When would one ever use the Blink spell?

[mrspaghetti]

Maybe I just lack imagination, but I have never thought of a situation where I'd use Blink. Anyone have examples of where they have used it to good effect?

[ofMars]

You can't think of a situation where you'd want resistance 5 vs everything except force? or are you talking about the random 10 ft teleport? I think it's weird that it's a random direction, but still a good way to get out of a really bad spot

[mrspaghetti]

ofMars wrote:

You can't think of a situation where you'd want resistance 5 vs everything except force? or are you talking about the random 10 ft teleport? I think it's weird that it's a random direction, but still a good way to get out of a really bad spot

Obviously I'm talking about 10 ft teleport in a random direction. Have you actually used it to get out of a really bad spot? Do you keep it prepared for your wizard?

[Malk_Content]

mrspaghetti wrote:

ofMars wrote:

You can't think of a situation where you'd want resistance 5 vs everything except force? or are you talking about the random 10 ft teleport? I think it's weird that it's a random direction, but still a good way to get out of a really bad spot

Obviously I'm talking about 10 ft teleport in a random direction. Have you actually used it to get out of a really bad spot? Do you keep it prepared for your wizard?

Not when 4th is the highest spot but once you have 6th level spells it is a good choice. Resistance is always nice and there is a good chance it forces a melee enemy to waste an action keeping up.

[mrspaghetti]

Malk_Content wrote:

Not when 4th is the highest spot but once you have 6th level spells it is a good choice. Resistance is always nice and there is a good chance it forces a melee enemy to waste an action keeping up.

Ok, that's true. And I guess you could use Blur along with it or something...

Anyone else who's actually used it in a game? How'd it go? Was it worth a spell slot?

[Captain Morgan]

It is worth remembering that the resistance will essentially apply twice if an attack deals multiple types of damage.

[Mark Seifter]

I've seen it used a few times. Mostly it was incredibly useful in reducing damage and getting out of melee situations without spending actions or getting whacked with an AoO. The other time, though...is when Stephen's cleric used it in Part 5 of our internal Doomsday Dawn playtest and Logan's random directional die was evil. It would send Stephen to the other side of walls of force from the party, back into cloudkills he escaped, outside of the cathedral when demons were amassing out there and Jason's wizard had used spells to protect us, into the middle of blade barriers, off and into the edge of a reverse gravity multiple times causing falling damage each time, and so on. So make sure not to use Logan's die if you cast blink.

[Castilliano]

Mark Seifter wrote:

I've seen it used a few times. Mostly it was incredibly useful in reducing damage and getting out of melee situations without spending actions or getting whacked with an AoO. The other time, though...is when Stephen's cleric used it in Part 5 of our internal Doomsday Dawn playtest and Logan's random directional die was evil. It would send Stephen to the other side of walls of force from the party, back into cloudkills he escaped, outside of the cathedral when demons were amassing out there and Jason's wizard had used spells to protect us, into the middle of blade barriers, off and into the edge of a reverse gravity multiple times causing falling damage each time, and so on. So make sure not to use Logan's die if you cast blink.

So you're saying you need the Resistances from Blink in order to survive using Blink? Hmm...

[mrspaghetti]

I'm guessing Mark has gamed quite a bit, so I feel a little less unimaginative knowing that he has only seen it used a few times.

I guess I'll keep it in mind for potential close-quarters situations where my wiz is likely to attract lots of melee attention.

EDIT: But couldn't it also put you INTO unwanted melee situations?

[Mark Seifter]

mrspaghetti wrote:

I'm guessing Mark has gamed quite a bit, so I feel a little less unimaginative knowing that he has only seen it used a few times.

I guess I'll keep it in mind for potential close-quarters situations where my wiz is likely to attract lots of melee attention.

EDIT: But couldn't it also put you INTO unwanted melee situations?

It might. That happened to Stephen in fact. But if you are usually in a situation where you're either "in the back" (more than 10 feet from the foe) or "in trouble in melee" (adjacent to the foe), it tends to help much more. It isn't guaranteed to escape the melee either but your chances are extremely good for escaping a single foe orthogonally adjacent to you (only blinking right past the foe in the foe's direction leaves you next to them, so 7/8) and reasonably good at escaping diagonally adjacent foes (5/8 chance, you might blink to three separate spots that are next to that creature), and it's pretty much guaranteed to break enemy flanks, which can annoy rogues for sure.

[Quandary]

The random direction thing seems good for getting out of Grapples and such.
Pretty much you can move thru most walls, although it might not be most efficient and accurate with random movement.

