So, we had this issue come up in one of our games that is a bit unclear as to how it's supposed to be handled properly.
Our Rogue PC has the Opportune Backstab reaction to be usable on an enemy that is struck by another player, which happens after the enemy's turn takes place, but before the Rogue PC's turn takes place. They also have the Bloody Debilitation feat and are in a position to take advantage of the Debilitating Strikes ability.
The Debilitating Strikes ability goes as follows:
You apply one of the following debilitations, which lasts until the end of your next turn.
Debilitation: The target takes a –10-foot status penalty to its Speeds.
Debilitation: The target becomes enfeebled 1.
So, these effects don't normally go away by standard rules, meaning the bolded listing is important to determine how long these effects last. However, we introduce a new option via Bloody Debilitation which has normally different rules for resolution.
Now, the Bloody Debilitations feat goes as follows:
Your attacks slice arteries and veins. Add the following debilitation to the list you can choose from when you use Debilitating Strike.
Debilitation: The target takes 3d6 persistent bleed damage.
The bolded parts are crucial for what I'm next seeing here. So, when you utilize Debilitating Strikes, the duration is always until the end of your next turn, according to the bolded parts, as Bloody Debilitation merely adds an option to your choice of debilitations. The Bloody Debilitations feat doesn't change the original duration. But, it's persistent damage, which should require flat checks at the end of turns to go away, which is different from what the ability's duration states.
So, back to the gameplay at hand, it's the Rogue's turn. They strike some more and their turn ends before the bad guy goes, which is when persistent damage takes place. Does this create a situation where Bloody Debilitation does nothing as a feat? Are we running this wrong and overthinking it, or is this feat really that situational, where it's just a delayed 3D6 damage that might not take place if done at certain turns in the combat round?
You're right, at least as written.
RAI? Honestly hard to say, 3d6 persistent damage is pretty hefty, which I think some people might argue as a reason to not treat it as normal persistent damage, but if the design intent is that it's just delayed damage, why even call it persistent damage at all? That literally doesn't serve any purpose other than to potentially cause confusion like this.
But this runs into two recurring problems I've seen show up on the forums:
That conditions applied out of turn often work weirdly.
and that there's a lot of confusion over how to adjudicate abilities with specific durations that also happen to apply conditions that have specific durations as well. There's been some heated back and forth about a handful of spells in this regard.
Would be nice to hav the dev team look at these a bit.
If it lasts until the end of your next turn, and given the fact that a character ( or an enemy ) suffers from it at the end of its turn, it will trigger at least once, isn't it?
Turn Order
Enemy A
Rogue
Enemy BEx 1
Rogue attacks B
Rogue passes
Enemy B acts
Enemy B Passes and suffers from bleeding.
...
Rogue Turn "Bleeding from debilitation Strike fades"Ex2
Rogue Attacks A
Rogue passes
Enemy B acts
Enemy B Passes
Enemy A Acts
Enemy A Passes and suffer from Bleeding.
Rogue Turn "Bleeding from debilitation Strike fades"
If the attack is done at their turn, yes. If the attack is not done outside their turn, such as from Opportune Backstab, or say, Attack of Opportunity from Fighter dedication, no, depending on turn order. If the Fighter hits and the Rogue gets their reaction for Opportune Backstab, which also hits, but their turn comes up before the enemy's turn comes up, the bleed does not trigger because the end of their next turn (which is coming up) triggers before the enemy's turn.
Opportune Backstab triggers when an ally strikes the enemy.
So if the Turn order is:
Fighter
Rogue
Baddie
and the Fighter triggers Opportune Backstab on their turn, Bloody Debilitation would have no effect, since it ends on the rogue's turn, before the enemy has had a chance to go.