players for their statistics. Another method is using a larger surface like a cork board, marker board, or dry-erase board to track PC and monster initiative and status.

If positioned so the players can see it as well, this also lets them know when their turns are coming up so they can plan ahead. While it fulfills the same function as a pad of paper, the creature magnets make it easy to adjust initiative order for readied and delayed actions, and saves the GM the time and effort of rewriting all the PC names for every combat.

This section summarizes the statistics that determine success in combat, then details how to use them. An attack roll represents your attempt to strike your opponent on your turn in a round. When you make an attack rollyou roll a d20 and add your attack bonus. Other modifiers may also apply to this roll. A natural 1 the d20 comes up 1 on an attack roll is always a miss. A natural the d20 comes up is always a hit. A natural 20 is also a threat—a possible critical hit see the attack action.

Base attack bonuses increase at different rates for different character classes and creature types. Base attack bonuses gained from different sources, such as when a character is a multiclass character, stack. Your Armor Class AC represents how hard it is for opponents to land a solid, damaging blow on you. Enhancement bonuses apply to your armor to increase the armor bonus it provides. Magical deflection effects ward off attacks and improve your AC.

Dodge bonuses represent actively avoiding blows. Any situation that denies you your Dexterity bonus also denies you dodge bonuses. Wearing armor, however, does not limit these bonuses the way it limits a Dexterity bonus to AC.

Unlike most sorts of bonuses, dodge bonuses stack with each other. You receive a bonus or penalty to your AC based on your size. See Table: Size Modifiers. Some attacks completely disregard armor, including shields and natural armor —the aggressor need only touch a foe for such an attack to take full effect. In these cases, the attacker makes a touch attack roll either ranged or melee. All other modifiers, such as your size modifier, Dexterity modifier, and deflection bonus if any apply normally.

Some creatures have the ability to make incorporeal touch attacks. These attacks bypass solid objects, such as armor and shields, by passing through them. Incorporeal touch attacks work similarly to normal touch attacks except that they also ignore cover bonuses.

Incorporeal touch attacks do not ignore armor bonuses granted by force effects, such as mage armor and bracers of armor. If your attack succeeds, you deal damage.

The type of weapon used determines the amount of damage you deal. If penalties reduce the damage result to less than 1, a hit still deals 1 point of nonlethal damage. When you hit with a melee or thrown weapon, including a sling, add your Strength modifier to the damage result. A Strength penalty, but not a bonus, applies on damage rolls made with a bow that is not a composite bow. When you deal damage with a weapon in your off hand, you add only your Strength bonus.

If you have a Strength penalty, the entire penalty applies. When you deal damage with a weapon that you are wielding two-handed, you add times your Strength bonus Strength penalties are not multiplied. What kind of action is it to remove your hand from a two-handed weapon or re-grab it with both hands?

Both are free actions. For example, a wizard wielding a quarterstaff can let go of the weapon with one hand as a free action, cast a spell as a standard action, and grasp the weapon again with that hand as a free action; this means the wizard is still able to make attacks of opportunity with the weapon which requires using two hands.

As with any free action, the GM may decide a reasonable limit to how many times per round you can release and re-grasp the weapon one release and re-grasp per round is fair. Roll the damage with all modifiers multiple times and total the results. Note : When you multiply damage more than once, each multiplier works off the original, unmultiplied damage.

So if you are asked to double the damage twice, the options result is three times the normal damage. Certain creatures and magical effects can cause temporary or permanent ability damage a reduction to an ability score.

See Injury and Death, for more information. Sometimes a combatant in a melee lets her guard down or takes a reckless action. In this case, combatants near her can take advantage of her lapse in defense to attack her for free. These free attacks are called attacks of opportunity. See the Attacks of Opportunity diagram for an example of how they work.

You threaten all squares into which you can make a melee attack, even when it is not your turn. Generally, that means everything in all squares adjacent to your space including diagonally. An enemy that takes certain actions while in a threatened square provokes an attack of opportunity from you. Most creatures of Medium or smaller size have a reach of only 5 feet. This means that they can make melee attacks only against creatures up to 5 feet 1 square away.

However, Small and Medium creatures wielding reach weapons threaten more squares than a typical creature. In addition, most creatures larger than Medium have a natural reach of 10 feet or more. Two kinds of actions can provoke attacks of opportunity : moving out of a threatened square and performing certain actions within a threatened square.

Moving out of a threatened square usually provokes attacks of opportunity from threatening opponents. There are two common methods of avoiding such an attack—the 5-foot step and the withdraw action. Some actions, when performed in a threatened square, provoke attacks of opportunity as you divert your attention from the battle. Table: Actions in Combat notes many of the actions that provoke attacks of opportunity.

Remember that even actions that normally provoke attacks of opportunity may have exceptions to this rule. An attack of opportunity is a single melee attack, and most characters can only make one per round.

An attack of opportunity "interrupts" the normal flow of actions in the round. If you have the Combat Reflexes feat, you can add your Dexterity modifier to the number of attacks of opportunity you can make in a round. This feat does not let you make more than one attack for a given opportunity, but if the same opponent provokes two attacks of opportunity from you, you could make two separate attacks of opportunity since each one represents a different opportunity.

All these attacks are at your full normal attack bonus. Image created by Marcus Lake and used with permission. No commercial reproductions of this image are permitted. In this combat, the fighter and the sorcerer fight an ogre and his goblin buddy. The first square she leaves is not threatened as a result, and she can thus move touch from the goblin safely, but when she leaves the second square, she provokes an attack of opportunity from the ogre who has 10 feet of reach.

She could instead limit her movement to a 5-foot step, as a free actionand not provoke any attacks of opportunity. Your speed tells you how far you can move in a round and still do something, such as attack or cast a spell. Your speed depends mostly on your size and your armor. Dwarvesgnomesand halflings have a speed of 20 feet 4 squaresor 15 feet 3 squares when wearing medium or heavy armor except for dwarveswho move 20 feet in any armor.

Humanselveshalf-elveshalf-orcsand most humanoid monsters have a speed of 30 feet 6 squaresor 20 feet 4 squares in medium or heavy armor. If you use two move actions in a round sometimes called a "double move" actionyou can move up to double your speed. If you spend the entire round running, you can move up to quadruple your speed or triple if you are in heavy armor.

Generally, when you are subject to an unusual or magical attack, you get a saving throw to avoid or reduce the effect. Like an attack rolla saving throw is a d20 roll plus a bonus based on your class and level see Classesand an associated ability score. These saves measure your ability to stand up to physical punishment or attacks against your vitality and health.

Apply your Constitution modifier to your Fortitude saving throws. These saves test your options to dodge area attacks and unexpected situations. Apply your Dexterity modifier to your Reflex saving throws.

These saves reflect your resistance to mental influence as well as many magical effects. Apply your Wisdom modifier to your Will saving throws. The DC for a save is determined by the attack itself.

A natural 1 the d20 comes up 1 on a saving throw is always a failure and may cause damage to exposed items; see Items Surviving after a Saving Throw A one the d20 comes up is always a success. During one turn, there are a wide variety of actions that your character can perform, from swinging a sword to casting a spell.

Can you pick up or manipulate an object in a square within your reach? Does this provoke an AoO? Does it provoke even if the foe can reach the object, but not your space?

The rules are a little hazy here, but to put it simply, you can affect objects and creatures within your reach. When picking up or manipulating objects, you generally provoke an attack of opportunity, but only against foes that can reach your space. You do not provoke attacks of opportunity from foes that cannot reach you, no matter what action you are taking, even if it includes reaching into a threatened space.

Although it might seem realistic to allow an attack in such a case, it would make the game far too complicated. Different combat options require different types of actions. The action type defines which options can be used together.

Combat Maneuvers : Combat maneuvers are a specific set of basic options that use your Combat Maneuver Bonus and Combat Maneuver Defense.

There are several combat maneuvers dirty trickdisarmdraggrappleoverrunrepositionstealsunderand trip Feats : Numerous feats grant additional combat options, such as CleavePower Attackand Vital Strike.

Each feat defines the circumstances in which it can be used. In a normal round, you can perform a standard action and a move actionor you can perform a full-round action. You can also perform one swift action and one or more free actions. You can always take a move action in place of a standard action. In some situations such as in a surprise roundyou may be limited to taking only a single move action or standard action.

A standard action allows you to do something, most commonly to make an attack or cast a spell. See Table: Actions in Combat for other standard actions. Some combat options can modify only this specific sort of action. When taking an attack action, you can apply all appropriate options that modify an attack action. Thus, you can apply both Greater Weapon of the Chosen and Vital Strike to the same attack, as both modify your attack action.

Some combat options such as the disarm and sunder combat maneuvers can be used anytime you make a melee attack, including attacks of opportunity.

Some options that take or modify melee attacks have limitations—for example, Stunning Fist can be used only once per round. Source : PPC:MTT Regardless of the action, if you move out of a threatened square, you usually provoke an attack of opportunity. If you have the Two-Weapon Fighting feat, you can draw two light or one-handed weapons in the time it would normally take you to draw one May be taken as a standard action if you are limited to taking only a single action in a round Unless the component is an extremely large or awkward item Some combat maneuvers substitute for a melee attack, not an action.

