Still Not Done With PF1: Forced Movement Rules (Patreon)

There are basically two kinds of movement in Pathfinder First Edition. Moving of your own volition, and being forced to move. Mostly, that doesn't matter. but there is one area where it is crucial. Attacks of Opportunity (AoO).

The rules for provoking an attack of opportunity by moving say the following:

"Moving out of a threatened square usually provokes attacks of opportunity from threatening opponents. There are two common methods of avoiding such an attack—the 5-foot step and the withdraw action. Performing a Distracting Act: Some actions, when performed in a threatened square, provoke attacks of opportunity as you divert your attention from the battle. Table 8–2 notes many of the actions that provoke attacks of opportunity.Remember that even actions that normally provoke attacks of opportunity may have exceptions to this rule."

So, if you move out of a threatened space you provoke, unless something says otherwise, right? But does that mean move as in going from one point to another by any means, or move as in take a move or use your move, since the game gives you a stat "Move," which is basically your land speed?

If the former, falling past a foe provokes an attack of opportunity (which kinda makes sense), as does being moved by someone who has you in a grapple (which doesn't make sense, compared to other combat maneuvers). If the latter, one could argue that other types of movement (burrow, climb, fly) don't provoke... which both doesn't make sense and isn't supported by the game.

So, Rules As Written can be argued. What are the Rules As Intended? Well, let's look at the common ways to force someone to move -- combat maneuvers. Regarding forced movement and/or AoOs, we are told:

Bull Rush: "An enemy being moved by a bull rush does not provoke an attack of opportunity because of the movement unless you possess the Greater Bull Rush feat."

Grapple: "If you successfully grapple a creature that is not adjacent to you, move that creature to an adjacent open space (if no space is available, your grapple fails)."

"You can move both yourself and your target up to half your speed."

(Hey, if I use a chain, can I choke a creature more than two size categories bigger than..." "There's no size restriction on grappling foes. Now SHUT UP. Only ONE grapple-related rules exploration at a time!" Art by ddraw.)

Drag: "An enemy being moved by a drag does not provoke an attack of opportunity because of the movement unless you possess the Greater Drag feat."

Reposition: "An enemy being moved by a reposition does not provoke an attack of opportunity because of the movement unless you possess the Greater Reposition feat."

So, the combat maneuvers that are ABOUT moving someone call out that doing so doesn't provoke AoOs... but the incidental movement you can produce with Grapple doesn't. A pure RAW reading would then tell me that means moving someone with Grapple does provoke an AoO... but I'll be honest I don't think that makes sense.

And there is some hint it isn't supposed to. Here's the relevent section of the Benefit entry of the Savage Leap feat.

"When you use Savage Slam, you can move yourself and your target up to half your speed before releasing the grapple. You provoke attacks of opportunity from this movement, but your target does not."

That says if I move with a foe after a Grapple I had to pay two feats to be able to even do, the forced movement doesn't provoke AoO on my foe. Again, that doesn't mesh well with the idea that movement from a Grapple does provoke an AoO.

There are other examples. Repositioning Strike both says it lets you move the target of a critical hit as if with the reposition maneuver, and carefully mentions this movement doesn't provoke an AoO, even though reposition already doesn't allow such AoO.

On the THER hand, the goblin-specific feat Roll With It, which lets you convert damage into involuntary momvement, says

"This involuntary movement provokes attacks of opportunity normally if you move through threatened squares, but does not provoke an attack of opportunity from the creature that struck you in the first place."

So the author of THAT feat definitely felt involuntary movement provoked AoO.

Overall, I'm convinced that the games' rules are most often written with the belief that forced movement doesn't provoke AoO... but not always. Pathfinder First Edition is a complex game, that has had scores of creators over the years. Even the original Core Rulebook had more than one person writing it, and more than one person editing it. And no amount of playtesting is going to catch everything. And if some rules were written so forced movement does provoke, and other rules assuming it doesn't, trying to issue clarifying errata would be a can of worms.

As a further bit of evidence on the designer's general intent, here are rules from the next edition of the game.

"When an effect forces you to move, or if you start falling, the distance you move is defined by the effect that moved you, not by your Speed. Forced movement doesn't trigger reactions that are triggered by movement. Some common causes of forced movement include the Reposition and Shove actions of Athletics. In the rare cases where it's unclear whether your movement is voluntary or forced, the GM makes the determination."

Overall, I think that's the way to go for First Edition Pathfinder. Of course, it'd need to be rewritten for Pathfinder First edition.

Something like this.

"When an effect forces you to move, or if you start falling, the distance you move is defined by the effect that moved you, not by your move speed. Forced movement doesn't trigger reactions that are triggered by movement, unless the source of the forced movement states otherwise. Some common causes of forced movement include the Bull Rush and Reposition combat maneuvers. In the rare cases where it's unclear whether your movement is voluntary or forced, the GM makes the determination."

That should handle it!