Cloak of Displacement vs. Ring of Blinking

[Rozman]

This would be for a fighter-type, or specifically-built spellcasters (i.e. nothing but magic missiles

Why would I blow 50k on 15 rounds/day of 50% miss chance, when I can have it for 7 rounds/command as often as neccesary at a bargain 27k?

It seems you gain 50% miss chance either way, and with the Ring of Blink you lose:

• all/some of the benefit if your opponent can strike/see into the Ethereal plane

• acquire a 20% miss chance

• 25% of your speed

• duration; it only lasts 7 rounds

gain:

• the ability to strike as if invisible

• half-damage from falling

• half-damage from area effects

• the ability to attack/ interact with ethereal creatures with a 20% miss chance

• the ability to walk through thin walls, and thicker ones if you're brave/lucky

• utility; it can be used more than 15 rounds/day

Your miss chance can be dealt with: Ghost Touch weapon (+1 cost)

The other negatives seem to make the savings worth it, and the benefits get even better if you throw some levels of Rogue into the mix.

Anything I'm missing, or am I underestimating some of the drawbacks to the Ring of Blinking?

 

[Pax]

Um ... no, Ghost Touch does not defeat the miss chance you suffer ... GT allows you to strike incorporeal foes, not ethereal foes. It's useless against blink, I'm afraid - from either side of the spell.

And it only takes one encounter where there's a few ethereal beings looking on, to convince you that blink is not always the best way to go.

That, or a Dimensional Anchor spell.

 

[James McMurray]

I definitely agree that those two prices are out of whack though. For a warrior I would still opt for the cloak because the miss chance will ruin your day, but for a rogue the ring is better, because it means all sneak attacks, all the time.

 

[Darklone]

I would be careful. Depending on the campaign you might not be too happy to interact with ethereal creatures (more the other way round, they will interact with you).

IIRC the Blur ring has to be activated, right? That's an action. And don't help you when ambushed (campaign dependant again, happens often in mine).

Btw, check out the minor cloak of displacement, it's even cheaper than the blur ring.

Edit: Most ethereal beings that I know would love to hunt and track a blur user after they got his scent once.

Question: I do know that Ghost touch does not help to hit when you're ethereal, but it does help you to hit incorporeal beings, right? When would a spellcaster be incorporeal? Usually never, right?

 

[cantrip]

Question: I do know that Ghost touch does not help to hit when you're ethereal, but it does help you to hit incorporeal beings, right? When would a spellcaster be incorporeal? Usually never, right?

There was a fifth level spell in Tome and Blood called Ghostform I think. And of course there's always Shapechange

 

[Sir Whiskers]

...Your miss chance can be dealt with: Ghost Touch weapon (+1 cost)...Anything I'm missing, or am I underestimating some of the drawbacks to the Ring of Blinking?

1. Ghost Touch does not allow the wielder to hit an ethereal creature. It works against incorporeal.

2. The miss chance from wearing a ring of blinking is due to the wearer blinking onto the ethereal plane. While ethereal, a character cannot affect the prime material plane at all. This means any attacker wearing a ring of blinking is going to miss on a lot of attacks.

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

I definitely agree that those two prices are out of whack though. For a warrior I would still opt for the cloak because the miss chance will ruin your day, but for a rogue the ring is better, because it means all sneak attacks, all the time.

You mean all sneak attacks, 80% of the time.

 

[Rozman]

Thanks for the info. I'm actually DM'ing the campaign; the players came up with the combo.

I (and appparently they) had been operating under the assumption that incorporeal and ethereal were interchangeable. They're currently shopping/crafting during a break in the action, so there's plenty of time for them to come up with a new plan

 

[Caliban]

Thanks for the info. I'm actually DM'ing the campaign; the players came up with the combo.

I (and appparently they) had been operating under the assumption that incorporeal and ethereal were interchangeable. They're currently shopping/crafting during a break in the action, so there's plenty of time for them to come up with a new plan

The blink spell erroneously states that ethereal creatures are incorporeal, I believe that's where most of the confusion comes from. It's been that way since 3.0.

I suspect that at one point during the original 3.0 design process incorporeal was a subset of ethereal, then they got seperated into two distinct conditions, and the spell was never updated. Despite it being pointed out, it wasn't corrected in the 3.0 errata, or the 3.5 revision. *sigh*

 

[Darklone]

You mean all sneak attacks, 80% of the time.

Ah well, and then there's the interpretation that this miss chance means you can't sneak attack