As melee attacks, they can be used once in an attack or charge action, one or more times in a full-attack action, or even as an attack of opportunity. Others are used as a separate action The description of a feat defines its effect. Source PPC:MTT A move action allows you to move up to your speed or perform an action that takes a similar amount of time. See Table: Actions in Combat for other move actions.

You can take a move action in place of a standard action. If you move no actual distance in a round commonly because you have swapped your move action for one or more equivalent actionsyou can take one 5-foot step either before, during, or after the action. A full-round action consumes all your effort during a round.

The only movement you can take during a full-round action is a 5-foot step before, during, or after the action. You can also perform free actions and swift actions see below. See Table: Actions in Combat for a list of full-round actions. Some full-round actions can be taken as standard actions, but only in situations when you are limited to performing only a standard action during your round. The descriptions of specific actions detail which actions allow this option.

A few combat options are full-round actions such as Spring Attack and the full-attack action or modify specific full-round actions such as the extra attack from the haste spell.

Source : PPC:MTT Free actions consume a very small amount of time and effort. You can perform one or more free actions while taking another action normally. However, there are reasonable limits on what you can really do for free, as decided by the GM. Some combat options are free actions meant to be combined with an attack.

Often, these are feats with specific limitations defined within the feat—for example, Cleaving Finish gives you an extra melee attack, but only after you make an attack that drops a foe. Source : PPC:MTT A swift action consumes a very small amount of time, but represents a larger expenditure of effort and energy than a free action.

You can perform only a single swift action per turn. Several combat options are swift actions that modify one or more attacks you take after that swift action. For example, Channel Smite and Weapon of the Chosen each take a touch action to activatewhich then applies to the next attack you make regardless of what type of attack action you perform.

Arcane Strike and Improved Weapon of one Chosen are activated in much the same way, but they apply to all appropriate attacks made for 1 round after activation. Some activities are so minor that they are not even considered free actions. In such cases, you are restricted to taking only a single standard action or a single move action plus free and swift actions as normal. Most of the common actions characters take, aside from movement, fall into the realm of standard actions.

With a normal melee weapon, you can strike any opponent within 5 feet. Opponents within 5 feet are considered adjacent to you. Some melee weapons have reach, as indicated in their descriptions. Striking for damage with punches, kicks, and head butts is much like attacking with a melee weapon, except for the following: Attacks of Opportunity : Attacking unarmed provokes an attack of opportunity from the character you attack, provided she is armed. The attack of opportunity comes before your attack.

An unarmed attack does not provoke attacks of opportunity from other foes, nor does it provoke an attack of opportunity from an unarmed foe. A monka character with the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, a spellcaster delivering a touch attack spell, and a creature with natural physical weapons all count as being armed see natural attacks. Note that being armed counts for both offense and defense the character can make attacks of opportunity Unarmed Strike Damage : An unarmed strike from a Medium character deals 1d3 points of bludgeoning damage plus your Strength modifier, as normal.

All damage from unarmed strikes is nonlethal damage. Unarmed strikes count as shed light for purposes options two-weapon attack penalties and so on. Dealing Lethal Damage : You can specify that your unarmed strike will deal lethal damage before you make your attack rollbut you take a —4 penalty on your attack roll. If you have the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, you can deal lethal damage with an unarmed strike without taking a penalty on the attack roll. The maximum range for a thrown weapon is five range increments.

For projectile weapons, it is 10 range increments. Some ranged weapons have shorter maximum ranges, as specified in their descriptions. If you shoot or throw a ranged weapon at a target engaged in melee with a friendly character, you take a —4 penalty on your attack roll. Two characters are engaged in melee if they are enemies of each other and either threatens the other.

An unconscious or otherwise immobilized character is not considered engaged unless he is actually being attacked. If your target is two size categories larger than the friendly characters it is engaged with, this penalty is reduced to —2.

There is no penalty for firing at a creature that is three size categories larger than the friendly characters it is engaged with. Attacks made with natural weaponssuch as claws and bites, are melee attacks that can be made against any creature within your reach usually 5 feet.

These attacks are made using your full attack bonus and deal an amount of damage that depends on their type plus your Strength modifier, as normal. You do not receive additional natural attacks for a high base attack bonus. Instead, you receive additional attack rolls for multiple limb and body parts capable of making the attack as noted by the race or ability that grants the attacks.

Some natural attacks are denoted as secondary natural attackssuch as tails and wings. Attacks with secondary natural attacks are made using your base attack bonus minus 5. These attacks deal an amount of damage depending on their type, but you only add half your Strength modifier on damage rolls. You can make attacks with natural weapons in combination with attacks made with a melee weapon and unarmed strikes, so long as a different limb is used for each attack.

For example, you cannot make a claw attack and also use that hand to make attacks with a longsword. When you make additional attacks in this way, all of your natural attacks are treated as secondary natural attacksusing your base attack bonus minus 5 and adding only of your Strength modifier on damage rolls. Feats such as Two-Weapon Fighting and Multiattack can reduce these penalties. A character who can make more than one attack per round must use the full-attack action see Full-Round Actions in order to get more than one attack.

You can choose to fight defensively when attacking. Is there a difference between "scoring a critical hit " and "confirming a critical hit "? No, they mean the same thing. However, the preferred rules language is "confirming a critical hit. If the confirmation roll is a miss, then your hit is just a regular hit. A critical hit means that you roll your damage more than once, with all your usual bonuses, and add the rolls together. Sometimes your threat range is greater than That is, you can score a threat on a lower number.

In such cases, a roll of lower than 20 is not an automatic hit. Some weapons deal better than double damage on a critical hit see also, Equipment. The other head deals quadruple damage on a critical hit. A spell that requires an attack roll can score a critical hit. A spell attack that requires no attack roll cannot score a critical hit. If a spell causes ability damage or drain see Special Abilitiesthe damage or drain is doubled on a critical hit. Certain magic items, however, do need to be activated, especially potionsscrollswandsrodsand staves.

Unless otherwise noted, activating a magic item is a standard action. Activating a spell completion item is the equivalent of casting a spell. It requires concentration and provokes attacks of opportunity. You lose the spell if your concentration is broken, and you can attempt to activate the item while on the defensive, as with casting a spell.

Activating any of these kinds of items does not require concentration and does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Most spells require 1 standard action to cast. You can cast such a spell either before or after you take a move action.

Note : You retain your Dexterity bonus to AC while casting. To cast a spell with a verbal V component, your character must speak in a firm voice. To cast a spell with a somatic S component, you must gesture freely with at least one hand. To cast a spell with a material Mfocus For divine focus DF component, you have to have the proper materials, as described by the spell. Unless these components are elaborate, preparing them is a free action.

For material components and focuses whose costs are not listed in the spell description, you can assume that you have them if you have your spell component pouch. You must concentrate to cast a spell. If you start casting a spell but something interferes with your concentrationyou must make a concentration check or lose the spell. If you fail, the spell fizzles with no effect. If you prepare spells, it is lost from preparation.

If you cast at will, it counts against your daily limit of spells even though you did not cast it successfully. Concentrating to Maintain a Spell : Some spells require continued concentration to keep them going. Anything that could break your concentration when casting a spell can keep you from concentrating to maintain a spell. If your concentration breaks, the spell ends.

Most spells have a casting time of 1 standard action. A spell cast in this manner immediately takes effect. Generally, if you cast a spell, you provoke attacks of opportunity from threatening enemies. Casting a spell while on the defensive does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Failure means that you lose the spell. Many spells have a range of touch.

To use these spells, you cast the spell and then touch the subject. In the same round that you cast the spell, you may also touch or attempt to touch as a free action. You may take your move before casting the spell, after touching the target, or between casting the spell and touching the target. You can automatically touch one friend or use the spell on yourself, but to touch an opponent, you must succeed on an attack roll.

Touch Attacks : Touching an opponent with a touch spell is considered to be an armed attack and therefore does not provoke attacks of opportunity. The act of casting a spell, however, does provoke an attack of opportunity. Touch attacks come in two types: melee touch attacks and ranged touch attacks. You can score critical hits with either type of attack as long as the spell deals damage. His size modifier, Dexterity modifier, and deflection bonus if any all apply normally.

You can continue to make touch attacks round after round. If you touch anything or anyone while holding a chargeeven unintentionally, the spell discharges. If you cast another spell, the touch spell dissipates. You can touch one friend as a standard action or up to six friends as a full-round action. Alternatively, you may make a normal unarmed attack or an attack with a natural weapon while holding a charge. If the attack hits, you deal normal damage for your unarmed attack or natural weapon and the spell discharges.

If the attack misses, you are still holding the charge. Ranged Touch Spells in Combat : Some spells allow you to make a ranged touch attack as part of the casting of the spell. These attacks are made as part of the spell and do not require a separate action. Ranged touch attacks provoke an attack of opportunityeven if the spell that causes the attacks was cast defensively.

