Staggering Strike from CV

[moritheil]

Hmm, a feat that turns enemies into zombies. Interesting.

It should be fine as played. Don't forget to include enemies who have sneak attack and that feat.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Hmm, a feat that turns enemies into zombies. Interesting.

"I need to Ready a charge against that wizard - quick, Lidda, stab me!"

-Hyp.

 

[moritheil]

"I need to Ready a charge against that wizard - quick, Lidda, stab me!"

-Hyp.

Haha, I was thinking of an enemy saying something similar after being stabbed.

 

[Elephant]

Note that the attack does not need to be a sneak attack - merely a melee attack. Sneak attack is a prereq to take the feat, not to use it.

Thanks for posting the text; I don't have the book myself, one of the other players has it

Also note that when I was talking about sneak attack balance and this feat, I was referring to the effects on the DC, not whether a target could be staggered.

 

[Shin Okada]

That feat seems strong but maybe not that much strong. It could be very effective against a monster or character who relies on multiple attacks. But it does not hamper spellcasting or the use of special abilities much. And there are a lot of high CR monsters which rely on single strong attack.

I am rather interested in the level of that PC. And how that character is inflicting 40-60 damages in melee every round constantly?

 

[Elephant]

20th level rogue with a ring of Greater Blink and a feat that improves sneak attack dice to d8s. Add flanking to help with True Seeing situations, and most sneak-attackable foes take 80-150 per round from him.

It's par for the group - my cleric does over 100 per round in most combats due to the Divine x/Righteous Might spells, the druid has some scary wildshape forms, and the wizard...well, he's a 20th level wizard with numerous blasting spells and metamagic feats. 'nuff said.

Edit: Oops, my bad. He's a 20th level character, but he's not a pure rogue. There are a couple of fighter levels in there and maybe Thief-Acrobat - I'd have to ask the player to know for sure. I think he said he has sneak attack of 8d8 at the current level.

 

[Quinnman]

I am rather interested in the level of that PC. And how that character is inflicting 40-60 damages in melee every round constantly?

With one hit that is...! - that is one nasty attack by a rogue...

edit: one post too late

 

[Shin Okada]

20th level rogue with a ring of Greater Blink and a feat that improves sneak attack dice to d8s.

I see. But in my experience, at 20th-level, it becomes very hard to use sneak attacks against characters. They tend to have measures against invisibility & flanking. What is worse, fortified armors tend to become really popular. Also, at higher level, BAB difference between a rogue and a fighter-type become obvious. +5 is a big difference against high AC characters.

Higher CR monsters tend to have simular abilities and immunities, too. And it becomes harder to frank monsters as they become bigger. Also, at CR 20+. monsters may actually make DC 40-60 fort saves.

So I think, you don't need to worry much about that feat as long as you throw worthy foes.

Though, solving that feat every time the rogue hit sounds really annoying.

 

[Bill Muench]

Note that the attack does not need to be a sneak attack - merely a melee attack. Sneak attack is a prereq to take the feat, not to use it.

My copy of CV says "melee sneak attack", not "melee attack". That said, the feat is still silly powerful.

 

[Elephant]

I see. But in my experience, at 20th-level, it becomes very hard to use sneak attacks against characters.

Well, the DM doesn't tend to think in terms of, "How do I stop the characters' abilities from being effective?", so sneak attacks still happen quite a bit of the time. Given the HPs of the critters we've been fighting, that's a GOOD thing!