So this ability
"At 19th level, a kensai’s initiative roll is automatically a natural 20 and he is never surprised. "What does it exactly apply to? Does the Kensai become immune to invisible creature attacks? Sneak attack? Or anything else? the never surprised thing is confusing, and I would really appreciate some clarity.
Surprised is a game term-of-art referring to being unprepared at the start of combat.
SurpriseWhen a combat starts, if you are not aware of your opponents and they are aware of you, you're surprised.
A surprised combatant cannot act in the first round of combat. A high-level kensai has sufficient supernatural awareness and reaction speed that you can try to stab him as he sleeps, and he can have his weapon at your throat before your blade touches his skil.
technically, an invisible opponent sneaking up on you is also using surprise, even if you're already in a fight with visible opponents... such an opponent would not benefit from surprise against you, in particular for placing a sneak attack without benefitting from a flanking position.
technically, an invisible opponent sneaking up on you is also using surprise, even if you're already in a fight with visible opponents... such an opponent would not benefit from surprise against you, in particular for placing a sneak attack without benefitting from a flanking position.
You are flat-footed vs invisible opponents, not surprised.
I would hope that high a high level kensai would have Blind Fighting.
That's thematically appropriate to simulate zanshin, but there are so many feats, and only so many slots...
So say this 19th level Kensai is fighting an invisible creature and in the following scenarios
1. Invisible creatures sneaks up on him and attacks, doesn't have blind fight, does the iaitjutsu master ability activate or is he still flat-footed?
2. Invisible creatures sneaks up on him and attacks, he does have blind fight, does the iaitjutsu master ability activate or is he still flat-footed?
Also would he even need blind fight?
Iaijutusu master doesn't prevent being flat-footed or denied Dexterity. It prevents being surprised.
You are normally denied Dexterity against an invisible opponent, even when you're aware of him.
So in situation 1, iaijutsu master activates (so he can act in the surprise round), but he's still denied his Dexterity against an invisible opponent, and that will continue as long as invisibility does. However, the opponent would not get a free surprise round attack against him.
So would having blind fight allow him to keep his dex to ac and act in the surprise round?
Blind fight alone would enable him to keep his Dex to AC, but provides no protection against being surprised (and so he would not be able to attack in the surprise round).
There are at least three conditions in play.
1) "surprised" (unaware of your opponent). Iaijutsu master prevents this.
2) "flat-footed" (someone beat your initiative roll in the first round of combat, and you have not gone yet). Nothing in this thread prevents that, but the automatic natural 20 on the kensai's initiative roll makes that very hard to achieve. Still, if the BBEG rolls well enough, he can render the kensai flat-footed.
3) "denied Dexterity" There are two reasons for this.
* 3a) If the kensai is flat-footed, he is denied Dex.
* 3b) If the kensai beats the BBEG's initiative or it's the second round or later, the kensai will still be denied Dex against an invisible opponent. Blind fight prevents this.
A scenario that may help explain it.
Ken the Kensai and Clara the Cleric are walking through the dungeon when they're jumped by Si, the advanced cyclopes bard. Si is invisible and has made his Stealth check.
1) Ordinarily, Si would get a surprise round against the target of his choice, because neither Ken nor Clara are aware of him. However, Ken has iaijutsu mastery, so he is automatically aware of Si.
2) Si and Ken roll initiative. Si wins (because cyclopes can also choose to roll natural 20s on an initiative roll).
3) Si makes a single attack against Ken. (He can't make a full attack because surprise round only allows a single attack.) Ken is flat-footed because he has not yet gone, so Si attacks Ken's flat-footed AC. <Ouch!> Because Si is using greater invisibility, he is still invisible.
4) Ken counter-attacks Si during the surprise round. If Ken does not have blind-fight, he takes a slew of penalties.
5) Clara does nothing, because she is surprised. So she says "Eeeep!" in her fetching soprano voice.
6) End of surprise round; beginning of first real round. Clara rolls initiative and rolls a 1.
7) Si still has the initiative advantage over Ken, so Si full-attacks Ken. If Ken has blind fight, then Si attacks Ken's normal AC. Otherwise, he continues to attack Ken's touch AC. <Ouch!>
8) Ken full-attacks Si, attacking Si's normal AC.
9) Clara is no longer surprised and can finally act. She steps forward, casts some unbelievable spell, and Si disappears in a puff of special effects.
9) Clara is no longer surprised and can finally act. She cannot target the Cyclops with spells because it is invisible to her.
FTFY
:P
Can't you still hurt an invisible creature with an AOE spell?
Or with a touch (or ranged touch) spell; you just have to deal with a 50% miss chance.
Still a good comeback..... assuming that Clara isn't very bright.
or doesn't want to cast flame strike on her comrade.
or doesn't want to cast flame strike on her comrade.
Meh, he's mostly dead anyway after eating all those attacks from Si. She can fix that.
In the non surprise round Si should be hitting denied Dex AC, not touch.