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<blockquote data-quote="WaterRabbit" data-source="post: 84245" data-attributes="member: 2445">See the D&amp;D FAQThis is discussed very well in the D&amp;D FAQ:&nbsp;&nbsp; My group’s having some difficulty with the Expertise feat. What happens when you use Expertise along with Two-Weapon Fighting? Do&nbsp; you get the&nbsp; Armor Class bonus from Expertise once&nbsp; for each weapon? Once for each attack? What if you use the total defense option or the fight defensively option? (Or is Expertise just another way of fighting defensively?) If you have five or more ranks in the Tumble&nbsp; skill,&nbsp; you&nbsp; get&nbsp; a&nbsp; bonus&nbsp; to defensive fighting or total defense. How does that work with Expertise? &nbsp; Any attack bonus you devote&nbsp; to&nbsp; defense&nbsp; with&nbsp; the Expertise&nbsp; feat&nbsp; (up&nbsp; to&nbsp; your&nbsp; base&nbsp; attack&nbsp; bonus&nbsp; or&nbsp; +5, whichever is lower) applies as a penalty to all the attacks you make until it’s your turn again, including attacks of opportunity. You get the defense bonus only once, no matter how many attacks you make or how many weapons you&nbsp; use. (It, too, remains until it’s your turn again.) For example, a 9th-level fighter with a base attack bonus&nbsp; of&nbsp; +9/+4&nbsp; has&nbsp; Expertise,&nbsp; Two-Weapon&nbsp; Fighting, and Ambidexterity.&nbsp; If&nbsp; the&nbsp; character&nbsp; uses&nbsp; a&nbsp; light&nbsp; weapon in her off hand, she’ll get 3 attacks, each at a .2 penalty: +7/+2 with her primary&nbsp; hand and an extra attack with her off hand at +7 . If the character claims a +2 bonus to Armor&nbsp; Class&nbsp; from Expertise,&nbsp; her&nbsp; attack bonuses become +5/+0 and +5. &nbsp; As pointed out before, you can’t use Expertise and total defense at the same time. (You can use Expertise only as part of the full attack or attack actions.) &nbsp; You can fight&nbsp; defensively only when you use the&nbsp; full attack action or attack action (see page 124 of the Player’s Handbook), but if you do, you can use Expertise along with it. (Because fighting defensively is mentioned in the Expertise&nbsp; feat&nbsp; description&nbsp; on&nbsp; page&nbsp; 82&nbsp; of&nbsp; the&nbsp; Player’s Handbook,&nbsp; some&nbsp; people&nbsp; think&nbsp; Expertise&nbsp; is&nbsp; just&nbsp; a&nbsp; better way of fighting defensively,&nbsp; but&nbsp; that’s&nbsp; not&nbsp; true.)&nbsp; When you&nbsp; use&nbsp; Expertise&nbsp; and&nbsp; defensive&nbsp; fighting&nbsp; together,&nbsp; you simply&nbsp; add&nbsp; up&nbsp; all&nbsp; the&nbsp; Armor&nbsp; Class&nbsp; bonuses&nbsp; and&nbsp; attack penalties. Note that both Expertise and defensive fighting provide dodge bonuses to Armor Class. Dodge bonuses, unlike most other bonuses in the game, stack. (See page 119&nbsp; in&nbsp; the&nbsp; Player’s&nbsp; Handbook.)&nbsp; If&nbsp; the&nbsp; character&nbsp; in&nbsp; the previous example decided to fight defensively, she would add another +2 bonus to Armor Class (for&nbsp; a&nbsp; total&nbsp; of&nbsp; +4) and an extra .4 attack penalty, which would reduce her attacks&nbsp; to&nbsp; +1/.4&nbsp; and&nbsp; +1.&nbsp; The&nbsp; combination&nbsp; of&nbsp; Expertise and defensive fighting isn’t very efficient. &nbsp; If the character in the example also had 5 or more ranks in&nbsp; the&nbsp; Tumble&nbsp; skill,&nbsp; her&nbsp; dodge&nbsp; bonus&nbsp; from&nbsp; fighting defensively&nbsp; would&nbsp; be&nbsp; +3&nbsp; instead&nbsp; of&nbsp; +2,&nbsp; and&nbsp; her&nbsp; total Armor Class bonus would be +5. &nbsp; Since Expertise is not the same as fighting defensively, your Tumble ranks don’t help you when you use Expertise without also fighting defensively. with an attack that can deal damage.) When you’re overrunning, you’re making&nbsp; a&nbsp; trip&nbsp; as&nbsp; part&nbsp; of&nbsp; the&nbsp; move portion&nbsp; of&nbsp; a&nbsp; charge,&nbsp; not&nbsp; as&nbsp; a&nbsp; melee&nbsp; attack.&nbsp; You&nbsp; can, however, end your charge and use your normal attack against an opponent you’ve&nbsp; knocked&nbsp; down&nbsp; during&nbsp; an overrun.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="WaterRabbit, post: 84245, member: 2445"] [b]See the D&D FAQ[/b] This is discussed very well in the D&D FAQ: My group’s having some difficulty with the Expertise feat. What happens when you use Expertise along with Two-Weapon Fighting? Do you get the Armor Class bonus from Expertise once for each weapon? Once for each attack? What if you use the total defense option or the fight defensively option? (Or is Expertise just another way of fighting defensively?) If you have five or more ranks in the Tumble skill, you get a bonus to defensive fighting or total defense. How does that work with Expertise? Any attack bonus you devote to defense with the Expertise feat (up to your base attack bonus or +5, whichever is lower) applies as a penalty to all the attacks you make until it’s your turn again, including attacks of opportunity. You get the defense bonus only once, no matter how many attacks you make or how many weapons you use. (It, too, remains until it’s your turn again.) For example, a 9th-level fighter with a base attack bonus of +9/+4 has Expertise, Two-Weapon Fighting, and Ambidexterity. If the character uses a light weapon in her off hand, she’ll get 3 attacks, each at a .2 penalty: +7/+2 with her primary hand and an extra attack with her off hand at +7 . If the character claims a +2 bonus to Armor Class from Expertise, her attack bonuses become +5/+0 and +5. [b] As pointed out before, you can’t use Expertise and total defense at the same time. (You can use Expertise only as part of the full attack or attack actions.) [/b] You can fight defensively only when you use the full attack action or attack action (see page 124 of the Player’s Handbook), but if you do, you can use Expertise along with it. (Because fighting defensively is mentioned in the Expertise feat description on page 82 of the Player’s Handbook, some people think Expertise is just a better way of fighting defensively, but that’s not true.) When you use Expertise and defensive fighting together, you simply add up all the Armor Class bonuses and attack penalties. Note that both Expertise and defensive fighting provide dodge bonuses to Armor Class. Dodge bonuses, unlike most other bonuses in the game, stack. (See page 119 in the Player’s Handbook.) If the character in the previous example decided to fight defensively, she would add another +2 bonus to Armor Class (for a total of +4) and an extra .4 attack penalty, which would reduce her attacks to +1/.4 and +1. The combination of Expertise and defensive fighting isn’t very efficient. If the character in the example also had 5 or more ranks in the Tumble skill, her dodge bonus from fighting defensively would be +3 instead of +2, and her total Armor Class bonus would be +5. Since Expertise is not the same as fighting defensively, your Tumble ranks don’t help you when you use Expertise without also fighting defensively. with an attack that can deal damage.) When you’re overrunning, you’re making a trip as part of the move portion of a charge, not as a melee attack. You can, however, end your charge and use your normal attack against an opponent you’ve knocked down during an overrun. [/QUOTE]

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