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View Full Version : Abrupt Jaunt - How bad is it?



Twilight Jack
2008-12-18, 07:01 PM
Okay, so I've been running a game for the past few months now, which I am preparing to temporarily wind down. If the campaign were a trilogy, we'd be about to conclude Book One, so I've decided to take a break to prepare for Book Two and rest my DMing muscles. In the interim, one of my players has elected to run a short-term game of his own. He's decided upon a higher power level than the game I am running, so has allowed us to create characters at 12th level (my own game started at 3rd and has progressed to 7th thus far). The group has been preparing characters and I am going to play the party's main wizard, a human conjurer.

In lieu of a familiar (my character has a few PrCs, so I wouldn't be getting much use from one), I turned to the Immediate Magic variant in PHB II. As I am playing a conjurer, that means Abrupt Jaunt. Upon learning what it did, my friend sort of flipped out. He's complaining that the ability is too powerful and has been bitching, but refuses to ban it outright, opting instead to complain about how my character will be impossible to hurt but, hey, whatever, if that's what I want to do he won't stop me. I'm looking to talk him down, if possible.

What are the limitations on Abrupt Jaunt? How overbalancing is it? What can a DM do to continue to challenge a character who has the ability without specifically going out of his way to gun for that character? What kind of attacks can, and can't, it defend against?

I know the basic rules in the SRD regarding Immediate Actions, but a few things remain unclear. By way of example: If my wizard is targeted by a ranged attack, at what point am I allowed to interrupt with my teleportation? Before he rolls his attack? After? Does my teleporting away negate his standard action utterly, or is he still allowed to redirect it to another valid target? Can he redirect it to my new location, assuming he still has line of sight and effect?

esorscher
2008-12-18, 07:35 PM
I DMed a campaign with a character with abrupt jaunt in it. As a fan of pits, traps, and the like, it pissed me off to no end. No matter what I threw at it--area of effect spells, collapsing floors, etc.--abrupt jaunt managed to keep the character alive. It got so bad, that I started designing traps and monsters and encounters with the intention of killing the character who had it.

That said, it's definitely worth getting. Just save it for when you're in real danger of dying, not just when you don't want to fall into a pit. If you notice your DM getting annoyed by it, then ease off the use. Just for safety. If you're not worried about your DM making you a target, feel free to use it wantonly.

EDIT: Abrupt Jaunt is an immediate action, meaning you can use it at any time, even in the middle of someone else's action. So you can use it to avoid a ranged attack, but your DM might rule otherwise.

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-12-18, 07:51 PM
It's as bad as he thinks. Immediate Action means he literally won't be able to hurt you. At all. I'd find something else to trade the Familiar for, if he's that worried about unbalancing the game. What's your guys' power level? If it's Wizard/CoDzilla/ToB then it will be fine, but for most games Abrupt Jaunt is insane.

woodenbandman
2008-12-18, 07:57 PM
It's ludicrous. So broken, it's not even funny.

There are ways to avoid more attacks in a round, but not from level 1 and not from as wide of a range as abrupt jaunt gets you out of. Anything, at any time, is now irrelevant.

Aneantir
2008-12-18, 07:58 PM
Abrupt Jaunt is for Wizards wizards who don't ever want to get hurt but don't feel like spending spell slots on defensive spells.

Seriously, if you use this ability you will be untouchable. Unless you're going to use it sparingly, or are going to ask your DM to reduce the number of times you can use it per day to about Int modifier x 0.5 or so, then I wouldn't take this, it's too strong.

On the other hand, if you want to optimize your character for survivability and overall awesomeness, take it and go nuts. The less spells you need to prepare for defence the more you can prepare for crippling the enemy and buffing allies. Good times to be had.

And yes, I'm aware this is a mixed message. Heres what I'd say in the end:
High Powered Campaign? Take it.
Low-Mid Powered Campaign? Don't.

Jack_Simth
2008-12-18, 08:04 PM
Well, it's limited to ten feet. If you're targeted by a spread such as Fireball? Not going to help.

Spell targeting is done after the casting is completed. With something like Scorching Ray, where there's something coming at you, sure, you can avoid it by moving. With something like Flesh to Stone, not so much (unless you have a way out of Line of Effect).

