Dragon's Palm

[Kaodi]

Dragon's Palm [Tactical]
Prerequisites: base attack bonus +4, knowlede (arcana) 3 ranks, flurry of blows, land move speed 40 ft+
Benefit: Once per day, after having used an unarmed flurry of blows as part of a full attack, your unarmed attacks do an extra 1d6 fire damage for a number of rounds equal to 3 + your constitution modifier, after which you become fatigued for the duration of the encounter. However, you must continue to use an unarmed flurry of blows as a full attack each round after the first, or the effect ends immediately and you become fatigued.

 

[Nifft]

Shouldn't tactical feats give you two or three different combat options that aren't normally available?

This seems more like a weak Rage class feature which severely limits a Monk's tactical options.

How about...

Dragon Fist [Tactical]
Prereqs: Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Attack, BAB 6+
Benefits: You can use the following two options in combat:

• Draconic Flurry (Su): By expending one of your daily Stunning Attack uses as a Swift action, you can charge your unarmed strike with the fire of a dragon. For one round, your unarmed strikes deal +1d6 points of fire damage.
• Dragonfire Skirmisher (Su): If you move more than 10 ft. in a round, your next unarmed attack made in that round deals +1d6 fire damage.

 

[Arkhandus]

Not sure what to think of Nifft's version, but I too think the Dragon Palm feat is a bit underpowered. Fists of Iron (from S&F, OA, and possibly reprinted in 3.5 but I dunno) gives +1d4 damage with a handful of unarmed strikes each day, and doesn't fatigue the character. As it is right now, I wouldn't make Dragon Palm a tactical feat. Give some greater power to the feat, like 2d6 or something instead of 1d6.

 

[Dog Moon]

From PHII:
Fiery Fist
Prereq: Dex 13, Wis 13, Imp. Un. Strike, Stunning Fist, BA +8
Effect: Expend a use of Stunning Fist as a Swift action to gain +1d6 fire damage for the rest of your turn on unarmed strike. Gain one additional use of Stunning Fist when the feat is taken.

Doesn't seem bad for a feat. Compare!

 

[Notmousse]

Kaodi, I'd make the additional damage cumulative per round of flurry. Even then it's a bit weak, especially since there's a know skill as a requirement.

 

[Nifft]

From PHII:
Fiery Fist
Prereq: Dex 13, Wis 13, Imp. Un. Strike, Stunning Fist, BA +8
Effect: Expend a use of Stunning Fist as a Swift action to gain +1d6 fire damage for the rest of your turn on unarmed strike. Gain one additional use of Stunning Fist when the feat is taken.

Ah, that's cool. Okay, here's a tactical version building on that (and ToB, which is cool):

Dragon Fist [Tactical]
Prereq: Dex 13, Wis 13, Imp Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist, Fiery Fist, Desert Wind Dodge, Desert Fire, one Desert Wind strike, BAB +10
Benefit: Your Unarmed Strike is considered to be a Desert Wind favored weapon for all feats and effects that apply especially to Desert Wind weapons. For example, your Desert Wind Dodge feat adds damage to your Unarmed Strike when you move more than 10 ft.
Additionally, you gain access to additional combat options:

• Desert Sun Strike: When you charge a foe and attempt a Desert Wind strike, you can declare that attack a Stunning Attack. If the strike hits, your foe takes an additional +1d6 fire damage and your Stunning Attack DC gains a +1 bonus.
• Phoenix Surge: When you evade an area effect that would have dealt you fire damage, you can channel that energy into swiftness. You gain either +10 ft. movement or a +10 bonus on one jump check, as you choose, so long as the increase is used before the end of your next round.
• Burning Sandstorm: If you strike a foe and deal fire damage three times in a single round, the foe must make a Fortitude save (DC same as your Stunning Attack) or be dazed for 1 round.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Kaodi]

I'm admittedely not an expert on these matters. I had though that the defining feature of a tactical feat was not the number of options, but the conditions under which those options are allowed.

While I like my original cocept, perhaps in the interest of balance I should drop the movement speed requirement, and the limitation on full attack, but keep it as flurry of blows, but instead of cumulative damage (which would probably be too powerful), make it increase the damage die by one size for each consecutive round (though perhaps limit it to a certain maximum size, or else you could take advantage of it with a high con too easily). I definately don't want to make it a higher level feat though. Basically, the idea was a technique based on magical knowledge and blinding speed to create a fiery effect. It originally came from an idea I had for a type of feat that allows the non-magical classes to use magic effects in combat without having to resort to taking spellcasting levels or a prestige class.

 

[Spatzimaus]

I wouldn't worry too much about the high-CON cumulative part; if you're doing full attacks (and therefore not moving) for seven or eight consecutive rounds, and the fight's STILL not over yet, then something must be horribly wrong. Anything that can take that sort of damage for that long would have long since wiped you out. You could also just explicitly say "the damage bonus increases by 1d6 each round, to a maximum of 5d6". So, even if you had a huge CON, it wouldn't get too out of control.
Increasing the die size would still not be much; when your fists have a 1d20 base damage, going d6->d8->d10 just is a drop in the bucket.

I actually think the bigger problem is the Fatigue drawback; it's too much for what little you get. I mean, a Barbarian who Rages is dealing +2 or +3 damage per hit for 3+CON rounds, and chances are the Fatigue won't happen until the encounter is nearly over. In your case, though, you're doing +3.5 elemental damage per hit but only if you do Full Attacks (and the Flurry is automatic at high level), and since you won't Full Attack every round, you probably will only get a couple uses out of it before the Fatigue kicks in, right in the middle of the encounter.
One possibility might be to say that on the first round after you stop using the ability, you're treated as being Flat-Footed (while you clear your head), and after that round you're fine again.

 

[Kaodi]

Perhaps if we go half-way, cumulative 1d6 fire damage a round, to a max of 5d6, and keep the duration at 3 + Con, and either have fatigue last for a number of rounds equal to the final number of damage dice, or have a single round of disorientation where you are BOTH fatigued and flat-footed. With the first way, the penalty is at least proportionate to the bonus. If you had a marshall in your group, the feat could become quite deadly with the grant move action ability.

 

[Machiavelli]

A Knowledge skill as a prerequisite? Ouch.
...and Knowledge(Arcana), for that matter. You'd almost have to be a monk/sorcerer or some other such combination, or else take those 3 ranks as cross-class. Maybe with the Ascetic Mage feat [CV] it wouldn't be too bad, but then that's 4 levels of sorcerer right there.