[Pathfinder] Which comes first: Swift or an immediate action?

[rezplz]

So a friend and I are having a discussion about which would trigger first: a swift action or an immediate action. The specific situation is this: I have the goblin feat Roll With It, which lets me roll away from an attack instead of taking damage from it as an immediate action when I'm hit. If my goblin is hit with an Anchoring weapon, then the attacker can, as a swift action, lock the person in place. Both my goblin getting locked in place, and my goblin being able to roll away, are triggered by the same attack. They can't both happen, obviously - so by the rules, which would happen first? Would I be able to roll away before getting locked down, or would I get locked down before I can roll away?

[AmberVael]

I would think the immediate action would come first in this situation. My reasoning is that immediate actions interrupt, and specifically can occur at any time. In short, its entirely possible for the immediate action to be used after the attack has struck but before the swift action has been used because hitting someone and then using anchoring is sequential. Its not that if they are hit they are anchored, but rather, that if you hit them you may spend an action to anchor them. As such, hit, then anchor. Because of that, the immediate action may interrupt and break up that sequence, allowing you to roll away before you get anchored.

[rezplz]

I would think the immediate action would come first in this situation. My reasoning is that immediate actions interrupt, and specifically can occur at any time. In short, its entirely possible for the immediate action to be used after the attack has struck but before the swift action has been used because hitting someone and then using anchoring is sequential. Its not that if they are hit they are anchored, but rather, that if you hit them you may spend an action to anchor them. As such, hit, then anchor. Because of that, the immediate action may interrupt and break up that sequence, allowing you to roll away before you get anchored.

Normally I would agree with you. But I feel like the anchoring weapon is meant to be something that happens immediately on contact (since the weapon is still in contact with the target once the anchoring is activated) even though it technically takes an action . And since the weapon has to make contact with my goblin in order for him to roll away from it it theoretically should be able to bind me as soon as it touches me, right? Or am I possibly wrongly imagining how the anchoring enchantment works?

Another issue is that both swift actions and immediate actions are described as having the exact same time/effort to do. You do have a valid point though that immediate actions generally interrupt something, so I think I might lean towards the immediate action going off first.

[Psyren]

This is unstoppable force + immovable object again and is the kind of situation where the GM is expected to make a ruling.

I would allow you to move just enough to prevent the damage (if you made the check), but not be able to actually leave your square. Thus both parties get something.

[AmberVael]

Normally I would agree with you. But I feel like the anchoring weapon is meant to be something that happens immediately on contact (since the weapon is still in contact with the target once the anchoring is activated) even though it technically takes an action. And since the weapon has to make contact with my goblin in order for him to roll away from it it theoretically should be able to bind me as soon as it touches me, right? Or am I possibly wrongly imagining how the anchoring enchantment works?

You do use anchoring on contact, but my reading of it is not that it happens immediately and automatically. Reading the ability, the anchoring function is something that the wielder activates- they don't even have to hit a creature to activate it, but if they hit a creature and activate it they can stick them in place. While the activation can be done very quickly, requiring minimal effort (a swift action) it isn't an ability that triggers off of a successful hit (like say: disruption (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/magic-weapon-special-abilities/disruption)) and because of that, there is a potential space for an immediate action to go off before you can trigger the anchoring ability.

Due to sequence of actions I believe it is RAW that you could use immediate actions to dodge, and the description of the ability and how it functions seems to lead me to the same conclusion. A DM might rule the other way, but I think my default assumption would be that an immediate action can interrupt a use of anchoring.

[Necromancy]

Anchoring fails. You have to actually do damage to activate a special ability. The fluff on anchoring is an immovable rod effect. Unless there is some sovereign glue on the weapon, it has to be inside you.

[Crake]

Anchoring fails. You have to actually do damage to activate a special ability. The fluff on anchoring is an immovable rod effect. Unless there is some sovereign glue on the weapon, it has to be inside you.

It doesn't say you need to damage an enemy to use the ability, merely to hit the enemy.


This ability can also be used when the wielder hits a creature with a melee attack using an anchoring weapon.

To me it would see that the order of events would go Hit -> swift to anchor triggered on hit -> immediate to roll with it, but since you can't actually move, i'd rule it as hitting an object or creature larger than yourself, so 1d4 damage and prone without actually moving.

[Necromancy]

You are trying to focus on the abilities here a little too much.

Go read the rules on damage reduction as they apply to this case.

[Necromancy]

Well it seems I have some time. Let me elaborate a bit.


Damage Reduction

...Whenever damage reduction completely negates the damage from an attack, it also negates most special effects that accompany the attack, such as injury poison, a monk's stunning, and injury-based disease. Damage Reduction does not negate touch attacks, energy damage dealt along with an attack, or energy drains. Nor does it affect poisons or diseases delivered by inhalation, ingestion, or contact.

If anchoring affected on any hit it would be a touch attack, but it is not. Like I said before, the anchoring weapon functions as an immovable rod. The idea is like, I take a spear and drive it through your leg at an angle, then activate the immovable rod function. That way you would not be able to move anywhere. It doesn't have any way to work if you don't actually do some damage with it.