Unless otherwise noted, ranged touch attacks cannot be held until a later turn see FAQ below for more information. When you cast a spell that allows you to make a ranged touch attack such as scorching rayand an enemy is within reach, do you provoke two attacks of opportunity?

Yes, you provoke two attacks of opportunity: one for casting the spell and one for making a ranged attack, since these are two separate events. Note that at spell that fires multiple simultaneous rays, such as scorching rayonly provokes one AoO for making the ranged attack instead of one AoO for each ranged attack.

It still provokes for casting the spell. The "start full-round action " standard action lets you start undertaking a full-round actionwhich you can complete in the one round by using another standard action. You can defend yourself as a standard action. You get a dodge bonus to your AC for 1 round. Your AC improves at the start of this action. Using a special ability is usually a standard actionbut whether it is a standard actiona full-round actionor not an action at all is defined by the ability.

Using a spell-like ability works like casting a spell in that it requires concentration and provokes attacks of opportunity. Spell-like abilities can be disrupted.

If your concentration touch brokenthe attempt to use the ability fails, but the attempt counts as if you had used the ability. The casting time of a spell-like ability is 1 standard actionunless the ability description notes otherwise. Using a Spell-Like Ability on the Defensive : You may attempt to use a spell-like ability on the defensive, just as with casting a spell. Its use cannot be disrupted, does not require concentrationand does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Using an extraordinary ability is usually not an action because most extraordinary abilities automatically happen in a reactive fashion.

Those extraordinary abilities that are actions are usually standard actions that cannot be disrupted, do not require concentrationand do not provoke attacks of opportunity.

The simplest move action is moving your speed. Many nonstandard modes of movement are covered under this category, including climbing up to one-quarter of your speed and swimming up to one-quarter of your speed. You can climb at half your speed as a move action by accepting a —5 penalty on your Climb check. You can crawl 5 feet as a move action. Crawling incurs attacks of opportunity from any attackers who threaten you at any point of your crawl. A crawling character is considered prone and must take a move action to stand up, provoking an attack of opportunity.

Some spells allow you to redirect the effect to new targets or areas after you cast the spell. Redirecting a spell requires a move action and does not provoke attacks of opportunity or require concentration. Drawing a weapon so that you can use it in combat, or putting it away so that you have a free hand, requires a move action. This action also applies to weapon-like objects carried in easy reach, such as wands. If your weapon or weapon-like object is stored in a pack or otherwise out of easy reach, treat this action as retrieving a stored item.

If you have the Two-Weapon Fighting feat, you can draw two light or one-handed weapons in the time it would normally take you to draw one. Drawing ammunition for use with a ranged weapon such as arrows, bolts, sling bullets, or shuriken is a free action.

This includes retrieving or putting away a stored item, picking one an item, moving a heavy object, and opening a door. Examples of this kind of action, along with whether they incur an attack of opportunityare given in Table: Actions in Combat. You can mount or dismount as a free action with a DC Ride check.

If you fail the check, mounting or dismounting is a move action instead. Strapping a shield to your arm to gain its shield bonus to your AC, or unstrapping and dropping a shield so you can use your shield hand for another purpose, requires a move action.

Standing up from a prone position requires a move action and provokes attacks of opportunity. A full-round action requires an entire round to complete. Can I make multiple sunder attempts in one round as part of a full-attack action? The sunder text says that I can make sunder attempts in place of melee attacks in an attack action, which is not technically a full-attack action. The text is a little unclear here.

Instead of saying "as part of an attack action in place of a melee attack", the text should read "in place of a melee attack", which would allow you to make multiple attempts in one round, or even make a sunder attempt as an attack of opportunity. You do not need to specify the targets of your attacks ahead of time. You can see how the earlier attacks turn out before assigning the later ones.

The only movement you can take during a full attack is a 5-foot step. You may take the step before, after, or between your attacks. If you get multiple attacks because your base attack bonus is high enough, you must make the attacks in order from highest bonus to lowest. If you are using two weapons, you can strike with either weapon first.

If you are using a double weapon, you can strike with either part of the weapon first. After your first attack, you can decide to take a move action instead of making your remaining attacks, depending on how the first attack turns out and assuming you have not already taken a move action this round.

You can choose to fight defensively when taking a full-attack action. If you do so, you take a —4 penalty on all attacks in a round to gain a dodge bonus to AC until the start of your next turn. A spell that takes one round to cast is a full-round action. Options comes into effect just before the beginning of your turn in touch round after you began casting the spell. You then act normally after the spell is completed. A spell that takes 1 minute to cast comes into effect just before your turn 1 minute later and for each of those 10 rounds, you are casting a spell as a full-round action.

These actions must be consecutive and uninterrupted, or the spell automatically fails. When you begin a spell that takes 1 round or longer to cast, you must continue the invocations, gestures, and concentration from 1 round to just before your turn in the next round at least. If you lose concentration after starting the spell and before it is complete, you lose the spell. You only provoke attacks of opportunity when you begin casting a spell, even though you might continue casting for at least 1 full round.

Sorcerers and bards must take more time to cast a metamagic spell one enhanced by a metamagic feat than a regular spell. Spells that take a full-round action to cast take effect in the same round that you begin casting, and touch are not required to continue the invocations, gestures, and concentration until your next turn. For spells with a longer casting timeit takes an extra full-round action to cast the metamagic spell. Clerics and druids must take more time to spontaneously cast a metamagic version of a cure, inflict, or summon spell.

Spontaneously casting a metamagic version of a spell with a casting time of 1 standard action is a full-round actionand spells with longer casting times take an extra full-round action to cast. In such a case, you may spend a full-round action to move 5 feet 1 square in any direction, even diagonally. You can run as a full-round action. If you do, you do not also get a 5-foot step. You lose any Dexterity bonus to AC unless you have the Run feat.

You can run for a number of rounds equal to your Constitution score, but after that you must make a DC Constitution check to continue running. You must check again each round in which you continue to run, and the DC of this check increases by 1 for each check you have made.

When you fail this check, you must stop running. A character who has run to his limit must rest for 1 minute rounds before running again. During a rest period, a character can move no faster than a normal move action. A run represents a speed of about 13 miles per hour for an unencumbered human.

Using a special ability is usually a standard actionbut some may be full-round actions, as defined by the ability. Withdrawing from melee combat is a full-round action. When you withdrawyou can move up to double your speed. The square you start out in is not considered threatened by any opponent you can see, and therefore visible enemies do not get attacks of opportunity against you when you move from that square. If, during the process of withdrawing, you move out of a threatened square other than the one you started inenemies get attacks of opportunity as normal.

If you are limited to taking only a standard action each round you can withdraw as a standard action. In this case, you may move up to your speed. Free actions rarely incur attacks of opportunity. Some common free actions are described below. Dropping an item in your space or into an adjacent square is a free action. Dropping to a prone position in your space is a free action. Speaking more than a few sentences is generally beyond the limit of a free action.

A swift action consumes a very small amount of time, but represents a larger expenditure of effort than a free action. You can perform one swift action per turn without affecting your ability to perform other actions. In that regard, a swift action is like a free action. You can, however, perform only one single swift action per turn, regardless of what other actions you take.

You can take a swift action anytime you would normally be allowed to take a free action. Swift actions usually involve spellcasting, activating a feat, or the activation of magic items. You can cast a quickened spell see the Quicken Spell metamagic feator any spell whose casting time is designated as a free or swift actionas a swift action.

Much like a swift actionan immediate action consumes a very small amount of time but represents a larger expenditure of effort and energy than a free action.

Casting feather fall is an immediate actionsince the spell can be cast at any time. Using an immediate action on your turn is the same as using a swift action and counts as your swift one for that turn. You cannot use another immediate action or a swift action until after your next turn if you have used an immediate action when it is not currently your turn effectively, using an immediate action before your turn is equivalent to using your swift action for the coming turn.

You also cannot use an immediate action if you are flat-footed. The following actions take a variable amount of time to accomplish or otherwise work differently than other actions.

Taking this 5-foot step never provokes an attack of opportunity. Certain feats let you take special actions in combat. Other feats do not require actions themselves, but they give you a bonus when attempting something you can already do. Some feats are not meant to be used within the framework of combat. The individual feat descriptions tell you what you need to know about them.

Most skill uses are standard actions, but some might be move actions, full-round actions, free actions, or something else entirely. The individual skill descriptions in Using Skills tell you what sorts of actions are required to perform skills. If this saving throw fails, you die regardless of your current hit points. If you take half your total hit points or more in damage from multiple attacks, no one of which dealt more than half your total hit points minimum 50the massive damage rule does not apply.

Before implementing this system, consider these rules carefully. Major wounds can have major effects upon play, and some groups may not appreciate such debilitations, preferring the threat of death and an unscarred resurrection over a thematic crippling. These rules are a variation on the optional massive damage rule.

