
Thiles Targon |
I have a question about Bane. It takes a swift action to activate it. Does that mean, it is then on until I turn it off? Can I decide when I turn it on to make it on until I turn it off, or just turn it on for 1 round? Does it take a swift action to turn it off?
The problem I have is, most fights I’m in; involve a couple rounds of fighting, a round or 2 of moving, 1 round of fighting a couple rounds of moving and spell casting, a couple rounds of fighting etc. I can’t afford to just leave bane up all those rounds, but I also don’t have the swift actions to spend one every round on bane. Especially with litanies to cast and judgments to fiddle with.
If I want bane up for 1 round, I use a swift action the 1st round to turn it on, and a swift action the second round to turn it off? Does that cost 2 rounds of use?
It seems to me it should take a swift action to turn it on, and a free action to turn it off. A second (worse) option would be it takes a swift action to turn it on and when you turn it on, you can declare it will be on for 1 round (no action to turn it off) or indefinitely (swift action to turn it off). Third option would be always a swift action to turn off.

Are |

It's a free action (or non-action, really) to turn it off. If you choose not to maintain it on further rounds (also a free action), then it turns off.
Edit: To expand on my reasoning, I simply think the bane ability is written a bit poorly, and that it should be written more like other abilities that work a number of non-consecutive rounds per day (like bardic performance, which specifies that maintaining it is a free action).

DM_Blake |
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I am not sure there is a clear ruling on this.
Most duration spells are dismissable (they have a (D) included in their duration). Dismissing those spells takes a whole Standard action. To be fair, most of them take a Standard action to cast, too. In this case, by far the most common scenario is that it is the same action to dismiss a spell as it is to cast it. Supernatural (Su) abilities work like spells unless otherwise noted.
That might be a good place to start. That would mean that the Inquisitor's Bane ability would probably require the same action to dismiss it as it required to activate it, a Swift action. Though a harsher DM might rule that the CRB says dismissing is a Standard action and there is no rule that says you can do it faster, so such a harsher DM would be justified to still require a Standard action to dismiss your Bane. I would go with Swift.
In any case, I am not aware of any justification for making it easier to dismiss (e.g. a Free action) than it is to activate.
Next, I would only count rounds as "used" if the ability is actually used. Hit or miss, if you deliberately attack or deliberately leave your Bane running, that's a round. On the other hand, if you dismiss the ability on some round, then you're not using the ability on that round (unless you attack with it and then dismiss it after the attack, in which case it was used this round so it counts). In other words, if you dismiss it at the start of a round you're not using it that round so it shouldn't count against your daily use limit.
As for turning it on for a specified duration and having it drop automatically at the end of that duration without requiring an action, there is no game mechanic to support this (spells have a duration and end automatically, but the Inquisitor Bane also has a "duration" of one round per level and will end automatically when that runs out - there is no specified mechanic for non-consecutive rounds of duration) but you could certainly houserule it that way if you want.