Feats for those who love mobility - comments welcome: 7!, 7 feats! Ah-ah-ah!

[Kemrain]

Hopefully, I'll be able to continue giving 3 feats a week!

Then I'm certanly pleased I get email alerts.

As Mobile Uncanny Dodge stands, I couldn't see people taking it. It requires you have 6 levels of Rogue or 5 of Barbarian (Or 2 Bar and 3 Rog), and 3 feats. Unless a character was going for this feat specifically, I don't think many people would, for instance, realise one day that they met the prerequs and decide to take it fortheir next feat. You could take it at 6th level, as either a Human Barbarian or Rogue, at the expense of all other feats. I'm not sure that's worth it, just to keep everyone but the 12th level Rogue from flanking him.Especially since a 10th level Rogue is already required to do the job.
I tink it might deserve a little more Umph, or perhapse become a class ability.

From Both Sides [General]
Prerequisites: Dex 13+, Dodge, Flank on the Run, Mobility, Spring Attack, base attack bonus of +12 or higher

Benefit: By circling her opponent, a character may flank an opponent by herself. During a Spring Attack, the character may move so as to threaten the opponent, and then immediatly move to the corresponding flanking position. The character may then make their Spring Attack as if the opponent was flanked (all other flanking rules apply). Only opponents that the character has successfully Flanked on the Run are subject to this feat.

This one I really like. Hypersmurf, in another thread, posted a PrC that had the ability to flank an opponent themselves. Pity I don't know which thread, anymore. So, From Both Sides... Requires Flank on the run...

Flank on the Run [General]
Prerequisites: Dex 13+, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, base attack bonus of +10 or higher

Benefit: Once per combat, the character may designate one opponent. The character must then make a successful Spring Attack (meaning that the character must hit with the attack from the Spring Attack) against that opponent. If that attack is successful, the character may continue to move away from the opponent (up to 30' away) and still participate in flanks on that opponent. Note that the character does not actually threaten the opponent, but may only participate in a flanking manuever.

So let's look at these mechanics. Once per combat, you may designate an opponent, and attempt to make a Spring Attack against them. If the attack is successful, you may then move away from the square you attack them from, but still be consitered to be threatening them (for the sake of Flanking bonuses at least). With From Both Sides, you may then, on your move action, which you get because Spring Attack is a standard action (Right?) you may move around to a 'flanking position', if you have the movement, without provoking an attack of opportunity. On your next round, you are consitered to be flanking your opponent, and may sneak attack them, while alone.

Crazy cool, but, one problem, as I see it. What happens when your opponent takes a move action out of flanking position? Does your imaginary flanking buddy move with them, or is that virtual threatened square still stuck on the ground, waiting for that one opponent to move back so you can sneak attack him some more?

- Kemrain the Unflankable.

 

[Enkhidu]

Kemrain,

Would Mobile Dodge be more attractive if it required a rogue 8 levels above the character's level (which would nearly make it nearly unbeatable)?

I don't think I did a good job of exaplining how From Both Sides works with Flank on the Run - here's a round by round, using Bob the mobile Fighter/Rogue, Fred: his Fighter enemy, and Lidda (cuz cute halflings rock...) as an example.

Rd 1: Bob meets Fred (an old enemy) on a dark and stormy night on an open field. When they first see each other, Bob and Fred are 50' apart. Fred wins initiative and double moves directly toward Bob at his maximum movement of 15' (because, like many tanks, Fred wears lots of heavy armor). This puts them at 20' away.

Then Bob declares he is attempting to Flank Fred on the Run and proceeds to Spring Attack Fred. He hits, and ends up 10' away from Fred.

Lidda is next in the round, and since she and Bob go way back, she throws in with Bob and moves next to Fred, making sure she is opposite Bob's present location - she then Sneak Attacks Fred, as Fred is considered Flanked (because Bob can participate in flanks on Fred when within 30'). Note that Lidda needs to be directly opposite of Bob's current position (or as close as the grid will allow), and not the square that Bob was in when he hit Fred.

Rd 2: Fred says "Ow!" and realizes that Lidda, short though she may be, can hit lke a ton of bricks when she Sneak Attacks. So, in a fit of self-preservation, he makes a Full Attack on Lidda, rolls well in general, and causes enough damage to drop her to 0 hp (you didn't think I'd actually kill Lidda, did you?). He smirks at Bob, secure in the knowledge that no more Sneak Attacks will be coming his way!

