Aren't the prerequisites for Whirlwind Attack kinda.... odd?

[Sejs]

OK, I'll bite: what is the ultimate ability?

Being a living Sphere of Annihilation.

Edit: Oh right, and in response to the initial question - no, I never found the pre-reqs odd. I never envisioned WWA to be pirouetting around with your weapon outstretched, instead seeing it sort of like has been mentioned above, a series of quick strikes while changing your positioning per opponent. The kind of thing where the camera gives a shot from the floor looking up at the big press of guys around the hero, some ass-whooping sounds occur, and then all the mooks fall over at the same time.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

The kind of thing where the camera gives a shot from the floor looking up at the big press of guys around the hero, some ass-whooping sounds occur, and then all the mooks fall over at the same time.

Exactly.

And it kinda looks like this:

 

[Len]

Point Blank Shot is a prerequisite for Far Shot.

"Before one can reach what is far away, one must be able to see what is before one's nose." - Len

 

[satori01]

The funny thing the one player that I have seen actually achieve the whirlwind at the end of the tree, got a lot of mileage out of Mobility, Spring Attack and Combat Expertise.

Why?

Because to get the most possible bad guys with Whirlwind you often have to rush into the middle of an enemy formataion.
Spring Attack, Mobillity, and Expertise where a good way to avoid being hit by AoO when getting into position

 

[frankthedm]

unfortunatly, with the improved grapple feat out there, a few mooks have a fair chance[you roll low, they roll high] of negating your feat tree before the rest of the mooks even charge into the whirlwind position.

And if you were using the spring attack feat, your dex and dodge bonuses just left the building enabling the rest of the charging mooks to have a chance of hitting you.

When you break grapple next round, you've already used an attack so whirlwind & spring will be lost to you until next round. If you are fully surounded now , you and one mook will now enjoy cramping rules and that 3.5 leaves you no other way than dc25 tumble to move trough another creatures space without an action to bullrush them.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Strangely enough, it almost looks like WWA would work from within a grapple... I don't quite know what it would do though...

 

[Legildur]

Chorn's and Lord Pendragon's description of Whirlwind Attack is always what I envisaged. I have no problems with the prerequisites and think that the whole feat tree is fanatastic (and can't understand why some of the feats have already been voted off the Survivor Island on the other thread).

Dodge - only 1 point, but that makes the difference one time out of 20 (and it is a bonus to your touch AC - not to be underrated).

Mobility - haven't used that a great deal.

Spring Attack - I luuuuv Spring Attack for beating reach and keeping away from nasty full attacks of the BBEG.

Whirlwind Attack - whipped lotsa goblin ass when they surrounded my fighter while riding worgs. Didn't I mention the 10-12 attacks per round with a longsword? But I also find it useful when sharing the pain amongst just 2 opponents.

But my favourite just has to be Combat Expertise. I use it to boost AC ALL the time. Particular when surrounded (which happens a bit) or when facing the BBEG (which happens a lot).

I think that the synergies (already outlined by others) of the prerequite feats that culminate in Whirlwind Attack adequately represent a really effective fluid fighting style.

 

[Darth Malakh]

Yep! And I think that "one-mighty-sweep"-move is more like what you achieve with (Great) Cleave.

Malakh

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Strangely enough, it almost looks like WWA would work from within a grapple... I don't quite know what it would do though...

Not much.

WWA gives you one attack against each creature you threaten.

A grappling creature threatens nothing, so he'd get no attacks.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

The funny thing the one player that I have seen actually achieve the whirlwind at the end of the tree, got a lot of mileage out of Mobility, Spring Attack and Combat Expertise.

Why?

Because to get the most possible bad guys with Whirlwind you often have to rush into the middle of an enemy formataion.
Spring Attack, Mobillity, and Expertise where a good way to avoid being hit by AoO when getting into position

Totally agree.

Allies ready moves (limited charge) to use your body as cover to close without provoking AoO. Spring attack into giants midst with full combat expertise to AC, spring attack protecting vs one AoO while mobility protects against all others. Attract all enemy attention. Whirlwind following turns while allies finish (cleave) off foes by concentrating on 1 at a time.

The whole combo just reeks of battlefield control via swift movement, temporary solid defence and area attacks.