I have a player who is currently a lvl 5 druid, during a recent combat she used her wild shape to turn into a constrictor snake to attempt to use its constrict ability on an enemy. my question is later in the fight she was making an opportunity atk while also being in that form. the form states for the actions of that form that its constrict is a melee weapon atk. if she is making a opportunity atk and that ability says its a melee weapon atk do I also apply the constrict part of it if it hits? I was under the assumption that opportunity atks are only basic atks and abilites cant be used but the snakes abilities state they are its melee weapon atks. just not sure how I should rule this
I'd assume that making the opportunity attack would be the snake taking a bite at the target, rather than trying to coil around it. That said, I would keep it on the table for her to attempt to also constrict, if the attack hits. Perhaps do a skill contest between her and the target (Athletics maybe?) to see if she can also constrict it. Should be pretty situational, depending on what else is happening at the time.
A Constrictor Snake has two different actions it can take that count as melee weapon attacks, Bite and Constrict. The text for Constrict says that while it has a target grappled, it can't constrict another target. It says nothing about its Bite attack being limited while it's constricting a target. So, if your Druid has Enemy A constricted and Enemy B steps out of Druid's reach, then Druid can make an attack of opportunity by either trying a Bite attack against Enemy B, or by releasing the grapple on Enemy A(which does not require any action, it's "free" just like dropping Concentration on a spell) and trying a Constrict attack against Enemy B. If your Druid tries that second option, they let go of Enemy A whether or not they successfully Constrict Enemy B.
As for an Attack Of Opportunity being a "basic" attack, you'll not the text for each action specifically classifies it as a "melee weapon attack", which is what you're making when you make an Attack Of Opportunity. For contrast, look at the Black Bear's text. The "Bite" and "Claws" actions are specified as melee weapon attacks", but "Multiattack" is not, even though part of the action involves making two attacks. So if you tried walking away from a Black Bear it could try to bite your or claw at you, but it couldn't Multiattack and do both.
I have a player who is currently a lvl 5 druid, during a recent combat she used her wild shape to turn into a constrictor snake to attempt to use its constrict ability on an enemy. my question is later in the fight she was making an opportunity atk while also being in that form. the form states for the actions of that form that its constrict is a melee weapon atk. if she is making a opportunity atk and that ability says its a melee weapon atk do I also apply the constrict part of it if it hits? I was under the assumption that opportunity atks are only basic atks and abilites cant be used but the snakes abilities state they are its melee weapon atks. just not sure how I should rule this
I'd assume that making the opportunity attack would be the snake taking a bite at the target, rather than trying to coil around it. That said, I would keep it on the table for her to attempt to also constrict, if the attack hits. Perhaps do a skill contest between her and the target (Athletics maybe?) to see if she can also constrict it. Should be pretty situational, depending on what else is happening at the time.
A Constrictor Snake has two different actions it can take that count as melee weapon attacks, Bite and Constrict. The text for Constrict says that while it has a target grappled, it can't constrict another target. It says nothing about its Bite attack being limited while it's constricting a target. So, if your Druid has Enemy A constricted and Enemy B steps out of Druid's reach, then Druid can make an attack of opportunity by either trying a Bite attack against Enemy B, or by releasing the grapple on Enemy A(which does not require any action, it's "free" just like dropping Concentration on a spell) and trying a Constrict attack against Enemy B. If your Druid tries that second option, they let go of Enemy A whether or not they successfully Constrict Enemy B.
As for an Attack Of Opportunity being a "basic" attack, you'll not the text for each action specifically classifies it as a "melee weapon attack", which is what you're making when you make an Attack Of Opportunity. For contrast, look at the Black Bear's text. The "Bite" and "Claws" actions are specified as melee weapon attacks", but "Multiattack" is not, even though part of the action involves making two attacks. So if you tried walking away from a Black Bear it could try to bite your or claw at you, but it couldn't Multiattack and do both.
It should also be noted that abilities that trigger off melee weapon attacks also trigger, like rogue sneak attack or paladin divine smite.
In case it wasn't clear from jd2319's post, if the snake does not have someone grappled, it can use constrict as an AoO.