Reduced to 0 HP and then?

[Aulirophile]

Death Strike (when reduced to 0 hit points, ) The cult fanatic makes a dagger attack against each adjacent enemy.; +5 vs or AC So if the killing blow has a push effect and you push the minion away, does the push happen before or after he is reduced to 0 hp?

 

[Stalker0]

Death Strike (when reduced to 0 hit points, ) The cult fanatic makes a dagger attack against each adjacent enemy.; +5 vs or AC So if the killing blow has a push effect and you push the minion away, does the push happen before or after he is reduced to 0 hp?

I think it depends on what time of action death strike is.

If its an immediate reaction, then I would rule the damage and push effect are all part of the same attack and handled at the same time. Afterwards, the immediate reaction occurs.

If its a free action...well then it gets a little trickier

 

[Elric]

If its a free action...well then it gets a little trickier

The way a DM of mine has resolved this type of situation is to give the player a save to knock a monster away before its "death strike" goes off.

 

[Doctor Proctor]

I think it depends on what time of action death strike is.

If its an immediate reaction, then I would rule the damage and push effect are all part of the same attack and handled at the same time. Afterwards, the immediate reaction occurs.

If its a free action...well then it gets a little trickier

Not really. Even if it's a free action, it must meet the trigger of the cultist being dropped to 0HP, which means it can happen instantly after that trigger is met. Since applying damage is usually the last part of resolving an attack, the critter is still gonna die after he does his death strike.

Now, if it were an immediate interrupt, that's different. In that case, it would interrupt the action that caused the trigger (an attack in this case), and if it pushed away the offending attacker then it could nullify the attack (similar to what a Fighter can do when his Combat Challenge attack gets a push effect). That wouldn't make a whole lot of sense though, since then the cultist wouldn't be dead after his death strike, so I would imagine it's probably a free action, immediate reaction or just no action...anything else would have some strange balance effects.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I have still my opinion:

it should be called FREE REACTION instead of FREE ACTION

not to e confused with FREE INTERRUPT

 

[DracoSuave]

Well, it being a triggered, but not interrupt, it can't invalidate what's already occured. That's a general thing for monster's triggered abilities.

 

[Doctor Proctor]

I have still my opinion:

it should be called FREE REACTION instead of FREE ACTION

not to e confused with FREE INTERRUPT

There is no such thing as a free reaction or free interrupt, but I'm gonna assume that you meant immediate reaction/interrupt.

Well, it being a triggered, but not interrupt, it can't invalidate what's already occured. That's a general thing for monster's triggered abilities.

Exactly. Free action or Immediate Reaction won't stop the action that led to the trigger, which was dropping to 0HP in this case. Another issue with trying to assign an immediate reaction/interrupt action to the power is that you're limited to one per turn. So, if you had a cultist who had another power that worked off an immediate reaction, and he used that in the same turn that he was dropped to 0HP, then he can't perform death strike at all!

Simply put, making it a free action (or better yet, a "no action" in the sense that it just happens) works better all around. It can't be interrupted or stopped in anyway, and it will always go off regardless of what the cultist was doing earlier in that turn. It also doesn't lead to ridiculous interactions like dropping to 0HP, killing the guy that dropped you, retroactively regaining the HP and then retaining the use of death strike.

Edit: Now that I think of it, isn't there a barbarian power/PP/feat that allows you to make an attack if you're dropped to 0HP? This should work similar to that one, and I believe the PC's power might be classified as a free action.

 

[FireLance]

There is no such thing as a free reaction or free interrupt, but I'm gonna assume that you meant immediate reaction/interrupt.

I think that's his point. Triggered free actions should also be classified as either reactions or interrupts, to clarify when they take place relative to the trigger.

 

[Doctor Proctor]

I think that's his point. Triggered free actions should also be classified as either reactions or interrupts, to clarify when they take place relative to the trigger.

But they don't actually need that. If you have initiative of 16 and I have initiative of 14, my actions aren't reactions to your actions. They just take place after yours in the sequence of events.

In the case of Death Strike the tigger is "reduced to 0HP", the effect is "make an attack". There doesn't need to be a classification of "reaction" or "interrupt" here because it's either a free or "no action" that takes place right after the trigger. It's over-complicating it when you try to tack on terminology for immediate actions to something that really doesn't need to be an immediate reaction.

 

[frankthedm]

Simply put, making it a free action (or better yet, a "no action" in the sense that it just happens) works better all around. It can't be interrupted or stopped in anyway, and it will always go off regardless of what the cultist was doing earlier in that turn.

Agree. Granted that will run afoul of those who very much want a way to interrupt the ability.