Please rate Superior Expertise

[smetzger]

You were probably all looking forward to rating Improved Sunder. But I got a request to do Superior Expertise.

Superior Expertise [General] REQ: Int 13+, Expertise, Base Attack bonus +6

When you use the Expertise feat to improve your AC, the number you subtract from your attack and add to your AC can be any number that does not exceed your base attack bonus. Oriental Adventures, pg 66.
This is a Fighter bonus feat.

 

[hong]

I think it's pretty good, although I'll admit I haven't actually seen it being used.

 

[Darkness]

So you're back in Rules again? Ok; fine by me.

And I like Superior Expertise!

 

[Furn_Darkside]

So you're back in Rules again? Ok; fine by me.

And I like Superior Expertise!

It is a good feat. If the character is using expertise a lot, then it makes sense to invest in this at the higher levels.

FD

 

[Celtavian]

Re

It is a very powerful feat, especially when fighting low AC opponents. If you take expertise, you should take superior expertise.

A player is using this feat in my campaign right now. Let's just say that when he goes defensive, he usually doesn't get hit.

 

[Roland Delacroix]

Nah, its pretty lame IMO. Its part of a chain, but overlaps the original Expertise. This ability isn't worth 2 feat slots. If I was playing a defensive type I would rather just take Expertise, drop 5 points in Tumble and switch off fighting defensivlly. Thats +8 to AC, if you need more than that on top of buffs you should be running away. With a full defense of +11 AC.

Taking, say, Power Attack instead of Superior Expertise with Expertise makes you a heck of alot more flexible. It doesn't 'waste' a feat and you are still putting extra BAB to good use.

 

[Stalker0]

A great feat to use against monsters, since monsters tend to have fairly low AC's even at higher levels, but their offense power goes through the roof. Be careful using it on NPC's though, or watch yourself get disarmed.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

I've never had a fighter high enough level to use this but it seems like it would be a good feat to have for reasons described earlier. It would enable a fighter to push his AC to place that normally require the shield spell (places that mean nearly any opponent needs an 18+ to hit him) and still attack (and, with good weapons, weapon focus, and good strength, have a decent chance of hitting).

For a defensively oriented fighter, this would be quite advantageous--although it wouldn't help the party much if there were more vulnerable targets for the monsters/villains to go after.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

I think this feat is only average.

It has some nice tactical uses, but there are many other ways of achieving similar effects. By the time this feat is noticeably superior to the alternatives, you will be up against some very, very high "to hit" bonuses.

Savvy opponents can also reduce the net effect of this feat by maximizes their Power Attack; they will only hit on a Nat 20, but it will be for a lot of damage.

Or they just ignore you and kill your friends, instead. Lots of defensive tactics, like Improved Invisibility, are more effective on paper than in reality for this reason.

There is alot to be said for just taking Tumble cross-class or Cosmopolitan: Tumble to give you the +3 AC if you really need it. That is a more flexible way of spending your feats. And you can Tumble, too!

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I'd say it's average. I'd probably have taken it if I was a straight fighter, but I'm a bladesinger and my DM already complains that few enemies can hit me. With the magic elven chain, good values in dex and int, haste and shield, blur, mirror image and improved invisibility, it's hard enough to hit me. And if push comes to shove, I can use 5 points from expertise (I had to take that for the bladesinger class), an additional 3 points from my sword (it's an intelligent +3 defending longsword. I'd not neccessarily taken a defending sword myself, but that one was a present for becoming a bladesinger) and the bonus from fighting defensively. It should prove hard enough to hit that!