D&D 5E Precise Strike [Feat]

[Yunru]

So first some brief background information: I'm reintroducing the concept of a "Critical hit range" because it makes it easier to stack things like weapon enchantments, this feat, and the Champion's Improved Critical feature.

Precise Strike:
13 Intelligence
You know enough anataomy to be able to aim your strikes for crucial points to maximize damage. As a result your critical hit range increases by your Intelligence modifier.

Revised:
Precise Strike:
13 Intelligence
You know enough anataomy to be able to aim your strikes for crucial points to maximize damage. As a result your critical hit range for melee attacks increases by your Intelligence modifier.

Thoughts?

 

[Istbor]

Sounds like time to go Eldritch knight or blade singer.

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

I think it's a bit too powerful when you consider that the rogue doubles sneak attack dice on a critical hit. Especially for arcane tricksters that are already using int, this could incentivize them to prioritize int over dex.

 

[jaelis]

That seems quite powerful to me!

 

[DEFCON 1]

With an 18 INT (+4), that gives you a crit range of 16-20... a critical hit in one out of every four swings. So depending on whether you have Extra Attack and/or are dual-wielding and/or have Advantage on your attacks, you potentially can crit every round, or at the very least every-other-round. I'd personally want to run the numbers on the damage potential of that, especially when taking the additional damage dice features like Sneak Attack or Divine Smite into account. I suspect it would send damage potential through the roof.

 

[Yunru]

Yeah I do have some concerns regarding extra dice, but then again, the high numbers require quite the stat investment.

The Rogue is probably the most concerning given it's ranged capability means it can focus on just Int and Dex. That said, With the feat taking an ASI and Int not being the Rogue's main stat... I'm uncertain.

 

[Blue]

Interesting interaction with GWM - if you hit, you'll likely crit. Which is nice with a 2d6 or d12 weapon but nothing fantastic. But that triggers the bonus action extra attack fairly regularly. That was where polearm master had the edge - a reliable extra attack.

People have pointed out the rogue, Divine Smite from the paladin is a lesser case of the same thing - but paladin plus INT is pretty MAD, so that's not a huge worry.

Hmm, I know plenty of barbarians who dipped three levels of fighter for champion. (Not that the first 2 levels of fighter are anything to turn your nose up at). Here you just need a 13 INT and a feat to get the same. And a 14 INT would be a 18-20 with advantage, which is a lot of crits. Congratulations, I see a lot of smart half-orcs barbarians in your future. (Half-orc for the extra die of damage on crit.)

This really steals the thunder from the Champion, diluting it's one unique thing of an expanded crit range. I know you mentioned it stacking, but before that was the only place to get it, and as s subclass it's considered ont he weaker side of the power curve. This could kill it's primary draw of a otherwise unique buff.

Wizards with attack spells I can see loving this. Critting on a 15-20 is just sick.

From a design perspective, while I don't like "pure math" feats this doesn't qualify as that - people are excited to get crits and will remember it, not just be a modifier that gets added in and the source forgotten.

As much as I like the idea of a tactical warrior, I think this adds too much. But "half-mod" isn't really used anywhere so I can't see dropping the modifier down. Perhaps if it was like SS or GWM where it was optional to use becuase there was a penalty with it. "Take disadvantage to gain +INT to crit range". (*math*math*math*) No, that more then offsets the gain in general cases.

To sum up: I like it's INT, I think it gives to much and should either give less or have a penalty associated with it.

 

[Helldritch]

I am not sure that this feat should be used. In fact, it is way too strong. Half intel bonus (rounded down) maybe? This would make the investment in this MAD feat (pun intended) quite heavy for nothing. It would, however, still be quite useful for some builds...

 

[Warmaster Horus]

It's not so much knowing where to hit (so why not use Medicine?) but actually hitting there. Martial training more than covers lethal hit areas and there's not much a 'learned' person would know over a proficient warrior.

 

[Yunru]

What if it was restricted to only melee attacks?
Then the Rogue has to risk engaging in melee (or use a whip I guess) as a trade off for the extra damage.