As an immediate action, you can't take it while flat-footed - out of combat (or in combat if you haven't gone yet), it doesn't help much. That rogue that caught you flat-footed? Yeah, you're not getting out of the way - sorry; no avoiding that caster level 11 scorching ray from a wand, with 6d6 sneak attack on top of it.

Twilight Jack
2008-12-18, 08:16 PM
Okay, what other alternatives to a familiar would be worth a damn? It's supposed to be a high-powered game, but I don't think high-powered means the same thing to me that it does to the DM. Since you guys are confirming all his worst fears in your responses, give some other options.

Eldritch_Ent
2008-12-18, 08:19 PM
Abrupt Jaunt is "balanced" by the fact it has Int Mod uses per day.

Of course, being a wizard, you should have an 18 int mod at least by first level, so that's 4 uses right away... It'll get you out of the occasional pitfall and otherwise mortal hazard, but like all the wizard's awesomeness, it's just not going to keep you up all day. (Of course, being a wizard, the party HP sponge should be getting hit first...)

As for the fireball thing, I suppose you could always Abrupt Jaunt five/ten feet into the air and land normally to avoid it...

FinalJustice
2008-12-18, 08:19 PM
Foresight kinda takes care of the whole 'surprised thing'. Granted it's a level 9 spell with a duration of 10 min/level, which means it's hardly active all day long, but still...

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-12-18, 08:23 PM
Okay, what other alternatives to a familiar would be worth a damn? It's supposed to be a high-powered game, but I don't think high-powered means the same thing to me that it does to the DM. Since you guys are confirming all his worst fears in your responses, give some other options.How much do you plan to summon? Rapid Summoning works well if you use the SM line, but is worthless otherwise.

Jack_Simth
2008-12-18, 08:30 PM
Foresight kinda takes care of the whole 'surprised thing'. Granted it's a level 9 spell with a duration of 10 min/level, which means it's hardly active all day long, but still...
He's starting at 12th. Foresight? Not exactly going to be in the picture for a while.


Abrupt Jaunt is "balanced" by the fact it has Int Mod uses per day.

Of course, being a wizard, you should have an 18 int mod at least by first level,
Umm... that is, assuming you don't have anything else you need to survive first level, like Con or Dex. But he's starting at 12th, so that's not overly much of an issue (base 16 + 3 leveling +4 item = 23, or six uses each day, and that's being relatively conservative).

so that's 4 uses right away... It'll get you out of the occasional pitfall and otherwise mortal hazard, but like all the wizard's awesomeness, it's just not going to keep you up all day. (Of course, being a wizard, the party HP sponge should be getting hit first...)

As for the fireball thing, I suppose you could always Abrupt Jaunt five/ten feet into the air and land normally to avoid it...
Do note that Spreads are three-dimensional.

Okay, what other alternatives to a familiar would be worth a damn? It's supposed to be a high-powered game, but I don't think high-powered means the same thing to me that it does to the DM. Since you guys are confirming all his worst fears in your responses, give some other options.
Sometimes a familiar. A bat, for instance, gets Blindsense - which is no-roll locating most opponents (within 20 feet) well enough to zap them with Glitterdust (a Quickened Glitterdust, at your level). Additionally, it's a free Aid Another +2 on any skill you have sufficient ranks in to make DC 10 on a roll of 1 (using the Familiar's scores) - which, as a 12th level Wizard, is going to be "most of them".

There's the "forlorn" flaw which trades your familiar away for an arbitrary feat.

Or you could pick up the UA variant specialist feature "Rapid Summoning" - lose your famliar, but now all your Summon Monster spells are 1 standard action, rather than one round, making them much more palatable in battle.

Fax Celestis
2008-12-18, 08:31 PM
Well, as far as other options, you could trade the familiar for an animal companion, using half your wizard level as your druid level for determining its effects.

Using Class Feature Equivalencies (http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pm7ZjJLKmI5ekKCthZFkBOg), you could trade your familiar for the Hexblade's Dark Companion feature from PHB-II, for a Draconic Heritage feat from Dragon Magic, or--through trading your familiar for an animal companion--trade it for the Distracting Attack Ranger feature from PHB-II.

Hell, you could even make the case for trading your familiar for the Draconic Heritage bonus feat, then trading the Draconic Heritage feat for something like Bardic Knowledge, spontaneous spellcasting from one school, telepathy, or even a die of sneak attack.

Eldritch_Ent
2008-12-18, 08:44 PM
Stuff.

