New Feat: Duelist

[comrade raoul]

Here is a feat. Tell me if it's (a) worthwhile and (b) balanced. It's designed to foster the archetype of the intelligent, tactical fighter who's good at focusing on a particularly dangerous foe and bringing him down.

Duelist [General]
Prerequisite: Int 13, Combat Expertise.
By adjusting to the fighting styles of your opponents, you can use your superior tactics to defeat them.
Benefit: As a free action, designate an opponent. If you either attack or are attacked by your chosen opponent in melee, you gain a +1 bonus on all attack rolls against that opponent, starting in the subsequent round. You retain this bonus until a round occurs in which neither you nor your opponent make a melee attack against the other (at which point it's negated).
The effects of this feat stack if you use it against the same opponent over multiple rounds, but the total bonus to your attack roll may not exceed your Intelligence modifier.
Special: Fighters may select Duelist as one of their fighter bonus feats.

Note that Duelist and its prerequisite work well together: the best way to use the feat is to use Expertise to boost your AC as high as you can until you can take full advantage of Duelist.

 

[Cheiromancer]

I think what distinguishes dueling from ordinary combat is that it is 1 on 1, not that the two duelists attack each other each round. So if a feat gave you a bonus against one opponent but a penalty against everyone else, that would fit. Something that would discourage two duelists from circling each other for a few rounds as they size each other up, making the occasional feint perhaps, but no actual attack roll- well, that doesn't seem to fit the flavor of a duel.

Maybe you could just fix the name. But I don't know what best describes what you are doing. One way you could use this feat is to hang back, using full combat expertise or the full defense option or whatever as your opponent tries to hit you; after Int mod rounds you begin a counterattack. Or you could be pounding on your opponent, getting better and better for Int mod rounds. The former could be called "resilient counterattack" or something- the latter would be "relentless assault" (though I think that name is taken).

Either way, I don't think it is overpowered. It doesn't help vs many small opponents, or in short combats. If there is any kind of battlefield control going on that prevents you from making an attack, it resets the ability. If your opponent dimension doors away, it resets the ability.

So basically I'm concerned about the name/flavor of the ability.

 

[Ruvion]

This feat benefit the tank more than a finesse fighter...since a tank can engage a low mobility combat brute and build up huge bonuses after a while (bonuses he can put into either power attack or combat expertise)...and he has the hps to endure it.

A finesse fighter, which are usually hard targets (high AC but less beefy) may not last long enough against a combat brute to benefit.

 

[Nifft]

I think you should require Dodge -- it's the other feat that requires you to select one opponent.

However, I agree with Cheiromancer: the mechanics are a bit wonky. It is indeed better for Power Attack guys than for swashbucklers. A bonus to damage would favor s'bucklers, but might not be what you are looking for.

Cheers, -- N