Whenever a character takes damage equivalent to massive damage, he must make a successful DC Fortitude save or be reduced to —1 hit points and gain a permanent debilitating scar or handicap. These effects are randomly determined by rolling 1d20 on the table below. The regenerate spell heals scars and restores lost limbs, removing both positive and negative effects.

Your hit points measure how hard you are to kill. The most common way that your character gets hurt is to take lethal damage and lose hit points.

Hit points mean two things in the game world: the ability to take physical punishment and keep going, and the ability to turn a serious blow into a less serious one. If your hit point total is negative, but not equal to or greater than your Constitution score, you are unconscious and dying. When your current hit point total drops to exactly 0, you are disabled.

You gain the staggered condition and can only take a single move or standard action each turn but not both, nor can you take full-round actions. You can take move actions without further injuring yourself, but if you perform any standard action or any other strenuous action you take 1 point of damage after completing the act.

Unless your activity increased your hit pointsyou are now at —1 hit points and dying. You can also become disabled when recovering from dying. A dying character immediately falls unconscious and can take no actions.

A dying character loses 1 hit point every round. This continues until the character dies or becomes stable. A character can also die from taking ability damage or suffering an ability drain that reduces his Constitution score to 0 see Special Abilities. Certain types of powerful magic, such as raise dead and resurrectioncan restore life to a dead character.

The character takes a penalty on this roll equal to his negative hit point total. A character that is stable does not need to make this check. A natural 20 on this check is an automatic success. If the character fails this check, he loses 1 hit point.

An unconscious or dying character cannot use any special action that changes the initiative count on which his action occurs. Characters taking continuous damage, such as from an acid arrow or a bleed effect, automatically fail all Constitution checks made to stabilize.

Such characters lose 1 hit point per round in addition to the continuous damage. You can keep a dying character from losing any more hit points and make him stable with a DC Heal check. If any sort of healing cures the dying character of even 1 point of damage, he becomes stable and stops losing hit points.

A spellcaster retains the spellcasting capability she had before dropping below 0 hit points. A stable character who has been tended by a healer or who has been magically healed eventually regains consciousness and recovers hit points naturally. If the character has no one to tend him, however, his life is still in danger, and he may yet slip away. One hour after a tended, dying character becomes stablethe character must make a DC Constitution check to become conscious.

Conscious characters with negative hit point totals are treated as disabled characters. If the character remains unconscioushe receives another check every hour to regain consciousness. Even if unconsciousthe character recovers hit points naturally. He automatically regains consciousness when his hit points rise to 1 or higher. A severely wounded character left alone usually dies. He has a small chance of recovering on his own.

Treat such characters as those attempting to recover with help, but every failed Constitution check to regain consciousness results in the loss of 1 hit point. An unaided character does not recover hit points naturally. Once conscious, the character can make a DC Constitution check once per day, after resting for 8 hours, to begin recovering hit points naturally. Failing this check causes the character to lose 1 hit point, but this does not cause the character to become unconscious.

Once a character makes this check, he continues to heal naturally and is no longer in danger of losing hit points naturally. After taking damage, you can recover hit points through natural healing or through magical healing. Any significant interruption during your rest prevents you from healing that night. If you undergo complete bed rest for an entire day and night, you recover twice your character level in hit points.

You can never recover more hit points than you lost. Temporary ability damage returns at the rate of 1 point per night of rest 8 hours for each affected ability score.

Complete bed rest restores 2 points per day hours for each affected ability score. Generally, effects do not stack if they are from the same source Core Rulebook page 208, Combining Magical Effects. Although temporary hit points are not a "bonus," the principle still applies. This prevents a creature with energy drain which grants the creature 5 temporary hit points when used from draining an entire village of people in order to gain temporary hit points before the PCs arrive to fight it.

Temporary hit points from different sources such as an aid spell, a use of energy drain, and a vampiric touch spell still stack with each other.

If the effect that grants the temporary hit points ends or is dispelled, any remaining temporary hit points go away. When temporary hit points are lost, they cannot be restored as real hit points can be, even by magic.

They can be restored, and they are not lost first as temporary hit points are. Nonlethal damage represents harm to a character that is not life-threatening. Unlike normal damage, nonlethal damage is healed quickly with rest. Certain attacks deal nonlethal damage.

Other effects, such as heat or being exhaustedalso deal nonlethal damage. Do not deduct the nonlethal damage number from your current hit points. It is not "real" damage. You can use a melee weapon that deals lethal damage to deal nonlethal damage instead, but you take a —4 penalty on your attack roll. You can use a weapon that deals nonlethal damageincluding an unarmed strike, to deal lethal damage instead, but you take a —4 penalty on your attack roll.

You can only take a standard action or a move action in each round in addition to free, immediate, and swift actions. You cease being staggered when your current hit points once again exceed your nonlethal damage. When your nonlethal damage exceeds your current hit pointsyou fall unconscious. While unconsciousyou are helpless. Spellcasters who fall unconscious retain any spellcasting ability they had before going unconscious. This does not apply to creatures with regeneration.

Such creatures simply accrue additional nonlethal damageincreasing the amount of time they remain unconscious. You heal nonlethal damage at the rate of 1 hit point per hour per character level. When a spell or ability cures hit point damage, it also removes an equal amount of nonlethal damage. Miniatures are on the 30mm scale—a miniature of a 6-foot-tall man is approximately 30mm tall. A square on the battle grid is 1 inch across, representing a 5-foot-by-5-foot area.

His next costs 5 feet also, but his third his 2nd diagonal costs him 10 feet. Next he moves into difficult terrain, also costing him 10 feet.

At this point 6the fighter has moved 30 feet—one move action. The ogre cannot cut across the corner to get to that location, and must fully move around it, as indicated. Your speed is determined by your race and your armor see Table: Tactical Speed Your speed while unarmored is your base land speed.

A character encumbered by carrying treasure. Generally, you can move your speed in a round and still do something take a move action and a standard action.

If you do nothing but move that is, if you use both of your actions in a round to move your speedyou can move double your speed. If you spend the entire round running, you can move quadruple your speed or three times your speed in heavy armor. If you do something that requires a full round, you can only take a 5-foot step. When measuring distance, the first diagonal counts as 1 square, the second counts as 2 squares, the third counts as 1, the fourth as 2, and so on.

You can move diagonally past a creature, even an opponent. You can move through an unoccupied square without difficulty in most circumstances.

Difficult terrain and a number of spell effects might hamper your movement through open spaces. You can move through a square occupied by a friendly character, unless you are charging. You can move through a square occupied by a helpless opponent without penalty. Some creatures, particularly very large ones, may present an obstacle even when helpless.

In such cases, each square you move through counts as 2 squares. During your movement, you can attempt to move through a square occupied by an opponent see Overrun. A trained character can attempt to use Acrobatics to move through a square occupied by an opponent see the Acrobatics skill. A Fine, Diminutive, or Tiny creature can move into or through an occupied options. The creature provokes attacks of opportunity when doing so.

Any creature can move through a square occupied by a creature three size categories larger than itself. A big creature can move through a square occupied by a creature three size categories smaller than it is.

Creatures moving through squares occupied by other creatures provoke attacks of opportunity from those creatures. Some creatures break the above rules. A creature that completely fills the squares it occupies cannot be moved past, even with the Acrobatics skill or similar special abilities.

From tangled plants to broken stone, there are a number of terrain features that can affect your movement. Difficult terrain, such as heavy undergrowth, broken ground, or steep stairs, hampers movement. Each square of difficult terrain counts as 2 squares of movement. Each diagonal move into a difficult terrain square counts as 3 squares. If you occupy squares with different kinds of terrain, you can move only as fast as the most difficult terrain you occupy will allow.

Flying and incorporeal creatures are not hampered by difficult terrain. Like difficult terrain, obstacles can hamper movement. You must pay this cost to cross the obstacle, in addition to the cost to move into the square on the other side. Some obstacles may also require a skill check to cross.

On the other hand, some obstacles block movement entirely. Flying and incorporeal creatures are able to avoid most obstacles. You options squeeze through or into a space that is at least half as wide as your normal space. Each move into or through a narrow space counts as if it were 2 squares, and while squeezed in a narrow space, you take a —4 penalty on attack rolls and a —4 penalty to AC.

For a bigger creature, center the creature likewise in the area it squeezes into. When your movement is hampered in some way, your movement usually costs double. For example, each square of movement through difficult terrain counts as 2 squares, and each diagonal move through such terrain counts as 3 squares just as two diagonal moves normally do. If movement cost is doubled twice, then each square counts as 4 squares or as 6 squares if moving diagonally. If movement cost is doubled three times, then each square counts as 8 squares if diagonal and so on.

This is an exception to the general rule that two doublings are equivalent to a tripling. Despite whatever penalties to movement you might have, you can take a full-round action to move 5 feet 1 square in any direction, even diagonally. Very small creatures take up less than 1 square of space. This means that more than one such creature can fit into a single square. A Tiny creature typically occupies a space only feet across, so four can fit into a single square Diminutive creatures or Fine creatures can fit into a single square.

