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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imaro" data-source="post: 3385489" data-attributes="member: 48965">I was looking over the combat rules for D&D 3.5 and it occured to me that combat isn't designed to be "heroic".  Now I'm defining heroic in the sense of coolness, where my character can perform the type of actions and maneuvers found in a typical S&S movie or book.  My problem is that D&D 3.x kind of pushes going totally for the straight hit.  Most of the special attacks all seem to have way too many drawbacks to even consider(even with feats) an attempt to perform them unless absoloutely neccessary.Take Disarm:  Why would you ever try this without the Improved Disarm feat.  Not only is there a chance you will get whacked for damage, but if you fail you then have a chance of being disarmed yourself.  The size and weapon bonuses are ridiculous in my experience(I have taken Escrima for three years and have serious issues with these rules).  The easiest way to disarm someone is to slice their knuckles, this has nothing to do with size or strength and a faster weapon is usually better for this than a two-handed weapon (However this is not the crux of my disscussion so I will let it be, and Improved Disarm offsets this a little).  Now even with the Improved Disarm feat, if you fail the opponent gets a "free" opportunity to disarm you.  An opponent doesn't get a free attack when you miss and he can only do so much in a round.  You've effectively given him three actions this round(two with Improved Disarm) to try a disarm maneuver.Now assuming you disarm him, and his weapon is on the ground all you've done is given yourself an extra attack next round in exchange for not doing any damage last round(picking up  the weapon is a move action that provokes AoO).  Was it really worth the risk?If you fail there are a few possibilities...1.)opponent hits with AoO; You loose your action, take damage and opponent will attack you again on his turn in the round.2.) You fail in your attempt to disarm; Opponent gets to try and disarm you for "free"(no AoO) and can still attack you on his turn in the round.3.) Opponent does disarm you; Opponent gets to attack you again on his turn in the current round, gets an AoO next round when you retrieve your weapon and an attack on you during his turn for that round.IMO it's just not worth it, even with Improved Disarm(and not only is that one of your feats gone, plus a fighter has to have an Int of 13 and spend a feat on Combat Expertise to get it).  Just to note I have this same problem with tripping, overrunning, etc.  The risk is greater than the reward.  I wonder if this could be part of the problem with the fighter class in general, make these maneuvers easierfor them to achieve and qualify for and it opens up greater possibilities for the class.</blockquote>

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