[Complete Scoundrel] Improved Skirmish feat...

[RigaMortus2]

I don’t have Complete Scoundrel yet, but I was able to take a look at my friend’s copy the other night, and I was looking through the feats. I am a little confused on how exactly Improved Skirmish works. I don’t have the book, so I can’t really quote the wording. Hopefully someone with the book can take a look and give them their impression. But how does Improved Skirmish work exactly? How much is added to Skirmish. It says (paraphrasing since I don’t have the actual wording) an additional 2d6 but I think it is really an additional 1d6. Here are a few possible way I think it could work based on the wording of the feat.

Oh, also wanted to mention that the feat has the “Normal” section where it explains how normal skirmish works. Does the feat “override this” or is it in addition to this? See example 3.

Assume an appropriate level Scout that does 3d6 damage via (normal) skirmish.

1) If you move 10 feet, you deal 3d6 skirmish. If you move 20 feet, you deal 4d6 skirmish.
2) If you move 10 feet, you deal 3d6 skirmish. If you move 20 feet, you deal 5d6 skirmish.
3) If you move 10 feet, you deal no skirmish damage. If you move 20 feet, you deal 5d6 skirmish. -- This is because Improved Skirmish overrides the rules for “normal” skirmish and they no longer apply or come into effect.
4) Some other option I have not considered.

 

[drexes]

I'm going to have to throw my flag here, as I don't see the ambiguity at all. The following is barely paraphrased to avoid copyright infringement as it were...

If you move at least twenty feet before you attack you get an extra +2d6 skirmish damage and a +2 to AC.

Normally the scout only has to move 10 feet to skirmish so he has to move an extra 10 feet before Improved Skirmish applies.

Here's what would then happen if character had the requisite +2d6/+1 AC skirmish to get the feat and he skirmished and also had this feat.

If he moved only 10 feet before attacking he would get his normal +2d6/+1 AC
If he moved 20 feet before attacking his skirmish bonus would increase to +4d6/+3 AC

Nowhere in the feat does it mention anything about having the normal skirmish rules no longer apply, though it does mention the difference in movement between 10 and 20 feet in the 'Normal' section.

I hope this helps and just as a side, I've been wrong before, but I've read this over and that's how I see it.

Drexes

 

[VonRichthofen]

2 is correct, plain and simple. No room for interpretations.

 

[airwalkrr]

Damn! I had no idea there were such awesome feats in Complete Scoundrel. Do they have a feat that grants +2d6 sneak attack too? I mean, seriously, this feat is a no-brainer for any scout.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

Damn! I had no idea there were such awesome feats in Complete Scoundrel. Do they have a feat that grants +2d6 sneak attack too? I mean, seriously, this feat is a no-brainer for any scout.

No joke. My wife's archer scout was bad enough as is dealing the extra skirmish damage every round. Tack on another 2d6!

 

[EyeontheMountain]

Yeah, it is a bit much, but also note that it says you have to be 20 feeet 'away from where you started the turn' so no moving in a circle around the enemy to get the extra damage. Not much of a limitation, it shold have been 1d6 and +1 ac.

 

[Darklone]

Is there a limit how often this feat can be taken ?

 

[Felon]

Yeah, it is a bit much, but also note that it says you have to be 20 feeet 'away from where you started the turn' so no moving in a circle around the enemy to get the extra damage.

Don't be so quick to jump on the semantical ramifications of using the word "away". If you'll note the "Normal" secion of the feet, "away" is also used to describe how skirmish normally works.

Regardless, the feat is indeed over the top. Bear in mind that a scout gets 40 feet of movement, so 20 feet can be accomplished even while moving at half speed (e.g. tumbling). And at 6th level, the scout ignores movement penalties for difficult terrain.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Don't be so quick to jump on the semantical ramifications of using the word "away". If you'll note the "Normal" secion of the feet, "away" is also used to describe how skirmish normally works.

Post-errata, that is how Skirmish normally works.

You can't move five feet south, five feet north, end up where you started, and claim Skirmish damage for moving ten feet... because you haven't been ten feet from your original position.

Page 12: Skirmish (class feature)
The second sentence of the skirmish class feature
should read as follows (new text indicated in bold): She
deals an extra 1d6 points of damage on all attacks she
makes during any round in which she moves at least 10
feet away from where she was at the start of her turn.
The extra damage applies only to attacks made after the
scout has moved at least 10 feet. The skirmish ability
cannot be used while mounted.

If you have a longsword, say, and you are in melee with an orc, you can get your normal Skirmish damage with only ten feet of movement - if you're south of the orc, you can move to a position northeast of the orc, say, and you're still close enough to hit him, but ten feet from where you started.

If you want Improved Skirmish damage, however, you'll have to move at least thirty feet... twenty feet from where you started to trigger the ability, then at least ten feet back to get back into melee range of the orc...

-Hyp.

 

[Felon]

Oddlyn enough, the Complete Scoundrel's reprinting of the skirmish ability doesn't reflect the errata, leaving out that magical word "away", which will no doubt lend itself to creating questions about this for some time to come.

Alll-in-all, sounds like a very archer-friendly feat. Or, if you have Tumble down solid, that works too.