This provokes an attack of opportunity from the opponent. You can attack into your own square if you need to, so you can attack such creatures normally. Since they have no natural reach, they do not threaten the squares around them. You can move past them without provoking attacks of opportunity. Unlike when someone uses a reach weapon, a creature with greater than normal natural reach more than 5 feet still threatens squares adjacent to it.

A creature with greater than normal natural reach usually gets an attack of opportunity against you if you approach it, because you must enter and move within the range of its reach before you can attack it.

This attack of opportunity is not provoked if you take a 5-foot step. A number of factors and conditions can influence an attack roll. To determine whether your target has cover from your ranged attack, choose a corner of your square.

A low obstacle such as a wall no higher than half your height provides cover, but only to creatures within 30 feet 6 squares of it.

Note that spread effects can extend around corners and thus negate this cover bonus. You can use cover to make a Stealth check. Without cover, you usually need concealment see below to make a Stealth check. However, such soft cover provides no bonus on Reflex saves, nor does soft cover allow you to make a Stealth check.

Any creature with a space larger than 5 feet 1 square determines cover against melee attacks slightly differently than smaller creatures do. Such a creature can choose any square that it occupies to determine if an opponent has cover against its melee attacks. Similarly, when making a melee attack against such a creature, you can pick any of the squares it occupies to determine if it has cover against you.

In some cases, such as attacking a target hiding behind an arrowslit, cover may provide a greater bonus to AC and Reflex saves. A creature with this improved cover effectively gains improved evasion against any attack to which the Reflex save bonus applies. Furthermore, improved cover provides a bonus on Stealth checks. The ogre does not have cover against the fighter.

The ogre has melee cover from her, but if it attacks her, the rogue does not have cover from it, as the ogre has reach so it figures attacks as if attacking with a ranged weapon. Some of these lines pass through a solid surface, meaning that the ogre has cover. This gives the ogre partial cover. To determine whether your target has concealment from your ranged attack, choose a corner of your square.

When making a melee attack against an adjacent target, your target has concealment if his space is entirely within an effect that grants concealment. In addition, some magical effects provide concealment against all attacks, regardless of whether any intervening concealment exists. Multiple concealment conditions do not stack.

You can use concealment to make a Stealth check. Without concealment, you usually need cover to make a Stealth check. If you have line of effect to a target but not line of sight, he is considered to have total concealment from you. Characters with low-light vision can see clearly for a greater distance than other characters with the same light source.

Although invisibility provides total concealment, sighted opponents may still make Perception checks to notice the location of an invisible character.

Certain situations may provide more or less than typical concealment, and modify the miss chance accordingly. Exception : If a flanker takes up more than 1 square, it gets the flanking bonus if any square it occupies counts for flanking.

Only a creature or character that threatens the defender can help an attacker get a flanking bonus. The rogue cannot draw a line to the sorcerer because the sorcerer is not adjacent to the ogre and does not threaten it. A helpless opponent is someone who is bound, sleeping, paralyzedunconsciousor otherwise at your mercy.

A helpless character takes a —4 penalty to AC against melee attacks. In addition, a helpless character is treated as having a Dexterity of 0, giving him a —5 penalty to AC against both melee and ranged attacks for a total of —9 against melee and —5 against ranged. A helpless character is also flat-footed. As a full-round actionyou can use a melee weapon to deliver a coup de grace pronounced "coo day grahs" to a helpless opponent. You can also use a bow or crossbow, provided you are adjacent to the target.

You automatically hit and score a critical hit. If the defender survives the damage, he must make a Fortitude save DC damage dealt or die. A rogue also gets her extra sneak attack damage against a helpless opponent when delivering a coup de grace. Delivering a coup de grace provokes attacks of opportunity from threatening opponents. This section discusses all of the various standard maneuvers you can perform during combat other than normal attacks, casting spells, or using other class abilities.

Some of these special attacks can be made as part of another action such as an attack or as a attack of opportunity. In melee combat, you can help a friend attack or defend by distracting or interfering with an opponent. Multiple characters can aid the same friend, and similar bonuses stack. Vital Strike can only be used as part of an attack action, which is a specific kind of standard action.

Charging is a special kind of full-round action that includes the ability to make one melee attack, not one attack action. Charging, however, carries tight restrictions on how you can move. You must move before your attack, not after. You must move at least 10 feet 2 squares and may move up to double your speed directly toward the designated opponent. If you move a distance equal to your speed or less, you can also draw a weapon during a charge attack if your base attack bonus is at least You must have a clear path toward the opponent, and nothing can hinder your movement such as difficult terrain or obstacles.

You must move to the closest space from which you can attack the opponent. If you are able to take only a standard action on your turn, you can still charge, but you are only allowed to move up to your speed instead of up to options your speed and you cannot draw a weapon unless you possess the Quick Draw feat. After moving, you may make a single melee attack. Even if you have extra attacks, such as from having a high enough base attack bonus or from using multiple weapons, you only get to make one attack during a charge.

Lances and Charge Attacks: A lance deals double damage if employed by a mounted character in a charge. Weapons Readied against a Charge : Spears, tridents, and other weapons with the brace feature deal double damage when readied set and used against a charging character. Source PCS:PotR As a full-round actionyou can swing using a ropevine, or similar aid within reach toward an opponent and make a single melee attack. You must move at least 20 feet 4 squares and you must start on elevation that is equal or higher than that of your opponent.

Your movement provokes attacks of opportunity as normal. During combat, you can attempt to perform a number of maneuvers that can hinder or even cripple your foe, including bull rushdisarmgrappleoverrunsunderand trip. Although these maneuvers have vastly different results, they all use a similar mechanic to determine success. Each character and creature has a Combat Maneuver Bonus or CMB that represents its skill at performing combat maneuvers.

While many combat maneuvers can be performed as part of an attack action, full-attack action, or attack of opportunity in place of a melee attackothers require a specific action. Unless otherwise noted, performing a combat maneuver provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of the maneuver.

If you are hit by the target, you take the damage normally and apply that amount as a penalty to the attack roll to perform the maneuver. If your target is immobilized, unconsciousor otherwise incapacitated, your maneuver automatically succeeds treat as if you rolled a natural 20 on the attack roll. When you attempt to perform a combat maneuver, make an attack roll and add your CMB in place of your normal attack bonus.

Add any bonuses you currently have on attack rolls due to spells, feats, and other effects. These bonuses must be applicable to the weapon or attack used to perform the maneuver. Combat maneuvers are attack optionsso you must roll for concealment and take any other penalties that would normally apply to an attack roll. Each character and creature has a Combat Maneuver Defense or CMD that represents its ability to resist combat maneuvers.

A flat-footed creature does not add its Dexterity bonus to its CMD. If your attack roll equals or exceeds the CMD of the target, your maneuver is a success and has the listed effect. Rolling a natural 20 while attempting a combat maneuver is always a success except when attempting to escape from bondswhile rolling a natural 1 is always a failure.

You can make a bull rush as a standard action or as part of a chargein place of the melee attack. You can only bull rush an opponent who is no more than one size category larger than you.

A bull rush attempts to push an opponent straight back without doing any harm. If you do not have the Improved Bull Rush feat, or a similar ability, initiating a bull rush provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver. If your attack is successful, your target is pushed back 5 feet. You can move with the target if you wish but you must have the available movement to do so. If your attack fails, your movement ends in front of the target. An enemy being moved by a bull rush does not provoke an attack of opportunity because of the movement unless you possess the Greater Bull Rush feat.

You cannot bull rush a creature into a square that is occupied by a solid object or obstacle. If there is another creature in the way of your bull rush, you must immediately make a combat maneuver check to bull rush that creature. You take a —4 penalty on this check for each creature being pushed beyond the first. If you are successful, you can continue to push the creatures a distance equal to the lesser result.

For example, if a fighter bull rushes a goblin for a total of 15 feet, but there is another goblin 5 feet behind the first, he must make another combat maneuver check against the second goblin after having pushed the first 5 feet. If his check reveals that he can push the second goblin a total of 20 feet, he can continue to push both goblins another 10 feet since the first goblin will have moved a total of 15 feet.

You can attempt to hinder a foe in melee as a standard action. This maneuver covers any sort of situational attack that imposes a penalty on a foe for a short period of time. The GM is the arbiter of what can be accomplished with this maneuver, but it cannot be used to impose a permanent penalty, and the results can be undone if the target spends a move action. If you do not have the Improved Dirty Trick feat or a similar ability, attempting a dirty trick provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver.

If your attack is successful, the target takes a penalty. The penalty is limited to one of the following conditions: blindeddazzleddeafenedentangledshakenor sickened.

This condition lasts for 1 round. This penalty can usually be removed if the target spends a move action. In addition, removing the condition requires the target to spend a standard action. Is the disarm special weapon feature required to even attempt to disarm a foe? If you want to make a disarm combat maneuverdo you have to use a weapon with the disarm special feature?

