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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GuardianLurker" data-source="post: 455921" data-attributes="member: 786">Not bad as a "called shot" feat would go.Unhappily, it's different enough from sneak attack to not be the answer.3e has three main (possibly four) mechanics for replicating "called shots". For "lucky shots" - those strange occurences that reveal momentary vulnerabilities and that are taken advantage of - you have the critical (along with keen and improved critical). This is the mechanic your proposed feat uses.For "trick shots" - pick a feat; Improved Trip, Improved Disarm. Or how about Strike A Weapon and the Base Disarm. I suppose we could also include Hamstring from Song and Silence in here as well.For "carefully placed shots" - what most people think of when they think of "called shots" - we have the sneak attack (and Dirty Fighting).To replicate the carefully placed shot, any feat would have to offer : some mechanism to replicate the care/focus (In sneak attack this is the "flatfoot/flank" req) in choosing the placement. And extra damage that *always* occurs if the blow lands (since choosing the same area should result in the same extra damage). The feat also needs to either stack or chain to correctly model the different "values" of the vital areas.The problem with a feat chain is that we would be left begging the question "What's the rogue attacking when his sneak attack does more damage than the top-most feat in the chain?"The problem with a stacking feat is that we have to be careful to avoid having the non-rogues out-strip the rogues.If we don't allow others to acquire this feat, what is our in-game rationale for disallowing it? After all, all characters can already duplicate every other form of "called shot" I've listed (and I think the list is complete, but I'd be interested in hearing of more).BTW, the fourth mechanic is Power Attack's "overwhelming blow", which actually uses the old 1e/2e "penalty to AC" called shot mechanic to model something else that may or may not be a called shot.Oh, and this is *completely* tangential - is it possible for a rogue to choose to do *less* than the maximum sneak attack damage? Could a rogue with a +4d6 sneak attack only choose to do a +1d6 sneak attack?</blockquote>

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