Does shifting count as movement, for the purpose of triggering non-attack opportunity actions? [duplicate]

Question

Replaced by the following questions:
Can shifting trigger immediate actions?
Can shifting trigger non-attack opportunity actions?
Can Pursuit of the Hunter be used to move away from the triggering enemy?

The particular power that brings this to question is Pursuit of the Hunter. The Trigger line reads:

Trigger: An enemy within 2 squares of you moves on its turn

Would an enemy shifting meet the criteria of this trigger?

Answer 1

Yes,

An enemy shifting meets the criteria for enemy movement and would trigger this power. From the Rules Compendium glossary p314, or DDI.

Move: Any instance of movement ... Shifting, teleporting, and being pushed are all examples of moves.

There is a bit of confusion in your question though. You are asking about Opportunity Actions. Pursuit of the Hunter triggers an Immediate Reaction The two are different and should not be confused. As an example, if a creature did a non-shifting move away from the Ranger, the Ranger could use an Opportunity Attack against the creature and then use Pursuit of the Hunter as an Immediate to move himself.

@BrianBallsunStanton thinks that using this power to shift out of flanking is likely against the Rules As Intended. I do not believe this interpretation to be correct.

The section quoted

Your prey tries to maneuver away, but there is no escape.

is flavor text. Flavor Text is defined on p62 of Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, includes this bit:

Feel free to invent a description of the power yourself

Also see Dragon Magazine #394, Reflavoring Powers

Players can choose how their characters’ powers act, customizing each for the theme of the character or feel of the campaign.

Based on the above, I believe it is clearly intended for players to use the descriptions of the powers as a help to understand how they might look. For a DM to disallow uses of a power that do not meet with the flavor text but is otherwise legal would not be correct and such rulings should be known in advance so that the players can accomodate them.

Answer 2

My opinion is that it does.

From the Shift entry in D&DI:

Movement: Move 1 square.

Aside from just plain common sense, this clearly defines Shifting as a form of movement.

No Opportunity Attacks: Your movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks.

This specifies that Shifting will not provoke Opportunity Attacks, with no mention of other types of opportunity actions. Pursuit of the Hunter is not an attack, and therefore should be able to be triggered by Shifting.

Answer 3

It's not RAI (Rules as Intended), but it is RAW (Rules as Written):

The power notes:

Pursuit of the Hunter

Your prey tries to maneuver away, but there is no escape.

Immediate Reaction Personal

Trigger: An enemy within 2 squares of you moves on its turn

Effect: You shift 3 squares. Until the end of your next turn, you deal 1d6 extra damage to the triggering enemy when you hit it, and you don’t take the –2 penalty to attack rolls for attacking it when it has cover or concealment.

The power is therefore designed to chase down fleeing enemies, especially ones that duck into cover.

In the use-case we found, shifting out of flank, that's clearly not the situation intended by RAI. However, as a shift is the subset of actions that belongs to the "Move" category inasmuch as it involves transversing square boundaries, It would be difficult to argue against this power RAW. Functionally speaking, the use of the power to move out of flank should be negotiated with your DM.