AD&D 2nd Edition

Range: 0
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 rd/level
Casting Time: 1
Area of Effect: The caster
Saving Throw: None

By means of the spell, the wizard causes his material form to “blink” directly from one point to another at a random time and in a random direction. This means that melee attacks against the wizard automatically miss if initiative indicates they fall after he has blinked. Each round the spell is in effect, the wizard rolls 2d8 to determine the timing of the blink – the result of the dice roll is used as the wizard’s initiative for that round. The wizard disappears and instantaneously reappears 10 feet distant from his previous position. (Direction is determined by a roll of 1d8: 1=right ahead, 2=right, 3=right behind, 4=behind, 5=left behind, 6=left, 7=left ahead, 8=ahead.) The caster cannot blink into a solid object; if such is indicated, reroll the direction. Movable objects of size and mass comparable to the caster are shoved aside when the caster blinks in. If blinking is impossible except into a fixed, solid object, the caster is then trapped on the Ethereal Plane.

During each round that he blinks, the spellcaster can be attacked only by opponents who win initiative or by those who are able to strike both locations at once (for example, with a breath weapon, fireball, or similar wide-area attack forms). Opponents with multiple attacks, or those operating under haste or similar effects, can often strike early enough to have at least one attack against the caster. If the spellcaster holds off his attack (if any) until after the blink, the 2d8 delay until the blink is added to his normal 1d10 initiative roll (thus, he probably attacks the last in the round).

The spellcaster can also try to get his attack in before he blinks (he must announce his intent before rolling the 2d8 for blink timing and the 1d10 for initiative). In this case, the caster compares the two dice rolls, hoping that his initiative roll is lower than his blink roll (the 2 rolls are not added if he is trying to attack before he blinks). If so, he attacks according to his initiative roll, then blinks according to the blink roll. If his blink roll is lower than his initiative roll, however, he blinks first and then attacks in whatever direction he’s facing (he must go through with his attack, even if he is facing in the wrong direction to affect anyone).