New Feat: Committed Action

[Presto2112]

I'm thinking about submitting this feat to my DM for consideration. I'd like some opinions / critiques / suggestions for improvement.

Committed Action (General)

Rushed thinking allows you to strike your opponent faster than you typically might, but also throws you a little off balance.

Prerequisite: Lightning Reflexes, Int 13+.

Benefit: At the beginning of a new combat round, you may choose to subtract a number from all attack rolls and add that number to your initiative count for that round. This may allow you to perform your actions earlier in the round than you normally would act. This number may not exceed your base attack bonus. If you use this feat, the action you take must include an action that uses an attack roll, whether it is an attack with a weapon, a spell, or another action such a grapple. You cannot ready an action or delay your action while this feat is in use, and you cannot use this feat if you have an action already readied.

Special: A fighter may select Committed Action as one of his Fighter bonus feats.

 

[the Jester]

Oooh, complicated bookkeeping...

What about if you ready an action to attack? What if someone else readies an action (shifting their initiative around)? You now have to track the count they end up on- which can get complicated, if you have a lot of readying/delaying going on. I've tried out similar initiative-modifying feats, but the bookkeeping ultimately persuaded me to drop them.

 

[Presto2112]

Oooh, complicated bookkeeping...

What about if you ready an action to attack? What if someone else readies an action (shifting their initiative around)? You now have to track the count they end up on- which can get complicated, if you have a lot of readying/delaying going on. I've tried out similar initiative-modifying feats, but the bookkeeping ultimately persuaded me to drop them.

You make some valid points. I have edited the feat to attempt to take readying and delaying into account.

 

[the Jester]

Well, count me as interested in knowing how this works out if you end up using it!

I had worked up 3-4 initiative-changing feats, but ended up giving up on them in frustration after fiddling around with them a little; it became too much of a PITA to keep up with whose initiative went where. (Then again, we have a larger than standard group by far, so they're prolly a little more problematic for me than they would be for many other dms.)

 

[DanMcS]

This feat would effectively let you take two full actions before your opponent can act again.

Your opponent acts on round 1 at initiative 15.

You act at initiative 14. Take a full attack.

Come around again, commit 2 points to initiative. You act at initiative 16.

Your opponent acts again at initiative 15, if he survived two full attacks without getting to do anything.

I don't think this is a feat I would allow.

 

[starwed]

I agree with some of the above posters; changing initiative mid combat is a bad idea.

That said, you could make this a feat which alters your initial init roll. Comit yourself to an attack with penalties in the first round, to gain a bonus to initiative.

 

[GeorgeFields]

Shouldn't improved initiative be the pre-req instead of lightning reflexes?

 

[Phlebas]

IMC we use intitative scores only for the first round to set the order, and then cycle round all the combatants until the combat ends. We use cards for each character and for NPC's / Monsters and so Ready and Delay just mean moving cards back down the list.

in this scenario you could make a simpler feat (and i'd agree improved initiative makes more sense than lightning reflexes for a pre-req)

Description: you can rush a combat action. Before the end of your combat round you state your intent to rush your next action. Your turn will then come around before the creature who immediately proceeded your last action (Your card is moved ahead of the previous actionee). From this point until the end of this 'rushed' turn you are at -2 to AC and -2 Attack.

because you move ahead of someone who has gone before you, you will get two actions (the initial round and then the 'rushed' round) before they go again, but this only effects the creature you rush past.

a variant of this would enable you to move ahead of the first enemy ahead of you in the sequence rather than just jumping ahead of an ally......... i'd probably limit this to once a combat or make the penalty include no AoO's or similar

just a suggestion that avoids some of the maths issues..........

 

[Hawken]

At the beginning of a new combat round, you may choose to subtract a number from all attack rolls and add that number to your initiative count for that round. This may allow you to perform your actions earlier in the round than you normally would act.

So you want to act before you act? Is that like pre-boarding a plane--where you get on before you actually get on? What is the point of acting faster if you're more likely to miss?

I'd suggest something like a variant of the Street Fighter RPG; sacrificing damage for speed. Faster attacks did less damage, slower attacks did more. Something that might put this on par with Power Attack, Combat Expertise, etc., would be to trade points of damage for points to your initiative score for the round.

This wouldn't be too complicated either and would require minimal, if any, bookkeeping. And it would be able to mess with the Ready action while not making it useless.

Let's say your Fighter (10hp; armed with a longsword) has a 10 initiative and you're facing another Fighter (5hp) who is aiming a crossbow at you with an initiative count of 14. The crossbowman also is using a Ready action to shoot you if you take any hostile act with your weapon. You know he has the drop on you and you can't attack without him getting off his shot and possibly dropping you. You move using a burst of speed sacrificing 5 points of any damage to get a +5 bonus to initiative (placing your iniative for the round at 15--allowing you to act before the crossbowman can use his Ready action). You make your attack roll and hit. You roll 7 for your damage, +3 for Strength, but take a -5 penalty (for the initiative bonus) so your total damage is 5hp, reducing your opponent to 0hp.

As a feat, that could be pretty potent, but not overbalanced since you're sacrificing damage for speed. As a requirement, I would suggest Dex 13+.

 

[the Jester]

IMC we use intitative scores only for the first round to set the order, and then cycle round all the combatants until the combat ends. We use cards... snip....

Description: you can rush a combat action. Before the end of your combat round you state your intent to rush your next action. Your turn will then come around before the creature who immediately proceeded your last action (Your card is moved ahead of the previous actionee). From this point until the end of this 'rushed' turn you are at -2 to AC and -2 Attack.

Wow, that's a great way to go. I really really like it. We too use cards for initiative. Wow, this might really resolve some issues with this type of feat. *epiphany*