I was just legitimately emotionally moved by seeing someone say “opportunity attack” and not “attack of opportunity” when talking about 5e.
So that’s apparently the warm-wax-soft kind of day I’m gonna be having. To unpack a little: There's noting wrong with using the 3e nomenclature, everyone knows what you mean, play rolls on, everything is good.
To me these days, seeing the 5e (and 4e, I believe) nomenclature suggests to me that person was introduced to the concept with 5e.
— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) December 27, 2020
That gets me.
To drill into the nits and pick, the function of the two game objects is similar, but different enough that using the current term allows differentiation. Opportunity attacks happen in pretty much only one instance.
Attacks of opportunity has a half page table. Folk from the 3e era know well scanning down that mind-numbing column of YES and NO trying to figure out if you're about to get stabbed when you try to draw your sword or light a lantern.
— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) December 27, 2020
Forgive us sinners and our deep-rooted traditions… in time, we too shall correct our mistakes.
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) December 27, 2020
I only played 3.5E very briefly before moving on to 5E, and really conceptually think of the mechanic in 5E terms, but I prefer to say “attack of opportunity” on almost purely linguistic and aesthetic grounds. It clearly echoes the military term “target of opportunity”, which makes a lot of sense.