Pathfinder Help with reach and AoO

[b300mussolini]

so here is the set up
pathfinder
i am playing a large size critter with a reach weapon in a HB class that gets a bunch of nice bonuses to breaking objects (steamwright class from thunderscape for those that care)

an i kinda wanted to do a bit of sundering but haven't grabbed the feat for it so by RAW i would get an AoO if i tried however since i fighting stuff from beyond their normal attack range do they still get to make their AoO?

i kinda want to know before i try this on my DM since we dont really have copies of the book and finding this sort of thing on the online rule sites is kinda hard.

[RNightstalker]

I believe you would only provoke an attack of opportunity against those that could match or exceed your reach.

[upho]

RNightstalker is correct. This is because you have to be threatened (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/Gamemastering/Combat/#TOC-Attacks-of-Opportunity) by an opponent to provoke an AoO from it. That is, when your Large size Steamwright attempts to sunder something in the possession of say a Medium sized enemy with a longsword 10 ft. away, your Steamwright would typically be outside of that enemy's 5 ft. melee reach, and thus the enemy wouldn't threaten your Steamwright and no actions would provoke AoOs from that enemy.

So in detail, the reason your Steamwright wouldn't risk being hit by an AoO in this situation is actually not because the enemy is unable to reach you with an AoO using its longsword, it's because your Steamwright wouldn't even provoke an AoO from the enemy in the first place while outside of its melee reach. This distinction can become very important, for example if the enemy and one of its allies who actually does threaten you has the Paired Opportunists teamwork feat.