Can free actions be used as interrupts?

[Piratecat]

At D&D Encounters last night, a friend said that current rules interpretation (from Customer Service, forums, and perhaps the FAQ) allow free actions to be used as immediate interrupts even though the power doesn't say "immediate interrupt." In particular, he was saying that the psion class feature Forceful Push could be used as an immediate interrupt to avoid being hit; an enemy moves next to you and ends his movement, you use a free action as an immediate interrupt and push him one square before he attacks, and he can no longer reach you with a melee power.

Forceful Push

With a focused thought, your mental push becomes physical force, moving a creature in the direction you choose.

Encounter Psionic
Free Action Ranged 10

Target: One creature

Effect: You slide the target 1 square, but not into hindering terrain.
Level 11: You slide the target 2 squares.
Level 21: You slide the target 3 squares.

First published in Player's Handbook 3.

This doesn't jibe with my understanding of the rules. Can anyone confirm or deny? Thanks!

I'll invite him to see this thread as well, so he can mock me if I'm wrong.

 

[Obryn]

I think this is another one of those possibly-problematic powers in PHB3.

As it stands, free actions can explicitly be taken on other characters' turns. So I think it can and probably should be timed as an interrupt. What's more, it's an Encounter power for the Psychokinesis build, so IMO it's pretty reasonable. (Especially given all the hot, melty cheese that the Telepath build has access to.)

-O

 

[keterys]

It can't be used as an interrupt, but it can be used at any time - including to reroll an already rolled attack. People often think of them as interrupts when they have a "trigger" clause, since they can then be used mid-action to do interesting things at interrupt-like speeds. So it has some similarities in speed of use. That said, free actions are always under the purview of the DM and this one has no "trigger" so it can't be said to happen during the middle of an action unless the DM wants to allow it.

In this particular instance I would say that the enemy moves up, they can choose to push them then... but if the enemy still has movement left and hasn't taken any other actions left, they can just move back up. They could also potentially charge someone else. Ditto if they tried to push someone charging, and the charger had 1 extra square of movement left. It _does_ work quite well for something like a Bugbear that might move up, use Predatory Eye as a minor action, then get pushed 1 away before it attacks.

The 'interrupt invalidates an action' tag is _only_ under Immediate Interrupts, so if you're rolling an attack roll already, then the push can't invalidate it unless the DM chooses to let it do so.

 

[Mort_Q]

Considering how often the timing of free actions comes up here, I suspect that you're not the only one that keeps hearing/readingcontradictory interpretations of the rules.

 

[Piratecat]

Well, he knows his rules really well, so I'm not surprised he was right - but dang. That's surprisingly powerful.

As my players say, "it wouldn't be D&D if psionics weren't overpowered!"

I agree that I'd probably still allow unexpended movement to be used, assuming the enemy has any left. That may be a little too nerfy; I'll have to think about it.

 

[keterys]

The important thing is that the creature can still just charge or attack someone else, so it's not a true immediate interrupt in that sense. Still pretty awesome.

Amusingly, as a ranged power that push provokes, but it can't take the OA on its own turn (waa, waa, waa)

 

[Piratecat]

From Dragon #379, "Warden Essentials," the first bullet under "Nature's Wrath."

Nature’s Wrath
As a warden, you use Nature’s Wrath to mark foes. Here are the things you should know about this fundamental class feature:
✦ It’s a free action. One thing this means is that you can use Nature’s Wrath at any point in your turn, including midway through another action such as a move or a charge. Another is that you can take a full turn’s worth of standard, move, and minor actions without giving up your ability to mark.

Well, looky there. Huh.

 

[mneme]

Actually, one could make a strong argument that you can use the push to interrupt an attack after it's declared and invalidate it. Free actions frequently act as interrupt timing -- not just reaction, and there's no categorization between free actions that interrupt and those that merely react.

 

[keterys]

Except for any rule stating that it invalidates it, right. That's under "immediate interrupt"

 

[DarkLord Of DForce]

Hate to open up a can 'o worms, but how is this different than the effect from Repulsive armor? Is it because Repulsive Armor is listed as an immediate reaction?

In the threads I followed, there was a lot of widely separated opinions on the effects from Repulsive armor, and so I finally just took the average of 3 answers from Customer Service. Our group agreed, and this is the way our DM plays it.

In that, when a foe moved adjacent, its action was resolved since RA is an immediate reaction, then they are pushed back 1 square. They can't move again just because they have any movement speed left, because their initial move action had resolved. They could move again if they wanted to spend a standard action or an action point. (but then they lose the ability to attack once they got back).

So how is this Psionics push/shove different than that?

Thanks!