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My players fought a mage who was going to drop Leather Repulsion Armor, so I had the mage use the power during the fight.

Repulsion Armor's power reads:

Power(Daily): Minor Action. Whenever an enemy moves into an adjacent square, you can push that enemy 1 square as an immediate reaction. This power lasts until the end of the encounter.

One of the players moved to the mage to make a melee attack, so I pushed them 1 as an immediate reaction. They hadn't moved their full speed to get there, so they just went ahead and moved one more square to be adjacent to the mage again.

I wasn't sure how to react to that, on one hand their interpretation made sense, but since the power is an immediate reaction, I was considering it to occur after the player finished their movement. In other words, their action was over so they couldn't use it to move anymore, even though they didn't use all their movement.

I couldn't decide, so I did the default and let them do it, but this pretty much ruined the armor and the mage for the whole fight. Now one of my players is wearing the armor, and I need to decide how to treat it in the future. If enemies can still just walk right up to them, then it's kind of pointless.

How does this power work?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Monsters shouldn't be using PC items. \$\endgroup\$ Aug 20, 2014 at 19:33
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    \$\begingroup\$ @JoshuaAslanSmith People shouldn't make blanket statements. \$\endgroup\$
    – DCShannon
    Aug 20, 2014 at 20:29
  • \$\begingroup\$ Follow-up: I agree with @András conclusion below, which makes the armor much less useful than initially anticipated. I considered giving the PC a different item instead, but eventually decided to houserule the ability to stop the creature's movement. It's still limited by one immediate action per round. \$\endgroup\$
    – DCShannon
    Aug 22, 2014 at 20:47

4 Answers 4

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Your players were right. Your move action is over when you say it is over

Immediate reactions occur after the trigger:

An immediate reaction waits for its trigger to finish, not necessarily for the action that contains the trigger to finish. - Published in Player's Handbook, page(s) 268, Rules Compendium, page(s) 195.

Movement is considered square-by-square. It is not one monolithic action. Otherwise you could only provoke an Opportunity Attack at the beginning or at the end square of your move.

So what implicitly happens when you want to move:

  1. You announce you want to move 1 square.
  2. Ask everyone if they want to react to this. For example Opportunity Attacks, but any Opportunity Actions or Immediate Interrupts start here.
  3. These things happen.
  4. You move 1 square.
  5. Ask everyone if they want to react to this. For example Battlemind's Blurred Step, but any Immediate Reactions start here.
  6. These things happen.
  7. Repeat from step 1 while needed.
  8. You arrive to your intended square, or run out of speed points.

For simplicity's sake, this is usually omitted. You move, and if someone disagrees, they tell you that "after square 3, I attack you with an OA".

A movement ends when you are:

  • out of movement points
  • unable to act (stunned mid-walk)
  • you say you are satisfied with your position

The same goes for Repulsion Armor. So the player is pushed back by the Armor, and if he has movement points remaining, he can still move adjacent.


Actually the type of action does not matter at all. After you are subject to an effect, you can resume your movement if legal.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Would be helpful to quote the relevant section of Immediate Reaction that indicates it happens when the trigger is complete, not necessarily the action \$\endgroup\$
    – wax eagle
    Aug 21, 2014 at 11:47
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Under the right circumstances Repulsion Armour could be quite handy. Whilst I would consider you correct in that they can continue moving after the push if they have movement left, some consideration and tactful positioning can be of use.

The Armour is meant to help prevent enemies from shifting adjacent to you, so if you they are already adjacent to one of your allies, they would have to eat an Opportunity Attack to get to you, which they might be willing to do if you've thoroughly pissed them off.

Or if you can stay just on the edge of an enemies total speed, they don't have any movement left after the push.

You also don't have to push them in the exact direction they came from, since a push simply has to move the creature farther away from you, you could attempt to push them off a cliff, into fire, etc. or adjacent to an ally who might be more equipped to handle them and thus they would again have to eat an OA if they really want to get at you.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ +1, That's a good point about it still being useful against shifts. \$\endgroup\$
    – DCShannon
    Aug 21, 2014 at 19:57
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The Monk AW "Fallen Needle" has a movement technique that goes

"Immediate Interrupt, Trigger: an enemy ends its movement adjacent to you, Effect: you shift 1 or move 3."

