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Feat: Soul of Battle

hong

WotC's bitch
Yet another anti-Cha dump feat. :)


Soul of Battle [General]

Your fighting spirit manifests itself in the heat of combat.

Prerequisites: Base Attack Bonus +8, Indomitable, Cha 15+.

Benefit: You gain a +1 luck bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls. This benefit is lost if you are stunned, helpless, unconscious, or under the influence of a fear effect.


Too strong? Too weak? Just right?
 

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I'd say it's a bit too powerful. Weapon focus only gives +1 attack bonus for ONE weapon. A feat with higher prerequisites could give +1 to attack AND damage without any poroblem for me, but I think this bonus when using ANY weapon is a bit too much...

Anyway, could idea to make Cha less of a dump stat (I already liked Indomitable)!
 


I really always disliked the idea of a Fighter JUST being a fighter. In one campaign I helped someone on, we made gave the Fighter x4 skill points and opened access to the Diplomacy, Bluff, Sense Motive, and Intimidate skills. We also removed every other feat so that they only gained extra feats at 1st, 4th, 8th, 12th, and 16th levels, plus Leadership for free at 9th. This campaign was designed around a war setting, and we wanted to give Fighters the chance to be great generals and leaders, so your mileage may vary, but it worked rather well for THAT setting.
 

hong,

Fits in nicely with Indomitable, but I would lower the bonus to +1 to hit, but not damage. Then it would be toned down to a sort of "super weapon focus", which is still pretty strong.

By the way, about this particular strategy to make CHA less of a dump stat for meleers... aren't we just throwing bones to the paladin here? Making CHA comparable to INT and WIS for meleers is a good idea in principle... except that everybody needs attack and damage bonuses, and so the paladin is simply reaping the benefits with little sacrifice. That bothers me.

What about a series of CHA feats that would be... I dunno, useful in combat, but somehow orthogonal to adding direct bonuses to hit, damage, and AC? For example, bonuses to saving throws that stack with Iron Will and its siblings. (You too can play that extremely lucky halfling fighter.) Or maybe minor fear effects, or minor "rally the troops" effects. Basically some avenue of specialization that provides an interesting style or flavor, kind of like the Expertise line.


Call to Battle [General, Fighter]

Your heroic fighting spirit spurs your comrades to action.

Prerequisites: BAB +1, Cha 13+

Benefit: At the start of battle, you and any creatures who view you as an ally, are within 30 feet of you, and can see you gain a +1 morale bonus to their initiative roll. This benefit is lost if you are stunned, helpless, unconscious, or under the influence of a fear effect.


I dunno, something like that.

Edit: added "you" and "morale bonus" to the Call to Battle feat.
 
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These feats make me have the sudden urge to play a paladin....

I like them (both). Unless someone is playing with really high stats all around, then this is balanced fairly decently, perhaps a tad in favor of the paladin.
 

These would all be amazingly useful feats for a paladin--if they had as many feats as a fighter. Since paladins are very limited in the number of feats they have already, I don't think this will unbalance them very much. The paladin who takes these feats before level 12 is putting off Cleave, Divine Might, Spirited Charge, etc. (Now a fighter/paladin/templar is another story. . . .)
 

hong said:
Soul of Battle [General]

Your fighting spirit manifests itself in the heat of combat.

Prerequisites: Base Attack Bonus +8, Indomitable, Cha 15+.

Benefit: You gain a +1 luck bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls. This benefit is lost if you are stunned, helpless, unconscious, or under the influence of a fear effect.

Nicely done.

hong said:
Too strong? Too weak? Just right?

Just right. I don't see this unbalancing anything.
 

One thought: since people seem to be fixating on the fighter ;) should these feats (Indomitable, Soul of Battle) be fighter feats as well? That is, should fighters be able to take them with their bonus feats?
 


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