Herein I describe details of my ongoing campaigns, discuss the D&D game, and talk about other issues in gaming that I find relevant. I am not very fond of 4th edition, having played it once and found it too WoWish. Consequently most of my articles will reference 3.5 and previous editions.
Stinky Feats
Posted 30th August 2008 at 01:48 AM by airwalkrr
We've all smelled it before, the odious scent of feats that leave us feeling a little queasy. Some feats are simply too good, some aren't good enough or in enough situations, and others are just plain cumbersome. Whatever the reason, dealing with some feats just gets downright stinky at times.
Now, I wouldn't dream of trying to address every feat in the game that causes problems. Some of the problems are predicated on a problem with another rule. Others are simply underused, but not necessarily problematic. I will ignore both of these types of feats as dealing with them is either unnecessary or will be addressed in the future. But sometimes the feat itself is the problem. Let's look at a few.
Power Attack and Combat Expertise are two particular pet peeves of mine, not because they are overpowered, but because they add to the math. Now simple addition and subtraction is not hard, but let's be honest, there are a lot of things I would just rather not do, and having the potential for 11 different attack bonuses, each with different damage bonuses, is a needless headache after I've already knocked back a couple of brews and am trying to forget the annoying things that have happened to me at work the past week.
Dodge is a great feat, but it is forgotten oh-so-often. Toughness doesn't really make much sense in the long run. Weapon Finesse not being available to 1st-level rogues does them a great disservice. There may be a few other minor offenders, but these a something of an eyesore that jump out either at the beginning of every campaign, or whenever I crack open my Player's Handbook to Chapter 5.
Fortunately, I believe in redemption. These feats can be scrubbed clean with a little bit of elbow grease. First, let's take Power Attack. While the versatility of being able to choose any number between 0 and your base attack bonus is nice, it can make the math cumbersome. I once had a player of a 12th level fighter carry around an entire page of all his possible attack iterations just so he wouldn't have to worry about it during the game. A single feat shouldn't require you to add an entire page to your character sheet. So here is the fix. You may, as a full-round action, make a single melee attack. Double your Strength bonus for the purpose of dealing damage with this attack. For each iterative attack you receive, increase the multiplier of this feat, such that you triple your Strength modifier if you receive a second attack, quadruple your Strength modifier if you receive a third attack, and so on. You still make only one attack. This makes Power Attack a tactical decision between making a full attack and making one powerful swing. A decision between two options is much simpler than the current system, and the math is easier since it only affects damage.
Combat Expertise has a similar problem, but not quite as drastic since the most of your base attack you can transfer to your AC is 5. It fortunately can be fixed just as easily. Whenever you fight defensively or use the total defense action, you add your Intelligence bonus as a dodge bonus to your AC. On top of being simpler to apply, it also rewards fighters for being smart. Imagine that!
By the time most players realize they forgot to declare the target of their Dodge feat, it is usually an opponent's turn, and thus, too late. My change fixes that problem. From now on, Dodge lets you add a +4 dodge bonus to your AC against a single attack as an immediate action in response to an opponent's attack, but before you know the result of the attack.
Toughness needs to be a bit better, but it also needs to be worthwhile if you take it multiple times. My fix is that Toughness grants 3 hit points the first time you take it plus 2 additional hit points each additional time you take it. So the second time you take Toughness it would grant you 5 hit points, the third time it would grant you 7, and so on.
Fixing Weapon Finesse is easy. There is no prerequisite for the feat, except that you must be proficient with any weapon you use to get the benefit from it.
So there you have it. Some of the most troubling feats have been fixed or made better with a little bit of headwork. Doesn't that leave a much more pleasing aroma?
Next week, Problems in the Sub-Systems.
Now, I wouldn't dream of trying to address every feat in the game that causes problems. Some of the problems are predicated on a problem with another rule. Others are simply underused, but not necessarily problematic. I will ignore both of these types of feats as dealing with them is either unnecessary or will be addressed in the future. But sometimes the feat itself is the problem. Let's look at a few.
Power Attack and Combat Expertise are two particular pet peeves of mine, not because they are overpowered, but because they add to the math. Now simple addition and subtraction is not hard, but let's be honest, there are a lot of things I would just rather not do, and having the potential for 11 different attack bonuses, each with different damage bonuses, is a needless headache after I've already knocked back a couple of brews and am trying to forget the annoying things that have happened to me at work the past week.
Dodge is a great feat, but it is forgotten oh-so-often. Toughness doesn't really make much sense in the long run. Weapon Finesse not being available to 1st-level rogues does them a great disservice. There may be a few other minor offenders, but these a something of an eyesore that jump out either at the beginning of every campaign, or whenever I crack open my Player's Handbook to Chapter 5.
Fortunately, I believe in redemption. These feats can be scrubbed clean with a little bit of elbow grease. First, let's take Power Attack. While the versatility of being able to choose any number between 0 and your base attack bonus is nice, it can make the math cumbersome. I once had a player of a 12th level fighter carry around an entire page of all his possible attack iterations just so he wouldn't have to worry about it during the game. A single feat shouldn't require you to add an entire page to your character sheet. So here is the fix. You may, as a full-round action, make a single melee attack. Double your Strength bonus for the purpose of dealing damage with this attack. For each iterative attack you receive, increase the multiplier of this feat, such that you triple your Strength modifier if you receive a second attack, quadruple your Strength modifier if you receive a third attack, and so on. You still make only one attack. This makes Power Attack a tactical decision between making a full attack and making one powerful swing. A decision between two options is much simpler than the current system, and the math is easier since it only affects damage.
