Ways to make an opponent "waste" an attack of opportunity?

[RexDart]

Are there any relatively easy ways to make an opponent not use the attack of opportunity he'd ordinarily be entitled to, or to waste it ineffectually?

The only ways I can think of don't avoid or waste the AOO so much as redirect it toward an ally you don't like all that much:

1. Suggest to a party member (preferably with a superlative AC, but maybe just one you'd rather get hit than yourself) "Hey, why don't you go to the left of that guy with the spiked chain, then I'll advance on him and whack him?"

2. Have a summoned creature do the same. Which works, but requires a lot of setup, like being able to summon creatures, having the creature in the right position, taking time to actually summon it, etc.

3. (So obvious and common I didn't think of it at first) 5-foot step

What I'm looking for would be some relatively simple trick to put in one's tactical toolbox, like a simple spell or magic item or perhaps a feat.

[Kurald Galain]

Here's a simple spell. (https://aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Darting%20Duplicate)

[MaxiDuRaritry]

If you can use one of the ways to make enemies provoke AoOs when they attack you, you can take Evasive Reflexes and just 5' step away from the attack right before it's made. Bonus points if you can make a 10' step or two 5' steps, instead. Double-plus super-special-awesome bonus points with extra awesome fudge sauce if you combine them into two 10' steps.

[Zarvistic]

Psionic sidestep and the improved feat of it are both pretty cool as give they give you some movement in addition. It's in the dodge-mobility line tho.

[Doctor Despair]

Take "Elusive Dance" and be immune to AOOs from your target

Take "Master of Mockery" and force a save, upon failing which the subject must focus on attacking you over all other targets, presumably including AOOs

As a conjuration wizard, take "Abrupt Jaunt" as an ACF to blink 10-feet over

Use your tower shield for total cover to avoid AOOs from any enemy who isn't adjacent to you

Use allies for soft cover to prevent AOOs from non-adjacent enemies, or move between your enemy and your ally to give your ally soft cover

Kill them before they can use their AOOs

[Telonius]

Avoid the attack. You could Tumble past to avoid the AoO altogether. DC is only 15, plus 2 for each additional enemy. Anklet of Translocation or Dimension hop can give you a quick teleport to wherever you want to go.

Get a higher AC (or miss chance) to make yourself more difficult to hit. Wall of Blades (from Tome of Battle), Mirror Image, Blur, Displacement, really any number of ways to make it less likely that he'll hit you.

Make it so you want to get hit. The Masochism spell (from BoVD) gives you bonuses for each 10 points of damage you take. As long as the hit doesn't drop you, it gives you some bonuses to saves and attacks. Crusader's damage pool gives you bonuses too. Apostle of Peace can also make people hesitate to attack you (and shatter their nonmagical weapons if they manage to do so).

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Instead of using Evasive Reflexes in my suggestion above, sunder the weapon (if plausible) or trip them as your AoO. I know sundering isn't typically a good idea, but if they're using scrap weapons, not worth salvaging for what little money it could gain you, then feel free.

[rel]

Not all attacks of opportunity are equally valuable and enemies often only get a single AOO per round.
Send someone tough and well armoured to provoke and soak the AOO then act with impunity.

In a pinch you can even provoke yourself, soak the hit then do something important.
For example, I might move to provoke and expend an opponents AOO before making a critical bull rush unopposed.

[KillianHawkeye]

This requires some teamwork, but it can be awesome:

In a 3.5e game, our party came across a hydra in a cave. So my tanky fighter charged in, then the party wizard used benign transposition to swap my place with the low AC, greathammer wielding barbarian who proceeded to full attack it into the ground. :smallsmile:

[RexDart]

Here's a simple spell. (https://aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Darting%20Duplicate)

Nice! Not sure how my DM feels about Pathfinder-specific sourcebooks and the like, but I love low level spells that have some small but potentially impactful tactical effect. I had a lot of fun with Slapping Hand, which is sort of the functional reverse of the above spell.

[zlefin]

You could take the total defense action then walk by your opponent to trigger an AoO, of course they might just ignore you. I wonder to what extent an opponent should be aware of your action if you tried that; should they be unaware you used total defense and aren't an imminent threat? Should it depend on their BAB or their class levels somehow? Sense motive rolls?