Caw! *Swoop* Gotcher wand!

[Magus Coeruleus]

Hey folks,

How would you adjudicate an attempt by an unnoticed raven familiar to swoop down and grab the evil wizard's wand in its claws just as the wiz attempts to use it during a combat?

Caw! (thanks)

 

[Zhure]

The raven, being Tiny, doesn't threaten an area and provokes an AoO by entering the defended area of the target.

The wizard's in combat, so he's not flat-footed. That'd be a heck of a Move Silently check on behalf of the raven to not be noticed. Assuming the Wizard has a threatening attack, and assuming the raven survives it, it becomes a simple matter of provoking by grabbing the wand (it's like attacking an object). Then a STR vs STR contest.

The raven has a 1 STR so his STR contest roll would be 1d20-5 vs the Wizard's approximate 1d20+0.

 

[Nifft]

If the Wizard is armed, he threatens an area. If he's unarmed (say, one hand free for casting, while the other holds a wand), he does NOT threaten an area, and his wand is ripe for the picking.

I'd give the Raven a +2 for Charging, which would offset his abysmal strength a tad. Also, I'd cast Bull's Strength or some such on him first.

-- Nifft

 

[Zhure]

I think the +2 from charging would help the raven's to hit roll, not his STR check.

Greg

 

[Nifft]

Hmmm, true.

-- Nifft

 

[Gez]

In these situations, I think rules are a bit lacking. I'll thought whether having the raven deals damage to the hand, to have the wizard release the wand from pain, could justify game-wise to add the damage to the opposed Str checks.

 

[Zhure]

I wouldn't allow the damage to add to STR check. Birds just aren't that threatening, unless they're raptors. And owls, owls are creepy. If it wasn't a wand, I'd certainly say the raven could force a concentration check if it did damage.

 

[Norfleet]

Well, since the wizard is wielding a wand, which is not a weapon, he probably doesn't get an AoO here. This otherwise can be treated as a standard disarm attempt by the bird against the wizard.

 

[Darklone]

Besides, the wizard is flatfooted against opponents that he didn't notice yet.

 

[ouini]

If the raven is a familiar, you could cast "True Strike" on it, as familiars can accept spells meant for "you". At that point, it rushes forward, tries to "Disarm" a one-handed small item with its claws (which are probably fine) at -8 size difference. Few wizards threaten their area when they have a wand in one hand, so you'll probably skip the AoO phase.

Then it's just an attack roll vs. an attack roll. The raven's attack bonus is probably on a par with the wizard's, (+2 for size, +4 natural, +2 for dex since it has weapon finesse-claws), around +8. Minus 8 for claw-to-wand size difference, +20 for true strike, leaves about +12. Pretty good shot, really.