Making the Dodge feat +1 AC vs. any/all?

Q

Quasqueton

First Post

• Jun 21, 2004

• #1

Would it overpower the Dodge feat to allow the +1 AC bonus against all opponents? Throughout D&D3.X, me and all Players I've played with find it difficult to remember to declare the target for this feat on their turn.

Quasqueton

 

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Darklone

Registered User

• Jun 21, 2004

• #2

Same here. But +1 vs all seems a little bit strong to me

 

Bloodstone Press

Explorer

• Jun 21, 2004

• #3

"overpowered" is a tricky word. It really depends on how you play if it is "overpowered" or not. However, if I was going to do that, I would give it a prerequisite of Dex 13, and at least one other feat.

So, I guess I'm saying "yes, technically that would be overpowered." However, I don't think it would ruin your game if you just made that change.

People get really bent out of shape over "overpowered" stuff, when most of the time it isn't really that big of a deal.

 

RigaMortus

Explorer

• Jun 21, 2004

• #4

I would say it is NOT overpowered if you made it +1 Dodge bonus vs. All. As it stands now, Dodge is only worth taking if you need it for a prereq for another feat or PrC.

 

The Souljourner

First Post

• Jun 21, 2004

• #5

Not overpowered. Dodge is pretty much a non-ability as is. Making it +1 all the time is totally reasonable. Giving dodge a prereq would totally defeat the purpose of making it useful to take. It's *already* a prereq for a lot of good stuff... don't muddy the waters more by making the feat chains even longer. As is, it's a pain to remember and pretty well underpowered.

-The Souljourner

 

Orm

Explorer

• Jun 21, 2004

• #6

In our group Dodge gives a +1 dodge bonus against all opponents. IMO it´s not overpowered at all, especially at higher levels where attack bonuses increase way faster than AC. And it keeps things easier to calculate.

 

L

Lamoni

First Post

• Jun 21, 2004

• #7

I also agree with RigaMortus. It would NOT be overpowered. I say that through experience. The cleric in our party has dodge and we play with it just increasing her AC by 1 against everyone. It hasn't been overpowered. She still doesn't have the highest AC, and still gets hit as much as anyone else when attacked (she tries to avoid battle). In fact, I still think the feat might be underpowered even when applied against everyone. Maybe not mathematically, but it is truly a boring feat to take when you still are going to be hit so often. Being hit 5% less often isn't much to worry about in my opinion.

 

Li Shenron

Legend

• Jun 21, 2004

• #8

I think it would be balanced. It is in fact how many group house rule the feat, and there had been rumors it could have changed to that in 3.5.

I don't think it is that hard to adjudicate its use however. We simply assume that - unless for some reason the player specifies otherwise - the character is dodging the most obvious opponent, for example the one he is currently attacking, or the one he provokes an AoO from. Sometimes there are more than one of course, but I think on the average it's worth effectively more than +0.5.

 

Liquidsabre

Explorer

• Jun 21, 2004

• #9

Our group adopted the +1 vs all some time ago now, along with a few other changes to feats *cough* spell focus *cough*. Works great, players actually consider such feats when making a selection now instead of ignoring them completely.

Spycraft's Dodge feat has +1 vs all or +2 vs one, and even this version (while quite strong) isn't too over the top.

 

I

Ibram

First Post

• Jun 21, 2004

• #10

IMHO its not at all over powered to have dodge provide a flat bonus to AC. Thats how I do it in my campaigns, but then thats because both me and my players were always forgetting to use it.