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Let's say we have a minotaur (large creature with a Gore natural attack) armed with a large guisarme (reach weapon).

A large reach weapon has it's range doubled (from 10' to 20') and the gore attack with the 10' reach resolves the 5' selfcentered radius of AoO threat.

Does the Minotaur threaten opponents 15' away, and can it attack them? Is there an area where the Minotaur can't attack?

Also, are these rules different in Pathfinder?

DuckTapeAl
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apacay
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  • I'm not sure what you're actually asking here. What are the sizes/weapons/reach of the two creatures involved? You only mentioned one of them. – Tridus Mar 21 '14 at 17:23
  • I'm just asking for the potentially unthreatened radius of the sigle large one posted. I think it's irrelevant if other creatures are placed on the battleground. Is there an unthreatened radius? It's clear to me that if it's a medium creature with a reach weapon and a gore attack has no "blindspots" or "blind radius spots" in his threat radius. But what happens with the large one? – apacay Mar 21 '14 at 17:30
  • Okay, I edited the question for clarity. If I got the intent wrong, please let me know. :) – Tridus Mar 21 '14 at 17:38
  • @Tridus Weapon size is irrelevant for the purposes of reach. – KRyan Apr 08 '14 at 18:12

1 Answers1

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Yes, You Can Attack

The Minotaur can attack at 5' and 10' using its Gore attack. It can also attack at 15' and 20' using its Guisarme, as per the reach weapon rules (emphasis mine):

Glaives, guisarmes, lances, longspears, ranseurs, spiked chains, and whips are reach weapons. A reach weapon is a melee weapon that allows its wielder to strike at targets that aren’t adjacent to him or her. Most reach weapons double the wielder’s natural reach, meaning that a typical Small or Medium wielder of such a weapon can attack a creature 10 feet away, but not a creature in an adjacent square. A typical Large character wielding a reach weapon of the appropriate size can attack a creature 15 or 20 feet away, but not adjacent creatures or creatures up to 10 feet away.

When you increase the reach on reach weapons, both the attackable range and the dead zone (if it has one) increase. So the weapon goes from a 5' range and a 5' dead zone to a 10' range and a 10' dead zone.

This means the Minotaur can attack and take AoO's anywhere from 5' to 20' away. It would use its gore at 5' or 10', and Guisarme at 15' or 20', using the relevant attack & damage rolls. If it lost the Guisarme, it would only be able to use it's Gore at 5' to 10'.

Pathfinder - The Same

The result in Pathfinder is the same. Here's the relevant rule, for larger creatures with reach.

Unlike when someone uses a reach weapon, a creature with greater than normal natural reach (more than 5 feet) still threatens squares adjacent to it. A creature with greater than normal natural reach usually gets an attack of opportunity against you if you approach it, because you must enter and move within the range of its reach before you can attack it. This attack of opportunity is not provoked if you take a 5-foot step.

Large or larger creatures using reach weapons can strike up to double their natural reach but can't strike at their natural reach or less.

The Minotaur also still has its large size and Gore attack, so there's no difference there.

Tridus
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  • Oh please add if in PF is different please! – apacay Mar 21 '14 at 17:46
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    @apacay Done. Had to get the references. :) It's best not to accept the answer (the check mark) until it fully answers the question. If you wait, someone else may come along with a better answer that does answer the question. – Tridus Mar 21 '14 at 17:57