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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 2357941" data-attributes="member: 3146">I don't think this is a real problem in D&D. The word for things like celestial badgers (or dogs) is cleave-bait. Against an enemy with cleave or great cleave they actually don't reduce the enemy's offensive potential at all. Now, every combatant doesn't have cleave, but enough do that I haven't seen this be a really advantageous option in many of the games I've played.The difficulty with this is that, assuming that the character in question is a fighter or similar class, he won't find out what a fighter with full power attack can do. He's only giving the enemy 2-3 points of attack bonus against him. +2 for striking as invisible and a -1 penalty to AC when he loses that one point of max dex from his fullplate. So, at most, you take an extra 24-30 points of damage from the 19th level fighter you're ignoring (and if he hits you on all four attacks plus a haste attack, you're in trouble anyway) in return for avoiding the 105 (three 10d6 sneak attacks)-245 (seven 10d6 sneak attacks--greater two weapon fighting and a haste attack) points of damage as well as whatever assorted strength damage (crippling strike), special effects (death attack), or feats (such as staggering strike) might go along with it. And if you're got uncanny dodge (2 levels of barbarian or 4 levels of rogue are good deals for most fighters) or blindfight, you're really only taking a -1 penalty on AC. Ten extra points of damage doesn't compare to the hundred odd points of damage you avoid by ignoring the rogue's flank buddy.As a side note, by the current rules, it might also make sense to ignore the 20th level rogue if you have blindfight or uncanny dodge (though obviously less than you'd need to be unflankable by 20th level rogues). If the rogue is flanking, he can sneak attack you as long as he has 4 levels more of rogue than you have in improved uncanny dodge-granting classes. If the rogue is just striking as invisible, then the first level of uncanny dodge or blindfight allow you to retain your dexterity.Special manuevers are also worth addressing. As others have pointed out, if the fighter is any good at tripping, he's got improved trip anyway. That's not necessarily true for grappling, but most of the time, even a fighter of equal skill will only be equal in the grapple check department, making it a fair gamble. If he's significanlty better than you, then odds are good he's got improved grapple anyway. The same is true for disarming. The AoO is not the most relevant factor in a disarm attempt. The odds of success are. And, ignoring a foe doesn't increase his odds of a successful disarm. Wedgies? I think I missed that new manuever <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

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