[Spheres] Looking to determine the RAW of an odd reach interaction.

[Escheton]

Patrol
As long as you have martial focus, as a full-round action you may increase your threatened area by 5 ft., +5 ft. for every 4 points of base attack bonus you possess. This increased threatened area is applied after the effects of the reach weapon special feature. Until the beginning of your next turn, you may make attacks of opportunity against any creature in this threatened area that provokes attacks of opportunity. You may move to bring the creature that provokes the attack of opportunity within your reach as part of these attacks, provided your total movement before your next turn does not exceed your base speed. Any movement you make provokes attacks of opportunity as normal. Associated Feat: Combat Patrol.

Talents with the (zone) tag grant additional effects to this ability. Each patrol may only benefit from one (zone) talent.

I'm not entirely right if I'm grokking some interactions correctly and would love some weighing in.

Currently my reading is:

Non-reach: For a character wielding a longsword, without other weapons, IUS, or natural attacks, at medium size, and Bab 8:
You threaten 20ft, and if the creature triggering the attack of opportunity is 10-20ft removed from you when it does, you can spend up to your movement to breach that gap and make the longsword attack.

Reach: For a character wielding a longspear, without other weapons, IUS, or natural attacks, at medium size, and Bab 8:
You threaten 10-25ft, but not 0-5ft, and if the creature triggering the attack of opportunity is 15-25ft removed from you when it does, you can spend up to your movement to breach that gap and make the longspear attack.
If an attack of opportunity triggering event were to happen within 5ft, you don't get one, and can't move 5ft for reach weapon to make it.

Reach+Non-reach: For a character wielding a longspear, and armor spikes, at medium size, and Bab 8:
You threaten 5-25ft, and if the creature triggering the attack of opportunity is 15-25ft removed from you when it does, you can spend up to your movement to breach the needed gap and make the longspear or armor spike attack. If the trigger is within 5ft, you could make an armor spike attack, but can't spend 5ft movement for a longspear attack because it's not in the 15-25ft "patrol-zone".

Reach that Doesn't Threaten: For a character wielding a whip, without other weapons, IUS, or natural attacks, at medium size, and Bab 8:
You threaten 20-30ft, and if the creature triggering the attack of opportunity is 20-30ft removed from you when it does, you can spend up to your movement to breach the needed gap and make the whip attack.
If an attack of opportunity triggering event were to happen within 0-15ft, you don't get one.

Further things could be determined from there. But I'd rather not start adding theoretical one handed longspears via Jutungrip and such.

[stack]

I was co-author of Spheres of Might and specifically the primary on Guardian Sphere.

I'm not entirely right if I'm grokking some interactions correctly and would love some weighing in.

Currently my reading is:

Non-reach: For a character wielding a longsword, without other weapons, IUS, or natural attacks, at medium size, and Bab 8:
You threaten 20ft, and if the creature triggering the attack of opportunity is 10-20ft removed from you when it does, you can spend up to your movement to breach that gap and make the longsword attack.
Correct. If you have multiple AOOs (combat reflexes, muscular reflexes, etc.), you can do this more than once, but your total movement in all cases cannot exceed your speed.


Reach: For a character wielding a longspear, without other weapons, IUS, or natural attacks, at medium size, and Bab 8:
You threaten 10-25ft, but not 0-5ft, and if the creature triggering the attack of opportunity is 15-25ft removed from you when it does, you can spend up to your movement to breach that gap and make the longspear attack.
If an attack of opportunity triggering event were to happen within 5ft, you don't get one, and can't move 5ft for reach weapon to make it.
Correct; Patrol increases the reach, so does not help with the 'dead zone' adjacent to you.


Reach+Non-reach: For a character wielding a longspear, and armor spikes, at medium size, and Bab 8:
You threaten 5-25ft, and if the creature triggering the attack of opportunity is 15-25ft removed from you when it does, you can spend up to your movement to breach the needed gap and make the longspear or armor spike attack. If the trigger is within 5ft, you could make an armor spike attack, but can't spend 5ft movement for a longspear attack because it's not in the 15-25ft "patrol-zone".
Mostly correct; each weapon still has its own threatened area. A creature triggering at 25 feet would let you move to attack with the long spear, but not the spikes, since 25 feet would be outside the spikes area (20 feet) when the trigger occurred.


Reach that Doesn't Threaten: For a character wielding a whip, without other weapons, IUS, or natural attacks, at medium size, and Bab 8:
You threaten 20-30ft, and if the creature triggering the attack of opportunity is 20-30ft removed from you when it does, you can spend up to your movement to breach the needed gap and make the whip attack.
If an attack of opportunity triggering event were to happen within 0-15ft, you don't get one.
Patrol increases threatened area, not reach. I can't recall if I considered whips when writing this up. As written, your threatened area with a whip is 0 ft, so adding 15 feet to that would make it 15 feet. The whip text doesn't specifically that it can't make AOOs, so I guess this works?

edit - Whip Fiend from Equipment Sphere makes this question disappear, as it gives the whip a 5' threatened area. Worth taking to not provoke when using a whip and to ignore the limits on what targets you can damage, also.


Further things could be determined from there. But I'd rather not start adding theoretical one handed longspears via Jutungrip and such.
If it still have the reach property, shouldn't change anything.

[Escheton]

I was co-author of Spheres of Might and specifically the primary on Guardian Sphere.

Thank you for the precise clarity, and for your work on Spheres and in particular this one. It's is sooo much fun to play around with.

[Darg]

Patrol increases threatened area, not reach. I can't recall if I considered whips when writing this up. As written, your threatened area with a whip is 0 ft, so adding 15 feet to that would make it 15 feet. The whip text doesn't specifically that it can't make AOOs, so I guess this works?

Whips don't threaten any space around you, but as they make melee attacks you can use them when something provokes when you have something else that threatens like armor spikes or Improved UAS.

[SangoProduction]

Well. I see my job was done for me already. Have a great day.