DeAnno
2011-10-04, 11:33 PM
I'm curious what people think about how True Strike interacts with Total Concealment and the Blink spell. I was originally going to go to the RAW thread but the issue is rather convoluted and has multiple aspects that I want to inspect.
1) Does True Strike allow you to ignore miss chance due to Total Concealment? The True Strike spell specifically calls out "concealed targets", here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/trueStrike.htm):
Additionally, you are not affected by the miss chance that applies to attackers trying to strike a concealed target.
However, the rules of concealment itself here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/combatModifiers.htm#concealment) make "targeting" creatures with total concealment technically impossible:
You can’t attack an opponent that has total concealment, though you can attack into a square that you think he occupies.
You're "trying" to strike a concealed target by targeting the square, but is this enough for True Strike to work? My inclination would be yes, but I am far from an unbiased observer.
2) The Blink spell has some colorful language describing how miss chances are affected by various states here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/blink.htm) (emphasis mine):
Physical attacks against you have a 50% miss chance, and the Blind-Fight feat doesn’t help opponents, since you’re ethereal and not merely invisible. If the attack is capable of striking ethereal creatures, the miss chance is only 20% (for concealment).
If the attacker can see invisible creatures, the miss chance is also only 20%. (For an attacker who can both see and strike ethereal creatures, there is no miss chance.) Likewise, your own attacks have a 20% miss chance, since you sometimes go ethereal just as you are about to strike.
The text implies there are two effects going on: etherealness applies a 20% miss chance, and concealment applies a 20% miss chance, and in this special instance if both are active they stack for a 50% miss chance. However it does so in a roundabout fashion, and only specifically calls out the ability to see Invisible creatures in the active tense. Is True Strike bringing Blink's miss chance to 20% in the informed houserule zone, or is it RAW? Would a True Striked Force effect have RAW zero miss chance? The latter might be an easier argument, do to the language about concealment being specifically in that section.
Anyways, I hope to clear up some of these subtleties regarding my favorite spell, so I can present a neutral viewpoint in my upcoming Blasting Handbook.
1) Does True Strike allow you to ignore miss chance due to Total Concealment? The True Strike spell specifically calls out "concealed targets", here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/trueStrike.htm):
Additionally, you are not affected by the miss chance that applies to attackers trying to strike a concealed target.
However, the rules of concealment itself here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/combatModifiers.htm#concealment) make "targeting" creatures with total concealment technically impossible:
You can’t attack an opponent that has total concealment, though you can attack into a square that you think he occupies.
You're "trying" to strike a concealed target by targeting the square, but is this enough for True Strike to work? My inclination would be yes, but I am far from an unbiased observer.
2) The Blink spell has some colorful language describing how miss chances are affected by various states here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/blink.htm) (emphasis mine):
Physical attacks against you have a 50% miss chance, and the Blind-Fight feat doesn’t help opponents, since you’re ethereal and not merely invisible. If the attack is capable of striking ethereal creatures, the miss chance is only 20% (for concealment).
If the attacker can see invisible creatures, the miss chance is also only 20%. (For an attacker who can both see and strike ethereal creatures, there is no miss chance.) Likewise, your own attacks have a 20% miss chance, since you sometimes go ethereal just as you are about to strike.
The text implies there are two effects going on: etherealness applies a 20% miss chance, and concealment applies a 20% miss chance, and in this special instance if both are active they stack for a 50% miss chance. However it does so in a roundabout fashion, and only specifically calls out the ability to see Invisible creatures in the active tense. Is True Strike bringing Blink's miss chance to 20% in the informed houserule zone, or is it RAW? Would a True Striked Force effect have RAW zero miss chance? The latter might be an easier argument, do to the language about concealment being specifically in that section.
Anyways, I hope to clear up some of these subtleties regarding my favorite spell, so I can present a neutral viewpoint in my upcoming Blasting Handbook.