Threatened vs Engaged - What's the Difference?

I'm thinking it simply means attacking.

The reason I'm thinking it must simply mean attacking/being attacked is because there is no other condition for that. "Engaging" obviously refers to the Engagement mechanic, but there must also be something for the situation when someone is attacking but NOT Engaging—or the more likely scenario is that Threatening also includes Engaging. Not all enemies are capable of Engagement, right? Threatening fits the bill.

 

So, Threatening = Attacking. At least that's what makes the most sense to me.

 

What I still don't know is whether Threatening excludes Engaging enemies. I hope it doesn't because it would be kind of silly and cumbersome to always make rules for both Engaging and Threatening separately if you want to include both. I'd imagine most of the time people would want to include both, and it would be a special case when people only want to target enemies who are attacking but NOT Engaging. 

 

It's a serious flaw that this stuff isn't properly documented, though. It shouldn't be up to the player to figure out what these conditions mean. Like why not just call it "Attacking" or "Targeting?" "Threatening" is like the most vague thing possible and particularly confusing due to "threat" usually referring to some sort of aggro mechanic. 

Edited May 20, 20187 yr by Multihog

Yes - several combatants (especially beasts like tigers and so on) don't have engagement in melee - including characters in the party.

Not everyone has engagement slots in this game, so you can be attacked by someone without being engaged by them.  Also if you stagger enemies they lose their ability to engage.

 

So threatened just means you are being attacked by someone who hasn't engaged you, whether that be from range or melee.

thanks everyone