Oi! I'm not saying Abrupt Jaunt isn't overpowered, but there are ways around it. Plus, if a wizard has Abrupt Jaunt, Why wouldn't they put their 18 in int? :P (Along with, yaknow, being a wizard in the first place.)

If you want a useful but less broken power, try that one reserve feat that lets you summon an elemental. Use it for trap checking, scouting, doing laundry, whatever you like.

Jack_Simth
2008-12-18, 08:53 PM
Oi! I'm not saying Abrupt Jaunt isn't overpowered, but there are ways around it.
Umm... I'm kinda arguing that it's not overly overpowered (although it is *usually* going to be better than a familiar, if your party has the Iconic Four roles filled already).

Plus, if a wizard has Abrupt Jaunt, Why wouldn't they put their 18 in int? :P (Along with, yaknow, being a wizard in the first place.)
Groups of archers. You can only use an Immediate action once per round; if you're targeted by two different things, you're only getting out of one of them that way. As you're only going ten feet, that wouldn't even prevent melee bruisers from walking up to you and hitting you after you've made it painfully obvious that you're going to be the guy throwing mass save-or-lose effects such as Sleep or Color Spray around. You'll still need Con to take the occasional hit, and Dex to avoid weapons and reflex save effects.


If you want a useful but less broken power, try that one reserve feat that lets you summon an elemental. Use it for trap checking, scouting, doing laundry, whatever you like.There are actually circumstances under which that is somewhat unbalancing.... but I'm not going to go over them here.

Tehnar
2008-12-18, 08:54 PM
I think there was a thread a while back about how you can use abrupt jaunt.

It is a immediate action. As to that there are two schools of thought.
Suppose you are targeted by a ray spell.

1) You use abrupt jaunt after the attack roll has been made, thus leaving your previous square and that attack misses.

2a) You use abrupt jaunt as the unfriendly caster starts to cast. Now, since the unfriendly wizard has been interrupted, he can choose to cast the spell or take some other standard action (assuming casting the ray was a standard action). That is abrupt jaunt takes place before the action that triggered it occurs.

2b) As 2a but the unfriendly caster must cast the ray, but the attack roll comes after you jaunt. So if you are still a viable target for him he can target you, or switch his attack to someone else.


Let me demonstrate this concundrum with some other similar examples:

Example 1:
Bob is prone. A wolf is adjacent to him. Bob tries to get up, provokes a AoO from the wolf and gets hit. Possible results:

a) The wolf gets a free trip attempt. If the wolf wins, Bob falls prone again and just wasted his move action.

b) The wolf gets a free trip attempt. However since a AoO occurs before the action that provokes it takes place, and thus Bob is still prone when the wolf tries to trip him. Since its irrelevant if the wolf wins or not, Bob gets up, and still can take standard actions.

If you agree with a) solution then 1) is a consistent ruling with a).
If you agree with b) ruling then 2b) is a consistent ruling with b).

Example 2:
Joe the bard has a wand of silence. Joe is facing a lich in combat and knows his abilities cant hurt the evil lich spell caster. So he readies a action, when he sees the lich starting to cast a spell, to use the wand and cast silence on that area. The lich starts to cast a spell (standard action) and Joe's readied actions triggers:

a) Joe uses the wand ruining the lich'es spell and standard action.

b) Joe uses the wand to blanket the are with silence around the lich. The lich finding himself unable to start casting, uses a move action to try and move out of the silent area, and if it can do that, can use his standard action to cast a spell (or even the original).

If you agree with solution a) then 1) would be consistent with a).
If you agree with solution b) then 2a) would be consistent with b).


I personally would treat abrupt jaunt as a sort of modified ready action, taking action before the action that triggered takes place, that is option 2b). I know its a little illogical from mine imagining combat but it makes more sense rule wise for me (not to mention it is more balanced). In the end its your DMs call, but by being a fair player I think you should point out to him alternative rulings of abrupt jaunt.

Kyace
2008-12-18, 09:24 PM
If you wish to keep the Abrupt Jaunt, you might try working out some restrictions. Normally, you can't use it when flatfooted (IE, first round of combat until you act or when caught in a grease spell). By rules, most traps would catch you flatfooted so you couldn't bamf away. I had a DM who enjoyed getting around ToB counters by stuff like that.

