Dodge and Mobility alternatives

[The Souljourner]

I have a character I want to get Elusive Target, but dodge and mobility aren't the greatest of feats. I know there was recently a thread on dodge alternatives, so if anyone has a link to that, it would be much appreciated. Also, are there alternatives to mobility in the same vein of "you can take this and qualify for things that require mobility"? I don't know of any, but maybe someone else does?

-Nate

 

[blargney the second]

As I said in your crusader feat thread, Dodge & Mobility are much-maligned on the Internet. Most melee fighters need to make full-round attacks, so Mobility is useless for them because they're taking 5' steps anyways. But you can make them strong feats by your tactical choices in combat.

Crusaders frequently find themselves with a spare move action. Use it to move around to a flanking position to give yourself and your allies +2 to hit. You can soak up the AoOs from opponents so that your allies can safely take actions that would otherwise provoke AoOs. (ie using potions or scrolls, casting spells, or trying risky maneuvers like bull rush or trip.) It's safer for you to try a bull rush or overrun because the AoOs those provoke are because of your movement. Finally, even if they do hit you with the AoO, it just goes to charge up your Steely Resolve, which gives you extra combat power.

They're strong feats in the right hands.
-blarg

 

[lukelightning]

The big problem with dodge is that it's only against one person....and people tend to forget they have it. I'd prefer if it was something like "+1 dodge vs. melee attacks."

 

[backbeat]

I know of none for mobility but I think I heard of a few for Dodge. Most are class features IIRC.
Blarg posted about Midnight dodge (a feat) in another thread, it's only slightly better then dodge, and only if you have incarnum.

The only one I can think that comes to mind is the Knights Shield Block. It doesn't replace dodge, but it does pretty much the same thing, you could ask your DM to allow it.

 

[The Blow Leprechaun]

The big problem with dodge is that it's only against one person....and people tend to forget they have it. I'd prefer if it was something like "+1 dodge vs. melee attacks."

In our games, we have hourseruled that unless you say otherwise, the last person you tried to hit is the designated dodge opponent, which helps with the forgetting.

I think Dodge is a fine feat. Generally the more opponents you face, the weaker each individual opponent is so Dodge actually scales pretty well by encounter - the tougher your opponent the less likely you have to worry about who you're dodging. Dodge bonuses are great, too. If you just flat out got +1 dodge AC, you're pretty much talking about the Armor Skin feat, which is an epic feat.

Mobility, on the other hand, ranks only slightly above Toughness in my book... but it's kind of like a lot of PrCs - it opens up some better-than-average feats at the expense of a worse-than-average feat.

I totally see the appeal to an alternative to Mobility, but I don't know of any.

 

[Derren]

I have a character I want to get Elusive Target, but dodge and mobility aren't the greatest of feats. I know there was recently a thread on dodge alternatives, so if anyone has a link to that, it would be much appreciated. Also, are there alternatives to mobility in the same vein of "you can take this and qualify for things that require mobility"? I don't know of any, but maybe someone else does?

-Nate

You simply have to accept that you have to take some not so good feats to get a really good feat. I would also like to cherry pick feats but thats not how it works.

 

[blargney the second]

It's not really that much bother to assign yourself a Dodge partner - it's easier to track than Power Attack sometimes! Btw, Midnight Dodge & Dodge can either be stacked or used on different opponents.

 

[Unkabear]

If you are going through the dodge mobility rout to get the bonus ac against AoO's then perhaps you should consider investing some skill points in Tumble & perhaps the Acrobatic Feat. Even at cross class there are many bonuses for this. With 5 points in tumble you get a bonus when you fight defensively, add 5 levels of jump for the Synergy bonus.

With a dc 15 tumble past a single opponent you bypass this. add a +2 mod for each other creature that you have to tumble by to the DC.

Now if you are going that rout for Spring attack...More power to you.

 

[phindar]

In AE, Dodge was switched out for a feat called Defensive Move, which fills the same role in the all the feat chains, but instead its a +4 dodge bonus to AC versus missile attacks on any round you move 10' or more. (Which in a crossover game, makes it a nice feat for a Scout, since you're moving all the time anyway.) The Dodge feat was I believe called Defensive Stance, gives a +1 versus all melee attacks, but it isn't a prereq for anything.

Of course, now that I think about it, AE also replaced Spring Attack with a feat called Speed Burst, so the Def Move/Mobility combo is mainly a part of the Whirlwind Attack prereqs. (Speed Burst doesn't have any prereqs, but its a limited number of extra move actions based on your level.)

 

[Mistwell]

We house ruled Dodge to be just a +1 dodge bonus to AC.

As for Mobility, I think it's a great feat, and I use it just about every game we play. +4 to AC is a big bonus. Burning out opponent attacks of opportunity is a very useful tactic for your party. So is getting to a flanking position, or getting to spellcasters in the back ranks.