Quick Draw usefulness?

[Galethorn]

In a now defunct campaign, I took Quick Draw for a very specific tactic...

First of all, my character was a pirate captain with a blunderbuss...which he always kept loaded between fights.

He had pretty high dex, and I took Improved Initiative...

Combined with a high spot/listen skill, most attempts to Sneak Attack/otherwise surprise him went something like this;

DM: <rolls dice> "You see him reaching for the pistol on his belt; roll initiative!" <rolls for NPC> "12"
Me: <rolls> "23. I Quickdraw my blunderbuss and shoot him." <roll damage> "28."
DM: <rolls reflex save> "Ugh. Yeah, you hit him." <rolls fort save (since it's a Grim Tales game)> "He dies."
Me (in character): "Anybody else want to try their hand at bein' captain? Anybody?!"

Yeah, so, when you've got high initiative, and a good spot skill, and improved initiative, you can avoid getting caught flat-footed...but with Quickdraw, you can completely reverse the surprise.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

There are some limitations, but I don't remember exactly what. (Perhaps disarm can't be done AoO?)

You can disarm him. You can't sunder his weapon (which is a standard action all its own).

And it will abort his *charge*, but if he was just moving, he still gets to complete his turn.

For further clarification, if he was actually Charging, he's done. Charge is a full-round action that lets you move up to 2x your speed in a straight line, with a minimum of 10' moved, and attack once with some modifiers.

If he was Withdrawing, then he's done. Withdraw is a full-round action which lets you move up to 2x your speed and not provoke an AoO for leaving the first threatened square.

If he was Running, then he's done. Run is a full-round action which lets you move up to 4x your speed (3x in heavy armor, etc.) in a straight line.

If he was just moving, then if he has only used a single move-action, he can use his second move action to stand up. This provokes another AoO (which is why people with reach weapons like Combat Reflexes). If, however, he has moved more than his speed (i.e., has taken two move actions to move), then he's done.