[Tome of Battle] New Maneuvers

[mythSSK]

The Desert Wind discipline has been revised (link in first post has been updated). This is not a final version, but it should hopefully be a lot closer to finished now. I also messed around with the PDF creation, so hopefully the issue some people were having will be fixed in this version.

---

Most maneuvers received minor rewrites, major changes include:

* A THOUSAND BIRDS: Fixed copy/paste error in Target line.
* DANCING FLAME: Level lowered to 4.
* GLARING BLADE: Level raised to 2. Damage increased to 2d6.
* HEATSTROKE STRIKE: Whole new maneuver added.
* ILLUMINATION OF VIGILANCE: Heavily reworded.
* NOVA GUILLOTINE: Damaged lowered to 2d6, Int damage fixed at 4.
* PHOENIX FEATHER HEALING: Added caveat based on Crusader's Strike wording.
* RAZOR WALK: Heavily reworded.
* STRIKING SIDEWINDER STANCE: Added a prerequisite - 1 Desert Wind maneuver.
* SUPERNOVA GUILLOTINE: Prerequisite increased to 5. Damage lowered to 15d6, ability damage changed to Int, Wis, and Cha damage.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

I'm not really good at naming in general, so no real ideas for renames. I don't mind Evasive Leap, was just sort of pointing it out to be funny. For Lion's Pride..I dunno. Jaws of the Wolf? Reaping Wolf's Bite?

Hadn't really thought about new manuevers before now, so I currently have nothing to contribute for WR.

Roar of the Maned King: Maybe that would be enough.

.......
Stone Dragon

Boulder Crush: Seems kinda powerful, with the damage, knockdown, and decent stun duration. Not sure if it's balanced. Normally bull rushes are standard actions or done as part of a charge. Ifthis is a full round action, state that you can initiate it as part of a charge, otherwise as written you have to be in melee already.

Boulder Fall: This one is odd, seems more like Tiger Claw, and has an editing problem "If you fails the jump check..." It's also fairly impractical...even with a running start, each 10 ft of height you get is a DC multiple of 40 (80 for 20 ft, etc...). Poorly thought out overall, IMO. I'm guessing the person wanted to recreate Bowser's crush attack from Super Smash Brothers.

Crushing Fist Stance: Pretty good, makes unarmed more viable for stone dragon.

Do Not Go Gently: Just say you stabalize automatically on your turn, it'd still not be broken. Still very suspect usefulness, and humorously rolling the dice (figuratively AND literally) that it'll be granted if you're a crusader.

Dust Whispers: Cool. Maybe should be a level 5 stance like Hear the Unseen (Diamond Mind), otherwise good.

Embrace of the Avalanche: It says fort partial, but seems more like fort negates to me. I assume the nonlethal damage happens "after" the regular melee damage? Even then, this seems too good. It's a level 5 save-or-lose maneuver. Sure, they can sort of act at 0 hp, but not to much effect. Maybe a higher level like 7-8, maybe just remove it.

Footfall of Little Earthquakes: Great. Maybe make it once per round when they first enter an affected square, or at the start of their turn if they begin in the area. As written, I assume you meant it to be once per round on the initiator's turn. You could also call said area difficult terrain, adding to tumble DC, making 5 ft steps to or away from the initiator impossible for most, and making charging him harder/impossible. Maybe that's too good, just some thoughts.

Gait of the Unshakeable Mountain: Awesome. The existing level 8 stance already gives crit immunity, maybe drop this one's down to 50% to step on less toes. One specific example I'd like you to clarify: When you say you can't evne be moved by spells, I get things like slide won't work. I assume teleportation also fails. What about grease making you fall down? This stance might have to be Su, to resist spells.

Grasp of the Earth: Might be too good for level 2. Grapple at early levels can really put a lot of creatures completely out of commision, and a sizeable bonus at low levels could do a lot. Drop it to half IL or ncrease the level.

Shockwave Fist: Fine.

Stone Spire: Maybe specify if it only works in certain terrain. It's summoning, so I guess it doesn't have to make sense.

Strength of the Earth Dragon: No problems. Ironically, it would be the most useful to someone with a fistful of SA dice, lol.

Titanic Mountain Hammer: Ancient is 12d6 at level 7, not sure if it should be 20d6 for a level 9. I suppose it's ok.

