Battle Monster [Updated]

[Land Outcast]

Battle Monster [General, Fighter]
The strength in your blows hurls your enemies backwards.
Prerequisites: Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack
Benefit: Whenever you deal bludgeoning or slashing damage against a foe, you may initiate a free bull rush (with a -5 penalty if you are using a slashing weapon) without the option to follow your enemy. To determine your Strength bonus to the check, take half the damage dealt as your effective Strength Score or your normal Strength Score, whichever is lower.
Larger opponents have an additional +4 bonus (per size category above you) to resist this Bull Rush attempt.
If the oppenent is smaller than you, it must also make a succesful Reflex save (DC equal to half your Bull Rush Modifier) or Tumble check (DC 20).
Also, your enemy's movement isn't limited to five feet: it can be moved five extra feet per size category below you.


Like it?

Criticism welcome.

 

[the Jester]

At high levels, half the damage you deal can easily give you an effective str score much higher than your actual str.

I'd start balance-checking it by comparing it to Awesome Blow, which is in the MM (or the monstrous feats section of the SRD, if that's the way you swing). And for some reason, I'm thinking that there might already be a similar feat in some book or other, but I can't recall what or where it is... :\

 

[Arkhandus]

Yeah, I dunno how balanced the effect is. Especially if you play a Psychic Warrior and power attack with a Maul using Psychofeedback to pump you Str bonus to damage up to ungodly levels, knocking the opponent back an absurd distance and probably off a cliff/bridge/whatever. Knock 'em a ways out to sea and shoot a barrage of arrows at them as they try to swim back?

Anyway, for the ?s, I'd go Improved Bull Rush and Tumble DC 20.

I have a sort of similar feat for my Aurelia setting, modeled a bit after the Knock-Down feat from Sword & Fist.

Knock-Back (General)
Your furious blows can knock an enemy away with the force and angle of impact. This is a new feat.
Prerequisites: BAB +2 or higher, Improved Bull Rush, Str 15+.
Benefit: Whenever you deal 10 or more points of damage to your opponent in melee with a single attack, you may treat that attack as though it were also a bull rush, requiring only a Strength check by you opposed by the target's Strength check. You do not move into the enemy's space and do not provoke attacks of opportunity, but the opponent is only moved 5 feet if they fail the opposed Strength check. If you deal 20 or more points of damage to your opponent in melee with a single attack, and also possess the Knock-Down feat, you may treat that attack as both a trip attack and a bull rush, as noted above and in the Knock-Down feat description. In that case, you make a single Strength check, while the enemy opposes the trip and the bull rush separately. If the opponent is both tripped and moved back outside your reach, you cannot benefit from the extra attack granted by the Improved Trip feat, unless you are able and allowed to take a 5-foot step to get within reach (or your weapon has sufficient reach).

 

[Land Outcast]

@J

Letsee about high levels...

Barbarian 20, Str 40 (in rage), +5 Maul, PA in 20 (for +40 dmg):

27 (Str) + 15 (+5 maul) + 40 (P.A.) = 82 damage

Just 1 above normal strength (always considering he's going for PA 20 and deals maximum damage).


@Ark
Sensible choices for Prerequisites and Tumble DC, but I wasn't quite sure about requiring Improved Bull Rush

You won't be able to fling them to the sea with one hit unless the sea is quite near...
A Colossal dragon would fling a Diminutive creature to a maximum of 80 feet.

***

To me, Awesome Blow always seemed like a suboptimal choice and this is "my answer" to it.
But I'll see about it...

[sblock=Awesome Blow]
Prerequisites
Str 25, Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, size Large or larger.

Benefit
As a standard action, the creature may choose to subtract 4 from its melee attack roll and deliver an awesome blow. If the creature hits a corporeal opponent smaller than itself with an awesome blow, its opponent must succeed on a Reflex save (DC = damage dealt) or be knocked flying 10 feet in a direction of the attacking creature’s choice and fall prone. The attacking creature can only push the opponent in a straight line, and the opponent can’t move closer to the attacking creature than the square it started in. If an obstacle prevents the completion of the opponent’s move, the opponent and the obstacle each take 1d6 points of damage, and the opponent stops in the space adjacent to the obstacle. [/sblock]

 

[the Jester]

@J

Letsee about high levels...

Barbarian 20, Str 40 (in rage), +5 Maul, PA in 20 (for +40 dmg):

27 (Str) + 15 (+5 maul) + 40 (P.A.) = 82 damage

Just 1 above normal strength (always considering he's going for PA 20 and deals maximum damage).

It's not unusual to see pcs deal hundreds of points of damage per blow in my epic game, and that has been going on since they were barely epic- and maybe even before so, for some of them.

Make your barb 20 instead a psychic warrior/warmind, and you can add 10d6 to your damage 1/day, and you can use psionics to pump your damage output up to truly absurd levels.

 

[Land Outcast]

[I'm trying not to sound like a stubborn person unable to accept criticism]

Didn't have any contact with psionics, therefore, this feat wasn't thought with psionics in mind (that 10d6 thing 1/day would just mean he automatically succeeds 1/day on the 5-feet bull rush against an oponent of same size, or on the 10-feet bull rush against an opponent one size category smaller probably tripping him).

Basing myself on your comment, probably the psionic damage bumping would comfortably abuse this feat.

Out of interest, how much damage could this proposed character [psychic warrior/warmind] do normally on an attack? (not counting the 10d6 thingy)


EDIT:
Psionic patch v0.1: To determine your Strength bonus to the check, take half the damage dealt as your effective Strength Score or your normal Strength Score, whichever is lower.

 

[the Jester]

Didn't have any contact with psionics, therefore, this feat wasn't thought with psionics in mind... Out of interest, how much damage could this proposed character [psychic warrior/warmind] do normally on an attack? (not counting the 10d6 thingy)

The pc could deal enormous damage, depending on how buffed he was. With psionic lion's charge he could full attack and stack up a bunch of charge-related bonuses... this character might be the most powerful pc in my campaign, ever... at least so far.

You could prolly find other ways to abuse your feat, too... However:

Psionic patch v0.1: To determine your Strength bonus to the check, take half the damage dealt as your effective Strength Score or your normal Strength Score, whichever is lower.

I think this fixes it.

 

[Land Outcast]

Updated, opinions?