And since the Repulsion Armour is a reaction to push someone for moving into an adjacent square rather than to someone ending their move action, I'd rule that the repulsed creature can continue to use it's move, if it still has movement points/squares to spend and their move action hasn't ended.

The Armour is only useful against a creature that used exactly it's movement quota, or to push foes into into things they don't want to be in.

The big thing is the difference between "moving" and a "move action", where the former is just a segment of the latter.

I don't have any quotes for being able to spend move points one by one other than the Penny Arcade D&D podcast where Chris Perkins claims that a character turning a corner and seeing something was allowed to spend the rest of his move in reaction to what he saw, rather than just blunder forwards and stop. Take what value you will from that.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ How is it useful against charges? I still have movement points, I still move closer. All the requirements are fulfilled. \$\endgroup\$
    – András
    Aug 21, 2014 at 10:48
  • \$\begingroup\$ RAW, a charge would probably work. But you could argue that either: if you're pushed away 1 from the person then you're 1 square away and can't charge. Or that a charge is the one case where a move is used without being able to correct it mid-action. But RAW, repulsion probably doesn't even work on that, though it would look REALLY WEIRD. But yeah, I'll edit that. \$\endgroup\$
    – Frezak
    Aug 21, 2014 at 11:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ "Each square of movement must bring the creature closer to the target, and the creature must end the move at least 2 squares away from its starting position." Rules Compendium 240. You must END 2 squares from your starting position, and you do. \$\endgroup\$
    – András
    Aug 21, 2014 at 11:10
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    \$\begingroup\$ Which means that you can charge in a zig-zag and keep going while something pushes you away a couple of times. Gods, I hate charges. \$\endgroup\$
    – Frezak
    Aug 21, 2014 at 11:15
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Frezak If you're DMing make sure your monsters are charging as often as your players are. You'll start to like them :) \$\endgroup\$
    – wax eagle
    Aug 21, 2014 at 12:46
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Immediate reactions occur after the trigger in initiative order.

Reactions: An immediate reaction lets a creature act in response to a trigger. The triggering action or event occurs and is completely resolved before the reaction takes place. An immediate reaction waits for its trigger to finish, not necessarily for the action that contains the trigger to finish. - Published in Player's Handbook, page(s) 268, Rules Compendium, page(s) 195.

The Armor's power would occur after the triggering enemy had entered the space.

You can't split up a move action.

Unlike 5e you can't split your move action on your turn. Its used up and then done. The sequence for how the player would trigger this power to defeat your monsters is:

  1. You move the monster adjacent to the PC and stop moving. Your move has ended.

  2. Player announces their PC's reaction to your move.

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    \$\begingroup\$ The cited rules text says that the "reaction waits for its trigger to finish, not necessarily for the action that contains the trigger to finish", so doesn't that actually mean that they are pushed before their move action is over, and they can continue moving? \$\endgroup\$
    – DCShannon
    Aug 20, 2014 at 21:52
  • \$\begingroup\$ -1 You are not splitting up a move action. Something happens, but you can continue. With your logic I should stop if I am hit with an Opportunity Attack. \$\endgroup\$
    – András
    Aug 21, 2014 at 10:46
  • \$\begingroup\$ @András incorrect, opportunity attacks interrupt. There may be a logic flaw here, but that's not a good comp. \$\endgroup\$
    – wax eagle
    Aug 21, 2014 at 11:38
  • \$\begingroup\$ @waxeagle: You are right, but the type of actions is irrelevant here. He states that someone else's actions influence if I finish my move. Unless I am stunned/immobilized/etc I can still move. \$\endgroup\$
    – András
    Aug 21, 2014 at 11:41
  • \$\begingroup\$ @andras if you are running past the PC with the armor yes, you continue the move, if you are moving directly adjacent to the PC and stopping your move action, and then the PC triggers the move than you are effectively without a move action anymore. \$\endgroup\$ Aug 21, 2014 at 17:10

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