Dealing with Abrupt Jaunt

[AlanBruce]

Greetings! I was just wondering if anyone had posted regarding this wizard class feature from PHB II, which allows the wizard (conjurer in this case) to "jump" as an immediate action 10 ft. away, thus negating any attack, no matter how precise.

Although I know spells like dimensional anchor can be used ad nauseum, it's really a cheap way to deal with the ability. I was wondering the following:

1. Must the conjurer in question be aware of the attack in order to jaunt away?

2. Has anyone dealt with this situation before?

I'm not complaining about the ability. I think that it does save a wizard very well, especially if they benefit from high intelligence. I was curious as to how to deal with this situation without resorting to the infamous. "You're trapped in an anti magic room with the monster" or the "entire trap gauntlet has a dimensional anchor glyph in place".

Sorry for the rant, and thank you in advance.

[tyckspoon]

1: Attack him twice. Unless some pretty obscure cheese is in use, you get 1 and only 1 Immediate action/turn, so multiple threats will overwhelm the protection offered by Abrupt Jaunt quite quickly.

2: Use AoE/extended reach. The Jaunt only moves him 10 feet; if that 10 feet doesn't get him out of the range of whatever is thrown at him, it won't save him.

3: Burn out his uses. Being based on Int modifier makes it look like there's a lot, but if it's being used at *every* opportunity where it might be useful you actually do go through them pretty rapidly.

[AlanBruce]

Thank you for the quick response. The wizard in question is actually a gish, who uses abrupt jaunt + leap attack + power attack + wraithstrike combo rather well (doing decent damage for a 10th level character). I was wondering if the ability negated situations such as being grappled or caught in an area like entangle.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You cannot take an immediate action when you're flat-footed, unless the ability specifically says otherwise (which this one does not). If he would be considered flat-footed for a given attack, he cannot Abrupt Jaunt out of it.

[tyckspoon]

Thank you for the quick response. The wizard in question is actually a gish, who uses abrupt jaunt + leap attack + power attack + wraithstrike combo rather well (doing decent damage for a 10th level character).

Tangential but relevant to this character: Remember that an Immediate action eats the Swift action out of your next turn. Unless he's also using Persist or Extend, if he Abrupt Jaunts out of one attack it will eat the action he would need to Wraithstrike for the next turn.

[AlanBruce]

Thank you for clarifying that for me. Until recently, the gish just took Extend Spell, which he uses for one of his wraithstraikes, lasting a full round, if I'm not mistaken. Before that, he would jaunt, then charge, leap and strike. I will have to point that out next time. Thank you very much.


Edit: I was uanware of the flatfooted condition. This changes things tremendously.

[Arcanist]

Thank you for clarifying that for me. Until recently, the gish just took Extend Spell, which he uses for one of his wraithstraikes, lasting a full round, if I'm not mistaken. Before that, he would jaunt, then charge, leap and strike. I will have to point that out next time. Thank you very much.


Edit: I was uanware of the flatfooted condition. This changes things tremendously.

Just make sure he doesn't take that Mindbender dip or your screwed :smalltongue:

[AlanBruce]

Don't worry! I have a bunch of books allowed, and although Mindbender is in one of the books, he has chosen to ban enchantment, which I believe is a prerequisite for the class, as well as evocation. His build, if I recall correctly is:

ftr2/wiz4/spellwsord2/eldritch knight2

His build is made to avoid damage, as he puts it, taking the EK all the way to level 10. His AC is rather low, but with the PHB2 variant, he rarely gets hit, which is fine, as he is the main damage dealer, the tank being the druid who took the PHB 2 variant rule and is a bear all the time.