You might house rule losing Abrupt Jaunt when denied your Dex bonus to AC as a restraint. Or might that you are denied your dex bonus for the rest of your round after you Abrupt Jaunt due to your mind not having caught up to your new position. Or something.

Aneantir
2008-12-18, 09:35 PM
If you wish to keep the Abrupt Jaunt, you might try working out some restrictions. Normally, you can't use it when flatfooted (IE, first round of combat until you act or when caught in a grease spell). By rules, most traps would catch you flatfooted so you couldn't bamf away. I had a DM who enjoyed getting around ToB counters by stuff like that.

You might house rule losing Abrupt Jaunt when denied your Dex bonus to AC as a restraint. Or might that you are denied your dex bonus for the rest of your round after you Abrupt Jaunt due to your mind not having caught up to your new position. Or something.

Alternatively, you could run the Tomb of Horrors, where if you use it you get mobbed by a bunch of random demons.

Bugbeartrap
2008-12-18, 09:58 PM
[QUOTE=Tehnar;5501325]

Let me demonstrate this concundrum with some other similar examples:

Example 1:
Bob is prone. A wolf is adjacent to him. Bob tries to get up, provokes a AoO from the wolf and gets hit. Possible results:

a) The wolf gets a free trip attempt. If the wolf wins, Bob falls prone again and just wasted his move action.

b) The wolf gets a free trip attempt. However since a AoO occurs before the action that provokes it takes place, and thus Bob is still prone when the wolf tries to trip him. Since its irrelevant if the wolf wins or not, Bob gets up, and still can take standard actions.

If you agree with a) solution then 1) is a consistent ruling with a).
If you agree with b) ruling then 2b) is a consistent ruling with b).

QUOTE]

I don't think AoO rules and Immediate action rules can be compared. I may be missing something, but Attacks of Opportunity happen before the action that provoked it and according to the rules, immediate actions can be performed "at any time" according to the PHB II. So, isn't it reasonable to say the wizard waits for the scorching ray to start blazing towards him before he jaunts abrubtly? In this way, 1 is valid because it's an immediate action, where in the case of the wolf, 2 would be correct.

Fax Celestis
2008-12-18, 11:05 PM
I don't think AoO rules and Immediate action rules can be compared. I may be missing something, but Attacks of Opportunity happen before the action that provoked it and according to the rules, immediate actions can be performed "at any time" according to the PHB II. So, isn't it reasonable to say the wizard waits for the scorching ray to start blazing towards him before he jaunts abrubtly? In this way, 1 is valid because it's an immediate action, where in the case of the wolf, 2 would be correct.

Yup. AoOs preempt the triggering ability--immediate actions occur concurrently.

Collin152
2008-12-18, 11:10 PM
Alternatively, you could run the Tomb of Horrors, where if you use it you get mobbed by a bunch of random demons.

You're thinking Etheral Jaunt, aren't you?

Aneantir
2008-12-19, 12:31 AM
You're thinking Etheral Jaunt, aren't you?

Quite possibly, but I remember someone mentioning that Abrupt Jaunt had something to do with become ethereal. Of course, I could just be crazy.

Edit: I'm just crazy, don't mind me.

Eldariel
2008-12-19, 01:26 AM
You're never really restricted on when you can take an immediate action, so as long as you're aware (or metagaming), you can by RAW take it at whatever point (while the Ray is en route, while the swing has already started, right after he touches you to trip/grapple, just when he finishes targeting his spell, etc.). Unlike Magic, D&D doesn't try to map all the rules you could need since it isn't a tournament game to the same vein.

It's reasonable to say you can't take an immediate action to stop an action after the roll for that action has been made, and it's reasonable to say you can't take immediate actions on actions you're not aware of (although you can of course take the simultaneously; just responding to something else).

Proven_Paradox
2008-12-19, 01:37 AM
Maybe try negotiating with your DM to get a more reasonable alternative? For example, I'm running a game that includes a conjurer right now, and he's got abrupt jaunt--as a swift action, rather than immediate. This isn't nearly as game breaking as an immediate action, but it's still a potentially useful and life-saving tool. You can still be hurt though.

I go with the others on abrupt jaunt being pretty game-breaking as is.

Diarmuid
2008-12-19, 02:03 AM
My group somewhat remedied the Abrupt Jaunt argument by ruling it to be a Swift action instead of Immediate.