Do I have to make an attack to gain the benefit of attacking defensively? What about a spell that requires an attack roll? How does this interact with Attacks of Opportunity? What if I cast a spell & fight defensively, have an AOO against an opponent that then attacks me? Really asking because I want to know if I can fight defensively, move away from a monster, enjoy the extra armour bonus vs the opponents attack of opportunity and then safely cast a spell or drink a potion. Thanks Phil.
You need to make an attack to fight defensively. I'm not sure what the consensus is on how it's supposed to interact with spells. What seems to happen in this game is that you'll sometimes take the penalty if you have Fighting Defensively enabled, but it won't count as an attack, so you won't get the AC bonus. Lots of spells are not very consistent about even requiring the touch attacks, though. Even the spells that give you an explicit touch attack that you have to use as an action (like Chill Touch) don't give you the AC bonus. You can see this by taking a swing at your own party. The attack roll will show whether you took the defensive fighting penalty. And the character screen will show the AC bonus in the round after you've made the attack (if it actually qualified).
Yes. You specifically have to make a melee attack. You will Not get the +2 AC bonus if you just stand there, or attack with a spell, or attack with a bow, or use a skill. So this only applies to melee combat. If you are firing a bow or casting a touch spell attack, neither the bonus or penalty apply. Also, for this to trigger, your previous attack had to have been a melee attack. So let's say combat starts and you get attacked BEFORE you have taken any action, even if you have "Fight Defensively" set, the +2 AC bonus will Not show up yet, since you haven't actually attacked yet. It does not affect any touch effect spells requiring an attack roll, either melee or ranged. Neither the -4 attack penalty, nor the +2 AC bonus triggers. AoO's should work the same way. If you attack, you get the attack penalty, if you are attacked you get the AC bonus if you attacked on your previous action. I would say no, since you didn't actually make a melee attack, so the bonus doesn't trigger. The only time it might work is if you yourself made an AoO, then cast a spell later in the turn. That's an fringe possibility that I haven't experienced. As a last word, all that I wrote above has to do with the ToEE rules before Temple+. I'm not sure if they changed any of that.