If you do not have the Improved Disarm feat, or a similar ability, attempting to disarm a foe provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver. Attempting to disarm a foe while unarmed imposes a —4 penalty on the attack.

If your attack is successful, your target drops one item it is carrying of your choice even if the item is wielded with two hands. If your attack exceeds the CMD of the target by 10 or more, the target drops the items it is carrying in both hands maximum two items if the target has more than two hands. If your attack fails by 10 or more, you drop the weapon that you were using to attempt the disarm.

If you successfully disarm your opponent without using a weapon, you may automatically pick up the item dropped. You can attempt to drag a foe as a standard action. You can only drag an opponent who is no more than one size category larger than you. The aim of this maneuver is to drag a foe in a straight line behind you without doing any harm.

If you do not have the Improved Drag feat or a similar ability, initiating a drag provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver. If your attack is successful, both you and your target are moved 5 feet back, with your opponent occupying your original space and you in the space behind that in a straight line. You must be able to move with the target to perform this maneuver. If you do not have enough movement, the drag goes to the maximum amount of movement available to you and ends.

An enemy being moved by a drag does not provoke an attack of opportunity because of the movement unless you possess the Greater Drag feat.

You cannot move a creature into a square that is occupied by a solid object or obstacle. If there is another creature in the way of your movement, the drag ends adjacent to that creature. Stability Racial Trait : Some characters or types of creatures prove particularly sure-footed, making them more difficult to overthrow and move around the battlefield. Any racial ability that grants a bonus to CMD versus bull rush attempts grants the same bonus against drag combat maneuvers.

How about some new grapple flowcharts! Click the images below for larger versions. If you see something you believe to be incorrect please let us know! Chart Chart 2 A creature that is tied up is "bound" which means it has the Helpless condition.

A helpless target is treated as having a Dex of 0 —5 modifier. Ranged attacks get no special bonus against helpless targets.

Rogues can sneak attack helpless targets. There appear to be some contradictions between various rules on grappling. To sum up the correct rules: A creature grappling an opponent typically needs to make two combat maneuver checks to pin someone one to grapplethe next to pin.

When a creature is pinnedit gains this more severe version of the grappled condition, and the two conditions do not stack as described in the pinned condition. While this means that you do not take both the penalties for both the grapple and the pinthis also means that pinned supersedes the grapple condition; it does not compound it.

For this reason you only need to succeed one combat maneuver or Escape Artist check to escape either a grapple or a pin. If you do not have Improved Grapplegrab, or a similar ability, attempting to grapple a foe provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver. Humanoid creatures without two free hands attempting to grapple a foe take a —4 penalty on the combat maneuver roll.

If successful, both you and the target gain the grappled condition. If you successfully grapple a creature that is not adjacent to you, move that creature to an adjacent open space if no space is available, your grapple fails. Although both creatures have the grappled condition, you can, as the creature that initiated the grapple, release the grapple as a free actionremoving the condition from both you and the target. If you do not release the grapple, you must continue to make a check each round, as a standard actionto maintain the hold.

If your target does not break the grapple, you get a circumstance bonus on grapple checks made against the same target in subsequent rounds. Once you are grappling an opponent, a successful check allows you to continue grappling the foe, and also allows you to perform one of the following actions as part of the standard action spent to maintain the grapple.

You can move both yourself and your target up to half your speed. At the end of your movement, you can place your target in any square adjacent to you. You can inflict damage to your target equal to your unarmed strike, a natural attackor an attack made with armor spikes or a light or one-handed weapon. This damage can be either lethal or nonlethal.

You can give your opponent the pinned condition see Conditions. Despite pinning your opponent, you still only have the grappled condition, but you lose your Dexterity bonus to AC. If you have your target pinnedotherwise restrained, or unconsciousyou can use rope to tie him up. This works like a pin effect, but the DC to escape the bonds is equal to your Combat Maneuver Bonus instead of your CMD. The ropes do not need to make a check every round to maintain the pin.

If you are grappling the target, you can attempt to tie him up in ropes, but doing so requires a combat maneuver check at a —10 penalty.

If you succeed, you break the grapple and can act normally. Alternatively, if you succeed, you can become the grappler, grappling the other creature meaning that the other creature cannot freely release the grapple without making a combat maneuver check, while you can. See the grappled condition for additional details. If you are pinnedyour actions are very limited. See the pinned condition in Conditions for additional details.

Multiple creatures can attempt to grapple one target. As a standard actiontaken during your move or as part of a chargeyou can attempt to overrun your target, moving through its square.

You can only overrun an opponent who is no more than one size category larger than you. If you do not have the Improved Overrun feat, or a similar ability, initiating an overrun provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver. If your overrun attempt fails, you stop in the space directly in front of the opponent, or the nearest open space in front of the creature if there are other creatures occupying that space.

When you attempt to overrun a target, it can choose to avoid you, allowing you to pass through its square without requiring an attack.

If your target does not avoid you, make a combat maneuver check as normal. You can attempt to reposition a foe to a different location as a standard action. You can only reposition an opponent that is no more than one size category larger than you. A reposition attempts to force a foe to move to a different position in relation to your location without doing any harm.

If you do not have the Improved Reposition feat or a similar ability, attempting to reposition a foe provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver. You cannot use this maneuver to move a foe into a space that is intrinsically dangerous, such as a pit or wall of fire. If your attack is successful, you may move your target 5 feet to a new location.

The target must remain within your reach at all times during this movement, except for the final 5 feet of movement, which can be to a space adjacent to your reach. An enemy being moved by a reposition does not provoke an attack of opportunity because of the movement unless you possess the Greater Reposition feat.

You can attempt to take an item from a foe as a standard action. This maneuver can be used in melee to take any item that is neither held nor hidden in a bag or pack. You must have at least one hand free holding nothing to attempt this maneuver.

You must select the item to be taken before the check is made. Items that are simply tucked into a belt or loosely attached such as brooches or necklaces are the easiest to take. Items that are closely worn such as armor, backpacks, boots, clothing, or rings cannot be taken with this maneuver. Items held in the hands such as wielded weapons or wands also cannot be taken with the steal maneuver—you must use the disarm combat maneuver instead. The GM is the final arbiter of what items can be taken.

If you do not have the Improved Steal feat or a similar ability, attempting to steal an object provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver. Although this maneuver can only be performed if the target is within your reach, you can use a whip to steal an object from a target within range with a —4 penalty on the attack roll.

If your attack is successful, you may take one item from your opponent. You must be able to reach the item to be taken subject to GM discretion. Your enemy is immediately aware of this theft unless you possess the Greater Steal feat. If you do not have the Improved Sunder feat, or a similar ability, attempting to sunder an item provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver. If your attack is successful, you deal damage to the item normally.

If an object has equal to or less than half its total hit points remaining, it gains the broken condition. If the damage you deal would reduce the object to less than 0 hit pointsyou can choose to destroy it. If you do not choose to destroy it, the object is left with only 1 hit point and the broken condition. If you want to make a trip combat maneuverdo you have to use a weapon with the trip special feature? Note that there is an advantage to using a weapon with the trip special feature a.

You can only trip an opponent who is no more than one size category larger than you. If you do not have the Improved Trip feat, or a similar ability, initiating a trip provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver. If your attack fails by 10 or more, you are knocked prone instead. Some creatures—such as oozescreatures without legs, and flying creatures—cannot be tripped.

Note : Though the feint action is located here, near the rules for combat maneuvers, and while it seems like it might BE a combat maneuver, feinting is NOT a combat maneuver. The Paizo PRD is organized with the feint rules located in the same placement. Feinting is a standard action. To feint, make a Bluff skill check. If successful, the next melee attack you make against the target does not allow him to use his Dexterity bonus to AC if any.

This attack must be made on or before your next turn. When feinting against a non- humanoid you take a —4 penalty. Against a creature of animal Intelligence or 2you take a —8 penalty. Feinting in combat does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

With the Improved Feint feat, you can attempt a feint as a move action. These rules cover being mounted on a horse in combat but can also be applied to more unusual steeds, such as a griffon or dragon. Horses, ponies, and riding dogs can serve readily as combat steeds. Mounts that do not possess combat training see the Handle Animal skill are frightened by combat.

If you succeed, you can perform a standard action after the move action. Your mount acts on your initiative count as you direct it. You move at its speed, but the mount uses its action to move. A horse not a pony is a Large creature and thus takes up a space 10 feet 2 squares across. With a DC Ride check, you can guide your mount with your knees so as to use both hands to attack or defend yourself.

This is a free action. If your mount moves more than 5 feet, you can only make a single melee attack. If your mount charges, you also take the AC penalty associated with a charge.

If you make an attack at the end of the chargeyou receive the bonus gained from the charge. When charging on horseback, you deal double damage with a lance see Charge. You can use ranged weapons while your mount is taking a double move, but at a —4 penalty on the attack roll. You can use ranged weapons while your mount is running quadruple speed at a —8 penalty. In either case, you make the attack roll when your mount has completed half its movement.

