What restrictions exist for the Warlock Shadow Walk power?

Question

D&D 4's Warlock power Shadow Walk states the following (text copied from the D&D Compendium):

On your turn, if you move at least 3 squares away from where you started your turn, you gain concealment until the end of your next turn.

Does this mean you must end your turn at least 3 squares away from where you began? Or simply that you must, at some point during your turn, be 3 squares away from where you began?

Actual example! During our last session, in the first round of combat, a Warlock cursed an enemy then moved 3 squares and was attacked by an opportunity attack from the cursed enemy.

Should she have had concealment at this point, to assist against the opportunity attack?

Regardless, the opportunity attack hit, so she responded with an immediate reaction (Caiphon's Leap) that allowed her to teleport a couple squares away. She landed a total of 5 squares from her starting position.

Edit: Apparently using Caiphon's Leap was actually against the rules here; see Bryant's answer.

Should she have had concealment at this point?

After the teleport, she then used a power (Otherwind Stride) which also allowed her to teleport several squares. She teleported back to the very square she began her turn in.

Should she have had concealment at this point?

Answer 1

There is some disagreement on the Wizards' forum on this as well.

There is a ruling from customer service in 2008.

You must be 3 squares AWAY from the square in which you started your turn. If you end your turn only two squares away from where you started you will not gain concealment with Shadow Walk.

A ruling from 2009 contradicts that.

In order for the Shadow walk to trigger the warlock needs to move at least 3 squares away from the starting square. He does not need to finish his move 3 or more squares away from the starting square

Incidentally the PHB3 glossary explicitly defines movement as

Whenever a creature, an object, or an effect leaves a square to enter another, it is moving, whether that move is done willingly or is forced. This means shifting, teleporting, and being pushed are all moves, for example.

So if you were to teleport 3 squares on your turn (through a non-immediate power though please!) you should trigger Shadow Walk.

Answer 2

Huh, that's interesting. I've never thought of it that way before.

As written, I'd say that as long as you were 3 squares away at some point during your turn, you'd gain the concealment. The warlock in your example should have had concealment when the opportunity attack occurred and in her final location.

I would talk this one over with my players, since it feels a bit odd to me; my instincts say that you should need to end 3 squares away. Good candidate for a house rule, but I wouldn't press the issue if my players felt strongly about it.

In your specific example, the warlock broke the rules in a different way: you can't take immediate actions during your own turn. This applies to both interrupts and reactions. So she couldn't have used Caiphon's Leap. I screw that up all the time myself.

Answer 3

I think the rule does permit the warlock to gain concealment as soon as it is 3 squares from its starting position (as a result of deliberate movement, on its turn; no fair getting concealment from, say, an ogre pushing you 5). So if you have a move of 6, you could walk around in a circle and gain that concealment, even if you end your move where you started.

Which is to say, I agree with Bryant w/r/t how it's written. I don't feel that this goes against the spirit of the rules, but then, in general I think warlocks need every advantage they can get.

Answer 4

Does this mean you must end your turn at least 3 squares away from where you began?

I've never thought about it, we've always just moved away and stayed away.

I'd rule "yes" though.

If you could activate the power by going three steps away and then back, ending up where you started, then why would you have the requirement to move at all? So I think the designers intent is that you are not ending up back where you started.

Answer 5

Necro here, but wouldn't the AoO trigger BEFORE the concealment, since the concealment occurs after you have moved three squares, and the AoO occurs as you move between square 2 to square 3. E.g., if the AoO kills you, you wouldn't make it to square 3, since the AoO occurs due to your actions in square 2, not in square 3. Technically, you move to square 3 after the AoO occurs, not before.

Also, the RaW states that you must MOVE three squares away, meaning that you must take a move action through three squares in a direction away from your original location. If your move speed is five, this means you could go UP, UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN, and gain concealment after you move away the third time. Teleportation isn't moving, the result of the spell is transit over any span of distance, but you yourself remain stationary, the spell simply transports you from one location to another.

Also, it could be assumed that the rules mean that you must be three squares away from where you started, or that the movement must be in consecutive order away, but they simply do not specify for the sake of brevity. In these cases, it's best to read the rules as intended, and you will normally find the correct answer.