I'm thinking of getting Deflect Arrows for my monk next level, as it seems a useful general feat to have. My question is when is it proper to declare the use of the feat? The text says:
Once per round when you would normally be hit with an attack from a ranged weapon, you may deflect it so that you take no damage from it.
There is no mention of when the deflection is declared. It seems most fair to declare it before damage is rolled, so that a monk will not know if they're saving themselves from one point or ten points of damage, thus making it more of a meaningful choice, but I was wondering if there were any official or accepted rulings on the matter?
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...I was wondering if there were any official or accepted rulings on the matter?
Not sure if its accepted or official but, in games I run, its after a hit is rolled but before a critical is confirmed, if necessary, or damage is rolled.
I like to roll all attacks at the same time to save time at the game table but feats like this make me announce the results individually... or the player can set a SOP: I try to deflect the first arrow that hits me.
Or adjust the SOP on the fly: I'll ignore the arrows from the goblins but try to deflect the first arrow fired by the ogre that hits me.
There is no mention of when the deflection is declared. It seems most fair to declare it before damage is rolled, so that a monk will not know if they're saving themselves from one point or ten points of damage, thus making it more of a meaningful choice, but I was wondering if there were any official or accepted rulings on the matter?
We play that it would happen before damage or critical confirmation is rolled as is the case with luck-type rerolls which basic state after the roll is made but before the results are announced.
I personally plan to always deflect the first arrow that hits rather then take the chance that I'll receive no benefit for that round (the other arrows might miss, or be shot at other targets) but that's just me.
or accepted rulings on the matter?
Groups I've seen tend to handle these kinds of things (forced re-rolls, etc) as occurring before damage is dealt/crits are confirmed.
But the player has to be given the chance to do so. So if the DM says 'you're hit by an arrow for 12 damage' or 'you're crit'ed by an arrow for 36 damage' you can elect to deflect it.
Meanwhile if the DM says 'You're hit with an arrow', then picks up dice and rolls them, saying 'wow, take 24 damage' you don't get the chance to deflect at that point.
In general though, unless its an organized play/convention game you likely know that the PC in question has deflect arrows and as a DM can say 'you're hit by arrow #1, care to deflect?' as much as you would say 'the goblin provokes an AOO from you, care to take it?'.
-James
Deflect Arrows tends to be less useful than the alternatives,
so locally we favor the Monk and they can decide whenever.They can even wait until after critical hit confirmation
and after checking to see if their Fortification activates,
plus any form of miss chance such as Blink/Concealment.
We also roll our attack rolls and damage rolls all together,
and it would slow down combat to have to separate them.
Of course, NPC monks should use whatever conventions you
select for the PC monks in order to keep it fair for everyone.
I personally plan to always deflect the first arrow that hits rather then take the chance that I'll receive no benefit for that round (the other arrows might miss, or be shot at other targets) but that's just me.
Thats the way we roll as well...
Basically you deflect the first arrow that would normally hit you.