Hammer Kick ... ?

[Aus_Snow]

The question mark is because I don't really know how to get this feat off the ground at this early stage, so to speak. That's why I'm posting, actually.

So anyway, I want characters to be able to do that cool 'leap in the air and hammer both feet into someone's chest/head/whatever' type maneouvre. Mr. Gemmell, I'm looking at you (hope you're in a better place now, man).

So far, I figure there should be something like a Balance check to avoid being prone afterward (for the person kicking). It should definitely be a standard action.. partly because moving then launching into the kick might be quite a popular chain of events (as per in books and such).

Extra damage is of course on the agenda. And a knockdown effect. Hm. Just thought I'd see what advice I might be lucky enough to get.

Maybe it wouldn't even be a feat; perhaps just a thing anyone can do, with or without some prereq's. Hrm.


edited once now.

 

[DanMcS]

The question mark is because I don't really know how to get this feat off the ground at this early stage, so to speak. That's why I'm posting, actually.

So anyway, I want characters to be able to do that cool 'leap in the air and hammer both feet into someone's chest/head/whatever' type maneouvre.

Extra damage is of course on the agenda. And a knockdown effect. Hm. Just thought I'd see what advice I might be lucky enough to get.

Extra damage is a sufficient goal for a single feat. For a knockdown effect, see Knock-Down.

Hammering Blow
Prereq: Jump 8 ranks, Str 13, Improved Unarmed Strike
The character leaps into his attack, striking with both feet or both hands and landing again afterward.
Effect: On your action, before making attack rolls for a round, you may choose to subtract a number from all melee attack rolls and add twice the same number to all unarmed melee damage rolls. This number may not exceed your base attack bonus. The penalty on attacks and bonus on damage apply until your next turn.

Special
This feat counts as power attack for purposes of fulfilling prerequisites to other feats and effects.

Basically, I'm taking power attack and repurposing it for a monk. Since a monk could already use power attack if they wanted to, I added some extra prereqs and gave the monk something they couldn't normally get unarmed- double PA, like if they were using a two-handed weapon.

I left it as a normal attack action, not a standard action, because I think a monk could leap into the air, crush an orc in the head, and rebound off him to kick another orc if he wanted to. Making it an attack also let it be done as part of a charge.

Move it back to a standard action if you like.

So far, I figure there should be something like a Balance check to avoid being prone afterward (for the person kicking). It should definitely be a standard action.. partly because moving then launching into the kick might be quite a popular chain of events (as per in books and such).

Why should there be a balance check? A check is a penalty, basically, and the point of a feat is to remove a penalty or add an option. I would probably let a monk with power attack do this and force a jump check at the end, without requiring a new feat. But if he took this feat, which is slightly less broad-purpose than Power Attack, no check should be needed for game balance.

 

[Ilium]

I'm pretty sure there is a feat for this in Complete Warrior. I don't have it here, though.

Barring that, I'd make it a maneuver anybody can try, but include a feat that reducese the penalties.

Standard Action, as you said.
Say it's resolved as an Unarmed Strike (so you provoke AoO if you don't have IUS).
Apply normal modifiers for Charge, plus an additional -4 to hit (which goes away if you have the feat).
If you hit, you also resolve a Bull Rush attempt at the same time (but you can't follow the target). Obviously you don't need to make the touch attack. Maybe it should be an Overrun instead, but the defender can't choose to avoid you?
Give the attacker a DC 20 Tumble check to land on his feet.

This would be great for knocking somebody off a horse.

 

[Aus_Snow]

For a knockdown effect, see Knock-Down

Er, where's that feat from originally?

A check is a penalty, basically, and the point of a feat is to remove a penalty or add an option.

Well, many feats that already exist cause the user to suffer some kind fo drawback (even Power Attack itself, for that matter). I didn't think it should be entirely out of the question.

Tumble might well be the better choice though (as Ilium suggests), according to D&D's skill use descriptions.

There's some interesting stuff here, by the way.


And, just for a change , I wasn't very clear on something: there won't be any Monks where this feat/maneouvre will apply. But there will more than likely be a kind of generic beat-em-up class, with none of the spiritual trappings to 'round it out'. Sorry, I should've said.

That said, however, that Hammering Blow idea looks pretty good for cases where there *are* Monks, DanMcS.

 

[starwed]

I'm pretty sure there is a feat for this in Complete Warrior. I don't have it here, though.

There's a flying kick feat in Complete Warrior. I think it lets you do extra damage when using an unarmed attack in conjunction with a charge. In other words, exactly what the OP described:

It should definitely be a standard action.. partly because moving then launching into the kick might be quite a popular chain of events (as per in books and such).

Even if you don't just use the flying kick feat, you might want to make it require a charge instead of a standard action.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I'm still convinced that standard action and a knockdown effect are elements that should be there.

I'll be giving this some more thought today, but for now, gtg.

 

[Zweihänder]

I should think a standard action would be appropriate, and a Jump check would be required, perhaps DC 10 or 15, providing bonuses to damage in relation to the degree to which you beat the DC. Beat it by 10 or more, and you achieve a knockdown.

[EDIT]: Also, this must be said:

UH OH!

UH OH UH OH!

UH OH!

STOP!

HAMMA TIME!

 

[Felon]

Why should there be a balance check? A check is a penalty, basically, and the point of a feat is to remove a penalty or add an option. I would probably let a monk with power attack do this and force a jump check at the end, without requiring a new feat. But if he took this feat, which is slightly less broad-purpose than Power Attack, no check should be needed for game balance.

As stated, feats can have associated penalties. By way of comparison, Leap Attack requires a Jump check.

Nothing about this maneuver screams "new feat" to me. Power Attack & Knockdown do the trick. Heck, replace Flurry of Blows with Decisive Strike (from PHB II).