Bone snapping fun!

[jaker2003]

Bone Snap
A character with this feat can strike and break bones in a target creature.
Prerequisites: BAB +3, Improved Unarmed Strike, Str 13, Sneak Attack special ability.
Benefit: When you are permitted a sneak attack with your unarmed strike, you may forgoe a sneak attack die to attempt to break a bone. On a successful strike, the target must succeed on Fortitude Save DC (10 + 1/2 character level + Str bonus) or suffer 1d4 Constitution damage. On a Successful save, the target is instead damaged normally by the unarmed strike and sneak attack damage (except the dice spent on this feat).
Special: You may sacrifice additional sneak attack dice to gain a +2 bonus apiece to the save DC.

Comments of all sorts welcome

 

[gabrion]

I would change this so that you can only chose to do the bone snap when you threaten a critical. It just seems a little powerful to be able to do so much CON damage at will.

 

[Infiniti2000]

You trade out 1d6 for a potential 1d4 Con? Holy crap, this is a must have feat! This feat is particularly necessary at high levels. In fact, the more HD the victim has the better it is.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Initially, I don't like it.

I don't particularly care for Strength-based spells (which is what 1/2 CL + Str bonus is equivalent to), and I really don't like the ability to increase your save DC so rapidly.

How does it affect creatures that don't have bones?

How does a broken bone affect a creature, other than Con damage?

This looks custom-made for Monk / Rogues, and, seriously, would be very overpowered against higher-level creatures. 1d4 Con damage is more powerful, in terms of HP damage, than 1d6 hit points from Sneak Attack on foes above 3 hit dice - which means that this feat does more damage the more experienced your foe is.

 

[Darkness]

Hm. For comparison, Crippling Strike does 2 Str on a Sneak Attack (no save). Though Rogue Special Abilities are probably worth more than a pre-epic feat.

Not making a real point here - just offering some food for thought.

 

[Ferrix]

Looking at the other feats which allow you to trade out Sneak Attack dice for effects we see the following:

Arterial Strike: Forgo 1 die to deal a bleeding wound, 1 dmg/rnd until healed, not stackable.
Hamstring: Trade 2 dice to halve the land speed of your opponent until healed.

To deal 1d4 Con damage, I'd say it would have to require trading out at least 3 dice.

Additionally, despite the preoccupation with supposedly unarmed strikes only being able to break bones, I would not limit it to unarmed strikes.

It'd look more like this to me:

Shattering Strike
Your sneak attacks target vital bone or supporting structures, shattering them and causing massive internal damage.
Prerequisites: +3d6 Sneak Attack, base attack bonus +4
Benefit: If you hit with a sneak attack, you may choose to forgo +3d6 of sneak attack damage to deliver a shattering strike. The target takes 2 Constitution damage. You may deliver only one shattering strike per successful sneak attack.
Notes: Because it is a sneak attack, your target must be susceptible to sneak attack damage, thus undead, constructs, and other creatures immune to critical hits and sneak attacks are not affected by a shattering strike.

+3d6 sneak attack because you need to be able to sacrifice that many to be able to use it. Base attack bonus +4 because all of the other feats which allow you to trade out have that pre-req, and this being probably the strongest, should have the same pre-req. It deals 2 Constitution damage for two reasons, one so that it is always useful (rolling a 1 when your opponent has a 13 Con will be relatively disappointing), and two because it isn't a variable number (if you got lucky with your version, in a round with say two or three successful sneak attacks, rolling high, you could drop someone of 8 to 12 con).

That's my opinion on the whole thing.

 

[the Jester]

Way too powerful as-is. At the very least I'd require sneak attack +7d6 and require giving up prolly 4d6 of it.

 

[jaker2003]

Reality check

I think I want to go with Ferrix's version

Shattering Strike
Your sneak attacks target vital bone or supporting structures, shattering them and causing massive internal damage.
Prerequisites: +3d6 Sneak Attack, base attack bonus +4
Benefit: If you hit with a sneak attack, you may choose to forgo +3d6 of sneak attack damage to deliver a shattering strike. The target takes 2 Constitution damage. You may deliver only one shattering strike per successful sneak attack.
Notes: Because it is a sneak attack, your target must be susceptible to sneak attack damage, thus undead, constructs, and other creatures immune to critical hits and sneak attacks are not affected by a shattering strike.

 

[Zhnov]

At what rate do broken bones heal?

The whole concept just seems so un-D&D, more fit for Grim&Gritty.

.Zhnov

 

[Christian]

At what rate do broken bones heal?

The whole concept just seems so un-D&D, more fit for Grim&Gritty.

.Zhnov

Well, that part's really easy, given the mechanic. Two points of Con damage will heal with two days of rest, or one day under the care of a competent healer ...

Um ... OK, whatever.