Teleportation, AoO, movement, and 5-foot steps

[Elysiume]

I've found some varying answers regarding the below ways that various teleport effects interact with movement and movement-adjacent rules.

1: Teleportation and AoO
Teleporting, as the spell, next to an enemy would provoke an AoO--you're casting a spell next to an enemy. Assuming you either cast defensively or tank the hit, the teleportation effect itself doesn't provoke, right? This seemed pretty well agreed on online, and is mostly just a segue into...

2: Dimensional Hop and AoO
Does the Dimensional Hop spell-like ability from the Travel domain trigger attacks of opportunity upon use? The text is:

Dimensional Hop (Sp): At 8th level, you can teleport up to 10 feet per cleric level per day as a move action. This teleportation must be used in 5-foot increments and such movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity. You must have line of sight to your destination to use this ability. You can bring other willing creatures with you, but you must expend an equal amount of distance for each creature brought.
Typically a spell-like ability would trigger attacks of opportunity, but the block says "such movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity." This seems like it could refer to 1) the overall use of the ability, 2) the movement part, but not the spell-like ability activation. Teleportation doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity (e.g. a quickened Teleport/Dimdoor/whatever doesn't), so it would be weird if it was case 2, and they were clarifying something that isn't clarified in most other teleport-type movement.

The APG has the feat Teleport Tactician, which reads:

Any creature using a teleportation effect to enter or leave a square threatened by you provokes an attack of opportunity, even if casting defensively or using a supernatural ability.The implication is that normally teleporting out of a square doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity (although the method by which you gain access to teleportation may), which would make it weirder for Dimensional Hop to explicitly call out that the teleportation is immune to AoOs, making it seem more likely that it refers to the ability as a whole.

3: Teleports and 5-foot steps
Can you 5-foot step before/after you Teleport (or similar effect)? The text of 5-foot step is:

You can move 5 feet in any round when you don't perform any other kind of movement. Taking this 5-foot step never provokes an attack of opportunity. You can't take more than one 5-foot step in a round, and you can't take a 5-foot step in the same round that you move any distance.Move actions in general don't prevent the use of a 5-foot step; movement does. Does a teleport count as "mov[ing] any distance"? My interpretation is that this refers to typical move actions: run, fly, swim, etc., as described in this stack exchange answer (http://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/38290/can-you-take-a-standard-action-an-action-that-counts-as-a-move-action-and-a-5/38291#38291). Additionally, the description of movement in the Tactical Combat section of the PHB:

Movement in Combat: Generally, you can move your speed in a round and still do something (take a move action and a standard action).Hence, the implication is that movement involves moving your speed, and that effects that cause you to relocate during your turn do not count as "movement" as far as taking a 5-foot step is concerned.

[Dekion]

1. Yes. If you are within the threatened area of an enemy and cast a spell, you would provoke and AoO unless you successfully cast defensively or had another ability that prevented you from provoking.

2. Yes. The ability specifically states that it does not provoke AoO for the associated movement. I'm pretty certain that this is to represent that spaces you are "moving through" are not really ever occupied by you or your passengers. This does not mean that it prevents the AoO for using a spell like ability. Depending upon how you take Teleport Tactician, you would provoke for using a SLA, because SLAs provoke on their own, regardless of the effect, and again for Teleporting, as Dimensional Hop is a teleportation effect.

3. Yes, most likely. Teleportation itself is not "movement," you simply disappear from one place, and reappear in another, so you should be able to take a 5 foot step before or after, as long as you did not actually take a move action to move using standard movement methods. However, there are some caveats, like in Dimension Door which states that you can take no actions after you use the spell.

I'm sure others may have other thoughts, but this is what I see based upon my understanding of the abilities listed and the questions you asked.

[legomaster00156]

Teleportation itself is not "movement," you simply disappear from one place, and reappear in another...
Actually, teleportation is movement. It's just that your movement takes place on the Astral Plane rather than wherever you were, and thus distances once vast are but a few steps away.

[Dekion]

Actually, teleportation is movement. It's just that your movement takes place on the Astral Plane rather than wherever you were, and thus distances once vast are but a few steps away.

I'd like to see your source on this, and for Pathfinder specifically. While it may have been flavored as this in the past, all descriptions of the spell and most similar spells in the teleportation subset of conjuration state that you are instantly transported from your current location to your destination. The duration is even instantaneous, making no mention of transit through any locale.

[legomaster00156]

Ok. Here's the d20pfsrd entry (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/environment/the-planes/#Astral_Plane)...

Powerful spellcasters utilize the Astral Plane for a tiny fraction of a second when they teleport, or they can use it to travel between planes with spells like astral projection.
And here's Gamemastery Guide page 192.

When a character moves through a portal or projects her spirit to a different plane of existence, she travels through the Astral Plane. Even spells that allow instantaneous movement across a plane briefly touch the Astral Plane.

[Dekion]

Thank you for that, you have resolved my ignorance in the matter. And while it doesn't say you move through the Astral Plane when you teleport, I will concede the Plane's involvement in the process given the details provided. So, then I ask the follow-up question: Other than flavor, and that teleportation "touches or utilizes" the Astral Plane, does this change any of the responses I provided to the original questions? My primary goal was to give correct answers to the inquiry made by Elysiume.

[Elysiume]

1. Yes. If you are within the threatened area of an enemy and cast a spell, you would provoke and AoO unless you successfully cast defensively or had another ability that prevented you from provoking.I was specifically asking about the relocation from the teleportation, rather than the casting of the teleport. For example, a quickened Teleport would be a swift action, which wouldn't provoke an AoO, and since teleportation isn't true movement, the relocation effect doesn't inherently provoke.

2. Yes. The ability specifically states that it does not provoke AoO for the associated movement. I'm pretty certain that this is to represent that spaces you are "moving through" are not really ever occupied by you or your passengers. This does not mean that it prevents the AoO for using a spell like ability. Depending upon how you take Teleport Tactician, you would provoke for using a SLA, because SLAs provoke on their own, regardless of the effect, and again for Teleporting, as Dimensional Hop is a teleportation effect.I may have been reading into the clarification too much; it doesn't explicitly state that the AoO immunity applies to the Sp usage, other than a generous reading of "such movement" as applying to the ability usage.

Addressing the movement part of teleportation: if teleportation involves "a tiny fraction of a second" on the astral plane, it doesn't seem like it would qualify as "movement" for the restrictions on taking a five-foot step. While you end up in a different position, the time spent on the action was spent on casting, rather than physically moving.

[Dekion]

1. You are correct, teleportation as "movement" (unless there is some specific ability that contradicts this, like Teleport Tactician) doesn't provoke AoO.

2. Unless it is explicitly stated, I would say that the SLA still provokes when used, even if the "movement" from the teleportation effect doesn't.

I would agree that since you aren't moving (at least on the same plane of existence as your enemies per other interpretations) you don't provoke for teleporting as a general rule.

Of course, a DM can rule however they like, and if they consider teleportation actual movement, unless there is some caveat to directly oppose that ruling which they accept, you could be subject to an AoO for teleporting out of a threatened space.

[Psyren]

(1) Correct, the casting itself provokes but the movement through the Astral does not.

(2) Same as above, activating the SLA provokes but the teleportation itself does not. You will need to cast in a way that does not provoke (e.g. casting defensively or quickening) to avoid AoO.

(3) Teleport Tactician will defeat both of the above. You will still only provoke once, it's just a guaranteed provoke.