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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mephistopheles" data-source="post: 1207283" data-attributes="member: 4460">You may be right. We can only speculate about the intent of these rules. However, I don't think it is unreasonable to require the Devoted Defender to choose between using Harm's Way to make a guaranteed defense of his charge or using Defensive Strike to make a counterattack at his full attack bonus (with an additional bonus to the attack roll at higher levels, no less).I also don't think it makes either of those abilities pointless. They are useful for different situations. If your charge is very weak then Harm's Way is going to be a better choice most of the time. If your charge isn't completely defenseless you may use Harm's Way to divert particularly potent attacks from your charge to yourself and Defensive Strike to gain additional attacks against those attacking your charge when the attacks are not particularly lethal. The Devoted Defender class feature I'd be more likely to give the pointless award to is Deflect Attack.I agree that if the Devoted Defender wants to live up to the class name he will choose Harm's Way the majority of the time. But it's not as if denying the Devoted Defender the ability to make an AoO and follow up with a guaranteed defense of the charge that also undoes the original action that provoked the AoO is denying him the ability to retaliate altogether. In situations where Defensive Strike is a valid option the Defender will likely be able to make a full attack against whoever is attacking his charge in his turn.I admit that a Devoted Defender with a single AoO to play with each round isn't going to break the game by getting a Defensive Strike and Harm's Way in response to a single attack on his charge. Unless you're dealing with high Dex Devoted Defenders with Combat Reflexes this discussion is perhaps a bit of overkill.</blockquote>

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