Unyielding Mountain: I had an idea like this for a homebrew class once, so I'm in favor of it! Level 2 is a strange place for a stance to be at, just to note that.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Shadow Hand

Dispelling Strike: This should be a Su maneuver. I know dispel magic caps at +10, but an initiator can't even get this until level 7, maybe reduce it to level 3. It's limited ot a melee attack and the targeted version of dispel magic already, it's probably limited enough to not be broken at 3. Arcane Turmoil from C.Mage is exactly like a targeted dispel, but is level 2, has a will save or else the target loses use of one of its highest spells prepared / known, and can't be used for area dispel or counter spelling, just to compare. I'd just say this works like a targeted dispel magic, but uses IL for CL, max +10. And so, you keep rolling till you dispel something, etc...

Dispelling Strike, Greater: As above. Might be fine at level 6.

Fatal Blind Spot: My current PC is a SH-using ninja, and he approves of this sexiness.

Phantom Charge: interesting...most SH builds will have crap base weapon damage, this might not be too useful for them. You should make the image damage negative energy or untyped, else a respectable DR will eat up all those individual damages by ECL 15 with ease. Specify this as Su.

Phasing Strike: The flavor text is written oddly, though the text after it does a good job explaining what was meant. Should be Su, at least if you houseruled all the SH teleportation abilities to be like I did.

Shadow Guerilla: The short duration makes this boost of very, very limited use. Maybe extend it to 3 rounds? More? Should be listed as Su.

Shadow Mimicry: I'd alter what's open. What I'm concerned with isn't the base adept classes, but other people. Like...a Fighter that took this via Martial Study. Perhaps have the maneuver state that if you have a class discipline list, it must be a maneuver from one of those disciplines. If you have several class discipline lists (multiclassed adept levels), it must be from the same class list as the class you used to ready this maneuver. If you have no class discipline list, the maneuver can be from any discipline, but you must be a high enough initiator to use it (shouldn't be an issue, but just in case, they ARE limited to IL = 1/2 level), and if you do not know the maneuer you're imitating, you must succeed on a DC 10 + (maneuver level) martial lore check. Failing the martial lore check results in Shadow Mimicry failing automatically. Oh! Maybe allow the target to roll martial lore instead of a will save if he has a higher bonus in that. Of course that means Shadow Mimicry would be nigh-useless against a true martial arts master. Boo hoo.

Shadow Mimicry, Greater: As above.

Shroud of Darkness: Seems really strong. Darkness in an area is cheap to achieve, and the jump in benefits to total concealment is major. The other benefit makes it even better. Why not just have it create magical darkness in say...a 20 ft radius around you, but you can see in it. Basically just ripping off the Blacklight spell from Spell Compendium. Might need to be higher level my way, and definitely if kept as written. On a side note, my group made a houserule you might want ot consider or incorporate into this stance: Further sources of concealment beyond the first add +10% to the miss chance, up to a maximum of 50%, at which point the creature gains total concealment. (Note by RAW, multiple sources of concealment don't even stack, which is totally bogus)

Umbral Jump: Kinda similar to Fatal Blind Spot. You don't make it clear if the enemy attack is interrupted or if it still deals damage. I assume the latter, but I'd like to be sure. How long is the target flatfooted? If you're teleporting, should be Su.

Widowmaker: Could work as is, or as a boost. Rather limited in use, unless you come to battle stocked with a few poisoned weapons, you're unlikely to use it again for many rounds in the same combat. Still useful, I guess.

 

[mythSSK]

Oh shi-

Two more discipline reviews? Man, you're way more on top of this than I am. I'll come back in a bit once I've had time to digest everything so I can give some real responses.

Oh, I went and checked out your ninja class, by the way. Nice. Have you seen this version? Same principal (sublime way variant ninja), bit different in execution. Includes a new Ninja martial discipline called Hidden Door.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Thanks! Glad you like my class, I'm playing it in a gestalt game right now. I think I made some small changes to it since that posting, I need to make sure it's still accurate. The "final" version I'm using is on my campaign boards site. I think it was mostly just changes to the Master Shinobi feat...

