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I'm sure this question will come up regarding other scenarios, but I am wondering if a swift action is able to be used after an attack roll but before a damage roll?
Open Palm of Irori (Vudrani)
Your practice of the tenets of Vudrani martial arts has granted you a perfect balance between body and spirit.
Benefit You gain a +1 trait bonus on Acrobatics and Knowledge (religion) checks. If you have a ki pool, once per day as a swift action, you may channel your ki during an unarmed strike, gaining a +2 trait bonus on one damage roll. This additional damage is precision damage.
If you have this trait can you activate it after you have made your attack roll? Thus assuring you don't waste it.
Related question: it does not specify that you must have at least 1 point in your ki pool and it doesn't say that use of this trait costs a ki point. Is it safe to assume that once you have the ki pool class feature (4th level Monk, 2nd level Ninja) you can use this trait 1x per day without spending a ki point and even when your ki pool is empty?
yes.
1) See Starglims post.
2) The only prerequisite is a ki pool not ki points. So yes you can activate this ability with an empty ki pool.
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I'm going to dissent here and say no. You can take a swift action between other actions, but rolling to hit and rolling for damage are both parts of the same action (attack). They are not even happening at different times conceptually, they are simultaneous.
An analagous situation: Monster has a retaliatory "spray" ability - characters within 5 feet striking it take 1d6 acid damage. Player wants to take a 5 foot step between attacking and rolling damage so as to avoid the spray with a non-reach weapon. I wouldn't allow that and I wouldn't allow a swift action to be taken in the middle of another action either.
You can't just insert a swift action into the middle of a move, either. Starglim, do you have a source for your assertion that swifts can be taken during other actions? I can't find it.
For the other question I agree that you just need to have the ki pool ability, not any points in it.
Now, the game isn't going to implode if the GM allows the player to choose to use the feat after hitting. I'm just pointing out that I'm pretty sure it's a house rule to do so.
You can take a swift action any time you can take a free action. You can take a free action before, after or during your other actions.
You wouldn't let someone hit with a rapier, confirm the critical hit, then quickdraw a heavy pick before the damage roll, right?
That ability is poorly worded. It should specify that the ability must be activated before the attack roll is made. There are abilities that can be used/activated between the attack and damage roll, such as the Kensai's Perfect Strike ability, but those abilities do not require any type of action to use/activate.
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An analagous situation: Monster has a retaliatory "spray" ability - characters within 5 feet striking it take 1d6 acid damage. Player wants to take a 5 foot step between attacking and rolling damage so as to avoid the spray with a non-reach weapon. I wouldn't allow that and I wouldn't allow a swift action to be taken in the middle of another action either.
It's not a close analogy. A 5-foot step is neither a swift nor a free action and doesn't have the text mentioned. If he's 10 feet away with a non-reach weapon before he finishes his attack, he can't complete his action, so it doesn't take effect.
You can't just insert a swift action into the middle of a move, either. Starglim, do you have a source for your assertion that swifts can be taken during other actions? I can't find it.
Page 188 - swift actions, the text is not materially different to what I wrote
Page 181 - free actions:You can perform one or more free actions while taking another action normally.
You wouldn't let someone hit with a rapier, confirm the critical hit, then quickdraw a heavy pick before the damage roll, right?
He attacked with the rapier, so he does damage with the rapier. He probably could quick-draw a heavy pick while taking this action if he wants. If he drops the rapier and shifts his grip to another weapon in the middle of his attack, which the rules would also support, again, he can't complete the action, so his attack and confirmation rolls don't result in any hit or damage.
After some hours with this thread in my mind i changed my oppinion.
Attack and damage roll are one action. There is only an attack action and this include an attack roll, a crit confirmation roll (if you thread) and a damage roll (if you hit).
Exceptions are abilities or spells that are usable "after a hit" or " after an sucessfull attack roll".
RAI but rule on my table (from now on but we never had a situation/question with this before).
That ability is poorly worded. It should specify that the ability must be activated before the attack roll is made. There are abilities that can be used/activated between the attack and damage roll, such as the Kensai's Perfect Strike ability, but those abilities do not require any type of action to use/activate.
It's poorly worded and "should specify that the ability must be activated before the attack roll is made" if it was intended to be used before the attack roll. If it was intended to be able to be used after an attack roll, it's still a bit ambiguous.
But as written, it says that you use the power "during an unarmed strike", which suggests to me that you can decide to use it after you've hit, but before you roll damage.
And if you've ever punched someone right in the kisser, you'd know that there is a split second before contact where you know you're about to hit the target - so in terms of realism, I'd see it as permissible from that point of view to allow a swift action to channel some ki.
Obviously, I may be very wrong, as I have been many times before...
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Well, what about abilities that allow you to reroll attack rolls?
I am sure those happen after the attack roll, but before damage.
Are there any examples of rerolls that require a swift action to use?
Starglim: interesting. There are a lot of implications here, mostly involving quickened spells, that I'll have to ponder. Doing swift action spells in the middle of move actions, for example.
I'm still not sure that you can place even a free action between rolling to hit and rolling for damage, as those seem like truly simultaneous things to me. Would you similarly allow a caster to cast a quickened spell in between rolling for SR on a another spell and resolving its effects? What about in between an opponent's saving throw and spell resolution?
What about interrupting an opponet's AoO with a swift action? Can I wait until after the monster hits (with an AoO, so on my turn), but before damage is rolled, to fire off a quickened stoneskin? What if my quickened spell drops the attacker? Is the hit canceled? I'm not sure I like the implications of allowing swift actions to work like this.