Staggered and 5 ft step

[Fewmaster Rys]

If a character is staggered and has a potion belt (not sure of the name since it wasn't my character but it was an item to allow pulling out a potion as a swift action). Can he legally 5 ft step (out of AoO range) swift move pull out a potion and then as his standard action drink said potion?

The 5 ft step in the core book is list as 2 things No Action and Misc. Action, and was not clear if it would be considered a Movement therefore causing the character to be unable to drink the potion.

To keep the game moving since at that point 4 out of 5 players pulled out rule books to examine the rule, the GM ruled that it didn't make sense and that the potion was not drank since the character moved.

I agree with the ruling on this since it made sense logically because if drinking would be an entire standard action surely moving (dare I say shifting) five feet in a particular direction would be similar.

[Nixda]

Pulling out a potion (even without a special belt or whatever) is a move action but not movement as such. Therefore 5ft-step + pull out potion + drink potion is perfectly alright.

Edit: If due to the belt pulling out the potion became a swift action, you might even do: 5ft-step + swift pull potion + drink potion + move action that isn't movement anywhere in between. Maybe the confusion is that there are lots of so called "move actions" not involving movement (as in "covering distance") at all.

[Troubleshooter]

In short, yes, he can.

Movement is where you perform an action that causes you to move distance; if you end up changing squares, that's movement. While you can use Move actions for movement, not all of them are.

Unless another effect specifically says otherwise (such as when you are in Difficult Terrain, which prevents 5-foot steps), you can perform a 5-foot step in any round where you do not perform movement (distance). [Note that if you 5-foot step, you cannot then use a Move action to move your speed. The sequence doesn't matter; you have to choose one or the other.]

Since he is using his Move action for something other than moving distance, he can use it with a 5-foot step.

[Brain in a Jar]

Staggered

A staggered creature may take a single move action or standard action each round (but not both, nor can he take full-round actions). A staggered creature can still take swift and immediate actions. A creature with nonlethal damage exactly equal to its current hit points gains the staggered condition.

If he had the Potion Belt(which makes drawing a potion a free action once per round.) then he could use a 5ft Step and then drink it while Staggered.

If not then he could not. Drawing the potion(move action), using a 5ft step, and drinking the potion(standard). Since the condition limits you to either a Move Action or Standard Action.

[Nixda]

Blast me, I've totally ignored the "staggered" part. Comes from opening multiple threads and not rereading the tiles, bad habit.

Of course Brain is right, me Pinky.

[Brain in a Jar]

Hahaha. Nice reference Nixda.

[Fergie]

My understanding is that 5 foot step's fall outside of the normal action rules- thus the "no action" heading on the table where they appear along with "delay". They are the mythical "7th Type" of action. Seems like you can always take a 5 foot step during your turn unless terrain or darkness slows your movement.

You can even take a 5 foot step when you ready an action.

The PRD wrote:

"Action Types

An action's type essentially tells you how long the action takes to perform (within the framework of the 6-second combat round) and how movement is treated. There are six types of actions: standard actions, move actions, full-round actions, swift actions, immediate actions, and free actions.

In a normal round, you can perform a standard action and a move action, or you can perform a full-round action. You can also perform one swift action and one or more free actions. You can always take a move action in place of a standard action.

In some situations (such as in a surprise round), you may be limited to taking only a single move action or standard action."

So no full-round, swift, immediate, or free actions during a surprise round?

Attacks of Opportunity are a weird ~outside the action framework~ action as well. I was going to say that you couldn't take an AoO if you were limited to only move actions, but upon reading through the combat section, I'm thinking that you can take them as long as you are not paralyzed or otherwise left actionless.

[Nixda]

The PRD wrote:

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.

So free actions are fine (as more or less always as long as the GM doesn't restrict them), as are full-round actions that can be taken when restricted to a standard action (eg. charge). Swift actions are out, it appears, but should still be able to take an immediate action in a surprise round "outside" of your turn. ("Fell down the chasm in your surprise round? Out of luck, you may not cast feather fall!" just sounds plain stupid.)