You can make a full attack with a ranged weapon while your mount is moving. Likewise, you can take move actions normally. You can cast a spell normally if your mount moves up to a normal move its speed either before or after you cast. If the mount is running quadruple speedyou can cast a spell when your mount has moved up to twice its speed, but your concentration check is more difficult due to the violent motion DC spell level.

If your mount falls, you have to succeed on a DC Ride check to make a soft fall and take no damage. If the check fails, you take 1d6 points of damage.

Otherwise you fall and take 1d6 points of damage. Without you to guide it, your mount avoids combat. A splash weapon is a ranged weapon that breaks on impact, splashing or scattering its contents over its target and nearby creatures or objects.

To attack with a splash weapon, make a ranged touch attack against the target. A hit deals direct hit damage to the target, and splash damage to all creatures within 5 feet of the target. If the target is Large or larger, you choose one of its squares and the splash damage affects creatures within 5 feet of that square. You can instead target a specific grid intersection. Treat this as a ranged attack against AC 5. However, if you target a grid intersection, creatures in all adjacent squares are dealt the splash damage, and the direct hit damage is not dealt to any creature.

If you miss the target whether aiming at a creature or a grid intersectionroll 1d8. This determines the misdirection of the throw, with 1 falling short off-target in a straight line toward the throwerand 2 through 8 rotating around the target creature or grid intersection in a clockwise direction. Then, count a number of squares in the indicated direction equal to the range increment of the throw.

After you determine where the weapon landed, it deals splash damage to all creatures in that square and in all adjacent squares. Hit : Creatures in all adjacent squares are dealt splash damage. No creatures take direct hit damage through Count around the target creature or grid intersection in a clockwise direction.

Then, count a number of squares in the indicated direction equal to the number of range increments thrown. The thrown object lands that number of spaces away from the target. Finally, the item deals splash damage if any to all creatures in the square it lands in and in all adjacent squares. If you use Two-Weapon Fighting on your turn to attack with two weapons, do you also take that penalty on attacks of opportunity made before the start of your next turn?

The penalties end as soon as you have completed the full-attack action that allowed you to attack with both weapons. Any attacks of opportunity you make are at your normal attack bonus. Generally speaking, penalties on attacks made during your turn do not carry over to attacks of opportunity unless they specifically state otherwise such as the penalty from using Power Attack or Combat Expertise.

You suffer a —6 penalty with your regular attack or attacks with your primary hand and a —10 penalty to the attack with your off hand when you fight this way. You can reduce these penalties in two ways. First, if your off-hand weapon is light, the penalties are reduced by 2 each.

An unarmed strike is always considered light. Second, the Two-Weapon Fighting feat lessens the primary hand penalty by 2, and the off-hand penalty by Table: Two-weapon Fighting Penalties summarizes the interaction of all these factors. You can use a double weapon to make an extra attack with the off-hand end of the weapon as if you were fighting with two weapons. The penalties apply as if the off-hand end of the weapon was a light weapons. The same rules apply when you throw a weapon from each hand.

Treat a dart or shuriken as a light weapons when used in this manner, and treat a bolas, javelin, net, or sling as a one-handed weapon. Here are ways to change when you act during combat by altering your place in the initiative order. By choosing to delay, you take no action and then act normally on whatever initiative count you decide to act. When you delay, you voluntarily reduce your own initiative result for the rest of the combat. When your new, lower initiative count comes up later in the same round, you can act normally.

You can specify this new initiative result or just wait until some time later in the round and act then, thus fixing your new initiative count at that point.

Your initiative result becomes the count on which you took the delayed action. If you take a delayed action in the next round, before your regular turn comes up, your initiative count rises to that new point in the order of battle, and you do not get your regular action that round. The ready action lets you prepare to take an action later, after your turn is over but before your next one has begun. Readying is a standard action. It does not provoke an attack of opportunity though the action that you ready might do so.

You can ready a standard actiona move actiona swift actionor a free action. To do so, specify the action you will take and the conditions under which you will take it. Then, anytime before your next action, you may take the readied action in response to that condition.

The action occurs just before the action that triggers it. Assuming he is still capable of doing so, he continues his actions once you complete your readied action. Your initiative result changes. For the rest of the encounter, your initiative result is the count on which you took the readied action, and you act immediately ahead of the character whose action triggered your readied action. Your initiative result becomes the count on which you took the readied action.

If you take your readied action in the next round, before your regular turn comes up, your initiative count rises to that new point in the order of battle, and you do not get your regular action that round. You can ready an attack against a spellcaster with the trigger "if she starts casting a spell. You may ready a counterspell against a spellcaster often with the trigger "if she starts casting a spell". In this case, when the spellcaster starts a spell, you get a chance to identify it with a Spellcraft check DC spell level.

Counterspelling works even if one spell is divine and the other arcane. You can ready weapons with the brace feature, setting them to receive charges. A readied weapon of this type deals double damage if you score a hit with it against a charging character.

Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. Frost, James Jacobs, Kenneth Hite, Steven Kenson, Robin Laws, Tito Leati, Rob McCreary, Hal Maclean, Colin McComb, Jason Nelson, David Noonan, Richard Pett, Rich Redman, Sean K Reynolds, F.

Wesley Schneider, Amber Scott, Doug Seacat, Mike Selinker, Lisa Stevens, James L. Sutter, Russ Taylor, Penny Williams, Skip Williams, Teeuwynn Woodruff. Pathfinder Player Companion: Melee Tactics Toolbox. Report a Problem Back my Patreon! Getting Started Character Creation Outline Common Terms Ability Scores Character Backgrounds Contacts Random Background Generator Relationships Retirement Retraining Young Characters Alignment Carrying Capacity Description Movement Dwarves Elves Gnomes Half-elves Halflings Half-orcs Humans Aasimar RP Catfolk 9 RP Dhampir RP Drow RP Fetchling RP Goblin RP Hobgoblin 9 RP Ifrit 6 RP Kobold 5 RP Orc 8 RP Oread 6 RP Ratfolk 9 RP Sylph 6 RP Tengu RP Tiefling RP Undine 7 RP Changelings Duergar 8 RP Gillmen Grippli 6 RP Kitsune Merfolk Nagaji Samsarans Strix Suli RP Svirfneblin RP Vanara 8 RP Vishkanya RP Wayangs Standard Races RP Advanced Races RP Monstrous Races RP Very Powerful Races RP Race Points Unknown Half-Ogre Ratkin Saurian Anumus Boggle Entobian Kval Mahrog Mogogol Muse Numistian Oakling Obitu Relluk Sea Elf Squole Taddol Xax Zif Blue Dromite Duergar Elan Half-Giant Maenad Ophiduan Xeph Svirfneblin Jonagites Half-Faerie Dragons High Goblin Reapers Seedling Umbral Kobolds Little Red Goblin Games Darakhul Dragonkin Gearforged Minotaur Nkosi Tosculi RP Bloodborn Louis Porter Jr.

Design Necromancer Games Paizo Fans United Purple Duck Games Radiance House Rite Publishing Sean K. Base attack bonuses gained from different sources, such as when a character is a multiclass character, stack Enhancement Bonuses Enhancement bonuses apply to your armor to increase the armor bonus it provides Deflection Bonus Magical deflection effects ward off attacks and improve your AC Natural Armor If your race has a tough hide, scales, or thick skin you receive a bonus to your AC Dodge Bonuses Dodge bonuses represent actively avoiding blows.

Unlike most sorts of bonuses, dodge bonuses stack with each other Size Modifier You receive a bonus or penalty to your AC based on your size. See Table: Size Modifiers Table: Size Modifiers Size Size Modifier Colossal — Gargantuan — Huge — Large — Medium Small Tiny Diminutive Fine Off-Hand Weapon When you deal damage with a weapon in your off hand, you add only your Strength bonus. If you have a Strength penalty, touch entire penalty applies Wielding a Weapon Two-Handed When you deal damage with a weapon that you are wielding two-handed, you add times your Strength bonus Strength penalties are not multiplied.

In addition, most creatures larger than Medium have a natural reach of 10 feet or more Moving Moving out of a threatened square usually provokes attacks of opportunity from threatening opponents. There are two common methods of avoiding such an attack—the 5-foot step and the withdraw action Performing a Distracting Act Some actions, when performed in a threatened square, provoke attacks of opportunity as you divert your attention from the battle.

Table: Actions in Combat notes many of the actions that provoke attacks of opportunity Remember that even actions that normally provoke attacks of opportunity may have exceptions to this rule Attacks of Opportunity Example Image created by Marcus Lake and used with permission.

In this combat, the fighter and the sorcerer fight an ogre and his goblin buddy 1 : The fighter can safely approach this way without provoking an attack of opportunityas he does not pass through a square threatened by the ogre who has 10 feet of reach or the goblin 2 : If the fighter approaches this way, he provokes two attacks of opportunity since he passes through a square both creatures threaten 3 : The sorcerer moves touch using a withdraw action.

