Revision Spotlight (6/17)

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Deleted

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Deflect Arrows is indeed automatic, with no save or check required.

It works once per round.

Put simply, this ability in 3.0 just wasn't good enough at lower levels (when you tended to want to use it more frequently) and at higher levels, the save was just a time-waster.

Andy Collins
Senior Designer
Wizards of the Coast Roleplaying R&D

Frankly, I don't think this one's worth getting excited over. Any archer worth his salt will just rapid shot the poor monk anyway.

 

[Paladin]

Edit: Olgar beat me to it.

 

[mmu1]

Uh, shields do let you deflect arrows. It's called armor class. Weapons also let you deflect arrows with the appropriate feats, Expertise, Two Weapon Defense.

Last time I checked, Monks also had this thing called "Armor Class". D&D already has a mechanic for avoiding and deflecting attacks, and Deflect Arrows shouldn't really exist to begin with. (Or be rolled into the Expertise mechanic.) Making it automatic just makes it that much worse. It's an example of screwing with the rule system for the sake of style over substance.

 

[Psion]

Originally posted by Number 47
Uh, shields do let you deflect arrows. It's called armor class.

I think you are rather missing the point. Shields do add to your AC. But should shields PREVENT you from blocking arrows using the feat.

That said, he does make something of a good point. Perhaps we would have been better to deal with the issue of the roll, multi-deflects, etc., by giving a flat AC bonus against missle weapons.

Weapons also let you deflect arrows with the appropriate feats, Expertise, Two Weapon Defense.

As currently written, expertise only applies when you are in melee (i.e., the feat says "in melee", but it doesn't limit the AC bonus to melee attacks.) I find it strange that such a condition would help you against missile weapons, but that's how it reads.

 

[Psion]

double post... sorry

 

[jasamcarl]

Last time I checked, Monks also had this thing called "Armor Class". D&D already has a mechanic for avoiding and deflecting attacks, and Deflect Arrows shouldn't really exist to begin with. (Or be rolled into the Expertise mechanic.) Making it automatic just makes it that much worse. It's an example of screwing with the rule system for the sake of style over substance.

Uh no, its an example of making a mechanic that provides a specialized form of defence with a specific cinematic flavor in mind. Yes, AC can be said to block arrows. This makes a character that much more proficient at it. You are confusing the mechanics with narritive; there is nothing about this feat that breaks the underlying mechanical assumptions of the system.

That being said, I do tend to think that its application is a bit narrow, and one is unlikely to see it in use by anyone other than monk players and npcs. A flat AC bonus would be even worse, because then there would be a chance (atleast 5%) that the feat fails at its narrow advantage.

 

[GravyFingerz]

Deflect Arrows is indeed automatic, with no save or check required.

It works once per round.

Put simply, this ability in 3.0 just wasn't good enough at lower levels (when you tended to want to use it more frequently) and at higher levels, the save was just a time-waster.

Andy Collins
Senior Designer
Wizards of the Coast Roleplaying R&D

Now that is a feat I can stand behind

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Frankly, I don't think this one's worth getting excited over. Any archer worth his salt will just rapid shot the poor monk anyway.

Except for the strain it puts on verisimilitude.

A mob of 1st level monks completely immune to the local militia's 1st level crossbowmen?

Extrapolate to absurdity... Imagine the battlefields... Every bowman is taught to aim, not at the enemy in general, but specifically at the same guy his buddy is aiming at. Cause, you know, that enemy might have Deflect Arrows.

It isn't worth getting excited over, I agree there. It's pretty much an instant Rule Zero without even breaking a sweat. It's lazy and stupid.


Wulf

 

[Nail]

FWIW

I like the new feat.

We can all agree the old feat was next to worthless. Of the monks I've seen (or read about in the story hours!), this feat was rarely used. And really: how many threads and posters had proposed "swapping" out this feat for a "cooler" (read: more useful) feat?

As for the "Why is it automatic?" complaints:
This change seems to be for two reasons, both of them good. First, it's quicker; less dice rolling and DM guess-work. Second, it's more cinematic-cool, without being unbalancing.

Simple, really. And seriously, who'd be complaining if they hadn't seen the lame 3e version to compare it to?