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Hello All-
It may seem odd to be perplexed by a 1st level feat. But when I go to Cons or simple game days different GMs do not agree on how this ability can be utilized. I of course always go along with the current GM interpretation, as it is his world, but I would like some clarity from the Collective. If, for some reason, this is an obvious answer, I apologize for that and hopefully will not attract too much undue scorn.
The trigger says, "A creature targets you with an attack and you can see the attacker."
Requirements, not encumbered.
Resulting act, "You deftly dodge out of the way, gaining a +2 circumstance bonus to your AC against the triggering attack."
Now herein lies the rub. One side says that it works as follows:
GM: The Troll swings and gets a 22 to hit you. Does that connect?
Rogue: With nimble dodge it doesn't, I dodge out of the way at the last second."
Basically the player hears the number and then adjusts to Matrix the attack. Either for a whiff or narrowly avoiding a crit.
The other view:
GM: The troll swings at you
Rogue: I use nimble dodge before the attack as my reaction.
GM: The Troll rolls a 3 and misses you. (Using the Nimble Dodge becomes a waste because the Troll missed anyway-wasting the reaction).
In this circumstance the rogue must declare prior to knowing what the number may be to declare his reaction. The issue here is that in order to stay alive and avoid being hit by a creatures primary attack the rogue would declare this action prior to every swing at him. Thus using his reaction on every single turn he's attacked to avoid the 'big blow'. This methods precludes him from using any other reactions during any encounters.
I have now played under numerous GMs and have had it interpreted both ways. I never argue with whoever runs my games. I'm old school and it's just not to be done in my opinion.
I just really want some clarification. So I know how exactly this feat works.
Again, if this is an obvious answer, don't batter me please. I am just honestly curious.
Thank you all in advance.
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The trigger is the attack itself rather than being hit, so you have to decided whether or not to use this ability BEFORE the actual attack roll is made, so it will often be wasted (either your opponent misses normally or the actual roll result just isn't impacted by a 2 point penalty).
As such, this feat isn't the 'must have' that it might seem at first and there is a fair amount of disagreement over how good it actually is...
The PC version is as Taja says, the trigger is being targeted, before the roll occurs.
Some monsters have an identically named ability, but have the trigger 'is hit or critically hit and can see the creature' which has been the source of some confusion.
Yea. The trigger is a "A creature targets you with an attack" not "you are hit by an attack."
Well for a lot of rogues its your only reaction, so what's bad about using it every round? Just a matter of figuring out if its better to use on the first attack (to try to drop a likely crit to a hit), or a second attack (to try to drop a hit to a miss) based on your guess of the strength of the opponent.
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Got it. Thanks to you guys a ton. I appreciate the help.
It just seemed odd that it would eat your reaction every turn in a significant fight.
You all have a great day and thanks again.
Yep, there is a fair amount of disagreement on how useful this feat actually is: I'm not particularly fond of it myself, but others swear by it for its overall damage reduction (not necessarily useful against a specific attack but will stop a lot of damage over a career and might save your life in a dramatic fashion). First level Rogue feats are kinda weak overall, so it really comes down to whether or not you have other plans for your reactions (like Opportune Backstab [Rogue 08])