Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Pasus Nauran 10-24-05, 09:26 AM	My 9th level Shadowbane Stalker (Rogue/Cleric) just purchased a Ring of Blinking, and I'm looking for a few clarifications on the effects of blinking: 1. When blinking, are you actually invisible? The spell description states "You strike as an invisible creature...", and makes several other references to you being invisible since you're ethereal. However, since you are only ethereal about half the time, when you're on the Material are you invisible? 2. The spell description also states "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.". Would spells I cast on myself while blinking always work, or would there be the 20% chance to be ineffective? 3. If I get grappled, could I simply activate the ring, and then step out of the grapple. as while blinking you can move through solid matter (with a 50% chance to shift onto he Material plane for every 5 ft. moved)? Any assistance on these matter would be appreciated.
jokotoko 10-24-05, 10:10 AM	1. When blinking, are you actually invisible? No. The spell description also states that "You look as though you’re winking in and out of reality very quickly and at random." From this (and from the fact that such a effect would be stated in the spell description) I derive that you are not invisible when blinking. 2. The spell description also states "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.". Would spells I cast on myself while blinking always work, or would there be the 20% chance to be ineffective? I would say they would always work. The spell states that: "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." However, you are not affecting the material plane...you are affecting yourself who, at that moment, is on the ethereal plane. So they should work. 3. If I get grappled, could I simply activate the ring, and then step out of the grapple. as while blinking you can move through solid matter (with a 50% chance to shift onto he Material plane for every 5 ft. moved)? Yes you could.
CaoSlayer 10-24-05, 10:12 AM	My 9th level Shadowbane Stalker (Rogue/Cleric) just purchased a Ring of Blinking, and I'm looking for a few clarifications on the effects of blinking: 1. When blinking, are you actually invisible? The spell description states "You strike as an invisible creature...", and makes several other references to you being invisible since you're ethereal. However, since you are only ethereal about half the time, when you're on the Material are you invisible? 2. The spell description also states "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.". Would spells I cast on myself while blinking always work, or would there be the 20% chance to be ineffective? 3. If I get grappled, could I simply activate the ring, and then step out of the grapple. as while blinking you can move through solid matter (with a 50% chance to shift onto he Material plane for every 5 ft. moved)? Any assistance on these matter would be appreciated. 1. You are part of the time invisible, when you are in the ethereal plane, the enemy cant see you, and since you are moving inside your area, the enemy cant orientate this defense. "imagine an enemy who is in front of you then disapears and reappears 1 feet at right just attacking you, it is really hard to react for dodging it. 2.since you are in the same plane than the spell, then yes, those spells always works. 3. There is not clear rules about this thing. Most people uses that version while others says that if something, someone gets in contact with you, then starts blinking with you. By rule two, blink grants a chance of 50% for negating the touch attack required to start the gapple. Note that using this rule, if you break the gapple, then there is a 20% of chances that the foe will "plane shift" into the ethereal. This interpretation solves some troubles like what happens if a guy get an item while blinking or drop it.
Pasus Nauran 10-24-05, 10:17 AM	3. There is not clear rules about this thing. Most people uses that version while others says that if something, someone gets in contact with you, then starts blinking with you. By rule two, blink grants a chance of 50% for negating the touch attack required to start the gapple. Note that using this rule, if you break the gapple, then there is a 20% of chances that the foe will "plane shift" into the ethereal. This interpretation solves some troubles like what happens if a guy get an item while blinking or drop it. I wouldn't agree with the idea that the grappler starts blinking with you. If someone grapples an invisible foe, they do not become invisible as well. Also, if you were blinking and a grappler would start blinking with you, it could be incredibly nasty as you could use that effect to initaite a grapple, and then let go of the target while ethereal, leving them on the ethereal plane permanently.
DungeonMaster 10-24-05, 10:26 AM	Blinking isn't "slow", as in several seconds between blinking in then out of the ethereal - it's very fast. Grappling is like any other attack - roll the grapple check normally and then make a 50% miss chance for the grapple to continue. Even if you're winking in and out of the ethereal very quickly there's still a chance they grab and hold you while you're material.
Pasus Nauran 10-24-05, 10:43 AM	Blinking isn't "slow", as in several seconds between blinking in then out of the ethereal - it's very fast. Grappling is like any other attack - roll the grapple check normally and then make a 50% miss chance for the grapple to continue. Even if you're winking in and out of the ethereal very quickly there's still a chance they grab and hold you while you're material. I realize that blinking happens very quickly. It's basially stuttering between the ethereal and material planes. They could grab you while you're material to initiate a grapple, but I would think it would be VERY difficult to maintain a grapple with a creature who is blinking. When blinking, when you are on the ethereal plane you can: While blinking, you can step through (but not see through) solid objects. For each 5 feet of solid material you walk through, there is a 50% chance that you become material. If this occurs, you are shunted off to the nearest open space and take 1d6 points of damage per 5 feet so traveled. You can move at only three-quarters speed (because movement on the Ethereal Plane is at half speed, and you spend about half your time there and half your time material.) ... An ethereal creature is invisible, incorporeal, and capable of moving in any direction, even up or down. As an incorporeal creature, you can move through solid objects, including living creatures. By that description, I would assume a blinking creature has a 50% chance of simply walking out of a grapple, and the other 50% of the time he'd remain in the grapple and take 1d6 points of damage for being shunted from within the grappler. No?
DungeonMaster 10-24-05, 08:35 PM	That is a reasonable ruling if you want to use it Pasus. I merely roll the 50% miss chance each round on the opponent's grapple check. I still make the person with blink roll to break the grapple, but they can be free even without beating their opponent's roll if the opponent misses on the 50%. I don't give them the 1d6 damage :P