Ninja's invisibility

[Vorput]

Quick question... I don't have the books in front of me, but was wondering about this earlier...

A ninja (complete adventurer) has the ability at second level to become invisible for a number of rounds equal to half his ninja level + his wisdom mod bonus. Well, technically it says a ninja can become invisible for a single round a number of times per day equal to that number.

In the case of the PC I'm running a campaign with, this number is 4. Becoming invisible is listed as a swift action, and it doesn't say "invisibility as spell"- it simply says invisible.

The question is- can the PC become invisible, and then whether or not he attacks- stay invisible for those 4 rounds (using his power whenever it is the start of his turn every round)?

The description of the ability is a little vague, which is why I'm asking.

It also seems an un-balancing 2nd level ability... but that's just MHO.

Thx in advance.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

No.

He can stay invisible for most of those 4 rounds, however.

What'll happen is that, in round 1, he'll use his ability to become invisible and then, right before his turn in round 2, he'll pop back into sight. He'll be visible for just a bit, turn invisible again and then, right before his turn in round 3, he'll pop back into sight again.

This means that a readied action could catch him in between shifts, though an "unreadied" character won't be able to.

His invisibility, because it is not based off of the spell, will last the listed time even if he attacks.

 

[shilsen]

I'd say that he reappears just before his turn at the end of the first round of invisibility. He could use the invisibility power again, but would be visible for a moment before he did so.

 

[Vorput]

Alright, accepting that the character briefly re-appears, how does this apply when the ninja is using their Ghost step ability to go ethereal rather than invisible? Let's say they're trying to pass through a solid object, and when their turn starts they're within the object? Do they stay ethereal? Or do they briefly become corporeal? In which case do those rules about being shunted out of the object take effect?

And if a swift action is so similar to a free action, isn't it theoretically possible they could just take it right before the effect wore off? Particularly if they became invisible later in the round (say, after they moved or something).

Does that make sense? I do wish the class description was a bit clearer... with say, an example!

 

[Hypersmurf]

And if a swift action is so similar to a free action, isn't it theoretically possible they could just take it right before the effect wore off? Particularly if they became invisible later in the round (say, after they moved or something).

A swift action can only be taken during your turn. The effect ends just before your turn... so you can't take the swift action just before the effect ends.

For almost all purposes, there is no relevance to the end of a round or the beginning of a round. A round can be a segment of game time starting with the first character to act and ending with the last, but it usually means a span of time from one round to the same initiative count in the next round. Effects that last a certain number of rounds end just before the same initiative count that they began on.

Regarding etherealness... interestingly, the 'shunted' mechanic is a feature of the Ethereal Jaunt spell. The Etherealness spell, Armor of Etherealness, the Cloak of Etherealness, Psionic Ethereal Jaunt, the Ethereal Marauder, the Ethereal Filcher, etc all reference the Ethereal Jaunt spell, so the 'shunted' mechanic applies to all of them. But the Ninja just says "you become ethereal"... so you would look at the DMG description of Ethereal, but strictly, not at mechanics specific to the Ethereal Jaunt spell rather than etherealness in general.

So just before your next turn, you would return to the material plane... and if you're inside a solid object, the rules don't say what happens.

That said, I'd personally rule that you become ethereal '(as the ethereal jaunt spell except as noted)', so I'd apply the 'shunted' mechanic.

-Hyp.

 

[Vorput]

hmm... cool- thanks hyp. Very helpful.