Big creatures, movement, and AOO (3.5)

[psisai]

Simple question. If a creature is significantly larger than another creature, and it starts to move past the smaller creature, does it provoke an AOO when each differential unit of its body moves out of one square that the smaller creature threatens but into another one?

example: A 100ft gargantuan worm begins to slide past a medium sized human with a sword who is adjacent to the worms body. The rules state that you provoke an aoo from movement whenever you move out of a square that is threatened by an enemy. So if the human was at the tail end of the worm, obviously every time the tip of the tail left a square the human threatened, it would provoke a possible aoo. However, I'm unsure what happens if that human is placed around the middle of the worm when it starts to move. The worm, as a whole, is not leaving any of the 3 squares that are threatened by the human at any point during its movement, since one 5ft piece of body leaving a square is instantly replaced by another 5ft segement. But does this still provoke an aoo from the human? I wouldn't think so but I don't know for sure.

[Coplantor]

I guess it would generate more than one AoO, but remember that unless you have combat reflexes, you are limited to only one AoO per round.

[nyjastul69]

The situation as presented would provoke only a single AoO. An AoO is only provoked once for each type of provoking action. Movement will only provoke 1 AoO from a single creature regardless of how many threatened squares are exited.

[psisai]

Yes, I understand that if the human is in the middle of the worm when it starts to move it would only get one attack of opportunity, but does this type of movement provoke one at all? The worm at no time during its movement actually completely leaves any square that the human was threatening. It is just moving through the squares that the human is threatening. At the beginning and end of its movement its still filling all those 3 squares with its body.

[Snake-Aes]

It provokes one and only one

Leaving a threatened square provokes. Landing in another threatened square has no effect on that.
Also, movement only provokes 1 AoO per creature that threatens the mover.

[nyjastul69]

This thread also made me take note of the difference between 3.0 and 3.5 rules for AoO's and movement. 3.0 rules state within or out of threatened spaces. 3.5 rules only specifies out of threatened spaces. I hadn't noticed that before.

[Greenish]

Yes, I understand that if the human is in the middle of the worm when it starts to move it would only get one attack of opportunity, but does this type of movement provoke one at all? The worm at no time during its movement actually completely leaves any square that the human was threatening. It is just moving through the squares that the human is threatening. At the beginning and end of its movement its still filling all those 3 squares with its body.I would say that if it doesn't leave a threatened square, it doesn't provoke AoO.

[Curmudgeon]

The worm, as a whole, is not leaving any of the 3 squares that are threatened by the human at any point during its movement, since one 5ft piece of body leaving a square is instantly replaced by another 5ft segement. But does this still provoke an aoo from the human? I wouldn't think so but I don't know for sure.
There's no provocation. D&D doesn't subdivide a creature's space into individual parts; that's part of the whole "no facing" simplicity of the system. So the worm has no head, tail, or other parts that can be isolated into individual components assigned to particular squares. For that matter, the thing could actually be wriggling in inchworm-type fashion, where parts of the thing bunch up for movement while other parts remain fixed; since there are no details of how the parts move, you can't know. All you can know is what the rules specify: the worm didn't leave any squares the human threatened.

So get your head out of the real-world gutter, and embrace D&D movement mechanics!

[psisai]

Awsome. Thanks for the help guys. This confirms what I was thinking.