Bob, upset by Lidda's apparently mortal wound, decides to teach Fred a lesson, and Springs into action, moving 10' directly at Fred so as to threaten him, and then moving another 15' (in two diagonal moves) to a square directly opposite of the square he first threatened him. He then Attacks and - due to his new feat From Both Sides - flanks Fred all by himself. He delivers a devastating Sneak Attack and Fred begins to have thoughts about escape...


In future rounds, Bob would need to again move to a place where he threatened Fred, move around Fred (likely staying in Fred's threat range while doing so), and deliver a flanking attack on the directly opposite side. Really, its an all in one motion manuever - flank, move, attack all in one full action.

 

[Kemrain]

Mobile Uncanny Dodge
I think its a fine feat, but I'm not sure it would be taken, expet in extreme cases, or for NPC's the GM didn't want to be sneak attack-able. I'm not sure if making it more powerful would make it more useful or taken more often. If we could get others' opinions in here about this, maybe they could convince me otherwise. I am notorious for only seeing what's infront of my face.

I'm not sure how you can flank someone while alone with this, if the square from which you 'virtually threaten' your opponent moves with you, so that if you circled around, the threatening would circle too. I must not be understanding this properly, and I apologise for making you explain it again without results.

- Kemrian the Confused... Again.

 

[Enkhidu]

I think you're under the impression that the square you "virtually threaten" is a static thing that persist from round to round - in fact, it only exists until your next turn. Then you must re-establish the "virtual threat" square.

One of these days, I'll end up getting the language right...

 

[Enkhidu]

Here's another Feat:

Runner's Luck [General]
Prerequisites: Dex 13+, Dodge

Benefit: During any round in which the character makes only move and move-equivelent action, she may add a +4 Dodge modifier to her AC until her following turn. This bonus stacks with all other Dodge bonuses.

 

[Chasmodai]

Man these are pretty cool...

Your first feat Keep At Bay would work really well on a swashbuckling game I'm planning on running. It just brings to mind all those fencing movies where you see two combatants moving and moving and moving... In normal DnD combat its more like you're just standing there swinging your sword looking rather stupid.

Your most recent feat Runner's Luck is similar (or is it exactly the same?) as PrC ability. The PrC is the Nightsong Infiltrator and it appeared in Dragon. I forgot which issue. It was a Level 8 ability for the PrC, which meant characters needed to be at least level 15 to get it.

I'm not sure what I'm trying to get at here, but I think its something along the lines of increase the prereqs? I'm not really sure how, so I'm sorry if I'm being kinda redundant here.

But as for the rest... keeo up the excellent work!

 

[Kemrain]

I like Runner's Luck a lot, Enkhidu. I think the prereqs are good, and the bonus is good. It's AOK by me. Keep 'em coming.


I wonder if a feat that would allow you to keep your Dex bonus while running would be appropriate, or does Uncanny Dodge do this already? IDHMBIFOM

- Kemrain the Not-Runner

 

[Aelryinth]

I just made up a feat that allowed people to take the Full Defense action while running (nothing in the hands, unencumbered). Not a dodge bonus and perfect for flavor.

I called it AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

==Aelryinth

 

[ValarX]

In the Movies

These feats are all interesting, but consider a little practicality here. I know that we are just talking about a game, but I try to picture some of these feats in action and I can't help but get images of gratuitous action scenes out of my head. I especially feel that the ability to flank and move on a spring attack is broken. You must keep in mind the mechanics of combat in a d20 system. Just because you declare all of your actions on your 'turn' doesn't mean that they conceptually happen on your 'turn'. The turn-based system is done to simplify the act of combat. So remember that when you go to do your spring attack, movement, and flanking, the enemy has that same amount of time to react to all of your actions. Your attack and their attack happen simultaneously. It would be a very simple task for the enemy to simply turn around once they've realized that you have moved to the other side (a free action to your move). What reason would anyone with even a slight degree of intelligence have to believe that they are being flanked when there is only one person on them (unless you've somehow managed to stun them which is another story entirely).

As for Runner's Luck, consider the following situation. A 1st level human monk with 16 Wis and 16 Dex takes the Dodge and Runner's Luck feats. This means that in any round that the monk moves they have an effective armor class rating of 20 versus anyone and 21 versus the person they are dodging. If they fight defensively, make that a 22 and 23 respectively. Is this perhaps a little overpowered for a 1st level character? Consider revising the feat so that it only comes into effect when a character takes a double move or greater. This prevents the character from taking anything but free actions in that turn and is true to the name of the feat, since the character is running, not just moving.

 

[Kemrain]

The more I think about it, the more I agree that Runner's Luck should be restricted to Double Move actions. Maybe even the Run action. It makes it less abusable and more in tune with the origionally expressed intent.

Got any more Enkhidu?

- Kemrain the.. Bump.