[sblock]The class on my site: Torch of Spirit - Classes

The feat:
Master Shinobi
You have mastered one or more of your Ninjutsu Focus abilities.
Prerequisite: Ninja of the Sublime Way level 11th
Benefit: Based on the Ninjutsu Focus abilities you have, you gain one or more special benefits described below. You gain the benefits for all Ninjutsu Focuses you have, even ones gained after taking this feat.
Crippling Strike: As the benefit from Savvy Rogue.
Death Attack: You gain a +2 competence bonus on the Death Attack save DC.
Defensive Roll: As the benefit from Savvy Rogue.
Find Pressure Point: Your chance of dealing SA/SS damage also applies to your chances of delivering a critical hit, even if the creature is normally immune.
Harbinger of Death: You gain +1d6 to your Sudden Strike damage against any target that is suffering from fear (Shaken or worse), regardless of the source of fear.
Hide in Plain Sight: A number of times per day equal to your Wisdom modifier, after successfully hiding within a shadow, you can transfer to another shadow which you have line of effect to as a free action. The new location must be within 10 ft per Ninja level.
Opportunist: As the benefit from Savvy Rogue.
Running Climb: You can use Feather Fall as a spell-like ability a number of times per day equal to your Wisdom modifier, CL equal to your Ninja level.
Sniper's Eye: Once per day, you can reroll the attack roll of a ranged sneak attack that missed its target. You must take the result of the new roll, even if it is worse than the first one.
Springing Attack: You gain a +2 competence bonus on the attack roll when attacking with this ability.
Untraceable: When any power or effect takes hold over your mind, you can delay the effects for a short while. This protects against anything the Mind Blank spell would, except it merely delays the onset of such a condition, instead of blocking it outright. Use of this ability requires no concious effort and is automatic, at which point you become aware it is active, though not necessarily what caused it to become active. This ability can be used Wisdom modifer times per day, for a total number of rounds per day equal to your Ninja level, whichever runs out first.[/sblock]

And no, I had never seen that Shinobi class before, actually. It was made about a year before mine, too... It looks pretty cool. Has some similarities to mine, but also a lot of differences, and they both acocmplish different things, as well as having separate "goals." I notice how he justified not including shadow hand: "The entire point of the shinobi is to protect life and strive to live according to the "laws of nature" (that is ninpo philosophy in a nutshell). Harnessing fell powers from the Plane of Shadow is practically the antithesis of the class."

My current character is NE and gestalted with cleric/shadowcraft mage, and worships a god of shadows, so even if I had known of the other class, thematically mine would fit the character concept much better anyway. Mine's definitely got a preference towards evil and is blatantly less historical and not really geared towards the actual philosophy of ninpo, but rather ninja in mass media. Still nice to have another ToB ninja class to get ideas from!

EDIT: Without reading past page 1 so far, looking at his class more closely I see that Shadow Hand IS included. Guess he relented a bit on his views for the class...

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Well, I assume the forum closings have kept you away, but I'll go on and do Setting Sun for now at least. I think this one has the most maneuvers with...issues in general. And it's nice to see some grapple-focused maneuvers finally, though I'm not sure I like these...

Setting Sun

Crushing Setting: Seems too weak. Full round action pin them (after getting them into grapple in a prior round) and do 2d6 + str damage? Tiger Claw has a level 3 stance to deal 2d6 +1.5x str whenever you want with a grapple check. Aside from boosting it, I see no reason to require it to be a full round action.

Dance of the Thousand Handed Monk: It's cool, if a mouthful. I think it's kind of strong for level 4, maybe level 5 would be better. It'd also be kind of cool to allow people with Stunning Fist to use that DC if it's higher (without expending a use). And at level 5, it's probably ok to be reduced to a standard action.

Downdraft Crush: Way way way way WAY too situational for my tastes! The full round action means you're looking at a "set-up time," too! I honestly think it's silly and don't like it enough to try and think of a revised version. Maybe someone else can.

Fell the Mighty: Seems very situational and somewhat weak, IMO. Maybe for an NPC to stick it to the Shock Trooper Leap Attacking Frenzied Berserker PC. But I can't see any player ever taking this.

Fell the Mighty, Greater: Obviously, based on the lesser version, I think this is "weak" (or rather, too situational). At least it's fairly low level and fully transfers the PA damage this time, so I suppose it's worthwhile. At the least...it costs only 3k to use it once/encounter (sandals of the SS)... Not sure it needs to require 2 maneuvers known, 1 might be sufficient. Other than that...seems fine.

Knockout Throw: I think the stun duration is a little too long. Other than that, not bad. Maybe put it to level 6 and reduce it to 3 rounds? 5 round stun is basically save-or-lose, pretty powerful for a maneuver. Even at 3 rounds, it would be impressive.

Merciful Precision: Seems fine. I'd allow the adept to choose on each attack whether to do lethal or nonlethal, rather than force him to do nonlethal.

