Grappling while blinking

[Hiro Quester]

How would this work?

I'm playing a Druid, who is in frontline melee positions a lot of the time. Often in tiger wildshape with +20 or +22 to grapple. Improved grab from the wildshape and improved grapple from taking a level of Monk.

I have just acquired a ring of blinking, for the 50% miss chance against me. I don't quite have the high HP or AC of our party tank, so I've come close to dying a couple of times. A 50% miss chance might keep me alive.

And since I'm making 5-8 attacks, a 20% chance of my attacks missing shouldn't be too devastating. The party barbarian power attacking with his great axe missing one massive hit would be more disappointing than missing one or two of several moderately damaging hits.

But how would grappling an enemy work with a ring of blinking on?

Can blinking be deactivated freely, like dismissing a spell? If so, then this isn't an issue. Immediately deactivate when I win the grapple check.

Or is it also a standard action to deactivate, like it is to activate?

If so, then if I win the grapple check, rake, I'd then have to wait for my next turn to deactivate the ring of blinking. And in the meantime I could lose the grapple as I blink out of the material plane during my opponent's turn.

How would an opposed grapple check work when blinking? Does the grappled enemy have a 20% chance or a 50% chance of escaping a grapple when I try to onto him?

[Psyren]

Can blinking be deactivated freely, like dismissing a spell? If so, then this isn't an issue. Immediately deactivate when I win the grapple check.

Or is it also a standard action to deactivate, like it is to activate?

It's a standard action, whether you are deactivating the ring or dismissing the spell itself. Though there is an odd gray area with command word items, regarding the "speaking the word in conversation" provision, because speaking is a free action.

[EdgarofFargo]

Psyren is correct about it being a standard to dismiss.

The spell's duration ends in a D, which denotes that you may dismiss it, (as a standard action, it specifies in the srd)

Since you used your standard to attack into imp. grapple or to grapple I'm guessing, without extra actions, you would have to wait until your next turn to end the spell effect.

Also I think that since you can attempt to walk through objects and creatures at 50% chance, the grappled creature could do the same, if getting far enough away breaking the grapple.

[Hiro Quester]

Thanks for clarifying that dismissing (and thus deactivating) is a standard action. I usually only dismiss spells after the combat is ended.

I'd prefer a 20% chance of the enemy escaping while he tries to break my grapple check. But the more I think about it the harder it is to justify.

The best argument I can come up with is that a sword harmlessly passing though you all the way is quick, and more likely to happen. But a whole body passing through you should be more unlikely and more difficult.

Another question occurs to me about uttering a command word to activate a magic item in wildshape, but I'll ask that in a separate thread.

[frogglesmash]

I'm pretty sure you can't grapple while ethereal because ethereal creatures can't interact with material creatures therefor the first time you blinked i after starting a grapple would instantly end the grapple.