| 1 person marked this as FAQ candidate. |
The Kensai archetype for the Magus gets an ability called Iaijutsu Focus.
Iaijutsu Focus (Ex): At 13th level, a kensai may always act and may draw his weapon as a swift action during a surprise round, though he is considered flat-footed until he acts. During a surprise round or when attacking a flat-footed opponent, he adds his Intelligence modifier on damage with his chosen weapon (minimum 0). This ability replaces heavy armor.
This ability references the surprise round.
The Surprise Round: If some but not all of the combatants are aware of their opponents, a surprise round happens before regular rounds begin. In initiative order (highest to lowest), combatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take a standard or move action during the surprise round. You can also take free actions during the surprise round. If no one or everyone is surprised, no surprise round occurs.
You don't get a swift action in the surprise round. I can't find anything in the rules allowing you to "trade down" either a move or a standard action for a swift action at any time, surprise round or not.
How in the world does a Kensai use this extraordinary ability ? Did I miss an errata/FAQ ?
A swift action is a limited-use free action. You can only use swift actions on your turn, and only once per round.
Swift Actions
A swift action consumes a very small amount of time, but represents a larger expenditure of effort than a free action. You can perform one swift action per turn without affecting your ability to perform other actions. In that regard, a swift action is like a free action. You can, however, perform only one single swift action per turn, regardless of what other actions you take. You can take a swift action anytime you would normally be allowed to take a free action. Swift actions usually involve spellcasting, activating a feat, or the activation of magic items.
So Gherrick is saying that because the definition of swift action says "You can take a swift action anytime you would normally be allowed to take a free action.", this specifically overrides the omission of swift action from the list of what can be done in the surprise round. I'll buy that, because otherwise this ability can't be used.
| 1 person marked this as FAQ candidate. |
Huh, yeah. Actually I'd say its these 2 lines that do it for me:
You can take a swift action anytime you would normally be allowed to take a free action.
In initiative order (highest to lowest), combatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take a standard or move action during the surprise round. You can also take free actions during the surprise round.
So by RAW... I guess that means that if you're aware in the suprise round, since it seems you you get a Standard/Move and a Swift action(since if you can take free actions you get a swift). Who knew?
hardcore necro....currently playing a Kensai in a game closing in on 13th level, is it just me or is this ability functionally useless(Iaijutsu Focus i mean)? Getting INT to damage is nice and all but should apply whenever the opponent is denied their DEX to AC no just when they are flat-footed, the way the ability is worded it sounds like they think getting to attack in the surprise round is a common thing when usually all you can manage is moving(which allows you to draw your weapon negating the need of the "swift" action), granted a Kensai will generally be able to get that INT to damage once per combat with their initiative bonuses but this whole flat-footed nonsense just needs to go away.
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hardcore necro....currently playing a Kensai in a game closing in on 13th level, is it just me or is this ability functionally useless(Iaijutsu Focus i mean)? Getting INT to damage is nice and all but should apply whenever the opponent is denied their DEX to AC no just when they are flat-footed, the way the ability is worded it sounds like they think getting to attack in the surprise round is a common thing when usually all you can manage is moving(which allows you to draw your weapon negating the need of the "swift" action), granted a Kensai will generally be able to get that INT to damage once per combat with their initiative bonuses but this whole flat-footed nonsense just needs to go away.The ability already allows you to always act in surprise rounds. That's pretty big all by itself. Also, you can cast greater invisibility. It's not that difficult for you to be attacking flat-footed targets.
Flat footed is not equivalent to DEX-denied. You are flatfooted before you act in combat, against an invisible creature you are merely DEX-denied. If you want to get a lot of flatfooted in, I'd suggest the Shatter Defenses feat.
hardcore necro....currently playing a Kensai in a game closing in on 13th level, is it just me or is this ability functionally useless(Iaijutsu Focus i mean)? Getting INT to damage is nice and all but should apply whenever the opponent is denied their DEX to AC no just when they are flat-footed, the way the ability is worded it sounds like they think getting to attack in the surprise round is a common thing when usually all you can manage is moving(which allows you to draw your weapon negating the need of the "swift" action), granted a Kensai will generally be able to get that INT to damage once per combat with their initiative bonuses but this whole flat-footed nonsense just needs to go away.
Casting is a standard action.
Use this handy-dandy Magus/Bard only spell. Nearly every Magus should have it. Greater version will give you a giggle later.
hardcore necro....currently playing a Kensai in a game closing in on 13th level, is it just me or is this ability functionally useless(Iaijutsu Focus i mean)? Getting INT to damage is nice and all but should apply whenever the opponent is denied their DEX to AC no just when they are flat-footed, the way the ability is worded it sounds like they think getting to attack in the surprise round is a common thing when usually all you can manage is moving(which allows you to draw your weapon negating the need of the "swift" action), granted a Kensai will generally be able to get that INT to damage once per combat with their initiative bonuses but this whole flat-footed nonsense just needs to go away.
To re-necro this, I have to believe this was a typo. Hell, Quick Draw lets you do it as a free action.
I have to vote to agree that there are no swift actions during the surprise round. The Bandit rogue archetype gives you the Ambush ability, which says "When she acts in the surprise round, she can take a move action, standard action, and swift action during the surprise round, not just a move or standard action."
Also, just for some history behind the Iaijutsu ability, "iaijutsu" means "strike from the sheath" and the ability goes all the way back to D&D 3.0. Back then, you had to hit someone who was flatfooted, immediately after drawing your weapon. Granted, it did a ton more damage potentially, but that's sort of the vestiges of where it comes from.
I think the easy version of allowing this to work is that it trumps the rule that you can't normally make swift actions during a surprise round. It calls it a swift action so that it can't be stacked with other times you might be able to do this, like the Bandit Rogue Archetype.