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Do you have to attempt a Tumble skill check for every threatened square you leave to avoid an attack of opportunity?

Was this ever clarified in any official capacity, directly or indirectly?

I know Combat Reflexes and Additional Attacks of Opportunity says that…

if the same opponent provokes two attacks of opportunity from you, you could make two separate attacks of opportunity (since each one represents a different opportunity). Moving out of more than one square threatened by the same opponent in the same round doesn’t count as more than one opportunity for that opponent.

…but if the Tumble skill check is successful, the movement didn't provoke at all. It seems to me that if you don't provoke by using the Tumble skill you must tumble through every threatened square.

Sorry I should of added this from the 3.5 FAQ (I know, not always trustworthy, but should be considered):

For example, imagine Ember begins her turn 10 feet from an orc and wants to use Tumble to move through its space and end up 15 feet away on the opposite side.

• Her first square of movement wouldn’t provoke attacks of opportunity (since she’s not leaving a threatened square), so she doesn’t use Tumble or move at half speed.

• Her second and third squares of movement take her through the orc’s space, so these effectively cost twice normal (that is, they each cost 1 extra square of movement), and this movement requires a DC 25 Tumble check. (If you’re using this system, it’s much easier to think of tumbling as costing extra squares of movement rather than actually changing your speed.) Ember has now paid a total of 5 squares of movement (out of the 8 allotted to her for her speed of 40 feet).

• Assuming that check succeeds, Ember now moves from a threatened square (adjacent to the orc), which requires a DC 15 Tumble check and costs twice normal (or 1 extra square of movement). She’s now paid a total of 7 squares of movement.

• Finally, Ember moves one last square, ending up 15 feet from the orc on the opposite side from where she began. She’s not leaving a threatened square, so she doesn’t use Tumble or pay any extra movement. Ember has paid for 8 squares (40 feet) of movement, and has covered a linear distance of 5 squares (25 feet).

Emphasis mine. Doesn't this example imply tumble per threatened square. If not, all the tables I've played at have ruled incorrectly on this.

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No.

Tumble DC 15:

Tumble at one-half speed as part of normal movement, provoking no attacks of opportunity while doing so. Failure means you provoke attacks of opportunity normally. Check separately for each opponent you move past, in the order in which you pass them (player’s choice of order in case of a tie). Each additional enemy after the first adds +2 to the Tumble DC.

You make a single check as part of your movement if there is only one opponent threatening the squares you're moving through. If two or more enemies threaten those squares, you'll make on check for each enemy (not per square traveled) with a cumulative +2 to the Tumble DC for each enemy after the first.

Example: Your character were cornered by two enemies in a 15 feet corridor with each of them close to the walls and your escape route is behind them and your move speed is 40 feet. You can make a Tumble check DC 15 to move at half your speed and avoid the AoO from the first enemy and another Tumble check DC 17 to avoid the AoO from the second and cross the distance safely with your move action if you succeed in both checks.

a character tumbling past two enemies, first to the character's right, then to their left.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Nice diagram... although I must admit that as a partially color-blind tired user, I initially did not see the difference between the 4 circles. A little accessibility trick is to use different symbols, on top of different colors, for example: triangles vs squares/circles. \$\endgroup\$ Aug 2, 2018 at 19:02
  • \$\begingroup\$ @MatthieuM. I've added a texture to the enemies. Does that read well? \$\endgroup\$ Aug 2, 2018 at 23:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ @MatthieuM. Oh, my bad. As a partially color-blinded person myself, I'm ashamed. I used colors that I can see but forgot about shapes and textures. \$\endgroup\$ Aug 3, 2018 at 0:03
  • \$\begingroup\$ @doppelgreener: Thanks for the change, immediately visible now! \$\endgroup\$ Aug 3, 2018 at 6:18
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No, Tumble says

DC 15 Tumble at one-half speed as part of normal movement, provoking no attacks of opportunity while doing so. Failure means you provoke attacks of opportunity normally. Check separately for each opponent you move past, in the order in which you pass them (player’s choice of order in case of a tie). Each additional enemy after the first adds +2 to the Tumble DC.

(the DC 25 version is similar)

So when you tumble away from someone, you don’t provoke attacks of opportunity from that target for the rest of your tumbling. Since you still have to continue tumbling to continue avoiding attacks of opportunity, even though you don’t have to roll again, you do continue to move at half-speed through the remaining squares.

Note that Pathfinder changed the Tumble Acrobatics rules so you do provoke for every square—for every enemy. This quickly leads to an utterly preposterous number of Acrobatics checks, which can make rolling the appropriate checks for tumbling through a crowded combat take ages. For pure speed-of-play concerns, I recommend switching it back to the 3.5e rules, excepting perhaps the DCs involved.

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