Epic Question #1

[Caliber]

The reason I think you should house rule this is because it is unbalancing and unfair. Let me illustrate.

Fighter 40. He has 10 Epic Fighter Bonus Feats. 7 Epic Character Feats.

Barbarian 20/Fighter 20. He has 11 Fighter Bonus Feats. 7 Epic Character Feats.

Sure its only 1 feat more. But in Epic Levels, 1 feat properly used can be a lot. Non-Epic feats can still be plent effective, and a Barbarian 20 can probably pick up the best ones with a few levels of Fighter. But I wouldn't let him pick Epic feats with a Non-Epic Fighter Bonus Feat slot.

 

[Kai Lord]

Well.. if everyone is going to gang up on me, then I'm going home...


So the consensus is that once you hit 21st level... every feat you gain, from any source can be chosen from the epic list, Right?

The epic feat list for the respective class. An epic fighter couldn't take Dexterous Will as one of his bonus feats, for instance, even if he met the prereqs.

 

[kreynolds]

So the consensus is that once you hit 21st level... every feat you gain, from any source can be chosen from the epic list, Right?

Nope. As far as I'm concerned, and until errata is released that proves otherwise, unless you're an epic fighter, you don't have an epic fighter bonus feat list.

 

[Kai Lord]

The reason I think you should house rule this is because it is unbalancing and unfair. Let me illustrate.

Fighter 40. He has 10 Epic Fighter Bonus Feats. 7 Epic Character Feats.

Barbarian 20/Fighter 20. He has 11 Fighter Bonus Feats. 7 Epic Character Feats.

Sure its only 1 feat more. But in Epic Levels, 1 feat properly used can be a lot. Non-Epic feats can still be plent effective, and a Barbarian 20 can probably pick up the best ones with a few levels of Fighter. But I wouldn't let him pick Epic feats with a Non-Epic Fighter Bonus Feat slot.

And yet an Epic Fighter who spends his bonus feats on Damage Reduction can totally eclipse the DR of an Epic Barbarian, which is one of the few signature abilities of the Barbarian. Its only fair the Barbarian should be able to tap into Fighter goodies as well.

 

[Kai Lord]

Nope. As far as I'm concerned, and until errata is released that proves otherwise, unless you're an epic fighter, you don't have an epic fighter bonus feat list.

Why wait for errata when you're already house-ruling the text?

 

[mikebr99]

And yet an Epic Fighter who spends his bonus feats on Damage Reduction can totally eclipse the DR of an Epic Barbarian, which is one of the few signature abilities of the Barbarian. Its only fair the Barbarian should be able to tap into Fighter goodies as well.

But an epic Barbarian can also take these feats... and at the same rate so as to keep ahead of the epic fighter in this ability.

 

[Kai Lord]

But an epic Barbarian can also take these feats... and at the same rate so as to keep ahead of the epic fighter in this ability.

Nope. The Fighter gains a bonus feat every other level. Even if the Barbarian pumped all bonus and character feats into DR, the epic Fighter could still stay ahead of him.

 

[kreynolds]

Why wait for errata when you're already house-ruling the text?

Because, generally, errata is eventually backed up by a more complete explanation within an answer to a question in the D&D FAQ. It it isn't back up with an explanation, I won't use it anyway, unless, of course, I eventually find that following page 8 is not unbalancing.

 

[Caliber]

And yet an Epic Fighter who spends his bonus feats on Damage Reduction can totally eclipse the DR of an Epic Barbarian, which is one of the few signature abilities of the Barbarian. Its only fair the Barbarian should be able to tap into Fighter goodies as well.

As kreynolds might say, that is a weak argument.

Without the house rule, why would you want to play a Fighter for your first 20 levels? It would be more beneficial to play another fighting class and switch to Fighter once you are Epic. Afterall, that way you can get more Epic feats than anyone else PLUS several other class abilities.

 

[Kai Lord]

As kreynolds might say, that is a weak argument.

Without the house rule, why would you want to play a Fighter for your first 20 levels?

Uh, for the same reasons people have always used to play fighters instead of other non-epic classes? If my argument is weak then explain to me why anyone should stick out 20 levels in Barbarian. Take 1 level for the rage and movement, another for uncanny dodge, then just go Fighter for the rest of your career. Enjoy all the Fighter feats, spend you character feats on Extra Rage so you can qualify for the Epic Rage Feats, use some Bonus Feats for Damage Reduction and voila, effectively ass-rape any reason at all to play a Barbarian for 20 levels.