Need rules for a cover ability to imitate Thief in a game

[Thoughtbot360]

Terminology for this thread:

Thief- The name of the character who is the party.....thief in 8-bit theater. Black Mage hates him.
Cover- An ability in the final fantasy games which causes the character who has it to *teleport* in front of a critically wounded ally and take a hit for him/him.

Anyway, you know how Thief suddenly retreats to the back of the line when dangers near?

What if thats one of his abilities? What if he has anti-cover? Hiding behind someone instead of heroically throwing himself in front of them?

[Azerian Kelimon]

A permanent contingency. "If some attack would cause me physical harm, or alter my status, Teleport me behind the biggest, most brutish hulk in my current adventuring party".

[triforcel]

Well Sword and Fist had a Devoted Defender prestige class with the ability of Harm's Way which allowed him to swap places with his charge (dedicated at beginning of combat) whenever he was within five feet and the charge was targeted with an attack.

So perhaps Thief has Out of Harm's Way which allows him to swap places with a stooge (dedicated at the beginning of combat, further restricted to only be an ally) whenever he is within five fee of the stooge and an attack is targeted against him.

[Tengu]

It's funny how so many people think that Cover actually includes teleportation - I always thought that it just means the character is jumping in between the attacker and the target. Remember, Final Fantasy are anime games - just because you do not see any move does not mean there is none.

By the way, Knight from PHB2 has a cover-like ability.

[Thoughtbot360]

A permanent contingency. "If some attack would cause me physical harm, or alter my status, Teleport me behind the biggest, most brutish hulk in my current adventuring party".

Indeed. However there is a bit of a problem with the flavor of it. You could also make a teleport contingency for cover. However, thing of it is, the cover ability tends to be used by a big, burly guy, while Thief here is just using his Elven reflexes to get behind the party in the blink of an eye. Neither of those are that magic-intensive. To emulate that ability with the right character type, you almost need to make a new class with a supernatural or extraordinary ability.

Actually, making a new rogue-like class with all kinds of tricks that revolve around being a selfish bastard is kind of appearing.