Effects that last a certain number of rounds end just before the same initiative count that they began on.
Interesting, so what you are saying is that the Hex essentially ends at the beginning of my turn, and in the case of the prepared action the Hex would end at the beginning of the enemy's next turn?
Yes the hex end at the beginning of your turn.
I am assuming by "prepared action" you mean readied action.When you ready an action it changes your initiative so the ability still ends on your turn.
Was this your missing thread?
In any case, what the others have said is correct by RAW - effects end just before the initiative count they began on. Not in the middle of an initiative count, or the end of it, but at the beginning. It's black and white.
Also, when you "ready" an action, it must be a standard, move, swift, or free action. Just one. Not a full-round action, and not an entire turn. When your readied action is triggered, it changes your initiative to be right before the creature who triggered you. So your GM was right, you readied a hex, the target came into view, you hexed him as your readied action and that changed your initiative to be right before that target. You have no more actions so now the target gets his turn and then so does everyone else, and when it comes back around to you, the hex wears off at the start of your turn before you can cackle about it.
Now, this does make Cackle a bit awkward, and I could easily see a GM ruling it the other way, but unless you can find some specific rule about witches and hexing that overrides the general rule about ending at the beginning of your turn, that ruling would be a houserule.
Cackle adds an additional round, but that is it. The ability still ends at the beginning of the player's turn.
Hey, thanks for the replies!
You are correct about the readied action changing the initiative order of course. Totally missed that. :) But that also means that a Witch should never Evil Eye (or Misfortune/Fortune/etc before level 8) as a readied action. The Witch will not be able to reap the rewards from doing so.
DM Blake : That may indeed be the thread, thanks!
In the end it sounds like a Witch has to effectively spend a full round action (Hex/Cackle) if he wants to enjoy his own Hex on his turn. So it is not likely a Witch will be Hexing on his first turn, unless the enemy just shows up within 30 feet by chance.
That just seems...wrong to me. No it really hasn't hit me in the game per se, usually my Witch is activating the Flight Hex or something similar on the first round if the enemy is far away, but conceptually it feels wrong.
Oh well. :)
Fortune is intended to be cast on allies(other people) as a buff, so yeah the witch would have to cackle to get the benefit of it.
I don't see the point of readying an action for evil eye when you can just do it on your turn, unless you want to target a certain creature at a certain time.
As an example if you know one of the party's other casters will target someone, but you don't know who you can ready an action to evil someone to drop their saves just before the spell is cast. In most situations the toughest enemy will be known so you won't have to ready an action though.
Right, but he is suggesting that in order for a single round effect to be continued with Cackle, you would have to Hex then Cackle in the same round, rather than Hex, then Cackle at the start of the following round.
I could see the strong reasoning for Houseruling it. Otherwise, yeah, there is little way for a character to enjoy their own single round debuffs (Stunning Fist/Sneak Attack comes to mind).
What are we supposed to be doing with these builds?
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Cackle is a strange case for the...
Effects that last a certain number of rounds end just before the same initiative count that they began on.
...rule simply because there's no other ability in the game (that I'm aware of) which lets you to extend what is always going to be another single-round ability's duration.
Was the intention of Cackle to:
There's enough confusion around this issue to suggest the wording implies the latter, but it's impossible to say for sure without official word.
look its not rocket science.
Hex then cackle, that means you have a extra round to cackle again. Hell if you want to really give yourself a cushion spend the next round by not moving and cackle twice the next round. Uses a Cackling hag's blouse and cackle 3 times in a round. Each will add a round to the hex.