Topic.
Though I plan on playing a Beguiler conversion, the ability remains the same. A feint by definition is "a deceptive or pretended blow, thrust, or other movement".
Now Sandman has no range limitation but the Beguiler conversion has one of 30ft. Though as a DM I would reward bonus range for a clever feint, I think a 60ft range isn't unreasonable.
Note, per RAW, nothing I found suggests a range limit. I'm looking at practical limits consistent with Pathfinder rules.
EDIT: There's now a feat called Ranged Feint from Ultimate Intrigue. How does Sneakspell and Feint interact now? Do I have to feint and then cast in melee? Should Sandman's ability be changed to say how it interacts?
Feint doesn't normally work that way.
In order to use feint at range/with a ranged weapon you specifically need the feat Ranged Feint.
Sneakspell I don't think works with feint. The idea is to catch enemies in a surprise round/act before they do in combat. This leaves them denied dex to AC. I don't think feint will work since it only works on attacks. Though I guess if the spell had an attack roll that would go against their AC without dex. But those spells don't usually have saves.
Ah, I was hasty in my inquiry. The class has a second ability to rectify this, though still in melee. Huh.
Feint doesn't normally work that way.
In order to use feint at range/with a ranged weapon you specifically need the feat Ranged Feint.
Sneakspell I don't think works with feint. The idea is to catch enemies in a surprise round/act before they do in combat. This leaves them denied dex to AC. I don't think feint will work since it only works on attacks. Though I guess if the spell had an attack roll that would go against their AC without dex. But those spells don't usually have saves.
Mild hijack because I've been curious since seeing the ability.
Unexpected Charge (Ex): At 9th level, a skulking slayer can make a Bluff check to feint as a swift action before a charge. This ability replaces trap sense +3.
I've always took Feint to be something you used against an opponent next to you (or at least within your range if using a reach weapon), though technically there's nothing specifically to that end in the entry that I recall.
But to me the implication of Unexpected Charge is that you make the feint prior to charging your target to deny the target its DEX bonus to AC for your attack at the end of the Charge (which would synergize with Bold Strike which allows d8s on sneak attacks done while charging and using a THW).
So can you technically feint from anywhere, so long as you make a melee attack to benefit from your feint?
NOTE: I don't have Ultimate Intrigue, nor have I read it. So I don't know what the Ranged Feint feat does.
From Ultimate Intrigue:
Ranged Feint (Combat)
You can mislead foes about your aim with ranged attacks.
Prerequisites: Base attack bonus +2, Bluff 3 ranks.
Benefit: You can feint with a ranged weapon by throwing a thrown weapon or firing one arrow, bolt, bullet, or other piece of ammunition; this feint takes the same action as normal to feint, but depending on your
weapon, you might have to reload or draw another weapon afterward. When you successfully use a ranged feint, you deny that enemy its Dexterity bonus to AC against your ranged attacks as well as your melee attacks for the same duration as normal. If your feints normally deny a foe its Dexterity bonus to AC against attacks other than your own, this applies only against others’ melee attacks. Normal: You can feint only with a melee weapon, and only against a creature you threaten with that weapon.
So it seems like based on this statement the way Unexpected charge works is in error/at odds with how feint normally works.
Of course, we could also simply say that unexpected charge overrides the way feint normally works so maybe it isn't a problem. Or it could have been that only recently has the exact workings of feint been pegged down, so when Unexpected Charge was written it wasn't violating the rules at the time.
Thanks for the feat language. That Normal line is new (in that it doesn't appear anywhere else, not that it is necessarily a new limitation), though it follows along with what my natural assumption was for how feinting works.
So yeah, the language of Unexpected Charge is at odds with that. My two possible solutions would be to assume Unexpected Charge is (now) an explicit alteration to that limitation (because otherwise the ability is nigh useless - you'd be feinting someone next to you, then charging towards someone else, who likely isn't flatfooted/denied DEX), or to simply allow the swift action feint to occur once the target of your charge is within your threatened area.
I don't think functionally there'd be any real difference between swift action feint prior to charging or right before attacking.
Agreed Fretgod.