Reverse the Blade: I have tons of problems with this. First of all, the ridiculousness of making an emey hurt himself with his held longspear, for example. If he were attacking with it and you did a badass parry...a little more believable. Also...this IS limited to held weapons and not unarmed strikes and natural attacks, right? Or rather, limited to "weapons that could be disarmed." This also seems really powerful for level 2, getting hit with some weapons can really hurt. And it's not very clear. Do you take the weapon's base damage + enhancement bonus? Extra dice for energy and such? Adept or victim's str mod?
I really think this sort of thing is better handled as a counter, and many maneuvers already do similar things. Just look at Fool's Strike, in the exact same discipline. High level counter to deflect the enemy's attack back upon himself. I would get rid of this maneuver. If not, raise the level a bit and clarify it.

Rolling Pin: 1) Are the opponent's allies aware that they can only harm him if they take AoO's? It seems rather impressive to automatically throw him in the line of fire every time, though it'd only apply to his allies' attacks anyway, I guess. The standard is you can melee into a grapple flawlessly.
2) "Use the lower of the grapplers' AC..." What? That just sounds silly!
3) Ok, now you're throwing him out of the grapple, too? You're doing an awful lot for a single opposed check...
4) Make the DC standard 10 + level +stat. If you want it to be outrageously high (which it would be if based on grapple check), make it level 8 or 9 at least. Swooping Dragon Strike has a 1 round stun with outrageous DC and same bonus damage, but will often be difficult or impposible to pull off, doesn't include a chance for more damage, has no other beneficial effects like moving an enemy and leaving him prone, and...really is teetering on broken anyway (ie, we don't need more things like it). I assume the original author was using SDS for comparison when designing this, being the same level and so similar in end effect.

Spellblind Strike: Seems fine. Also seems kind of redundant, since you need to be in melee range to use it, and thus have an AoO anyway. But, for casters who can easily cast defensively, I guess it has a purpose...except if they can make DC 15 + spell level, they can probably make that DC, too.

Stance of the Refracted Strike: Kinda makes me think of the Krav Maga circular defense system, cool. Seems fine. I'd just like a rules query answered. Do you need to be suffering from being flanked to get the benefit? As in, what if you have Improved Uncanny Dodge, are a Beholder, etc...?

Updraft Crush: ...Wow, I really can't say this any nicer. This has to be one of the dumbest, weakest, AND silliest maneuvers I've ever seen. I'm sure whoever wrote it up thought it was a cool image in his/her head. Heck, Nene in Samurai Warriors / Warriors Orochi is one of my favorite characters, and she has a move very much like this. The Shrike Rune from my favorite videogame series, Suikoden, also basically does this. But...it's a full round action with melee range. And then it has a 3 round onset time after that. With no rules for what happens if they break out of the grapple or pin you before then. The 10 ft up per initiator level is just stupid, especially taking someone up with you. Sure makes jump look pathetic in comparison. And after ALL that...it does really weak damage for its level, unless you can actually take them up really far. IMHO, it's not even worth saving this one...scrap it. Oh, two other things. 1) What about if the foe has a ring of feather fall? 2) If you fail to grapple someone, they don't get to try to grapple you. That line of text is unneeded.

 

[mythSSK]

Yeah, forum trouble has kept me away unfortunately. Thanks for continuing. It's late at the moment, but tomorrow I will (assuming the forums are working) go through your posts and form some sort of coherent response. Sorry for not responding sooner, and thanks for all your help so far.

 

[mythSSK]

I've left White Raven for now because it seems to be the most difficult one to fix up. I've taken as much feedback into account as possible, and rather than responding to your revisions point-by-point (which would take me FOREVER) I've just gone ahead and made changes with everyone's advice in mind, so you can see my changes listed below or just open the PDFs and have a bit of a re-read if you like. Most maneuvers have had at least slight rewrites, to make them conform to the standard formats, and all have had the flavor text added/changed. As I noted earlier, Desert Wind has already been updated -- I'll include the change notes from that post in this one as well so they're all together.

All PDF links in the original post have been updated to reflect the most recent versions.

Can someone please let me know if the new versions of the PDFs are suffering the same viewing issues for some people as the old ones were? Thanks.


---


DESERT WIND
-----------
* A THOUSAND BIRDS: Fixed copy/paste error in Target line.
* DANCING FLAME: Level lowered to 4.
* GLARING BLADE: Level raised to 2. Damage increased to 2d6.
* HEATSTROKE STRIKE: Whole new maneuver added.
* ILLUMINATION OF VIGILANCE: Heavily reworded.
* NOVA GUILLOTINE: Damaged lowered to 2d6, Int damage fixed at 4.
* PHOENIX FEATHER HEALING: Added caveat based on Crusader's Strike wording.
* RAZOR WALK: Heavily reworded.
* STRIKING SIDEWINDER STANCE: Added a prerequisite - 1 Desert Wind maneuver.
* SUPERNOVA GUILLOTINE: Prerequisite increased to 5. Damage lowered to 15d6, ability damage changed to Int, Wis, and Cha damage.


