Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Discuss the Combat Form feats (from PH II)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 2913713" data-attributes="member: 7737"><p>To get the discussion started, here are my thoughts.</p><p></p><p><strong>Combat Focus</strong> itself is an okay feat. It's similar to Iron Will, except it only kicks in during combat, and only then after you successfully hit something. (So if you're jumped by a wizard who casts <em>dominate person</em> on you before you can react, Combat Focus is not going to help.)</p><p></p><p>10 rounds is a long time -- most combats will be over well before that duration is up. Interestingly, Combat Focus does not say it ends when the encounter does (unlike a barbarian's rage) -- so conceivably you could get in a fight, achieve your combat focus, fight for 4 rounds, rest for 2 rounds, open the door to the next room, and fight for several more rounds while still in combat focus.</p><p></p><p>Of the successor feats, I like some a lot better than others.</p><p></p><p><strong>Combat Stability</strong> gives you a sizable bonus, especially once you get 3+ combat form feats. A +8 bonus is huge against similarly sized, similarly strong opponents. Also, it gives you a fighting chance to resist grapples at higher levels.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, Combat Stability is a purely defensive feat; you can't use the bonus when initiating bull rushes etc. As such I think it's merely an okay feat instead of good.</p><p></p><p>(As I noted in the first post, Combat Stability is the only combat form feat that does not require you to be in CF to use it. That could be an oversight, although the last sentence of Combat Strike makes me think it's not.)</p><p></p><p><strong>Combat Defense</strong> -- I hardly ever use the Dodge feat as it's written. (I usually house-rule it to a flat +1 bonus, because designating your Dodge target every round is annoying and often forgotten.)</p><p></p><p>But, there are some fairly powerful Dodge-related feats that would definitely benefit from the ability to immediately change your Dodge target. Things like Melee Evasion from PH2 and Elusive Target from Complete Warrior, both of which let you avoid the attacks of the person you're dodging.</p><p></p><p>So I think this is a good, maybe great, feat, but only if you're already investing in other Dodge-related feats.</p><p></p><p><strong>Combat Vigor</strong> is a solid feat. Fast healing 2 is a nice ability to get, especially at 9th level -- compare to barbarian's DR 2 which doesn't kick in until 10th level.</p><p></p><p>With 3+ combat form feats, fast healing 4 is comparable to the barbarian's 16th level DR 4 -- except you could conceivably have Combat Vigor and two other combat form feats (really, one other since you already have Combat Focus) as early as 9th level.</p><p></p><p>Overall I think Combat Vigor is a strong feat.</p><p></p><p><strong>Combat Awareness</strong> starts out lame but gets much better with 3+ combat form feats. I suppose knowing the hp of everyone around you is mildly useful so that you don't waste special attacks on almost dead foes, but otherwise who cares?</p><p></p><p>Blindsight, however, is excellent. Negating invisibility, concealment, and displacement effects is a huge advantage at mid- to high-level.</p><p></p><p>I would be happy to take Combat Awareness at 12th level.</p><p></p><p><strong>Combat Strike</strong> -- that's it? We wait 15 levels to get a feat that, at best, gives us +6 attack/damage once per encounter? And that's if you take every combat form feat, which is a significant investment.</p><p></p><p>For a capstone feat, Combat Strike is sorely disappointing. The fact that it does absolutely nothing until you blow your CF makes it horrible.</p><p></p><p>= = = = =</p><p></p><p>Please chime in with your own thoughts!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Joshua Randall, post: 2913713, member: 7737"] To get the discussion started, here are my thoughts. [b]Combat Focus[/b] itself is an okay feat. It's similar to Iron Will, except it only kicks in during combat, and only then after you successfully hit something. (So if you're jumped by a wizard who casts [i]dominate person[/i] on you before you can react, Combat Focus is not going to help.) 10 rounds is a long time -- most combats will be over well before that duration is up. Interestingly, Combat Focus does not say it ends when the encounter does (unlike a barbarian's rage) -- so conceivably you could get in a fight, achieve your combat focus, fight for 4 rounds, rest for 2 rounds, open the door to the next room, and fight for several more rounds while still in combat focus. Of the successor feats, I like some a lot better than others. [b]Combat Stability[/b] gives you a sizable bonus, especially once you get 3+ combat form feats. A +8 bonus is huge against similarly sized, similarly strong opponents. Also, it gives you a fighting chance to resist grapples at higher levels. Unfortunately, Combat Stability is a purely defensive feat; you can't use the bonus when initiating bull rushes etc. As such I think it's merely an okay feat instead of good. (As I noted in the first post, Combat Stability is the only combat form feat that does not require you to be in CF to use it. That could be an oversight, although the last sentence of Combat Strike makes me think it's not.) [b]Combat Defense[/b] -- I hardly ever use the Dodge feat as it's written. (I usually house-rule it to a flat +1 bonus, because designating your Dodge target every round is annoying and often forgotten.) But, there are some fairly powerful Dodge-related feats that would definitely benefit from the ability to immediately change your Dodge target. Things like Melee Evasion from PH2 and Elusive Target from Complete Warrior, both of which let you avoid the attacks of the person you're dodging. So I think this is a good, maybe great, feat, but only if you're already investing in other Dodge-related feats. [b]Combat Vigor[/b] is a solid feat. Fast healing 2 is a nice ability to get, especially at 9th level -- compare to barbarian's DR 2 which doesn't kick in until 10th level. With 3+ combat form feats, fast healing 4 is comparable to the barbarian's 16th level DR 4 -- except you could conceivably have Combat Vigor and two other combat form feats (really, one other since you already have Combat Focus) as early as 9th level. Overall I think Combat Vigor is a strong feat. [b]Combat Awareness[/b] starts out lame but gets much better with 3+ combat form feats. I suppose knowing the hp of everyone around you is mildly useful so that you don't waste special attacks on almost dead foes, but otherwise who cares? Blindsight, however, is excellent. Negating invisibility, concealment, and displacement effects is a huge advantage at mid- to high-level. I would be happy to take Combat Awareness at 12th level. [b]Combat Strike[/b] -- that's it? We wait 15 levels to get a feat that, at best, gives us +6 attack/damage once per encounter? And that's if you take every combat form feat, which is a significant investment. For a capstone feat, Combat Strike is sorely disappointing. The fact that it does absolutely nothing until you blow your CF makes it horrible. = = = = = Please chime in with your own thoughts! [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Discuss the Combat Form feats (from PH II)
Top