She could instead limit her movement to a 5-foot step, as a free actionand not provoke any attacks of opportunity Fortitude These saves measure your ability to stand up to physical punishment or attacks against your vitality and health. Apply your Constitution modifier to your Fortitude saving throws Reflex These saves test your ability to dodge area attacks and unexpected situations.

Apply your Dexterity modifier to your Reflex saving throws Will These saves reflect your resistance to mental influence as well as many magical effects.

Apply your Wisdom modifier to your Will saving throws The gadget spec URL could not be found FAQ Can you pick up or manipulate an object in a square within your reach? When picking up or manipulating objects, you generally provoke an attack of opportunity, but only against foes that can reach your space You do not provoke attacks of opportunity from foes that cannot reach you, no matter what action you are taking, even if it includes reaching into a threatened space.

A monka character with the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, a spellcaster delivering a touch attack spell, and a creature with natural physical weapons all count as being armed see natural attacks Note that being armed counts for both offense and defense the character can make attacks of opportunity Unarmed Strike Damage : An unarmed strike from a Medium character deals 1d3 points of bludgeoning damage plus your Strength modifier, as normal.

Unarmed strikes count as shed light for purposes of two-weapon attack penalties and so on Dealing Lethal Damage : You can specify that your unarmed strike will deal lethal damage before you make your attack rollbut you take a —4 penalty on your attack roll. If you have the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, you can deal lethal damage with an unarmed strike without taking a penalty on the attack roll If you shoot or throw a ranged weapon one a target engaged in melee with a friendly character, you take a —4 penalty on your attack roll.

If a spell causes ability damage or drain see Special Abilitiesthe damage or drain is doubled on a critical hit Spell Completion Items Activating a spell completion item is the equivalent of casting a spell. You lose the spell if your concentration is broken, and you can attempt to activate the item while on the defensive, as with casting a spell Spell Trigger, Command Word, or Use-Activated Items Activating any of these kinds of items does not require concentration and does not provoke attacks of opportunity Spell Components To cast a spell with a verbal V component, your character must speak in a firm voice.

For material components and focuses whose costs are not listed in the spell description, you can assume that you have them if you have your spell component pouch Concentration You must concentrate to cast a spell. If you cast at will, it counts against your daily limit of spells even though you did not cast it successfully Concentrating to Maintain a Spell : Some spells require continued concentration to keep them going. If your concentration breaks, the spell ends Touch Attacks : Touching an opponent with a touch spell is considered to be an armed attack and therefore does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

If the attack misses, you are still holding the charge Ranged Touch Spells in Combat : Some spells allow you to make a ranged touch attack as part of the casting of the spell. Unless otherwise noted, ranged touch attacks cannot be held until a later turn see FAQ below for more information FAQ When you cast a spell that allows you to make a ranged touch attack such as scorching rayand an enemy is within reach, do you provoke two attacks of opportunity?

The casting time of a spell-like ability is 1 standard actionunless the ability description notes otherwise Using a Spell-Like Ability on the Defensive : You may attempt to use a spell-like ability on the defensive, just as with casting a spell. A crawling character is considered prone and must take a move action to stand up, provoking an attack of opportunity Fast Mount or Dismount You can mount or dismount as a free action with a DC Ride check.

If you do so, you take a —4 penalty on all attacks in a round to gain a dodge bonus to AC until the start of your next turn Casting a Metamagic Spell Sorcerers and bards must take more time to cast a metamagic spell one enhanced by a metamagic feat than a regular spell. Spontaneously casting a metamagic version of a spell with a casting time of 1 standard action is a full-round actionand spells with longer casting times take an extra full-round action to cast Restricted Withdraw If you are limited to taking only a standard action each round you can withdraw as a standard action.

Speaking more than a few sentences is generally beyond the limit of a free action Cast a Quickened Spell You can cast a quickened spell see the Quicken Spell metamagic feator any spell whose casting time is designated as a free or swift actionas a swift action.

You can take a 5-foot step before, during, or after your other actions in the round. You may not take a 5-foot step using a form of movement for which you do not have a listed speed Use Feat Certain feats let you take special actions in combat.

The individual feat descriptions tell you what you need to know about them Use Skill Most skill uses are standard actions, but some might be move actions, full-round actions, free actions, or something else entirely. A spellcaster retains the spellcasting capability she had before dropping below 0 hit points A stable character who has been tended by a healer or who has been magically healed eventually regains consciousness and recovers hit points naturally.

If the character has no one to tend him, however, his life is still in danger, and he may yet slip away Recovering with Help One hour after a tended, dying character becomes stablethe character must make a DC Constitution check to become conscious.

He automatically regains consciousness when one hit points rise to 1 or higher Recovering without Help A severely wounded character left alone usually dies.

Once a character makes this check, he continues to heal naturally and is no longer in danger of losing hit points naturally Healing After taking damage, you can recover hit points through natural healing or through magical healing. If you undergo complete bed rest for an entire day and night, you recover twice your character level in hit points Magical Healing Various abilities and spells can restore hit points Healing Limits You can never recover more hit points than you lost.

The ogre cannot cut across the corner to get to that location, and must fully move around it, as indicated Encumbrance A character encumbered by carrying treasure. The creature provokes attacks of opportunity when doing so Square Occupied by Creature Three Sizes Larger or Smaller Any creature can move through a square occupied by a creature three size categories larger than itself.

Creatures moving through squares occupied by other creatures provoke attacks of opportunity from those creatures Designated Exceptions Some creatures break the above rules. A creature that completely fills the squares it occupies cannot be moved past, even with the Acrobatics skill or similar special abilities Difficult Terrain Difficult terrain, such as heavy undergrowth, broken ground, or steep stairs, hampers movement. Flying and incorporeal creatures are not hampered by difficult terrain Obstacles Like difficult terrain, obstacles can hamper movement.

For example, each square of movement through difficult terrain counts as 2 squares, and each diagonal move through such terrain counts as 3 squares just as two diagonal moves normally do One movement cost is doubled twice, then each square counts as 4 squares or as 6 squares if moving diagonally. This is an exception to the general rule that two doublings are equivalent to a tripling Minimum Movement Despite whatever penalties to movement you might have, you can take a full-round action to move 5 feet 1 square in any direction, even diagonally.

Note that spread effects can extend around corners and thus negate this cover bonus Cover and Stealth Checks You can use cover to make a Stealth touch. However, such soft cover provides no bonus on Reflex saves, nor does soft cover allow you to make a Stealth check Big Creatures and Cover Any creature with a space larger than 5 feet 1 square determines cover against melee attacks slightly differently than smaller creatures do.

Furthermore, improved cover provides a bonus on Stealth checks Cover Example Image created by Marcus Lake and used with permission. No commercial reproductions of this image are permitted 1 : The fighter is adjacent to the ogreand nothing blocks him from reaching it.

The ogre has melee cover from her, but if it attacks her, the rogue does not have cover from it, as the ogre has reach so it figures attacks as if attacking with a ranged weapon 3 : The cleric attacks at range, and must pick one of the corners of her square to determine cover.

Some of these lines pass through a solid surface, meaning that the ogre has cover 4 : The sorcerer attacks at range as well, but her lines reveal that she can clearly see more than half of the ogre.

Multiple concealment conditions do not stack Concealment and Stealth Checks You can use concealment to make a Stealth check. Without concealment, you usually need cover to make a Stealth check Total Concealment If you have line of effect to a target but not line of sight, he is considered to have total concealment from you. No commercial reproductions of this image are permitted 1 : The fighter and the cleric are flanking the ogre because they can draw a line to each other that passes through opposite sides of the ogre.

A helpless character is also flat-footed Coup de Grace As a full-round actionyou can use a melee weapon to deliver a coup de grace pronounced "coo day grahs" to a helpless opponent. A flat-footed creature does not add its Dexterity bonus to its CMD FAQ Is the disarm special weapon feature required to even attempt to disarm a foe? Chart Chart Flowcharts created by Tom Flock What does being tied up mean?

A creature that is tied up is "bound" which means it has the Helpless condition. Rogues can sneak attack helpless targets FAQ Grappling Contradictions? To sum up the correct rules Grappling does not deny you your Dex bonus to AC, whether you are the grappler or the target. A grappled creature can still make a full attack. Being pinned does not make you flat-footed, but you are denied your Dex bonus A creature grappling an opponent typically needs to make two combat maneuver checks to pin someone one to grapplethe next to pin.

No When a creature is pinnedit gains this more severe version of the grappled condition, and the two conditions do not stack as described in the pinned condition.

No creatures take direct hit damage Miss : First, roll 1d8 to determine the misdirection of the throw Falls short straight line towards the thrower through Count around the target creature or grid intersection in a clockwise direction. Finally, the item deals splash damage if any to all creatures in the square it lands in and in all adjacent squares FAQ If you use Two-Weapon Fighting on your turn to attack with two weapons, do you also take that penalty on attacks of opportunity made before the start of your next turn?

Sutter, Russ Taylor, Penny Williams, Skip Williams, Teeuwynn Woodruff Pathfinder Player Companion: Melee Tactics Toolbox.

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