SHADOW HAND
-----------
* DISPELLING STRIKE: Level lowered to 3.
* DISPELLING STRIKE, GREATER: Level lowered to 6.
* PHANTOM CHARGE: Images now do negative energy damage.
* SHADOW MIMICRY & SHADOW MIMICRY, GREATER: Changed to typeless maneuvers. Changed workings of maneuvers a bit.
* SHROUD OF DARKNESS: Removed the first ability of the maneuver.
* UMBRAL JUMP: Redundant in comparison to FATAL BLIND SPOT. Deleted entirely.


STONE DRAGON
------------
* BOULDER CRUSH: Changed initiation to require a charge attack.
* BOULDER FALL: Too many unresolvable issues, to way to reasonably fix. Deleted entirely.
* DO NOT GO GENTLY: Changed to allow automatic stablization.
* DUST WHISPERS: Level increased to 5.
* EMBRACE OF THE AVALANCHE: Level increased to 7. Changed to deal 1 point less nonlethal damage.
* GAIT OF THE UNSHAKEABLE MOUNTAIN: Reduced to 50% fortification.


TIGER CLAW
----------
* AVIAN WIND DANCE: Too similar to Leaping Dragon Stance. Deleted entirely.
* DEADLY LEVIATHAN STANCE: Doesn't fit with Tiger Claw, and a similar stance will likely be included in a new discipline later on at some point. Deleted entirely.
* DRAGON FANG STANCE: Brought more in line with the Frightful Presence dragon ability it mimics.
* FRENZIED BADGER FLURRY: Limited to two weapons, to bring in line with other attack-granting Tiger Claw maneuvers.
* GRINNING WOLF GLARE: Level raised to 2.
* LION’S PRIDE TAKEDOWN: Level raised to 2. Renamed to REAPING WOLF STRIKE, as it imitates the attack of a wolf.
* ROAR OF THE MANED KING: Duration dropped to 1 minute.
* TALONS OF LIGHT AND SHADOW: Badly written and a bad idea. Deleted entirely.

 

[mythSSK]

I've had some people vehemently protest the inclusion of the Shadow Hand Shadow Mimicry maneuvers. I'd like to get feedback from more people before I make a decision whether to keep them or not. What are everyone's thoughts on them? I've reproduced them below, for those who still can't get into the PDFs. They're obviously based on the shadow evocation spells.

----

SHADOW MIMICRY
Shadow Hand
Level: 4
Prerequisite: 1 Shadow Hand maneuver
Initiation Action: See text
Range: See text
Target: See text
Duration: See text
Saving Throw: Will partial; see text
With this maneuver, you can imitate any other maneuver – but not stance – of 3rd level or lower. If the maneuver you are imitating is not one you know, you must succeed on a Martial Lore check with a DC equal to 15 + twice the maneuver’s level. If you fail this check, the imitation fails and the maneuver is lost.
Shadow Mimicry is treated as a maneuver of the same type as the maneuver it imitates, and its initiation action is the same as that of the imitated maneuver. While the imitated maneuver functions normally for the most part, it is only a facsimile. In addition to any saves normally offered by the maneuver, any creature targeted by it may attempt a Will save or Martial Lore check (DC 14 + Wis modifier) to recognize and defeat the sham. Against a creature that makes it save/check, any damage the imitated maneuver deals is reduced to 20% of its normal amount, and any special effects it may have are only 20% likely to actually occur.
When you use this maneuver to imitate a maneuver that is a supernatural ability, it is a supernatural ability.

SHADOW MIMICRY, GREATER
Shadow Hand
Level: 8
Prerequisite: 3 Shadow Hand maneuvers
Initiation Action: See text
Range: See text
Target: See text
Duration: See text
Saving Throw: Will partial; see text
This maneuver functions like shadow mimicry, except as above and it can imitate maneuvers of up to 7th level, the save DC is 18 + Wis modifier, and if a creature saves or makes a successful Martial Lore check the damage is reduced to 60% and any special effects are 60% likely to occur.
When you use this maneuver to imitate a maneuver that is a supernatural ability, it is a supernatural ability.

