Blinking characters picking up things?

[Legildur]

What would happen if a character under the effects of a Blink spell tried to pick up another creature (in this case a paralysed character)?

More specifically, what happens to the carried creature when the Blinking character cycles onto the ethereal plane?

Does the answer differ under 3.0 or 3.5?

 

[hong]

For the sake of convenience, I wouldn't worry about it. Besides which, this train of logic leads to silly conclusions. If you're blinking, do you have to check each round if you accidentally put your foot through the floor?

 

[Thanee]

I'd say as long as the subject is willing, it would just like equipment blink with the character.

There should probably be a 20% that picking up something simply fails, however.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Yeah. The thought of having a 20% miss chance while my character was eating his corn flakes kept my wizard in 3.0 from ever trying to cast a Persistent Blink spell. Way too much trouble.

I would figure that there's a 20% chance for his hand and spoon to go ethereal right as he's trying to scoop up the flakes but that once he gets the flakes into his mouth, they don't suddenly pass through him unless he makes the 20% miss chance to swallow them whole.

On the other hand, I would say that riding a horse while blinking is definitely a bad idea. You will fall through your non-blinking horse.

 

[ARandomGod]

Yeah. The thought of having a 20% miss chance while my character was eating his corn flakes kept my wizard in 3.0 from ever trying to cast a Persistent Blink spell. Way too much trouble.

I would figure that there's a 20% chance for his hand and spoon to go ethereal right as he's trying to scoop up the flakes but that once he gets the flakes into his mouth, they don't suddenly pass through him unless he makes the 20% miss chance to swallow them whole.

On the other hand, I would say that riding a horse while blinking is definitely a bad idea. You will fall through your non-blinking horse.

You just need to get a ghost touch spoon (this is controversial...)

I wouldn't think you'd fall through your horse. You don't fall when on the etherial plane, which is why in the spell you don't take full damage from falling.

Of course, it could be said that then the horse would move out from under you, and you'd fall when you came back. BUT I'd let a blinker ride a horse, at 2/3 speed. Hell, I'd be tempted to have the horse blink too. It's simpler. If you start thinking about how you'd fall off the horse or how if you wouldn't the horse would have moved out from under you then you have to start thinking about how you'd fall through the ground and how the planet would move under you... I say that the magical equation is set to compensate for things like that. It HAS to be in order to actually work.

That's why magical research is so dangerous. The first few attempts at "blink" DID cause the mages to fall through the earth and to suddenly appear several thousand feet away (as the planet rotated).

This reappearing elsewhere lead to the spell researches that created the teleport spells that we use today. (Just a little magical history trivia for the apprentice mages out there).

 

[Storyteller01]

Masters At Arms

There is a book out by Second World Simulations called Masters at Arms. They actually have a 'Blink Master' Prc, basing its effects on timing your movement with your blinks (things like no miss chance, providing your own flanking bonus, blinking with a wepon in the target, blinking to phase through and grab objects out of pockets, etc). I thought it was well done, and the PrC may answer (if your DM allows this intrepretation) some questions about the spell.