the wizard specialist ability from PHB2…
— Abrupt Jaunt (conjuration): You teleport up to 10 feet.
— Activating this ability is an immediate action…
— You can’t activate this ability in response to an attack that
you aren’t aware of.
and this tidbit on the introduction of immediate actions could be added to provide a little context …
You also cannot use an immediate action if you are currently flat-footed.
I am trying to avoid excessive RAW, as my DM is already a bit weary of the ability being abused. I think the RAW is slightly misleading because most of the different abilities have specific triggers, or have lasting effects, whereas the abrupt jaunt is instantaneous and seems castable with godlike precision. The primary concern from my DM is when I want to jaunt in response to some event (both in combat and out).
Example might be when an archer wants to shoot an arrow at me.
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If I jaunt in response to him targetting me, that might mean he has not actually shot yet, and could re-target me at my new location (perhaps with a penalty on attack roll)
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If I jaunt in response to him actually shooting the arrow (meaning release of the bow-string, or the moment after he has completed targetting), does my character actually succeed in activation in time (argument being that although jaunt is immediate, a flying arrow is also moving very quickly, so which occurs first)
Another example I came across in some forum argument: using jaunt while falling, in order to avoid any damage from the fall.
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Assume a fall from 100ft, and using real-world physics from earth
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If you jaunt too soon, then you are still in a falling position (and could still take damage, even if reduced damage, still damage none-the-less). Jaunt too late, and you hit before the teleport.
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Ideally, you might want to jaunt in the last 10ft of the fall, but at that moment in time, you are moving roughly 60mph, and you will pass through the "10ft window of opportunity" in roughly 1/10 of a second. I know immediate actions are fast, but 1/10 of a second is pretty fast as well.
What are some reasonable interpretations on how to deal with these split-second triggers/timings?
We seem to have come up with a decent solution where I need to roll a Reflex save in order to teleport as intended (otherwise we assume the teleport fails or executes with non-optimal outcome).
Does our solution get close to the spirit of things? Should we do a concentration check instead? Should it be a near "godlike" activation when you are fully aware and fully focused on the single task at hand?
Best Answer
The immediate action rules do not really specify limitations on when you can activate them; you can activate them at any time that you are not flat-footed and have the appropriate actions available.
RAW, yes.
An arrow being shot and an arrow actually hitting are separate events in time. For that matter, a sword being swung and it connecting are also separate. RAW, you can Abrupt Jaunt in response to an attack being declared, but not in between attack roll and damage being dealt.
There’s no separation between the two events: a high enough attack roll means damage is dealt.
So you can Abrupt Jaunt after an attacker is committed to making that attack, and teleport out of position for that attack, but you can’t wait and see if he’d miss.
Even so, this is obviously stupidly powerful.
OK...
No. This is a RAW-question, so far as I can tell, and real-world physics don’t interact with the rules. Moreover, real-world physics just don’t apply well at all. There is no way to comply with this condition.
RAW, immediate actions are basically instantaneous (take as long as a free action). The DM is given license to limit the number of free actions taken during a turn, which you might interpret as license (beyond the usual Rule 0) to decide that taking an immediate action takes a certain amount of time, but beyond that, the rules are silent. The game ignores issues like your ability to time things as you want to, beyond being flat-footed or whatever.
I’m not sure there is any one, single interpretation that makes sense with all immediate actions. I’d be extremely leery of setting any hard-and-fast rule, myself. I’d rather adjudicate each immediate-action option on its own merits, case by case.
For Abrupt Jaunt, my opinion is that the “reasonable” thing to do is to ban it altogether. It is absurdly powerful, on a class that is already the most powerful in the game. It’s not an even remotely appropriate thing to get at 1st level.
No one here can authoritatively state what the spirit is; certainly, the rules themselves give absolutely no indication that a Reflex save could or should be used this way.
That said, it does have merit as a houserule, whether it is in keeping with the spirit or intent of the rules or not. It certainly provides a much-needed balancing factor. Reflex is the statistic associated with reaction times, which makes it appropriate.
That said, it doesn’t handle anticipation well. In a fight, you cannot be purely reactive; you have to anticipate your opponent’s moves. I.e. you start Abrupt Jaunt early, as he’s starting to draw. In other words, you try to make him make a Reflex save to avoid shooting the arrow. Or you try to time your Jaunt for just before hitting the ground.
Human reaction times are typically in the ⅓-½ second range, but our ability to time things when we can anticipate our window of opportunity is more precise than that.
There’s no stat that really captures that. Reflex seems to be about the best you’re going to get, but it’s not a perfect match.
Definitely not; Reflex at least does deal with time, but Concentration is all about taking one’s time. You might need to concentrate to time things perfectly, but it’s not the meditative concentration the skill typically handles. After all, a warrior has to put a lot of concentration on his opponents as well, anticipating where to block and parry and when to strike. This is more like that, and that doesn’t use Concentration.
No, it very definitely shouldn’t, even if it is by RAW.