Question: Invisibility and enemy movement

[Baldin]

Hi Playground!

Yesterday in my d&d session me and my group came upon a situation which we didn't really know the answer to.
I play a Gnome beguiler/shadowcraft mage. We were fighting some soldiers in a building, I was standing in a 5ft wide corridor and was invisible. One of the enemy soldiers wanted to move and attack my allies behind me, since he didn't notice I was in the corridor. Now the question comes up, can I choose not to block his path?

Cheers
Baldin

[Zombimode]

Hi Playground!

Yesterday in my d&d session me and my group came upon a situation which we didn't really know the answer to.
I play a Gnome beguiler/shadowcraft mage. We were fighting some soldiers in a building, I was standing in a 5ft wide corridor and was invisible. One of the enemy soldiers wanted to move and attack my allies behind me, since he didn't notice I was in the corridor. Now the question comes up, can I choose not to block his path?

Cheers
Baldin

Yes, because neither your character nor the soldier fill up the space of a 5 foot square completely. This would not be possible if either of you would be a Gelatinous Cube.

[Baldin]

We were debating this because the rules say you can't pass through an enemy occupied square. The rules also state that you can move through a square occupied by an ally. Nowere in the rulebook I could find if an enemy can let another enemy pass through its square if both the moving character wishes to pass through and de standing character wishes to let him.

[Necrov]

We were debating this because the rules say you can't pass through an enemy occupied square. The rules also state that you can move through a square occupied by an ally. Nowere in the rulebook I could find if an enemy can let another enemy pass through its square if both the moving character wishes to pass through and de standing character wishes to let him.

As a slight aside. I played an Elf Beguiler for years and loved it. I was renowned for using Slippers of Spider Climbing and Invisibility to create some pretty whacky opening rounds, and quite often I did what you were doing now, merely from the ceiling.


As to your rules query. I think that the rules on the matter are ambiguous. So I'll try applying a little common sense and see if we can reach something satisfying. So, you are more than capable of letting an ally pass through your square. However under ordinary conditions an enemy cannot pass through your square. However, he doesn't know you're there so he's going to try regardless. As a matter of point, as soon as he leaves his square to try and enter or pass through yours you get an Attack of Opportunity against him; but you are perfectly entitled not to take it.

From here, there are a few things I can see being ruled to happen.

1) Because the rules state he cannot pass through your square explicitly (though if there is a specific exception it will trump the general rule of enemies not being able to pass through your square) he will be repelled by a puff of logic and will have to remain in his square. This option strikes me as silly.
2) Because you're the one with an advantage by him trying to pass through your square (you get an Attack of Opportunity, even if it isn't particularly effective) it can be ruled that you can opt to get out his way the same you would for an ally. He wont attack you because he's not aware of you, so really at this point unless he makes the spot or listen check to notice you, you can consider him as not directly hostile towards you at this point.
3) A DM could rule... that when an ally passes through your square, you make an effort to move apart from each other to make this easier. Now, a soldier charging down a corridor is in no way going to try and squeeze himself through a random 5ft square. So a valid ruling might be that you need to make an Escape Artist skill check, of a reasonably low DC (I'd say 15 tbh), to see if you can avoid him as he passes through.

[Crake]

We were debating this because the rules say you can't pass through an enemy occupied square. The rules also state that you can move through a square occupied by an ally. Nowere in the rulebook I could find if an enemy can let another enemy pass through its square if both the moving character wishes to pass through and de standing character wishes to let him.

A character gets to choose who he considers an ally at any point in time, thus you can treat the enemy as an "ally" and allow him to pass through your square, only to return to treating him as an enemy in the following round.

[Baldin]

Thanks for all the insights people! I'll discus it a bit more with my DM and group. Thanks all!

[KillianHawkeye]

This situation is actually covered perfectly by the Overrun rules. It doesn't really matter that the character doesn't know they're attempting an Overrun until it happens.

Basically, your invisible gnome has a choice: to either try to block the adversary moving through his space or to let him pass. If you don't try to block, the Overrun attempt doesn't cost against the opponent's actions and he can complete his movement without even knowing you were there.