Need Critique on a new Tactical Feat

[Zack2216]

Hey final fantasy fans! I had the inspiration to do a FF-esque type of tactical feet. At first it was going to be a style feet, but I didn't get the whole kit-n-kabootle in there becuase I couldn't do the nifty leap and attack. That, and I didn't want to make up two seperate feats, when the tactical feat option was available. And finally, makeing a prestige class just didn't really que in. I felt it should be more of a combat style than a specific organization of peeps. It would make more sense for people of all melee backgrounds to be able to use it. So here it is, I hope it's viable.

Dragoon Warrior
You learn how to use powerful jumping and charging techniques to take advantage of your weapon
Prerequisites: 15 str, Jump 9 ranks, Base attack bonus +8, Weapon focus (long spear, halberd, glaive, guisarme or great spear) (go ahead and make suggestions on some more and/or better prerequisites)
Benefit: The Dragoon Warrior feat enables the use of three combat maneubers

Dragoon's Charge: Whenever charging or using the Dragoon's Dive maneuver with one of the above mentioned weapons, your attack deals double damage.

Dragoon's Leap: This maneuver allows you to, during a charge action while weilding one of the above mentioned weapons, make a vertical jump check. Your height doesn't facter into this check. Your minimum vertical jump distance is 5 ft. + 5 ft. for every 10 ranks in jump over 3 you have. This minimum is then augmented by the jump check, adding 5 ft. to your vertical jump for every 20 you get over 15. For each 10 ft. of vertical height, you may move up to 15 ft. in one horizontal direction.

Dragoon's Dive: This maneuver may only be used in succession to the Dragoon's leap maneuver. You must land in an opponent's space with the Dragoon's leap maneuver. If you do, make an attack roll. On a successful hit, the attack deals an extra 2 points of damage per 10 ft. of vertical jump you made with the Dragoon's Leap maneuver. This extra damage is factored in after Dragoon's Charge's effect. If your attack hits, you take 10 ft. less in fall damage, and you may make a tumble check to further reduce the fall damage. Also, you land in the closest noninhabited adjacent space. If the attack misses, you take normal fall damage as normal, though you may still make a tumble check to take less damage. Also, you must make a tumble check, dc 20, or fall prone in the space you landed in. Otherwise, if successful, you land In the closest unoccupied adjacent space.

Alright, give me your worst, I want this to be balanced. The only broken thing I can think of would be the Dragoon's jump, but I don't know how to emulate the jump-so-high-it-takes-a-round-to-fall-and-strike-your-enemy thing. I just want this to be cool enough for use outside my own campaign.

 

[the Jester]

The thing about all the tactical feats is that you have to set up a kind of obscure circumstance to use the maneuvers they grant. This one just gives you the maneuvers. You should change that; right now there's no 'if,' you just charge.

If you put in a clause about "you may still only move your normal movement in one round" into the jump bit, that will make it take a round to come down.

Hm, let's see, what about the 'set up' for the maneuvers... maybe for Dragoon's Charge require that the character take a move action towards the victim she's going to charge as the last part of their action the round before the charge.

For Dragoon's Leap/Dive, maybe require that the character.... er... drawing a blank. I'll mull it over. Also, this is really just one maneuver. I'd differentiate them somehow- give them different bonuses and set up conditions.

I hope this is what you're looking for- I'm hoping to give you constructive criticism that'll drive this feat into my campaign. I'll look in again here in a while and see if I can help out. I don't know anything about Final Fantasy, so if I'm totally off-base let me know. (I'm looking at it from the perspective of a dm of fairly straight-up 3.5.)

 

[Nightfall]

I agree with J, it needs tweaking but it's a good start.

 

[AeroDm]

I think the text is a little confusing, so forgive me if some of my assumtions are wrong.

Why do you feel it is necessary for them to be in the air for a round? I know that this is FF feel, but porting things over don't need to be an exact match. I would probably suggest having the mechanics be significantly easier and then describe with appropriate flavor.

Likewise, I agree with the other posters that there is no IF, but I think that you could simply make this tactical feat weaker than others are forego the IF. For instance, allow them to leap during a charge and IF (sorta added back in) they leap further than 20' immediately previous to the attack they deal double damage. Then say for every 10' beyond 20 they deal an additional d6 dmg.

Not sure if this is the flavor you are looking for, but it would certainly emulate it well for me. Hope it helps.

 

[the Jester]

Likewise, I agree with the other posters that there is no IF, but I think that you could simply make this tactical feat weaker than others are forego the IF. For instance, allow them to leap during a charge and IF (sorta added back in) they leap further than 20' immediately previous to the attack they deal double damage. Then say for every 10' beyond 20 they deal an additional d6 dmg.

Ooh, though I still think a tactical feat needs an 'if'- that's what makes it a tactical feat, imo- I like AeroDM's idea about the leap. Must have an if, though, I think...

 

[Darklone]

Tactical feats need setup? I thought that one just helped against Power Attack...

 

[the Jester]

Tactical feats need setup? I thought that one just helped against Power Attack...

Even with that one they have to be the target of your Dodge bonus, and the other maneuvers require more setup (you have to be flanked by someone who's the target of your Dodge bonus to use the Diverting Defense maneuver and you have to provoke an AoO by moving to use Cause Overreach).

 

[Darklone]

Even with that one they have to be the target of your Dodge bonus, and the other maneuvers require more setup (you have to be flanked by someone who's the target of your Dodge bonus to use the Diverting Defense maneuver and you have to provoke an AoO by moving to use Cause Overreach).

Well. That's not that much more than what you need for a Bullrush.

 

[Zack2216]

Thanks for the ideas so far. Hmmm. I like the idea that if their jump check is greater than their move, that they don't finish the jump until their next round, aswell as requiring the 20' charge move before the leap. As a matter of fact, that may balance the tactic more. Hmmm...

Ok, would it work to only have two moves here, combining the leap and dive? Though I prefer them seperate, it could work. I liked the idea of taking advantage of the dragoon's leap, allowing characters to make great leaps, without the subsequent dive afterward.

Perhaps they should move atleast, like, 20' before gaining double damage for dragoons charge. That way, unless they have boots of striding and springing or haste, they will almost always have to wait a round for the attack to resolve. If this would balance it, we need to figure out rules for measuring the arc of the jump. I really like this idea .

 

[AeroDm]

Thanks for the ideas so far. Hmmm. I like the idea that if their jump check is greater than their move, that they don't finish the jump until their next round, aswell as requiring the 20' charge move before the leap. As a matter of fact, that may balance the tactic more. Hmmm...

Ok, would it work to only have two moves here, combining the leap and dive? Though I prefer them seperate, it could work. I liked the idea of taking advantage of the dragoon's leap, allowing characters to make great leaps, without the subsequent dive afterward.

Perhaps they should move atleast, like, 20' before gaining double damage for dragoons charge. That way, unless they have boots of striding and springing or haste, they will almost always have to wait a round for the attack to resolve. If this would balance it, we need to figure out rules for measuring the arc of the jump. I really like this idea .

The jump movement/round movement I believe is core, although I do not have a page reference. Likewise, the arc of the jump is (again, from memory only) as follows: at the 1/2 of the horizontal leap you reach a vertical distance of 1/4 the horizontal. So a 20' jump 'only' gets 5' vertical and reaches that point 10' into their leap.

Another thought I had- if adding in an IF is hard, why do you feel compelled to make this a tactical feat. It could work perfectly fine as a regular feat, albeit with higher requirements, or as a PrC feature.