Iron Heart Surge interpretation

[Eldritch_Lord]

I suppose it might be more useful if someone had a separate effect that gave them, for example, one round of suppressing of whatever was stunning them, or one round of freedom of movement, etc. (suppressing but not ending the bad effect) and if during that round the warblade used Iron Heart Surge to end the effect.

I like the sanctified mind PrC for that (Lords of Madness). The 1st level ability is Partition Mind: for [class level + Cha mod] rounds per day, instead of being affected by a mind-affecting affect, you can choose to be slowed instead, which will give you the standard action you need for IHS. Granted, not all dazing/stunning/paralysis affects are mind-affecting, but the majority of the ones you need to be worried about are. Pick up and UMD a wand of the heart of air or heart of water spell (the one that gives you a triggered freedom of movement for a few rounds, I forget which at the moment) or dip cleric for the Travel domain and there should be very few things you can't IHS away.

 

[Dandu]

Mad Foam Rager?

Does not grant a duration.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Does not grant a duration.

Mad Foam Rager wouldn't be to grant a duration to effects without a duration. It would be to grant a respite from an effect (like Dominate Person or paralysis) for a round so you can Iron Heart Surge it away before you lose the ability to take standard actions / your choice of actions. Though, by a strict reading of IHS, you may not be able to use it on something until it is actually "affecting" you...

 

[akbearfoot]

In any sane, fair minded, semi-grounded game Iron Heart Surge requires liberal editing by the DM/player so as not to be abused/broken/nutty wrong.


an condition or effect covers a VERY broad list, and is WAY too strong for a 3rd level maneuver. For instance....grappled is a condition. Being swallowed by a purple worm...initiate IHS...suddenly he spits you out? Sorry but thats dumb.

And I agree that the 'concept' of the ability clearly seems intended to let you break out of paralysis and fear effects, but the rules mostly do not allow that.

Yeah...we promptly started editing that ability as soon as my warblade took it. He can use it to break out of paralysis, remove poisons, or even cure himself of the effects of drugs and alcohol, or VD. Lots of stuff...but sorry, no walking into a natural field of null magic and instantaneously ending the effect...no picking up an artifact and breaking their side effects automatically. No ending area effect spells that dont target me specifically.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

In any sane, fair minded, semi-grounded game Iron Heart Surge requires liberal editing by the DM/player so as not to be abused/broken/nutty wrong.

It can seem silly at times, sure. But my groups have allowed it for years and don't mind it as written. Only real change we made was making it a Su ability, but still allowing it to dismantle antimagic effects so long as it's initiated specifically to end that effect.

an condition or effect covers a VERY broad list, and is WAY too strong for a 3rd level maneuver. For instance....grappled is a condition. Being swallowed by a purple worm...initiate IHS...suddenly he spits you out? Sorry but thats dumb.

Arguably, once you're swallowed whole, that's no longer a condition and IHS wouldn't work. I'd also like to point out Shadow...Jaunt(?)..the level 2 Shadow Hand maneuver to teleport 50 ft as a standard action. Lets you escape a grapple at an even earlier level than IHS. Granted, one level higher for way more versatile options is strong. But teleportation has other uses, too. And no one's denying that IHS is one of the strongest maneuvers in the game.

And I agree that the 'concept' of the ability clearly seems intended to let you break out of paralysis and fear effects, but the rules mostly do not allow that.

Yeah...we promptly started editing that ability as soon as my warblade took it. He can use it to break out of paralysis, remove poisons, or even cure himself of the effects of drugs and alcohol, or VD. Lots of stuff...but sorry, no walking into a natural field of null magic and instantaneously ending the effect...no picking up an artifact and breaking their side effects automatically. No ending area effect spells that dont target me specifically.

If I wanted to go through things thoroughly, I'd probably similarly edit it to work on paralysis, feat, etc... but not on area effects. But for now I'm mostly happy with how it works. In a weird kind of way, I prefer it as written versus your edit because it's less "self serving," if that makes any sense. The whole group appreciates it when the Warblade gets rid of that Evard's tentacle spell.