D&D 3E/3.5 Deflect Arrow in 3.5

[MarauderX]

LOL.

Tellerve, please have a look at the post above made by Yours Truly with houserule alert...

You will find that reading posts before answering may help.

This got me thinking about how fair the +5 per additional arrow would be as a house rule, as I am currently playing a monk, so I looked up some things.

Given in 3.0 Deflect Arrows states that you only get one deflection per round as a "non" action (aka free) vs. DC=20 as long as you have an empty hand. In 3.5 the change was made to disclude the DC reflex save and make the feat automatic.

For the house rule under discussion, a 20th level monk will have a reflex of +12, and any monk worth his salt will probably have a little Dex to add onto that. Now looking at the first Deflect DC=20, we are talking >75% chance of deflecting just the first arrow. Not bad, but my no means is it automatic like 3.5, and would be rather embarrasing to be tagged by a single arrow as a 20th level monk. Now the second arrow has the proposed DC=25 vs. the same Reflex save and your chances of blocking it are ~50%; the third DC=30, ~25%; fourth DC=35, you gotta roll a 20 for success.

The trade off of giving up AoOs for the ability to be able to make this work would be up to you, of course. But to even be able to deflect 4 arrows using the AoOs you would need Combat Reflexes and a Dex=16+.

Now think about how useful each may be in a situation such as a row of 4 thug archers with rapid shot line up like a firing squad and win the initiative vs. your 20th level monk with say AC=22. The thugs fire and half their arrows would hit you. Now, with the above house rule you would most likely deflect the first one or even two arrows before getting poked, which to me is as it should be. With the 3.5 rules in effect, you are certain to deflect the first one and keep your AoOs, but you are hit by the other 3 - not so good.

IMO as a player/power gamer I would like to see it house ruled, even if it means I just get to roll more dice instead of the 'automatic' feats that are either all or nothing.

 

[Darklone]

My multiclass crime char (kinda rogue/bard with some ranger and barbarian levels) had a pretty decent reflex save rather soon (+11 at lvl7).

+12 at level 20 plus dex + items...

I think the monk will rather deflect the first two or even three arrows nearly automatically (no natural 1s).

I just happen to like the picture of a dude standing in front of the wizard and swatting arrows from the air.