Question: What does the first line of Blink do? "You blink quickly between the Material Plane and the Ethereal Plane."
Would that make you equally present on Etheral and Material, which would be substantially similar to Ethereal Jaunt,
except that you cannot ignore Material Plane barriers and attacks etc, but have same Resist 5/Force vs both Planes?
But you could see and interact / attack enemies on both Material and Etheral plane simultaneously without Force/Abjuration limit?
Should enemies also gain Resist 5/Force VS you?

Related question on Ethereal Jaunt, which says:
"You can't affect the Material Plane, and you can't be affected by the Material Plane except by force effects and abjurations originating there."
Is the intent that Force/Abjurations cast by Ethereal creatures can likewise affect targets on Material plane?

Also, Ethereal Armor Rune says: "An ethereal rune replicates armor on the Ethereal Plane."
Does that actually do anything? I'm not sure if this has ongoing mechanical effect, or if Rune is only about it's Activated usage...?

[Gisher]

Mark Seifter wrote:

I've seen it used a few times. Mostly it was incredibly useful in reducing damage and getting out of melee situations without spending actions or getting whacked with an AoO. The other time, though...is when Stephen's cleric used it in Part 5 of our internal Doomsday Dawn playtest and Logan's random directional die was evil. It would send Stephen to the other side of walls of force from the party, back into cloudkills he escaped, outside of the cathedral when demons were amassing out there and Jason's wizard had used spells to protect us, into the middle of blade barriers, off and into the edge of a reverse gravity multiple times causing falling damage each time, and so on. So make sure not to use Logan's die if you cast blink.

Well, it is called a 'die.'

[Mellored]

Resist damage is just good.
Escape grapples.
Avoid AoO.
Teleport though walls (it may take a few tries).
Hide and seek.

[Ramanujan]

Mark Seifter wrote:

I've seen it used a few times. Mostly it was incredibly useful in reducing damage and getting out of melee situations without spending actions or getting whacked with an AoO. The other time, though...is when Stephen's cleric used it in Part 5 of our internal Doomsday Dawn playtest and Logan's random directional die was evil. It would send Stephen to the other side of walls of force from the party, back into cloudkills he escaped, outside of the cathedral when demons were amassing out there and Jason's wizard had used spells to protect us, into the middle of blade barriers, off and into the edge of a reverse gravity multiple times causing falling damage each time, and so on. So make sure not to use Logan's die if you cast blink.

If I recall correctly going through a wall of force wouldn’t be possible with a spell moving you through the ethereal plane in PF1.

Is this a change for PF2? - or am I misremembering how force and ethereal work?

[Mark Seifter]

Ramanujan wrote:

Mark Seifter wrote:

I've seen it used a few times. Mostly it was incredibly useful in reducing damage and getting out of melee situations without spending actions or getting whacked with an AoO. The other time, though...is when Stephen's cleric used it in Part 5 of our internal Doomsday Dawn playtest and Logan's random directional die was evil. It would send Stephen to the other side of walls of force from the party, back into cloudkills he escaped, outside of the cathedral when demons were amassing out there and Jason's wizard had used spells to protect us, into the middle of blade barriers, off and into the edge of a reverse gravity multiple times causing falling damage each time, and so on. So make sure not to use Logan's die if you cast blink.

If I recall correctly going through a wall of force wouldn’t be possible with a spell moving you through the ethereal plane in PF1.

Is this a change for PF2? - or am I misremembering how force and ethereal work?

Yeah, force effects hit ethereal, that's why the force damage gets through the resist. You're right, it was a wall of stone, not a wall of force. I got confused by the blade barrier, which does force damage (unfortunately for Stephen!)

[kaid]

Also it should be noted that the duration is 1 minute and at the end of your turn you vanish and reappear again. Any melee opponent trying to attack somebody with blink active is going to be burning a lot of actions to keep having to reenter range with them. Also flanking a blinking opponent is going to be REALLY hard to maintain.

[Quandary]

Anyhow, regarding "You blink quickly between the Material Plane and the Ethereal Plane."
That may be another usage of the spell, essentially lower level than Etheral Jaunt but allows you to see/interact/attack/etc vs the Ethereal plane,
you just don't completely ignore Material Plane barriers, and you don't become Immune to Material plane effects/attacks/etc against you.

[mrspaghetti]

Just realized you can't Dismiss this spell either. That could be interesting.

[Saros Palanthios]

What everybody else said, but also it's just fun. Some players are chaotic by nature and enjoy the unpredictability for its own sake.

[mrspaghetti]

Saros Palanthios wrote:

What everybody else said, but also it's just fun. Some players are chaotic by nature and enjoy the unpredictability for its own sake.

Well that certainly has value. I will give it a shot for sure whenever I hit the appropriate level to cast it.

Thanks all for the responses