Combat Expertise has a similar problem, but not quite as drastic since the most of your base attack you can transfer to your AC is 5. It fortunately can be fixed just as easily. Whenever you fight defensively or use the total defense action, you add your Intelligence bonus as a dodge bonus to your AC. On top of being simpler to apply, it also rewards fighters for being smart. Imagine that!
By the time most players realize they forgot to declare the target of their Dodge feat, it is usually an opponent's turn, and thus, too late. My change fixes that problem. From now on, Dodge lets you add a +4 dodge bonus to your AC against a single attack as an immediate action in response to an opponent's attack, but before you know the result of the attack.
Toughness needs to be a bit better, but it also needs to be worthwhile if you take it multiple times. My fix is that Toughness grants 3 hit points the first time you take it plus 2 additional hit points each additional time you take it. So the second time you take Toughness it would grant you 5 hit points, the third time it would grant you 7, and so on.
Fixing Weapon Finesse is easy. There is no prerequisite for the feat, except that you must be proficient with any weapon you use to get the benefit from it.
So there you have it. Some of the most troubling feats have been fixed or made better with a little bit of headwork. Doesn't that leave a much more pleasing aroma?
Next week, Problems in the Sub-Systems.
Total Comments 6
Comments
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These are outstanding fixes to those problems. I also feel vindicated that you've picked many of my top pet-peeve feats to fix.
Two comments:
1. I house rule Dodge as a permanent +1 dodge bonus to AC. It's on all the time. With the attack modifiers in v3.5 being what they are, that's far from overpowered and it keeps the game running maximally smoothly.
2. Could you fix spirited charge and ride-by-attack now? Please?
:AMN:Posted 1st September 2008 at 04:51 PM by amnuxoll
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Very nice. I like Power Attack especially - it more closely typefies the feat as a single, powerful attack.
Combat Expertise is a very elegant fix, and very nice. But, um... what do you about the standard +2 dodge bonus you get from fighting defensively? Do they stack?
For Dodge, I did what amnuxoll (and many others) did - a flat +1 dodge bonus to AC, and you can take the feat multiple times.
Toughness is another popular house-ruled feat; I went the route of +2 hit points, +1/level thereafter.
I never realized the problem with Weapon Finesse until you mentioned it, but I'm going to change that too.Posted 2nd September 2008 at 02:47 AM by Kerrick
Updated 2nd September 2008 at 02:53 AM by Kerrick -
Wow, I have comments! And here I thought I was keeping this blog for posterity.
Thanks for the feedback.
I am aware that Dodge is commonly house-ruled to be a permanent +1 bonus, and there is nothing wrong with that power-wise. Where I run into problems is backwards compatibility. I am making these fixes with the hope of reducing ripple effects. Every monster that has Dodge in the Monster Manual now needs a +1 added to its AC. So I went with making it a tactical option. Every NPC with the feat in a pre-published adventure would need the change too.
I am unaware that Spirited Charge and Ride-By-Attack are so commonly difficult to work with. There are excellent feats to be sure, but their limited environmental utility makes them a dubious choice. I play a paladin in a campaign who has not once stepped atop his warhorse as we have always been underground. Perhaps you could elaborate on what you and your group found troublesome with them and I will take another look in a future installment.
Regarding Combat Expertise, the bonus from Int is intended to stack with the standard bonus from these options, essentially making them better. A character with Combat Expertise gains a better bonus from fighting defensively and using total defense.
Thanks again for the feedback. It's good to know there are still some people out there playing 3.5. I was beginning to think everyone had been caught up in 4e mania but my group.Posted 12th September 2008 at 05:56 AM by airwalkrr - Airwalkrr,
Great point on making the change backwards compatible. I hope the pathfinder guys come across this in their planning/testing.
A note on your recommendation for power attack, I think you've really substantively changed the effect of the power. You may need to say something like -10 to hit for 2w+2xS. Even that is not quite what PA can be in the hands of a powerful high level Barb.Posted 21st September 2008 at 02:18 PM by ashockney - One variant I have used in the past for Power Attack is to allow a -4 penalty to hit to double weapon damage. What I dislike about this variant is that it can be far too much at lower levels, and it becomes impossible to give to bad-guys as most PCs are then one crit away from death. After about 5th level it starts to be a good variant though. (-10 seems a bit harsh)
If we take a fairly typical half-orc barbarian at 6th level with an 18 Strength (22 when raging) wielding a greatsword, he can normally make two attacks with a +9 bonus to damage. He can trade two attacks of 2d6+9 for one at 2d6+18 with his highest bonus. The potential damage gain on average is only +2, but he does put all his eggs in one basket with only one attack, and that can be risky.
It's a good, flexible variant though. I haven't experienced any difficulty with it.Posted 25th September 2008 at 11:25 AM by airwalkrr - Power Attack: I find it OK as written... then again, the only time I ever used it was with a full-orc IH Berserker who power attacked for full every attack... I've never had anyone else in my group use it, so we've ruled that it's no longer a prerequisite for anything and have basically removed it.
I like your version of Dodge. I might have to implement that.
I prefer to make Toughness give +1 HP/HD or +3 HP, whichever is better (and updating every level). However, that does indeed cause ripple problems (something I had not considered before).
Similarly to Power Attack, I've never had anyone in my group take Expertise or fight defensively. The only time anyone has taken Improved Trip (and friends) has been as Monk bonus feats. This is probably because we favor sacrificing defense for offense (generally). Your variant would be awesome for wizards, though.Posted 3rd October 2008 at 05:01 PM by hollowleg
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