Martial Study Feat

[Prophet2b]

I have a question concerning Book of Nine Swords. I was creating a character for our campaign (I'm DM), and I was thinking it would be cool to give him a maneuver from Bo9S. Since he's not a martial fighter, I looked up the feat Martial Study and then started looking for a maneuver.

Then it hit me... That feat only grants access to one maneuver. In other words, in essence, what you are doing is taking a maneuver as a feat.

Now, either one of two things is happening here:

1) This means that each maneuver is on par with an actual feat.
2) This means that the Martial Study feat is very underpowered.

I suspect it's number 2 (considering for non-martial classes the initiator level is only 1/2 the class level and he doesn't get to swap it out later for a more powerful maneuver) - but I was wondering what others thought? It just struck me as odd...

 

[JoelF]

I don't think the feat is underpowered. Sure it only lets you pick one maneuver, but that feat lets you get a class ability for another class without taking a level in it. Think of it as the equivilent of a feat which let a non-spellcaster to take a 1st level spell usable once per encounter without any levels in cleric, wizard, etc. If such a feat existed, it would be huge for lots of classes, especially if you pick your spell well. For a fighter, you could pick true strike and have a full power attack with a great chance of hitting once per encounter. For a monk, you could use the shield spell for a +4 to AC each encounter, for a rogue off on his own scouting, he could cure light wounds, etc. All of this without giving up advancement in their primary class or prestige class....I think that makes the feat pretty good.

 

[blargney the second]

Like JoelF said, it's a great feat if you choose wisely. Especially since you then qualify for Martial Stance, which is where the real goodness comes into play.
-blarg

 

[Victim]

Martial Study also turns a non class skill into a class skill.

 

[blargney the second]

Right, I always forget about that part because we just play all skills as class skills anyways.

 

[Arkhandus]

I don't think the feat is underpowered. Sure it only lets you pick one maneuver, but that feat lets you get a class ability for another class without taking a level in it. Think of it as the equivilent of a feat which let a non-spellcaster to take a 1st level spell usable once per encounter without any levels in cleric, wizard, etc. If such a feat existed, it would be huge for lots of classes, especially if you pick your spell well. For a fighter, you could pick true strike and have a full power attack with a great chance of hitting once per encounter. For a monk, you could use the shield spell for a +4 to AC each encounter, for a rogue off on his own scouting, he could cure light wounds, etc. All of this without giving up advancement in their primary class or prestige class....I think that makes the feat pretty good.

Eh, Martial Study isn't so helpful as that though. Getting Mage Armor or Shield once per encounter would be a lot more helpful to a Monk than getting Stance of Clarity or Stone Bones. True Strike would be a lot more useful to someone than Shadow Blade Technique or Sapphire Nightmare Blade.

Though I guess Martial Spirit would be a worthwhile stance to take after getting Martial Study to qualify for Martial Stance. Martial Study itself? Not so much. Maneuvers are often somewhat weaker than a spell of equivalent level.

IMHO, Martial Study is a bit underpowered, though the extra class skill from it is kind of nice. It would be better if it counted your character level as your initiator level for the feat. Then it would be more worthwhile, but still a bit weak sometimes. Worth taking though at that point.

 

[Cephid]

Some of the feats in book of nine swords seem to be very overpowered, as if the book is not meant to used with other books.

Like snap kick an extra attack for 1 feat. Can even be used as part of a charge or standard action. That is just silly.

And one feat that lets a monk count as 4 levels higher for unarmed dammage. With a monks belt, that means a 12th level monk is doing 2d10 per hit going up to 3d8, 4d8, 6d8, 9d8 with size.

Do these seem overpowered to anyone else?
or what am I missing?

 

[Zurai]

Some of the feats in book of nine swords seem to be very overpowered, as if the book is not meant to used with other books.

Like snap kick an extra attack for 1 feat. Can even be used as part of a charge or standard action. That is just silly.

And one feat that lets a monk count as 4 levels higher for unarmed dammage. With a monks belt, that means a 12th level monk is doing 2d10 per hit going up to 3d8, 4d8, 6d8, 9d8 with size.

Do these seem overpowered to anyone else?
or what am I missing?

Since monks in general are extremely weak, I don't see anything wrong with those feats.

Now if you'd mentioned Stormguard Warrior...

 

[Cephid]

Since monks in general are extremely weak, I don't see anything wrong with those feats.QUOTE]

It would that the monk in my group would be doing about 400 dammage per round + AoO (many) + poison damage on every hit + 2 attacks from his dancing spiked chain. He uses hustle and boots of haste to run upto 120' then full attack.

Snap kick would add 66 damage and if the sorcerer casts empowered fires of purity on him, that would add another 150 damage per round.

Including 2 AoO and his dancing chain, we are talking 800 damage per round to anyone within 120'!

 

[nobodez]

Since monks in general are extremely weak, I don't see anything wrong with those feats.QUOTE]

It would that the monk in my group would be doing about 400 dammage per round + AoO (many) + poison damage on every hit + 2 attacks from his dancing spiked chain. He uses hustle and boots of haste to run upto 120' then full attack.

Snap kick would add 66 damage and if the sorcerer casts empowered fires of purity on him, that would add another 150 damage per round.

Including 2 AoO and his dancing chain, we are talking 800 damage per round to anyone within 120'!

What other bonuses does your monk have?! 66 average damage from a natural attack (which deals 4d8 base damage (average 18)), that's quite amazing.