Do Immediate Action require Awareness?

[Ragash]

Hi guys, I have a tricky question for you:

A mage is required to be aware of danger to use, for example, emergency force sphere( EFS from now)?

I ask this cause i know it not possible to use any immediate action if caught flat footed, so I was wondering if it's the same case if you are denied your bonus to dex?

To be more specific, would be an error to consider a mage "unable to react" if attacked by a rogue during, let's say the 3rd round of combat, if the mage is totally unaware of the rogue?

And what if the mage is only aware of location?

Thanks for your time!

[Darksol the Painbringer]

There are abilities that deny Dexterity without being the Flat-footed condition. Feinting and climbing a wall are prime examples of this.

In the above cases, I wouldn't allow it for Feinting or being struck by an unknown combatant, but if you were climbing, I'd allow it.

Note that just because the player is aware of the attack, doesn't mean the character is.

[Zarius]

It depends. If the rogue is getting Flanking bonuses, that mage is considered able to react, but still flanked. If that rogue has used an ability that renders you flatfooted, then no. If that rogue has only used Feint to deny you your dex, you can still react.

[Zarius]

Clarification: The reason I disagree with Darksol on the point of Feint is that you are still AWARE of the rogue. The rogue has just used misdirection to confuse your ability to react to his attack, thus eliminating your dex bonus.

[Ragash]

Sorry guys, I forgot to mention something really important in my example:

Let's consider the rogue to be using stealth (I talked about states of awareness cause of that dettail)

[Zarius]

Then, yeah. For the purposes of that rogue, there's no reactions allowed to it. However, this means that we fall back on the definition of an Immediate Action:

Immediate Actions wrote:

Much like a swift action, an immediate action consumes a very small amount of time but represents a larger expenditure of effort and energy than a free action. However, unlike a swift action, an immediate action can be performed at any time—even if it’s not your turn. Casting feather fall is an immediate action, since the spell can be cast at any time.

So, while you can't actually respond to the rogue... Yes, you can use the immediate action.

[*Thelith]

If the mage has not detected the rogue via perception (did the mage get a perception check to see the rogue?) Then the mage is unaware and can not use efs.

If the mage didn't get a perception check then he should be allowed efs because he was denied a game mechanic he had the right to.

[Zarius]

Technically, he can't cast the spell as a reaction to the rogue. He CAN cast it just because he WANTS to, however. :P

[Volkard Abendroth]

Zarius wrote:

Technically, he can't cast the spell as a reaction to the rogue. He CAN cast it just because he WANTS to, however. :P

Technically the GM should not have random NPC's with Disintegration show up, but he CAN if he WANTS to.

Metagaming is a bad thing and should be discouraged, else the DM may be tempted to metagame as well.

[Chess Pwn]

you can't take immediate actions when you're flat footed. so you can't do immediate actions before your first turn.

[*Thelith]

^ it's the 3rd round.

[Zarius]

3rd round, which means he isn't flatfooted... he's just CONSIDERED flat footed for the purposes of the stealth rogue.

[blahpers]

He is not considered flat footed even then. He's simply denied his Dexterity bonus to AC (along with the usual consequent rider effects).

[Volkard Abendroth]

Zarius wrote:

3rd round, which means he isn't flatfooted... he's just CONSIDERED flat footed for the purposes of the stealth rogue.

A feinted character is not flat-footed, he is denied his dexterity bonus. A feinted character may react with immediate actions.

If attacking from stealth, a character that has failed their perception roll is not aware of the attack (that is literally the purpose of the perception roll, to see if you are aware). EFS requires a character to be aware of the threat in order to react to it.

The target is considered flat-footed, if successfully attacked from stealth, in regards to the attacker. This mean the target may not take immediate actions in response to the stealthed character, while resolving the attackers actions, he is flat-footed. The target can use immediate actions in response to other in-game events, just not in response to actions taken by character against whom he is flat-footed.