Rogue First Strike and Warlock Shadow Walk qus

[Particle_Man]

1) Does the Rogue First Strike ability only work in the Surprise round? Because even if the Rogue beats an enemy creature on initiative during the first non-surprise round, can’t the enemy creature take a free action during the Rogue’s turn and thus mess up the chance to get Sneak Attack from First Strike?

Alternatively, maybe going during the Rogue’s turn is not enough, in which case the Rogue gets First Strike during a non-surprise round only if no third party goes before both the rogue and the rogue’s target. Because then the rogue’s target could take a free action during the third party’s turn, before the rogue, and thus have acted before the Rogue.

Or should First Strike be rewritten to read “At the start of an encounter, you have combat advantage against any creatures that have not yet acted on their own turn during that encounter.”

2) Does Teleport count as movement for the purpose of gaining concealment from the Warlock ability Shadow Walk? Because that makes the fey pact warlock’s Misty Step or the Eladrin’s Fey Step grant a nice synergy.

 

[Mort_Q]

First strike works regardless of whether anyone is surprised or not... you just need to be higher than them in the initiative order.

That said, if you're surprised you cannot take any actions during the surprise round, regardless of whether or not a Free Action invalidates First Strike (which I would say it doesn't).

 

[Particle_Man]

I was more concerned about the round after the surprise round and the rules of free actions.

Roger Rogue wants to stab Bart the Bad Guy, and Useless Umberto is the combat too, and it doesn't even matter what side.

Initiative rolls:

Umberto: 20!
Roger: 18
Bart: 1

During Umberto's turn, Bart uses a Free Action to say "Ha Ha! You don't get first strike anymore!" Now Bart has taken an action (a free action, to be precise) and so no longer counts as a target that has not yet acted during that encounter. Thus Roger does not gain the First Strike combat advantage against Bart.

Unless "acting" only means "taking your turn" as opposed to "using any action, including a free action".

 

[DerekSTheRed]

The first strike ability only counts against the guy you're attacking. Or at least that's how I interpret it. It's the 4E equivalent of 3E flat footed but only rogues have it.

Derek

 

[Surgoshan]

During Umberto's turn, Bart uses a Free Action to say "Ha Ha! You don't get first strike anymore!" Now Bart has taken an action (a free action, to be precise) and so no longer counts as a target that has not yet acted during that encounter. Thus Roger does not gain the First Strike combat advantage against Bart.

That would be incredibly cheap. Like a lead-painted Chinese toy. The clear intention of the rule is that the rogue gets first strike against anyone who has not yet taken a turn.

 

[KidSnide]

Unless "acting" only means "taking your turn" as opposed to "using any action, including a free action".

Yes. Acting means "taking your turn". As you point out, if it meant "using any action", the result is quite silly.