Arcane Strike: Broken?

[Mort]

I'm of the same opinion. Originally, I thought it looked pretty nifty. At second glance, in most situations I'd prefer to keep the x level spell over the Arcane Strike damage. Maybe blowing a high level spell and using Arcane Strike in conjunction with Whirlwind Attack would be nice, but then that leaves you Arcane Caster With Low HP surrounded by angry enemies who probably weren't killed by that extra Arcane Strike damage.

I'd spend the feat slot on a Metamagic feat, Battle Caster, etc. There are definitely better options out there for the melee-minded arcane caster.

I'll agree it's not the be all end all but it has some nice benefits.
First and foremost - it allows using a noncombat spell in combat when you really need it (spells like knock and scry which can be replenished later). So in this sence it's better for fighter/wizards than fighter/sorcerers.

Second - combined with power attack and a two handed weapon it's not too bad.

But broken? not even close.

 

[Thanee]

The feat is excellent for gish builds but pretty useless for anything else.

It's also good for warrior-mages of other races.

I actually had it with my human sorceress (no levels in warrior classes, just pure spellcaster) in the CotSQ campaign, and made good use of it (wielding a magical greatsword with Master's Touch and a good number of buffs, of course).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Stalker0]

I always thought it was a pretty good bard feat...especially if the bard has picked manly non combat spells.

 

[FrostedMini1337]

An untyped plus to hit is pretty big in this game last i checked.

It is, if the opportunity cost wasn't so high.

I like the bard thing though, I completely overlooked that. Huh. I wanna make a bard now.

 

[starwed]

There is one thing I consider a little broken: not only does is it grant an untyped bonus, but using the feat is a free action. And while the bonus to hit is capped by your BAB, the actual damage bonus doesn't appear to be. So as written you can sacrifice several spell slots per round and get some nice damage. And several 1st level spell slots are better fodder for this feat than a single high level spell.

I always thought it was a pretty good bard feat...especially if the bard has picked manly non combat spells.

It's probably pretty good for assassin's as well.

 

[IcyCool]

I always thought it was a pretty good bard feat...especially if the bard has picked manly non combat spells.

Bah! There are no manly non-combat spells. And the Bard has very few manly spells (or manly anything) at all.

 

[Thanee]

There is one thing I consider a little broken: ...

True enough. I would not allow that to stack in any way with itself.

Bye
Thanee

 

[szilard]

If you're burning a 9th level spell to get a +9 to hit and +9d4 (avg of 22-23) damage, you fail. I'm pretty sure at that point other high level spellcasters get together and kick you out of the magic club. Revoke your lisence, take away your secret decoder ring, the whole shebang.

There are some cases in which it's worthwhile...

- (Says the person playing a high-level gestalt Sorcerer | Dragon Disciple/Paladin type who can fairly easily deal ~200 hp/round in melee when using arcane strike and a high level spell)

 

[mikebr99]

I'll agree it's not the be all end all but it has some nice benefits.
First and foremost - it allows using a noncombat spell in combat when you really need it (spells like knock and scry which can be replenished later). So in this sence it's better for fighter/wizards than fighter/sorcerers.

Second - combined with power attack and a two handed weapon it's not too bad.

But broken? not even close.

Actually I think it works much better with two weapon fighting then one big one... as the + to hit is for a full round... for every attack.

Two dagger weilding... Arcane Tricksters!

Mike

 

[Stalker0]

There is one thing I consider a little broken: not only does is it grant an untyped bonus, but using the feat is a free action. And while the bonus to hit is capped by your BAB, the actual damage bonus doesn't appear to be. So as written you can sacrifice several spell slots per round and get some nice damage. And several 1st level spell slots are better fodder for this feat than a single high level spell.

Hmm, that's an interesting idea, I never thought about using the feat more than once in the same round.