9
\$\begingroup\$

The Fancy Footwork feature of the Swashbuckler rogue says (XGtE, p. 47; SCAG, p. 135):

At 3rd level, during your turn, if you make a melee attack against a creature, that creature can't make opportunity attacks against you for the rest of your turn.

The College of Swords bard's Blade Flourish feature includes the Slashing Flourish option, which says (XGtE, p. 15):

You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the target you hit and to any other creature of your choice that you can see within 5 feet of you. The damage equals the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die.

If I use the Slashing Flourish attack and hit 4 other creatures around me with it, does Fancy Footwork affect all of them so they cannot make opportunity attacks against me?

\$\endgroup\$
1
  • \$\begingroup\$ Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the tour if you haven't already, and check out the help center for more guidance. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Sep 12, 2020 at 4:04

1 Answer 1

19
\$\begingroup\$

This does not work; the extra damage from Slashing Flourish is not an "attack".

The Swashbuckler rogue's Fancy Footwork feature says (XGtE p. 47, SCAG p. 135; emphasis mine):

[...] During your turn, if you make a melee attack against a creature, that creature can’t make opportunity attacks against you for the rest of your turn.

The Swords bard's Slashing Flourish option for the Blade Flourish feature says (XGtE, p. 15; emphasis mine):

You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the target you hit and to any other creature of your choice that you can see within 5 feet of you. [...]

Finally, the rules for "Making an Attack" say (emphasis mine):

If there's ever any question whether something you're doing counts as an attack, the rule is simple: if you're making an attack roll, you're making an attack.

Since the extra damage to another creature does not involve an attack roll, and the feature doesn't say you're "making an attack" against those other creatures, you are not "making an attack" against them. However, Fancy Footwork requires that you make an attack against the creature. Therefore, Fancy Footwork would not affect them; it would only prevent opportunity attacks from the initial creature that you actually made the attack roll against.

\$\endgroup\$
1
  • \$\begingroup\$ What about with Sweeping Attack: "When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to damage another creature with the same attack. Choose another creature within 5 feet of the original target and within your reach. If the original attack roll would hit the second creature, it takes damage equal to the number you roll on your superiority die. The damage is of the same type dealt by the original attack." \$\endgroup\$ Commented May 29, 2022 at 17:05

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .