D&D 3E/3.5 "The Big Big Book of Feats 3.5" by Anubis

Anubis

First Post
The BBBoF is back, revised for 3.5 and better than ever! Feats that pertain to "ki" use are back along with the revised Toughness feat chain and much much more!

Some of these feats are meant to be used with my rules for "Saiyans" that I will be posting shortly. They are all usable in nearly any campaign, as they are all balanced very well for all but the "weakest" of campaigns. That said, some of these feats are EXTREMELY powerful, but as I said, they are balanced. If you play in a low-magic or lower-power campaign, however, be EXTREMELY cautious when considering the use of some of these feats.

Here it is, "The Big Big Book of Feats 3.5"! This post will be updated as necessary with additions, corrections, errata, etc. ENJOY!



Toughness [General]
You are tougher than normal.
Benefit: You gain +5 hit points and your "death's door" range is extended by 5.

Dwarf's Toughness [General]
You are tougher than you were before.
Prerequisites: Base Fort save bonus +5, Toughness.
Benefit: You gain +10 hit points and your "death's door" range is extended by 5.

Giant's Toughness [General]
You are amazingly tough.
Prerequisites: Base Fort save bonus +8, Toughness, Dwarf's Toughness.
Benefit: You gain +15 hit points and your "death's door" range is extended by 5.

Dragon's Toughness [General]
You are incredibly tough.
Prerequisites: Base Fort save bonus +11, Toughness, Dwarf's Toughness, Giant's Toughness.
Benefit: You gain +20 hit points and your "death's door" range is extended by 5.

Epic Toughness [Epic]
You are preternaturally tough.
Prerequisites: Toughness, Dwarf's Toughness, Giant's Toughness, Dragon's Toughness.
Benefit: You gain +25 hit points and your "death's door" range is extended by 10.

Improved Epic Toughness [Epic]
You're extremely hard to kill, and your toughness amazes even the gods.
Prerequisites: Toughness, Dwarf's Toughness, Giant's Toughness, Dragon's Toughness, Epic Toughness.
Benefit: You gain +25 hit points and your "death's door" range is extended by 20.

Immortality [Epic]
You are immortal, and have left the confines of the mortal coil behind forever.
Prerequisites: Con 51, base Fort save +52, Heal 50 ranks, Toughness, Dwarf's Toughness, Giant's Toughness, Dragon's Toughness, Epic Toughness, Improved Epic Toughness, Great Fortitude, Epic Fortitude, Iron Will, Epic Will, Endurance, Epic Endurance, Diehard, Extended Life Span, Great Constitution, Fast Healing, Prefect Health, Skill Focus (heal), Greater Skill Focus (heal), Epic Skill Focus (heal).
Benefit: You will live forever (your maximum age is removed) and your "death's door" range is extended by 100; in addition, you no longer suffer ability penalties for aging and cannot be magically aged, although any penalties you have already suffered remain in place and bonuses still accrue.

Blood Pact [Vile]
You sign a pact to any powerful evil entity with a pint of your own blood in order to receive that being's protection.
Benefit: You get a +2 bonus to all saving throws toward all spells, effects, and actions done to you by good-aligned beings.

Evil Blessing [Vile]
You are favored by a powerful evil entity and thus your attacks against good are particularly blessed.
Benefit: You add +1 to all attack rolls made against good-aligned beings.

Dark Aim [Vile]
Through dark powers, your sneak attacks are able to strike the vital areas of good beings more easily.
Benefit: You add +1d6 to your sneak attack damage against good-aligned creatures.

Sinister Spell Focus [Vile]
You are proficient in sinister magical powers that make your spells especially deadly to good beings.
Benefit: Add +2 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws for spells cast against good-aligned beings.

Improved Efficient Item Creation [Epic]
Select an item creation feat. You can create magic items using that feat even more quickly then before.
Prerequisites: Item creation feat to be selected, Efficient Item Creation for the item creation feat to be selected, Knowledge (arcana) 44 ranks, Spellcraft 44 ranks.
Benefit: Select an item creation feat. Creating a magic item using that feat requires one day per 100,000 gp of the item's market price, with a minimum of one day. All items created using this feat cost an additional 10,000 XP.
Normal: Without this feat, creating a magic item requires one day for each 1,000 gp of the item's market price.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a different item creation feat.

Energy Manipulation [Ki]
You have learned how to harness the power of your ki.
Prerequisites: Con 13, Endurance.
Benefit: You gain the ability to harness the power of your ki for offensive purposes. As a normal ranged attack, you may fire up to one energy ball per iterative attack at a range increment of 25 feet up to five range increments, dealing 1d6 points of damage per hit. A second option allows you to create a 5 ft. wide energy blast that extends out to a maximum of 100 feet as a ranged touch attack, dealing 1d6 points of damage +1 point per character level to a single creature. A third option allows you to create a powerful energy explosion with a 20-ft.-radius spread anywhere within 100 feet, dealing up to 1d6 points of damage per character level (maximum 10d6) to all creatures within the area. All three attack forms allow a Reflex save for half damage, DC 10 + 1/2 attacker's character level + attacker's Constitution modifier. Using this feat to attack with energy balls or ki blasts deals 1 point of nonlethal damage to you per attack, while attacking with an energy explosion deals 1d6 points of nonlethal damage to you per character level you put into the attack. In addition to these offensive uses, this feat may also be used in conjunction with the Knowledge (ki) skill to fly with a speed of 20 feet (15 feet if wearing medium or heavy armor). You can fly up at half speed and descend at double speed, and your maneuverability rating is clumsy. With 5 ranks of Knowledge (ki), you can fly with a speed of 30 feet (20 feet if wearing medium or heavy armor). You can fly up at half speed and descend at double speed, and your maneuverability rating is poor. Using this feat to fly deals 1d6 points of nonlethal damage per round.
Special: Effective Character Level (ECL) and Character Level are considered the same for purposes of calculating the numerical effects of any ki feat. Any nonlethal damage that results from the use of ki that is greater than the user's current hit points is instead normal damage.

Improved Energy Manipulation [Ki]
You are very proficient at harnessing the power of your ki.
Prerequisites: Con 15, Endurance, Energy Manipulation.
Benefit: As a normal ranged attack, you may now attack at a range increment of 100 feet up to five range increments, dealing 1d6 points of damage +1 point per character level per hit. This deals 1 point of nonlethal damage to you per attack. You also have more control over your ki blasts, allowing you to shape the blast as you wish so long as the volume of the blast does not exceed 10,000 cubic feet. The ki blast deals up to 1d6 points of damage per two character levels to each creature within its area. Alternatively, with a focused ki blast, you may choose to strike a single creature up to 400 feet away as a ranged touch attack, dealing up to 1d6 points of damage per character level to the target. These two uses deal 1d6 points of nonlethal damage to you per character level you put into the attck. Lastly, you can create an energy explosion with a 40-ft.-radius spread anywhere within 400 feet, dealing up to 1d8 points of damage per character level (maximum 20d8) to all creatures within the area. This deals 1d6 points of nonlethal damage to you per character level you put into the attack. All three attack forms allow a Reflex save for half damage, DC 10 + 1/2 attacker's character level + attacker's Constitution modifier. In addition to the above offensive uses, this feat improved your flying skills. With 15 ranks of Knowledge (ki), you can fly with a speed of 60 feet (40 feet if wearing medium or heavy armor). You can fly up at half speed and descend at double speed, and your maneuverability rating is average. Using this feat to fly deals 1 point of nonlethal damage per round. Using this feat to fly deals 1d6 points of nonlethal damage per round.
Special: Effective Character Level (ECL) and Character Level are considered the same for purposes of calculating the numerical effects of any ki feat. Any nonlethal damage that results from the use of ki that is greater than the user's current hit points is instead normal damage.

Epic Energy Manipulation [Ki] [Epic]
You are a master at harnessing the power of your ki.
Prerequisites: Con 19, Endurance, Energy Manipulation, Improved Energy Manipulation, Epic Endurance.
Benefit: You may now attack with energy balls at a range increment of 400 feet up to ten range increments, dealing 2d6 points of damage +1 point per character level per hit. This deals 1d4 points of nonlethal damage to you per attack. You may now shape your ki blasts up to a volume of 500 cubic feet per character level. The ki blast deals up to 1d6 points of damage per character level to each creature within its area. Alternatively, you may choose to strike a single creature up to 20 feet per character level away as a ranged touch attack, dealing up to 2d6 points of damage per character level to the target. This deals 1d6 points of nonlethal damage to you per character level you put into the attack. Your energy explosions now have an area of up to 10 ft./5 character levels radius spread and may be placed anywhere within 400 feet, dealing up to 1d10 points of damage per character level (maximum 40d10) to all creatures within the area. This deals 1d8 points of nonlethal damage to you per character level you put into the attack. All three attack forms allow a Reflex save for half damage, DC 10 + 1/2 attacker's character level + attacker's Constitution modifier. With 19 ranks of Knowledge (ki), you can fly with a speed of 90 feet (60 feet if wearing medium or heavy armor). You can fly up at half speed and descend at double speed, and your maneuverability rating is good. Using this feat to fly deals 1 point of nonlethal damage per minute.
Special: Effective Character Level (ECL) and Character Level are considered the same for purposes of calculating the numerical effects of any ki feat. Any nonlethal damage that results from the use of ki that is greater than the user's current hit points is instead normal damage.

Supreme Energy Manipulation [Ki] [Epic]
You are a unrivaled at harnessing the power of your ki.
Prerequisites: Con 43, Endurance, Energy Manipulation, Improved Energy Manipulation, Epic Endurance, Epic Energy Manipulation.
Benefit: Your ability to harness the power of your ki is so great that you are able to break nearly all of the normal limits of your ki attacks. Your energy balls have a range increment of 400 feet with no limit on the number of range increments, dealing up to 1d6 points of damage per character level per hit. These attacks are not limited to four as normal attacks are; each attack beyond the fourth has the usual cumulative -5 penalty to attack. This deals 1d6 points of nonlethal damage to you per attack, +5 points of nonlethal damage per iterative attack beyond the fourth and per range increment beyond the tenth. The range and dimensions of your ki blasts are unlimited, with no limit on the number of d6 damage dice you may inflict to targets. This deals 1d8 points of nonlethal damage to you per die of damage you choose to deal in the attack. Your energy explosions now have an area of up to 20 ft./5 character levels radius spread and may be placed anywhere within 400 feet +40 feet/character level, dealing up to 2d8 points of damage per character level to all creatures within the area. This deals 2d6 points of nonlethal damage to you per character level you put into the attack. All three attack forms allow a Reflex save for half damage, DC 10 + 1/2 attacker's character level + attacker's Constitution modifier. With 29 ranks of Knowledge (ki), you can fly with a speed of 120 feet (80 feet if wearing medium or heavy armor). You can fly up at full speed and descend at double speed, and your maneuverability rating is perfect. Using this feat to fly deals 1 point of nonlethal damage per hour.
Special: If you put so much power into a ki attack that you kill yourself, you are utterly destroyed, as if disintegrated, except not even a trace of dust is left of you. If you die in this way, only a wish or miracle can restore you to life.

Conceal Ki [Ki]
You have learned to hide your ki.
Prerequisites: Energy Manipulation, Knowledge (ki) 4 ranks.
Benefit: You gain the ability to make yourself appear to be less powerful as a standard action. You can choose how powerful to make yourself seem to be. This fools any and all powers that are able to discern your power level in any way, including those of deities. While supressing your power in this way, however, you are unable to use your ki in any other way, and also suffer penalties as if you had a number of negative levels equal to the difference between your full level and your apparent level. This ability may be turned off at any time as a free action.

Detect Ki [Ki]
You have learned to sense the power levels of creatures.
Prerequisites: Energy Manipulation, Knowledge (ki) 4 ranks.
Benefit: You gain the ability to detect another's ki as a free action. You are able to detect the character level and current hit points of the subject.

Empower Ki [Ki]
You have learned how to use your ki to make yourself for powerful.
Prerequisites: Con 19, Energy Manipulation, Knowledge (ki) 10 ranks.
Benefit: As a full-round action, you may use your ki to give yourself a +1 ki bonus to attack and damage, saving throws, the DC of an ability set (arcane spells, divine spells, ki attacks, and so on), Strength skills, Dexterity skills, Constitution skills, or AC. You may spend multiple rounds to stack the effects of this extraordinary ability. The effects of this feat may be dropped as a free action. Beginning on the round after your finish powering yourself up with this feat, for each instance of this feat that is active, you take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage per round.

Enhance Ki [Ki] [Epic]
You have learned how to use your ki to make yourself for powerful without harming yourself as much.
Prerequisites: Con 27, Energy Manipulation, Epic Energy Manipulation, Knowledge (ki) 25 ranks.
Benefit: As Empower Ki, except you only take a total of 20 points of nonlethal damage per round as long as your total bonus does not exceed your character level.

Ki Focus [Ki]
You have learned how to make your ki attacks harder to resist or avoid.
Prerequisites: Energy Manipulation.
Benefit: Add +1 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against your ki attacks.

Greater Ki Focus [Ki]
You have learned how to make your ki attacks even harder to resist or avoid.
Prerequisites: Energy Manipulation, Ki Focus.
Benefit: Add +2 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against your ki attacks. This feat negates the evasion ability of any creature you use ki attacks on. This overlaps (does not stack with) the bonus from Ki Focus.

Epic Ki Focus [Ki] [Epic]
Your ki attacks are nearly impossible to resist or avoid.
Prerequisites: Energy Manipulation, Epic Energy Manipulation, Ki Focus, Greater Ki Focus.
Benefit: Add +3 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against your ki attacks. This feat negates the Improved Evasion ability of any creature you use ki attacks on. This overlaps (does not stack with) the bonuses from Ki Focus and Greater Ki Focus.

Ki Initiative [Ki]
You can focus your ki into a sudden burst of speed, allowing you to react faster during combat.
Prerequisites: Dex 15, Con 15, Energy Manipulation, Knowledge (ki) 4 ranks, Improved Initiative, Combat Reflexes.
Benefit: You get a +1d6 ki bonus on initiative checks and take an equal amount of nonlethal damage.

Superior Ki Initiative [Ki] [Epic]
You can focus your ki even more into a sudden burst of lightning speed, allowing you to react even faster during combat.
Prerequisites: Dex 25, Con 25, Energy Manipulation, Epic Energy Manipulation, Knowledge (ki) 24 ranks, Improved Initiative, Superior Initiative, Combat Reflexes, Ki Initiative.
Benefit: You get an additional +2d6 ki bonus on initiative checks and take an equal amount of nonlethal damage. This bonus stacks with the bonus from Ki Initiative.

Perfect Ki Flight [Ki] [Epic]
You have perfected flight through the use of ki.
Prerequisites: Supreme Energy Manipulation, Knowledge (ki) 44 ranks.
Benefit: Your can fly in any direction however you wish with a speed of 120 feet +30 feet per character level (80 feet +10 feet per character level if wearing medium or heavy armor). You no longer take any nonlethal damage from ki flight.

Saiyan's Toughness [Saiyan]
You're a Saiyan, and thus much tougher than most other races.
Prerequisites: Saiyan.
Benefit: You gain +50 hit points and your "death's door" range is extended by 20. This is applied before all other modifiers, including other feats in the Toughness chain of feats.

Epic Saiyan's Toughness [Saiyan] [Epic]
You have surpassed even the most powerful of the Saiyan's, and thus are among the toughest beings in the universe.
Prerequisites: Saiyan, Saiyan's Toughness, Diehard, Tail Weakness Immunity, Epic Endurance.
Benefit: You gain +50 hit points and your "death's door" range is doubled. This is applied after all other modifiers to your "death's door" range.

Tail Weakness Immunity [Saiyan]
You have surpassed the normal limits of a Saiyan warrior and have become immune to the Tail Weakness shown by other Saiyans.
Prerequisites: Tail Weakness trait, Con 21, Great Fortitude, effective character level 20th+.
Benefit: You are immune to Tail Weakness. In addition, if you lose your tail, you are no longer subject to the resulting Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution drain.
Normal: A Saiyan is normally stunned while his tail is being tightly held, and upon losing his or her tail, takes 4 points of Strength and Constitution drain plu 2 points of Dexterity drain.

Control Oozaru Form [Saiyan]
You have learned to take limited control over your Oozaru form.
Prerequisites: Ability to shapechange into an Oozaru form, Iron Will, effective character level 30th+.
Benefit: You have partial control over your Oozaru form. You are no longer in a berserk state while in your Oozaru form, but neither do you have complete control. Treat control in Oozaru form as if under the effects of a barbarian rage.
Normal: A Saiyan normally has no control over his Oozaru form.

2nd-Grade Super Saiyan [Saiyan] [Epic]
You have learned to go beyond the level of Super Saiyan. This transformation is also known as Super Saiyan 2nd Grade.
Prerequisites: Ability to transform into a Super Saiyan, character level 27th+ (character level 22nd+ for Half-Saiyans born before his Saiyan parent became a Super Saiyan, character level 16th+ for Half-Saiyans born after his Saiyan parent became a Super Saiyan).
Benefit: You are more powerful than a normal Super Saiyan, although slower and less nimble. As such, your natural armor bonus is now +30, your resistance bonus for Fortitude saving throws is now +30, your resistance bonus to Reflex saving throws drop to +10, and your ability scores as a Super Saiyan are changed as follows: Str +30, Con +30, Int +10, Wis +10, Cha +10. In addition, you no longer move at twice your normal movement rate. A Super Saiyan 2nd Grade takes 2d6 points of nonlethal damage per round he remains as a Super Saiyan. All of these values replace the normal Super Saiyan values.
Normal: A Super Saiyan usually has a +20 natural armor bonus, a +20 resistance bonus to all saving throws, moves at twice his normal movement rate, takes only 1d6 points of nonlethal damage per round while transformed into a Super Saiyan, and has the following ability scores: Str +20, Dex +20, Con +20, Int +10, Wis +10, Cha +10.

Ultra Super Saiyan [Saiyan] [Epic]
You have learned to go even further beyond the level of Super Saiyan. This transformation is also known as Super Saiyan 3rd Grade.
Prerequisites: Ability to transform into a Super Saiyan, character level 35th+ (character level 28th+ for Half-Saiyans born before his Saiyan parent became a Super Saiyan, character level 21st+ for Half-Saiyans born after his Saiyan parent became a Super Saiyan), 2nd-Grade Super Saiyan.
Benefit: You are much more powerful than a normal Super Saiyan, although quite a bit slower and far less nimble. As such, your natural armor bonus is now +40, your resistance bonus for Fortitude saving throws is now +40, you lose your resistance bonus to Reflex saving throws, and your ability scores as a Super Saiyan are changed as follows: Str +40, Dex -10, Con +40, Int +10, Wis +10. In addtion, you can only move at half your normal movement rate. An Ultra Super Saiyan takes 3d6 points of nonlethal damage per round he remains as a Super Saiyan. All of these values replace the normal Super Saiyan values.
Normal: A Super Saiyan usually has a +20 natural armor bonus, a +20 resistance bonus to all saving throws, moves at twice his normal movement rate, takes only 1d6 points of nonlethal damage per round while transformed into a Super Saiyan, and has the following ability scores: Str +20, Dex +20, Con +20, Int +10, Wis +10, Cha +10.

Full-Power Super Saiyan [Saiyan] [Epic]
You have mastered the Super Saiyan transformation, and it has become second-nature for you.
Prerequisites: Ability to transform into a Super Saiyan, character level 43rd+ (character level 34th+ for Half-Saiyans born before his Saiyan parent became a Super Saiyan, character level 26th+ for Half-Saiyans born after his Saiyan parent became a Super Saiyan), 2nd-Grade Super Saiyan, Ultra Super Saiyan.
Benefit: You no longer take any nonlethal damage while transformed into a Super Saiyan, allowing you to sustain that form indefinitely.
Normal: A Saiyan normally takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage per round he remains as a Super Saiyan.
Special: This feat does not apply to 2nd-Grade Super Saiyan, Ultra Super Saiyan, or Super Saiyan transformations beyond that of Super Saiyan.
 
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Anabstercorian

First Post
Pretty fantastic...

Alright. I vote we take Ember, the Iconic Monk, and put her in single combat against a series of opponents using these feats. We'll see how balanced they are.

These attacks can be deflected/reflected by epic monks, correct?
 

Anubis

First Post
:confused:

Actually they are pretty balanced. As for deflecting things, anyone who can deflect a ray can deflect the focused ki blasts and anyone who can deflect normal ranged attacks can deflect energy balls, but the beam ki blast and energy explosion can only be beaten by Evasion and Improved Evasion, and only so long as the attacker doesn't have Greater Ki Focus/Epic Ki Focus.

At any rate, trust me, these things are perfectly balance. The balancing factors are the prerequisites, actually. Most of the better feats are EXTREMELY difficult to qualify for, and by the time a person could have all of them (which requires somwhere around I think Level 70 at the earliest), most of the enemies you face in combat have abilities that are equally nasty.

Woe to the attacking using focused ki blast on an opponent with a shield of epic reflection! :eek:

The most powerful uses of these abilities are all pretty much suicidal. Sure, you could blow up a Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon with Supreme Energy Manipulation, but you'll be poofed in the process.
 


Anubis

First Post
Tzudralkor said:

<sarcasm>Oh yeah, ive always thought that level 1 fighters being able to throw more fireballs per day than the party spellcaster can cast magic missiles</sarcasm>

Someone didn't read the "1d6 nonlethal damage per level you put into the attack" condition. Fighters wouldn't use that very often. Trust me, from experience using these feats, they are balanced.
 
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seasong

First Post
Anubis said:
Someone didn't read the "1d6 nonlethal damage per level you put into the attack" condition. Trust me, fighters wouldn't use that very often. Trust me, from experience using these feats, they are balanced.
Agreed. A fireball at 1st level that can, at most, be cast one or two times, is reasonably balanced for a feat.

Of course, for the SAME feat you also get a d6 weapon with superior range to anything in the game that you can fire off many, many, many times before the 1 non-lethal point of damage starts to really hurt.

And for the SAME feat you also get the ability to fly at 1st level, although the flight has an extremely limited duration (due to non-lethal damage).

And for the SAME feat you get a 400 ft ranged touch attack, which also has a fairly cheap 1 point of non-lethal damage cost.

If that was 4 feats, it might be balanced. But for the cost of 1 feat?
 

seasong

First Post
Hrm. Just noticed that you can actually get Improved Energy Manipulation at 1st level.

And both depend on the assumption that fighters can take these as fighter bonus feats. If they can't, you have to wait until 3rd level to take Improved Energy Manipulation.

-seasong
 

Anubis

First Post
seasong said:
Agreed. A fireball at 1st level that can, at most, be cast one or two times, is reasonably balanced for a feat.

Of course, for the SAME feat you also get a d6 weapon with superior range to anything in the game that you can fire off many, many, many times before the 1 non-lethal point of damage starts to really hurt.

And for the SAME feat you also get the ability to fly at 1st level, although the flight has an extremely limited duration (due to non-lethal damage).

And for the SAME feat you get a 400 ft ranged touch attack, which also has a fairly cheap 1 point of non-lethal damage cost.

If that was 4 feats, it might be balanced. But for the cost of 1 feat?

Simple to answer. In the old version, they WERE four seperate feats. Unfortunately, what you get here isn't worth four feats. In fact, as seperate feats (especially once you factor in the later feats), this was all pretty worthless. You basically had to dedicate every single feat you got to this chain of feats in order to get any use out of them. In fact, as it stands, you still have to dedicate almost all of your feats to this chain of feats (in addition to having to put maximum ranks in a skill that is cross-class for every class save for Monk, Martial Artist, Saiyan Warrior, and Saiyan Elite) in order to get your money's worth out of all this.

It may look munchkin, but in practice, it's not. To illustrate, yes, you can hit a bunch of stuff like with an energy fireball, but you also hit your friends and take a ton of nonlethal damage, and even then everything gets a saving throw. Yes, you can fire an awesome ranged attack, but you have to hit as normal (energy ball is not ranged touch, it is normal ranged as if with a bow) and the enemy still gets a saving throw, not to mention it's only got shortbow power. Yes, you get a decent ranged touch attack, but that still gives a save and deals paltry damage, meaning you likely already have a better method of attack. What these feats do give you is a very slick way to combat fliers when you otherwise couldn't, especially any with damage reduction. Still, this does cost two feats to get, one of those being a virtually worthless feat (Endurance, so you basically get this feat for the price of two), so that kinda makes up for it.

As for the flying, well, it's slow and the maneuverability leaves much to be desired. You certainly can't become a seriously terrible threat to most enemies with it, especially in an enclosed setting. This flight follows all normal flight rules including minimum forward speed and turn angles and such. Plus, don't forget that the skill ranks are hard to come by for most classes. These feats are very nice for monks, though, but they already got stuff as good anyway, so it's not an incredible boon.

Let me say once again that the nonlethal damage is nothing to laugh at here. Even 1 adds up quickly, and if you take enough damage, you get knocked out. Most people would tire quickly of constantly having to heal your nonlethal damage, esepcially if you have no real damage, hahaha.

seasong said:
Hrm. Just noticed that you can actually get Improved Energy Manipulation at 1st level.

And both depend on the assumption that fighters can take these as fighter bonus feats. If they can't, you have to wait until 3rd level to take Improved Energy Manipulation.

-seasong

NONE of my feats here can be taken as fighter bonus feats, the Toughness chain included (my Toughness feats do a bit more than the core Toughness feats), so no worries here. Oh, none of these are able to be taken as epic bonus feats for any classes either, save for the Saiyan Elite.

No worries!

Besides, although you can get Improved Energy Manipulation at Level 3, you can only do so by dedicating pretty much all your feats to it. Oh, and don't forget that the nonlethal damage costs go up with that feat, making it risky business for a Level 3 character of any class to use it.

Personally, if I were a human fighter and I wanted these, assuming I put maximum ranks in Knowledge (ki) and have decent enough stats, I would go Weapon Focus (primary weapon)*, Endurance, Energy Manipulation, Combat Reflexes*, Improved Initiative, Weapon Specialization (primary weapon)*, Quick Draw*, Ki Initiative, Improved Critical (primary weapon)*, Improved Energy Manipulation, Greater Weapon Focus (primary weapon)*, Greater Weapon Specialization (primary weapon)*, Ki Focus, Point Blank Shot*, Conceal Ki, Precise Shot*, Blind-Fight*, Detect Ki, Rapid Shot* . . . That goes through Level 20 . . . Empower Ki, Epic Endurance*, Superior Initiative*, Epic Energy Manipulation, Damage Reduction*, Greater Ki Focus, Power Attack*, Cleave*, Epic Ki Focus, Great Cleave*, Toughness, Overwhelming Critical (primary weapon)*, Devastating Critical (primary weapon)*, Dwarf's Toughness, Armor Skin*, Dragon's Toughness, Dodge* . . . That goes through Level 40 . . .

*These are taken as fighter bonus feats.

As you can see, even with tons of bonus feats, it's incredibly difficult to advance in the chain. The feats are all, in and of themselves, quite powerful. It's the drawbacks that balance them. These are basically all or nothing. For most, investing in these feats means these feats will be your primary source of offense, dangerous given the nonlethal damage done.

The BEST two feats up there, by far, are Immortality and Perfect Ki Flight, and both have insane prerequisites.
 
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Anabstercorian

First Post
Hmmm. That's a very well reasoned and thought out defense, Anubis.

Alright, folks. You people all THINK it's broken... So break it. Show me a combination of this and other things that make it overpowered!

Although, to be honest, I will admit that I'm unsure as to why the range on the energy balls is so immense. You could nail folks miles away with that.
 

seasong

First Post
Anabstercorian said:
Hmmm. That's a very well reasoned and thought out defense, Anubis.
Yup. Those reasons are why I stated that I thought the abilities were individually balanced - I just think that a single feat that provides you with such a range of flexibility is not so balanced. Compare it to weapon focus, which gives you a +1 to hit with a single weapon of choice, and weapon focus starts to look a little... wan.

And I think they look fine in relation to each other. But a lot of ordinary combat feats become considerably less tasty when these options are available instead.

Alright, folks. You people all THINK it's broken... So break it. Show me a combination of this and other things that make it overpowered!
Uh, no. I don't think it's broken. I just think it's not well balanced in proportion to other feats. This is a feat that is must-have for fighters, much like weapon specialization, except that you get it at 1st level.

Here's my test subject to illustrate my thoughts, Boo:

Human fighter-1, STR 12, DEX 18, CON 16. Chain shirt (AC 18 total). Endurance, Energy Manipulation, Weapon Focus (ranged touch blast). Owns a greatsword, dagger, and mighty +1 composite longbow. He's a simple man, with clean but largely unadorned equipment.

Against an archer dressed in a chain shirt:
Rng 0-110 ft: 2.2 avg dmg (using bow)
Rng 115-220 ft: 1.1 avg dmg (using bow)
Rng 225-1100 ft: 0.275 avg dmg (using bow)
Rng 0-400 ft: 2.925 avg dmg (using ranged touch; costs 1 non-lethal damage)
Rng 0-400 ft: 1.4 avg dmg (using energy ball; costs 1 non-lethal damage)
Rng 405-800 ft: 0.7 avg dmg (using energy ball; costs 1 non-lethal damage)
Rng 800-4000 ft: 0.175 avg dmg (using energy ball; costs 1 non-lethal damage)

Boo has 13 hit points; most archers will have 11 hp. Boo's sweet spot is with the ranged touch, anywhere from 115 ft to 400 ft. The archer's sweet spot will be anything at 110 ft or less (note: my archer has 11 hp and does about 3.375 avg dmg with the bow at 110 ft; 1.875 avg dmg up to 220 ft; and 0.375 dmg further than that).

So, is this balanced? Sure. Boo will win at very long range, but the archer will win at a pretty decent range or less. Counting non-lethal damage, Boo will still win at 115 ft or longer.

But my point isn't that Boo can do better than the archer at the archer's specialty. My point is that Boo can do about as well as the archer at the archer's specialty, and gains a host of other tactical options as well.

And at higher levels, the archer falls behind. That ranged touch attack ignores all sorts of AC boosters that enemies will have against the archer, AND Boo's average damage climbs faster than the archer's, due to the +1 per level niceness, eventually eclipsing the archer even at close ranges. But that's still not broken, although it starts to make "archer" a less-than-optimal character choice.

But even when Energy Manipulation becomes superior to the archer, Boo continues to have more tactical options than the archer, for the same feat.

-seasong
 
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