Rystil Arden said:
Exactly--a highly suboptimal choice if there ever was one. It's fine to buff little Meepo because he'll still be terrible
That's just because he's a
Bard, and not something useful, like a Rogue.
And again with the "suboptimal" talk. Kobold spellcasters and Rogues are quite tasty choices.
At any rate, the main reason I don't try to argue Improved Natural Armor is because I find the arguement that the feats in the MM are not intended for PCs to be valid, and compelling. However, I believe they are allowed for PCs here in LEW. (Mental note, must ask what the LEW ruling on Monks and Improved Natural Attack is).
Rystil Arden said:
They are inferior in the megadamage department to a pure damage-based build that goes full Base Attack, and they don't really have any other shtick that they can do well.
Trading one attack at -15 for +4 to damage (+6 with a two-handed sword) on your other three is nothing to sneeze at. But I guess this is yet another difference in opinion.
Rystil Arden said:
Well, the Monk has the special secret power that only the Bard also has, which saves him from attacks at least for a while--that is to say, his class sucks so much that the important classes have to go down first (Cleric, then Wizard, then Barbarian/Damage Fighter, then Monk and Bard just before the Turtle).
Well, I've never seen our party meat shields ignore the Monk that was beating on our wizard, but as you pointed out, we play in different games.
Rystil Arden said:
Grease will do it, as will several other conditions. Invis is sufficient to get Sneak Attacks, though, as is Hide and taking the -20. Feint works too, particularly when you have it faster (though without the right PrC approved, it may not be free actionable).
I was really curious about extending the flat-footed condition, not sneak attacks in general. Grease potentially has its own issues (is the foe considered 'balancing' while standing in a Greased area, or just moving through?)
Rystil Arden said:
That one probably takes too long to be equal. How about a feat that gives you a +1 to Fort save per level but is capped at (Level - Base Fort) ? So it gives a Fighter nothing until level 5 and is better for a Wizard than Great Fortitude by level 4. I would call it overpowered compared to Great Fortitude (by the way, there's a reason why I'd rather not bring Toughness and Improved Toughness into this, which is that flat bonuses to a d20 roll scale well and flat HP bonuses scale terribly).
*chuckle* The feat I proposed becomes "unbalanced" at right around the same time LAO does in Bront's Vanitri example, by the same amount of flat bonus. It also grants its benefit to
all people, all of the time. Of course, it then goes on to become even more "unbalanced" after that. But apparently it wasn't extreme or alarming enough. Or perhaps I'm not using analogy properly. At any rate, we aren't really getting anywhere here, are we?
I'll try one more tack, though. This feat does two things, it removes penalties, and potentially increases your armor bonus by +1 point. It doesn't give a dodge bonus, it lessens a penalty.
Rystil Arden said:
Now I understand! You live with someone who has the Improved Trip feat and she's likely the only one who's going to attack you, not minions--of course you think Dodge is better
We're shooting for kids by as early as next year. I'm going to want Dodge then, as well. In the land of grapplers, Touch AC is king.
Edit - Fixed my numbers.