Things to do with swift/immediate actions
Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 6:56 am
What should these not-standard, not-movement, not-free actions do? They were initially added to the game for magic users that kept on getting 'free actions', and for magic item activation. TGD homebrew has come up with some interesting uses of swift actions tho:
Fighter: used for rerolls and activating feats, immediate action 5ft step and foil action, gets more swift actions as he levels up
Monk: use to activate stances
Samurai: Immediate action to use AoO
Barbarian: immediate action rage
Knight: Make challenges, generate damage reduction, immediate action to take a hit for a friend
Paladin: set auras, swift spells at level 9+
Legendary Strategist: Can take an immediate action without losing next round's swift action, immediate action to give ally a reroll or an enemy a reroll or negate a fear effect for his crew
Assassin: swift action spell-likes after level 11+
Thief-Acrobat: Nothing
Jester: distract foes, removing Dex bonus to defenses or lowering their attack roll
Ninja-Pirate: level 10+ swift action to critical hit and debuff a dude
Uttercold Assault Necromancer: Make a scary charge with your crew, immediate action to buff your crew
Stranger with Burning Eyes: immediate to possess another body when their current one dies
Boneblade Reaper: Cast necromancy as a rider to hitting with your boneblade
Death King: Make a scary stare at one guy, short range phantasmal killadude
Demon Samurai: Make a scary face
Conduit: immediate action to affix their movement relative to another creature so they're always the same distance apart moving in the same direction, immediate action to intimidate people when a loud noise is made, teleport
Initiate of the Black Tower: swift action to steal someone elses summoning attempt
Celestial Beacon: Turn on/off their glowiness, generate holy fireshields, immediate action generate a holy sunburst
Seer of the Tempest: Gust of Wind as a swift then immediate action at later levels
Feats
Combat Looting: Take stuff from people you're grappling
Command: rally troops with a swift action
2WFighting: Feint with swift action
Expert Tactician: Feint with immediate action
Elusive Target: immediate to redirect an attack to something else in range, immediate to make an attack automatically miss
Overall it seems like swift actions are there to enhance standard actions, with the occasional defensive oriented immediate action or an upgrade to immediate action for a swift action. Sometimes it comes up as 'this would be a standard action X levels ago' ability such as "Make a scary face and scare people".
I like the swift/immediate action design space as it gives you a simple "if I use an immediate I won't get a swift my coming turn" choice to make. You only get 1 (unless you get more from your class) so it also helps to prevent dipping for ultimate stacked power.
Do you think more abilities in D&D should be swift/immediate actions? If so, what kind of abilities fit?
Fighter: used for rerolls and activating feats, immediate action 5ft step and foil action, gets more swift actions as he levels up
Monk: use to activate stances
Samurai: Immediate action to use AoO
Barbarian: immediate action rage
Knight: Make challenges, generate damage reduction, immediate action to take a hit for a friend
Paladin: set auras, swift spells at level 9+
Legendary Strategist: Can take an immediate action without losing next round's swift action, immediate action to give ally a reroll or an enemy a reroll or negate a fear effect for his crew
Assassin: swift action spell-likes after level 11+
Thief-Acrobat: Nothing
Jester: distract foes, removing Dex bonus to defenses or lowering their attack roll
Ninja-Pirate: level 10+ swift action to critical hit and debuff a dude
Uttercold Assault Necromancer: Make a scary charge with your crew, immediate action to buff your crew
Stranger with Burning Eyes: immediate to possess another body when their current one dies
Boneblade Reaper: Cast necromancy as a rider to hitting with your boneblade
Death King: Make a scary stare at one guy, short range phantasmal killadude
Demon Samurai: Make a scary face
Conduit: immediate action to affix their movement relative to another creature so they're always the same distance apart moving in the same direction, immediate action to intimidate people when a loud noise is made, teleport
Initiate of the Black Tower: swift action to steal someone elses summoning attempt
Celestial Beacon: Turn on/off their glowiness, generate holy fireshields, immediate action generate a holy sunburst
Seer of the Tempest: Gust of Wind as a swift then immediate action at later levels
Feats
Combat Looting: Take stuff from people you're grappling
Command: rally troops with a swift action
2WFighting: Feint with swift action
Expert Tactician: Feint with immediate action
Elusive Target: immediate to redirect an attack to something else in range, immediate to make an attack automatically miss
Overall it seems like swift actions are there to enhance standard actions, with the occasional defensive oriented immediate action or an upgrade to immediate action for a swift action. Sometimes it comes up as 'this would be a standard action X levels ago' ability such as "Make a scary face and scare people".
I like the swift/immediate action design space as it gives you a simple "if I use an immediate I won't get a swift my coming turn" choice to make. You only get 1 (unless you get more from your class) so it also helps to prevent dipping for ultimate stacked power.
Do you think more abilities in D&D should be swift/immediate actions? If so, what kind of abilities fit?