Can the third benefit of the Mobile feat prevent multiple creatures you attack in a single turn from making opportunity attacks against you that turn?

Question

I am playing a monk. I wanted to use the Mobile feat, specifically the third option that prevents opportunity attacks, to do the following:

hit creature 1 with my attack, then move away from creature 1
then use Flurry of Blows on creature 2, then move away
then make an unarmed strike on creature 3

...all without provoking opportunity attacks from any of them, thanks to the Mobile feat.

However, I was told that I can not do that because it only works for one creature and only my action is a "melee attack" or some such reason.

Is my interpretation right according to "rules as written", or am I misunderstanding how it works? It seems quite vague.

Oh, and Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the [tour] if you haven't already and see the [help] or ask us here in the comments (use @ to ping someone) if you need more guidance. Good Luck and Happy Gaming! — Someone_Evil, Aug 14 '20 at 22:26
Possibly helpful: What does upper-case-A-Attack action vs. lower-case-a-attack mean?, on the distinction between the Attack action and "an attack" or "a melee attack" (the Mobile feat refers to melee attacks, but not the Attack action). — Carcer, Aug 14 '20 at 22:39
Thank you. Yes my monk is high level but have not played her in awhile forgot she had two base attacks at this level. Good to know I was technically correct in being able to switch targets at least as a monk with all those melee attacks. — Curious, Aug 14 '20 at 22:43
Your post says you make 1 attack, then use Flurry of Blows (which costs a ki point but lets you make 2 unarmed strikes as a bonus action "immediately after you take the Attack action"), then make an unarmed strike on a creature. I assumed the last unarmed strike was from Martial Arts, which lets you make one unarmed strike as a bonus action (while unarmed/wielding only monk weapons and unarmored). However, you only have one bonus action per turn, so you can't quite do the last attack if I'm interpreting the post correctly. (Though if you have Extra Attack, you can move between all 4 attacks.) — V2Blast, Aug 14 '20 at 23:26
Related: Must a monk's Flurry of Blows attacks occur after the initial (and extra) attack from the Attack action?, Can monk move between his extra and bonus attacks?, Is Flurry of Blows limited to one target? — V2Blast, Aug 14 '20 at 23:36
Good point on not being able to do the unarmed strike the answer given is what attacks I'd do instead. — Curious, Aug 15 '20 at 00:30
Does my answer solve your problem well enough for a green check? — Thomas Markov, Dec 09 '20 at 15:59

Thomas Markov · Answer 1 · 2020-08-26T12:09:57.470

The third benefit of the Mobile feat is limited only by the number of attacks you can make in a turn.

The third bullet point of the Mobile feat says (PHB, p. 168):

When you make a melee attack against a creature, you don't provoke opportunity attacks from that creature for the rest of the turn, whether you hit or not.

So when you make an attack against a creature, that creature cannot make an opportunity attack against this for the rest of the turn.

Notably, there is no limit to the number of creatures this can affect, except for the number of attacks you can make.

Suppose you are a 5th-level monk who attacks twice when they take the Attack action (thanks to Extra Attack, a 5th-level monk feature). If you make two attacks with your Attack action against two different creatures, and you spend a ki point to use Flurry of Blows to make two more attacks against two more creatures - that would be four creatures who would be unable to make opportunity attacks against you for the rest of that turn. For further clarity, it may be helpful to review this answer concerning the difference between an attack and an attack action.

Great answer, but maybe emphasizing the difference between an attack versus an Attack action would help make the reasoning clear in light of the what the OP was told at the table? — Upper_Case, Aug 15 '20 at 20:30

Can the third benefit of the Mobile feat prevent multiple creatures you attack in a single turn from making opportunity attacks against you that turn?

1 Answers1

The third benefit of the Mobile feat is limited only by the number of attacks you can make in a turn.