 

[Tempest Stormwind]

MythSSK, it's pure coincidence that I found this thread whilst googling for the Marshal. I don't really spend all that much time gaming any more (grad school...) but I did want an archive of some of my developer work from WotC. While looking for that, I found this thread.

In the years since I wrote those things, I've been a playtester for WotC's Star Wars Saga line, which changed my perspective on what makes a rule elegant and easy to use. As a result, I've been retouching all the material I've used in the Marshal (along with RT's ranger and my Dwarven Defender remix; my Strike Leader PrC (white raven ranger or ambush marshal) seems to have been lost to the abyss, but I have its thread ID (770221)), and I'd *just* started on the maneuvers. Coincidentally, you seem interested in them as well.

I don't have finalized versions yet, but I can explain the thought processes involved in writing them and responding to comments here.

Adrenaline Surge: it doesn't affect yourself because it's porting the Player's Handbook 2 Marshal alternate class feature, which didn't affect yourself. I put it as high a level as I did since I was balancing it against Iron Heart Endurance and Order from Chaos. I agree with immunity-to-fatigue notation (and had made the same change myself). My revised version is likely lose Language-dependent (my vision of it was a roar, and the description is akin to Leonidas' last moments in 300, when the nearly-dead Spartans actually try to keep fighting) and will probably last a fixed duration (I'm thinking either 5 rounds or until end of encounter), but also potentially knock targets unconscious if it's used too frequently. (The "willing" ally bit was deliberate on my part here with just this contingency in mind.) How frequent "frequent" is depends on back-of-the-envelope testing; I'd be open to results from actual active gaming playtesting, of course (especially if it seems fine affecting yourself, compared to Iron Heart Endurance).

Rally the Legion: My revised marshal doc actually has the following illustration in it:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98MtWe2nCS4]Faced with overwhelming odds, a legendary warlord rallies the legion and leads his army to their rightful place in history.[/ame]
Evidently, we were apparently thinking similarly (though I maintain Aragorn is just using a regular marshal or commander aura in his excellent speech; Rally the Legion is meant for, well, legions - either mass combat, or large battlefields where your PC allies are spread out further than your auras can reach). I agree wholeheartedly with its duration being wonky (doubly so since official FAQs since clarified the key "ability score" for White Raven is INTELLIGENCE, not Charisma, so I royally goofed there), and am more likely to just simplify it to say the aura effects last 5 rounds or until superceded (i.e. the marshal who used it is near you and switches auras). It doesn't change much, but what it doesn't change is clarification text to make the maneuver more useful for non-marshals. (Oh, and for the record, in the original thread, it wasn't typed. None of the three maneuvers I'm discussing had a type specifically because they weren't strikes, boosts, or counters.)

Call to Glory: It can be simplified fairly dramatically if altered (the complaints here are in the right direction). For the record, I restricted White Raven from the list of maneuvers that could be shifted to prevent White Raven Tactics or Flanking Maneuver cheese (note that I wrote the Strike Leader, which *does* allow White Raven maneuvers to be shared, so I did test that possibility - the strike leader gets around it by requiring ambush scenarios, which aren't easy to orchestrate), and I caused the maneuver to de-ready itself to keep martial adepts reasonably "special" (imagine a crusader using this maneuver like an energizer bunny - the entire party becomes martial adepts! It'd be like clerics doing perpetual Imbue With Spell Ability, but without the whole vancian drawback.) I'll be taking StreamOfTheSky's feedback to heart when I rewrite this (perhaps due to my reputation by that point, no one on WotC gave me that type of feedback when I wrote the ability!) - I'm thinking of keeping either the XP cost OR the standard-action "concentration" (ironically, I originally used diplomacy in the first draft, but changed it for reasons unknown; the final will use diplomacy), but not both, and definitely changing the header information as he suggested (it's clearer by far). I may even ditch both (since the de-readying mechanic and the level limit is a pretty solid restriction).

(By the way, StreamOfTheSky, it's written for marshals. There's a very real reason it de-readies itself: Some of the second- and third-level maneuvers can really, really add up if used by enough troops. I'll present an example for playtesting next time, when I have more time to explain, but suffice it to say followers (from Leadership) proved a valuable asset in a CR 15 battle, potentially outdoing War Master's Charge.)



I'm unlikely to reply often here (as I never check ENWorld and just registered to post this), and I used a throwaway mail address (standard practice when registering somewhere), but I'll check in tomorrow or the day after. I don't have enough time to help on things I'm not already familiar with (i.e. my stuff or RadicalTaoist's stuff), but I'll help where I can.