Blink and Concealment Question- A toughie

[Toulash]

Howdy

We had an interesting question today on two fronts. Caused a good deal of debate.

Question One- A warrior with a ring of blinking charged into a threatened square. Now blink gives a 50% miss chance due to concealment. Total concealment says you can try to hit a square, but have a 50% miss chance.

However, you cannot use an attack of opportunity on a target with total concealment. So.......does the blink spell make you immune to attacks of opportunity? Does a 50% miss chance= total concealment?

Question Two- Blinking requires see invisibility and involves a target blinking in and out of the ethereal. Now the spell provides a 50% miss chance for physical attacks and damage, as the target is phasing in and out.

Now, if you cannot detect invisibility, and sometimes cannot see the target, can someone with blink spell get missed by a targeted spell 50% of the time since those spells require LOS? What if the spell is similar to magic missile which can hit things in the ethereal, but requires you to see the target? Is it possible in theory for a target to blink out during the standard action it takes to cast, have his LOS interrupted and thus gain a 50% miss chance in this?

We really had an issue with this because the PHB and DMG is unclear.

Thanks for your input.

[Vaynor]

Howdy

We had an interesting question today on two fronts. Caused a good deal of debate.

Question One- A warrior with a ring of blinking charged into a threatened square. Now blink gives a 50% miss chance due to concealment. Total concealment says you can try to hit a square, but have a 50% miss chance.

However, you cannot use an attack of opportunity on a target with total concealment. So.......does the blink spell make you immune to attacks of opportunity? Does a 50% miss chance= total concealment?

Question Two- Blinking requires see invisibility and involves a target blinking in and out of the ethereal. Now the spell provides a 50% miss chance for physical attacks and damage, as the target is phasing in and out.

Now, if you cannot detect invisibility, and sometimes cannot see the target, can someone with blink spell get missed by a targeted spell 50% of the time since those spells require LOS? What if the spell is similar to magic missile which can hit things in the ethereal, but requires you to see the target? Is it possible in theory for a target to blink out during the standard action it takes to cast, have his LOS interrupted and thus gain a 50% miss chance in this?

We really had an issue with this because the PHB and DMG is unclear.

Thanks for your input.

As far as I understand it, full concealment = 50% miss chance, but 50% miss chance does not = full concealment.

As for your second question, if the spell requires an attack roll, it can miss.

Magic Missile description does not state it can hit ethereal targets, but it also states it never misses and requires no attack roll. I'd rule it a non-targetable spell and remove the miss chance.

[Keld Denar]

Blink grants concealment. While you are ethereal, you are also invisible. However, you are not fully covered by full concealment, since you are corporial for part of your turn. Thus, you DON'T have full concealment. Its worded really funny, but I'm pretty sure this is the right interpretation.

From here.

Total Concealment
If you have line of effect to a target but not line of sight he is considered to have total concealment from you. You can’t attack an opponent that has total concealment, though you can attack into a square that you think he occupies. A successful attack into a square occupied by an enemy with total concealment has a 50% miss chance (instead of the normal 20% miss chance for an opponent with concealment).

You can’t execute an attack of opportunity against an opponent with total concealment, even if you know what square or squares the opponent occupies

Also from here.

Target or Targets
Some spells have a target or targets. You cast these spells on creatures or objects, as defined by the spell itself. You must be able to see or touch the target, and you must specifically choose that target. You do not have to select your target until you finish casting the

Emphasis mine. You have to be able to see a target. Foes with Full Concealment (meaning you don't have Line of Sight) can't be targeted.

Blink only makes you ethereal part of the time. Since you are corporial part of the time, you can be targeted.

EDIT:

Magic Missile description does not state it can hit ethereal targets, but it also states it never misses and requires no attack roll. I'd rule it a non-targetable spell and remove the miss chance.

Um...you'd rule that way, cause its the right way to rule...
From Blink:

Force effects and abjurations affect you normally. Their effects extend onto the Ethereal Plane from the Material Plane, but not vice versa. An ethereal creature can’t attack material creatures, and spells you cast while ethereal affect only other ethereal things. Certain material creatures or objects have attacks or effects that work on the Ethereal Plane. Treat other ethereal creatures and objects as material.

[Yuki Akuma]

As far as I understand it, full concealment = 50% miss chance, but 50% miss chance does not = full concealment.

As for your second question, if the spell requires an attack roll, it can miss.

Magic Missile description does not state it can hit ethereal targets, but it also states it never misses and requires no attack roll. I'd rule it a non-targetable spell and remove the miss chance.

Magic Missile doesn't state it can hit ethereal targets because that's what the [Force] descriptor means. There's no point stating something twice.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

One minor point:

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).

The 50% miss chance does not derive from concealment, only the 20% miss chance if you can hit (not see, but hit) ethereal creatures. You don't need to worry about the total concealment issue because, while one could reasonably rule that the 50% is concealment, that isn't actually what the description says.

[Vaynor]

Magic Missile doesn't state it can hit ethereal targets because that's what the [Force] descriptor means. There's no point stating something twice.

Oh, duh. Regardless, it would hit em.

[Alavar]

From the Player's Handbook, but me no know how to do fancy quote thingie...


"Any individually targeted spell has a
50% chance to fail against you while you’re
blinking unless your attacker can target
invisible, ethereal creatures. Your own
spells have a 20% chance to activate just as
you go ethereal, in which case they
typically do not affect the Material Plane."