(PHBII Optional Abilities) Dark Companion & Distracting Attack - Too Good?

[Krelios]

An opponent that is flanked doesn't allow a rogue to sneak attack that enemy at range. It would help a melee rogue, but then, so would the ranger standing next to the foe. I don't see how that's terribly overpowered. It really is about the equivalent of an animal companion.

 

[Darkwulf]

I'm currently DM'ing a game where I allowed the ranger to take Distracting Attack. I think it's working out well, and not too powerful for a couple of reasons.

The opponent is considered flanked by the ranger, not completely flanked for all purposes. Therefore, unless a ranged rogue has some way of threatening with ranged weapons, they don't complete the flank, and can't sneak attack. If they're a melee rogue, they'd be maneuvering for a flanking position anyway, and with the Tumble checks such characters can pull off, it's likely that they'd succeed. And finally, the benefit extends to only one attack, so a rogue with iterative attacks only flanks for the first such attack.

You may notice that I've only discussed rogues in this argument. That's because flanking really only has the strongest game benefit for characters with the Sneak Attack feature. For everyone else, it's a small attack bonus, which while useful, isn't overwhelming.

Like I said, I'm running a game with such a character, and so far, I'm not finding it to be too overpowering. Now, if I could just find something to do with those players that insist on playing mounted combatants...

 

[Benimoto]

You might know the silence or invisibility spells are illusions, but they affect you nonetheless.

I personally don't think either of the abilities are particularly overpowered. They're powerful, sure, but I think they need to be for anybody to actually consider them.

Familiars are fun, and they're popular for roleplaying, scouting, all the feats and spells that target or enhance them. But they're mostly useless in combat, and intended to be so. So saying that the Dark Companion is more powerful than a familiar is like saying that you think the burning hands spell is more powerful than comprehend languages.

 

[wayne62682]

Thank you all! I think my DM has agreed to play both as is (although I cannot take Distracting Attack yet anyway) but reserve the right to modify them later if he chooses... or he might use frankthedm's point but he finds it a little odd that it would only benefit me, so hopefully he'll let it be as it is.

His counter to it being "a boost to an underpowered class" was: Good point, but it's not about "giving a nice boost..." -- it's about an even swap of class features, which it is not.

In any event, I think he will let me try it out, at least, and so I thank all of you for helping me!

 

[MarkB]

Your DM seems to have a fairly commonplace misunderstanding of the nature of illusion spells. In fact, only Figment or Phantasm spells can be disbelieved - other spells in the Illusion school can have real effects whether you believe in them or not.

 

[frankthedm]

or he might use frankthedm's point but he finds it a little odd that it would only benefit me, so hopefully he'll let it be as it is.

Hexblade is a 'selfish' class, not one that concered with aiding his allies. My suggestion turns a small boost and big liability for the hexblade [familiar, aka XP draining bulleye] into a modest boost with little drawback [Bad luck kitty that dispel puts to sleep for a day]. Having the penalty apply to all foes really makes it strong, as in not taking it is foolish since it is comparable to the actualy hexy's curse. Having to Ritutally Sacrifice your familiar and accept the XP loss would still be well worth the way the PHB2 D.C. works.

 

[the_mighty_agrippa]

Point out to the DM that you could forego Distracting Attack and just take the Natural Bond feat from CA instead and cause even more trouble.