Epinephrine
First Post
Tripping is a pretty powerful effect combined with the 3.5 getting up from prone rules. One of the things preventing players (but not monsters!) from taking full advantage of this, though, is the options it allows opponents. Often what you fight has at least one of high Str, Dex, larger size, more than two legs, flight, or other things that give them a bonus on the roll at least equaling any bonus the player can come up with, forcing trippers to rely on luck at best.
So let's try to counter that reliance on chance. Let's say we've got a mid-level ranger, above 6th at least. He has Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Quick Draw, and two bandoliers specially designed to hold sickles, or some other means of carrying them. If he starts a round within ten feet of a non-flying opponent he can step in and try to trip four times. The -7 penalty to hit on the last two attacks doesn't hurt as much as it could because they're just melee touch attacks. If he fails the opposed Strength check he can just drop a sickle and quickdraw another, and once the opponent is on the ground and his full attack is over he can drop both sickles and quickdraw that greatsword on his back for the AoO. With four attempts, even a 40% chance to trip is pretty impressive.
If he can hold, say, eight sickles in the bandoliers he can do this at least twice per combat before resorting to good old-fashioned greatsword action, which also takes advantage of the high Strength he needs to get anywhere near 40% against Large or larger opponents. You can do the same with a fighter but expecting 17 Dex along with 13 Int and a high Strength is pretty iffy. And of course Enlarge Person only makes this many times better. So what do you think? Does this work or is there a rule we're misinterpreting or forgetting? If it works, does it feel balanced to you?
So let's try to counter that reliance on chance. Let's say we've got a mid-level ranger, above 6th at least. He has Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Quick Draw, and two bandoliers specially designed to hold sickles, or some other means of carrying them. If he starts a round within ten feet of a non-flying opponent he can step in and try to trip four times. The -7 penalty to hit on the last two attacks doesn't hurt as much as it could because they're just melee touch attacks. If he fails the opposed Strength check he can just drop a sickle and quickdraw another, and once the opponent is on the ground and his full attack is over he can drop both sickles and quickdraw that greatsword on his back for the AoO. With four attempts, even a 40% chance to trip is pretty impressive.
If he can hold, say, eight sickles in the bandoliers he can do this at least twice per combat before resorting to good old-fashioned greatsword action, which also takes advantage of the high Strength he needs to get anywhere near 40% against Large or larger opponents. You can do the same with a fighter but expecting 17 Dex along with 13 Int and a high Strength is pretty iffy. And of course Enlarge Person only makes this many times better. So what do you think? Does this work or is there a rule we're misinterpreting or forgetting? If it works, does it feel balanced to you?
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