Can free actions be used as interrupts?

[Ryujin]

Perhaps if you stated it as a reaction to the creature entering a specific square.... Otherwise, no.

 

[RangerWickett]

I'd be fine with you doing that, though as a table rule I'd ask you to please pay attention and declare such a usage in a timely manner. If I've already made an attack roll after the movement, it's too much retconning to rewind.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Perhaps if you stated it as a reaction to the creature entering a specific square.... Otherwise, no.

There's actually no specific RAW answer as the rules simply state that free actions can happen at interrupt speed 'when it is necessary for the power to function'.

In any case you can certainly push an enemy either before or after it moves a square, depending on the timing decided by the DM. That might mean in some cases you won't be able to push (someone starting next to you and moving away, assuming reaction speed for the free action). Likewise if it happens at interrupt speed you can't push someone moving into a square next to you from further away, though in that case if the enemy stops moving at that point you could just push after their move action is done and if they continue to move then interrupt them.

The upshot is generally speaking it won't matter much when pushing a moving enemy. Where it DOES really matter is in regards to pushing an enemy away from you that is in the process of making an attack. Frankly this kind of power should have been an immediate action of some type.

 

[keterys]

It is not necessary for Force Push to interrupt, ergo it doesn't.

But lots of stuff can happen in between squares of movement, so that's probably fine. If you think of it as an immediate reaction you'll generally be safe.

Edit: I will say that you generally check after every square of movement, so in general I wouldn't expect that I could Force Push a creature away from me after it moved up to me, and it not just move right back if it has a square of movement left. If you wait for its next action (say an attack), then it's too late to use the Force Push.

 

[Kingreaper]

I don't care about invalidating attacks - here's my move-based scenario.

An enemy is coming towards me. After two squares, I interrupt his movement to slide him one square adjacent to my fighter buddy. Legal?

For that, you don't need interrupt speed, only reaction speed, so I'm pretty sure it's rules legal with a free action (each square of movement is resolved seperately; so you can fit it between the squares, whereas an attack is resolved as a single entity)

 

[bfiggins]

It might be good, too, for people who answer the 'Movement interrupt' question to also quickly mention where they stand on the 'Cancel an attack in progress' question.

 

[webrunner]

My handful of change:

An interrupt explicitly allows "acting before the trigger resolves." according to the rules text. This means it turns back time to happen before the thing that triggered it is considered to have happened. This means that it can of course cause the original thing to not happen. it rewinds to the beginning of the trigger.

A free action happens immediately. It doesnt matter what else is happening, it puts things on pause. Now, in 90% of cases, if it's timed right it will be exactly the same as an interrupt, as there's plenty of points between when an attack is declared and when it 'hits' that you can use your free action. Note that there are other wierd situations you can get into with free actions:

1. if you do it during the monster's move, it can decide to continue moving if it has the ability to do so.
2. if you do it after the move but before choosing a power, ti can then choose to charge you or use a ranged attack instead.
3. If you do it after the power is chosen but before choosing a target, it can choose to attack a different target if the push puts it into position to do so.
4. if you do it after the target but before the roll, it invalidates the attack as he can no longer hit you, whether he rolls or not..
5. if you do it after the hit but before the damage it still damages you, as once the attack hits or misses, unless the hit or miss is invalidated through an interrupt, it still occurs even if the source is missing. See the discussion on the Minotaur's "reduced to 0 hp" interrupt, which doesn't rewind to before the attack.
6. You can choose to do it *after* the attack, for whatever reason? EG, before it can do a secondary attack?
7. you can choose to do it during a different enemy's turn, for example, to push him into the area of a burst attack.

 

[keterys]

A free action happens immediately. It doesnt matter what else is happening, it puts things on pause. Now, in 90% of cases, if it's timed right it will be exactly the same as an interrupt, as there's plenty of points between when an attack is declared and when it 'hits' that you can use your free action. Note that there are other wierd situations you can get into with free actions:

This is no longer true with the "only when it is necessary for the power to function" change to free action timing.

1. if you do it during the monster's move, it can decide to continue moving if it has the ability to do so.

Yep.

2. if you do it after the move but before choosing a power, ti can then choose to charge you or use a ranged attack instead.

Unclear that you can be that granular, to time it "after the move" instead of "after the square".

3. If you do it after the power is chosen but before choosing a target, it can choose to attack a different target if the push puts it into position to do so.
4. if you do it after the target but before the roll, it invalidates the attack as he can no longer hit you, whether he rolls or not..
5. if you do it after the hit but before the damage it still damages you, as once the attack hits or misses, unless the hit or miss is invalidated through an interrupt, it still occurs even if the source is missing. See the discussion on the Minotaur's "reduced to 0 hp" interrupt, which doesn't rewind to before the attack.

None of these work anymore. It does not interrupt nor pseudo-interrupt.

6. You can choose to do it *after* the attack, for whatever reason? EG, before it can do a secondary attack?

Sure. Potentially useful if a creature has like an attack that involves moving as part of the attack, such that you make it run out of movement or put it next to a fighter, or whatever.

7. you can choose to do it during a different enemy's turn, for example, to push him into the area of a burst attack.

Which is really what the power was intended to do, I suspect. Aid in grouping up for AE.

 

[S'mon]

I wouldn't let a free action "turn back time", which Interrupts can often do. So you could free action in between an enemy's move & his attack (with the proviso he could then resume moving), but not between attack roll & damage roll to negate the hit & prevent the damage roll.

 

[webrunner]

This is no longer true with the "only when it is necessary for the power to function" change to free action timing.

I cannot find the exact wording of that rule, but isn't it explicitly only for triggered free actions? Force Push is a free action power with no trigger.