Immediate 5-foot step

[jade_jester]

I'm looking for a feat or class ability that will allow me to make an immediate 5-foot step if someone I'm threatening does. I'm looking to combine this with the mage slayer feat so I can make a super effective mage killer. I'm not sure if my dm will even let me take said feats, cause he's not sure what books he's going to allow.

On a side note, does anyone know what books are allowed in the Living Arcanis campaign? My DM wants to run it but he's not sure what books I can officially pull from. He tell's me only core books, but then he says that extra rage is an option, despite it not appearing in the core books, and he also says monkey grip is not allowed, despite it commonly appearing with extra rage. So, I'm not sure what sources I can take feats from anyway. I'll make this a seperate post. Either way, I'm interested in what people have to say about the immediate 5-foot step and optimizing my mage slayer. Any prestige class suggestions would also be appreciated.

 

[Empirate]

There's a maneuver in ToB that does what you want (when target takes move action, you can take an immediate move to keep up), although I must admit I completely forgot its name and discipline (would seem like Setting Sun). Also, there's a feat in the same book that allows you to take a 5' step whenever you'd be entitled to an attack of opportunity, forfeiting the AoO for the 5' step (I think it's called Sidestep).

 

[JamesonCourage]

Unfortunately, I think it's from pathfinder, but you can always try to convince him to let you take it:

Step Up (Combat)
You can close the distance when a foe tries to move away.

Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +1.

Benefit: Whenever an adjacent foe attempts to take a 5-foot step away from you, you may also make a 5-foot step as an immediate action so long as you end up adjacent to the foe that triggered this ability. If you take this step, you cannot take a 5-foot step during your next turn. If you take an action to move during your next turn, subtract 5 feet from your total movement.

 

[Dandu]

The feat is too situational useful if you ask me. It might be better to just grab EWP: Spiked Chain and stand next to the wizard.

I'm looking to combine this with the mage slayer feat so I can make a super effective mage killer.

I'd be interested in seeing what you come up with.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

You could just deny the foe his abilty to take a 5 ft step to begin with. Knight class from PH2 gets an ability to treat your threatened area as difficult terrain. The Thicket of Blades stance from Devoted Spirit discipline in the Tome of Battle, which you can get access to with Crusader levels, simply makes 5 ft steps provoke, and is a cornerstone of many "lockdown" builds.

Also, the rules allow you to take a 5 ft step if needed with a readied action. The only thing is youcan't have moved at all on that turn, so you would have had to start the round in melee.

 

[jade_jester]

Spiked chain is a really good idea, I honestly hadn't even considered that. Though I'm going with a 2 weapon ranger build, mostly because I've never played one before. It doesn't look like I'll even be able to get that mage slayer feat anyway, since my DM will only allow the core books. Though I'm not sure from what source he's allowing extra rage. Maybe it's in an Arcanis book to which I don't have access. If that's the case, I'd really like to know what hidden goodies this mystery book holds.

I'll have to look into the classes in the PHB II. I'll have to research those classes a bit more closely.

Right now I'm planning on getting 1st and 2nd level ranger, 3rd level will be in barbarian with the extra rage feat, ranger up to 7th level, fighter at 8th so I can get the improved crit feat, 9th-13th in ranger, 14th in rouge so I can have all the two weapon fighting feats from ranger and then max out Use magic device through rouge, and then finish with ranger to 20th. My weapon of choice will be a reaver blade, which is in Arcanis (d8 18-20/x2 crit), and i'll get balanced blades at 9th so I can have both hands using the same weapon. All my other feat selections are open except for 12th level where I get 2 weapon rend. I'm also playing a Human. I would appreciate some advice on optimizing this build. Like I said before, I'm limited to phb 1 and 2, the dmg 1 and 2, and the Arcanis phb. I really want to center this character around killing mages, even though the best feats for such are denied to me.

Thanks for all the responses so far. Keep'em coming.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

The DMG, in the Asian weapons section, has a "Kusari-gama" (in quotes because I don't appreciate its simulation of the weapon ) that's basicallylike a one-handed version of a spiked chain. As in, can threaten at reach and adjacent. Costs an exotic weapon proficiency feat like the chain, but you could dual wield them! (Which...considering how much better 2H combat is than TWF...isn't even necessarily that amazing compared to the chain)

 

[Dandu]

Spiked chain is a really good idea, I honestly hadn't even considered that. Though I'm going with a 2 weapon ranger build, mostly because I've never played one before. It doesn't look like I'll even be able to get that mage slayer feat anyway, since my DM will only allow the core books.

You could TWF with a Spiked Chain and Spiked Armor.

Don't feel too bad about not being able to take Mage Slayer. It's not as great as it sounds.

 

[akbearfoot]

"Don't feel too bad about not being able to take Mage Slayer. It's not as great as it sounds."

Unless its used against PCs, then its really strong. With the feat that comes after it it becomes kinda broken.

But yeah...in general for PCs its too situationally useful. And GMs usually can't throw a lot of spell-casting critters at the PCs without drastically increasing their chances of death, lol.

 

[Dandu]

Unless its used against PCs, then its really strong. With the feat that comes after it it becomes kinda broken.

Eh, maybe I just powergame too much.