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Relevant PRD:
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/skills/acrobatics.html
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/spells/grease.html#_grease
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/combat.html#ready
Let's say the following is happening:
I am playing a Human Sorcerer with Grease. I have an ally, an Elf Ranger with a Longbow. We are fighting an opponent, let's say a Kobold to make things super simple.
Initiative is:
15 Sorcerer
10 Ranger
5 Kobold
On my turn, I, the Sorcerer, cast Grease on the Kobold. He passes his reflex save.
On the Ranger's turn, he readies an action that IF the Kobold starts to move out of the Grease, he will shoot with his bow.
On the Kobold's turn, it begins to move, starts to make an Acrobatics check to try and move...
Can the Ranger interrupt it at this moment, and shoot it? If he does so, is the Kobold Flat-Footed?
Edit: Assume this is the 3rd Round of Combat and everyone has already acted.
It's a trick question. The kobold is still flatfooted on the ranger's turn so he can just full attack his flatfooted AC anyway without needing the grease or a ready. :p
If it's not the 1st round... Then to answer your question, yes. In 3E, balancing made you constantly flatfooted till you were no longer in the area. PF nerfed it to be less bad for the balancer, and this is now how you have to do it.
The kobold is flat-footed because he has not yet made his acrobatics check, and the by the rules the attack of opportunity is resolved before the acrobatics check is.
edit:I was assuming "move" meant moved to a different hex or square. If you just meant move as in moved in general aka reaching for a potion then my above answer does not work.
Can the Ranger interrupt it at this moment, and shoot it? If he does so, is the Kobold Flat-Footed?
If the Kobold was flat-footed before it began its turn, and the ranger has a readied action to shoot it as soon as it takes any action, then the rangers action happens before the action that triggers it, in which case, the Kobold is still flat-footed because it has not yet acted.
If the Kobold was not flat-footed before all this happened, the grease doesn't make him that way.
If the Ranger's trigger was "kobold moves" and the Kobold took any other action before that (say, questioning your proficiency in bed or drawing a weapon) then he has acted and is not flat-footed when the ranger's attack happens.
Grick's example still works. I had not thought of him taking another action before trying to move.
edit: If it is the 3rd round he is not flat-footed.
Let's assume this is the 3rd round of combat!
Grease does not make you flat-footed.
Using the Acrobatics skill only makes you flat-footed when moving on narrow surfaces and uneven ground.
Reading over Grease again, I think the intent may have been for someone using Acrobatics to move at half speed out of the grease to be flat-footed. (The same as moving on a surface 7–11 inches wide)
Using this interpretation, the ranger's readied action would happen before the Kobold moves, so he's not -yet- flat-footed. The ranger would need to ready his action to happen during the Kobold's move, which may just be a matter of semantics.
Can you set the "if" condition to be if the Kobold tries to change squares?
Technically it gets all weird to have a readied action happen specifically in the middle of something else happening.
Personally I would just hand-wave it and make sure the intent of the ranger is to shoot him while he's balancing his way out of the grease.
He still won't be flat-footed. He is only flat-footed if he fails the check. My previous answer was assuming it was he was still flat-footed.
In short this only works on round one if you win initiate, and it should be worded so that if he moves in any fashion you get to attack.
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You can use Acrobatics to move on narrow surfaces and uneven ground without falling. A successful check allows you to move at half speed across such surfaces—only one check is needed per round. Use the following table to determine the base DC, which is then modified by the Acrobatics skill modifiers noted below. While you are using Acrobatics in this way, you are considered flat-footed and lose your Dexterity bonus to your AC (if any). If you take damage while using Acrobatics, you must immediately make another Acrobatics check at the same DC to avoid falling or being knocked prone.
(Emphasis mine)
Isn't the act of making an Acrobatics check while on Grease cause you to become flat-footed?
He still won't be flat-footed. He is only flat-footed if he fails the check.
If walking within or through the area of grease at half normal speed with a DC 10 Acrobatics check is equivalent to using Acrobatics to move on narrow surfaces and uneven ground without falling, then you are considered flat-footed while you are using Acrobatics in this way.
The reason they may be equivalent is that grease specifically says that if a creature does not move, they are not flat-footed. This implies that if the creature does move, they might be flat-footed.
Good point Zean. That is how I normally run it, but for some reason I read thought I had gotten it wrong before.
Just because people aren't looking it up...
Grease: "A grease spell covers a solid surface with a layer of slippery grease. Any creature in the area when the spell is cast must make a successful Reflex save or fall. A creature can walk within or through the area of grease at half normal speed with a DC 10 Acrobatics check. Failure means it can't move that round (and must then make a Reflex save or fall), while failure by 5 or more means it falls (see the Acrobatics skill for details). Creatures that do not move on their turn do not need to make this check and are not considered flat-footed."
Since it says that if you do not move, you aren't flat-footed, it implies that if you do move, it makes you flat-footed. This matches the acrobatics for narrow/uneven surfaces.
Succeeding at the check has nothing to do with it. If you have 3+ ranks, you're not flatfooted while balancing, if you do not then you are.
If you ready to attack while someone is balancing, they are flatfooted unless they have the ranks. If it is impossible to attack someone while they are balancing, then that text about being flatfooted would be utterly pointless.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Succeeding at the check has nothing to do with it. If you have 3+ ranks, you're not flatfooted while balancing, if you do not then you are.
Where are you getting this? I just double-checked, and it's not in the Acrobatics rules. The only use of the word "rank" is in reference to fighting defensively/total defense.
Apparently I am mistaken. In 3E, having 5 ranks in Balance let you avoid being flatfooted. I could have sworn that rule existed in PF except was 3 ranks (like any other 5 rank effect from 3E that was carried over), but I don't see it now. Has acrobatics been errata'd at all since the core rules came out? I KNOW I saw that rule there originally... I'm not crazy...right?
It was never brought over.
| 11 people marked this as FAQ candidate. |
(For FAQ flagging)
Is a creature walking within or through the area of a grease spell at half normal speed with a DC 10 Acrobatics check considered to be flat-footed?