'wait, wait, attack' fighting style?

[IndyPendant]

Here are some optional feats that I have approved that would help, I think:

Attack Focus [Combat]
You may sacrifice mobility and attacks to increase your ability to hit.
Source: The Netbook of Feats.
Prerequisites: Base attack bonus +6 or higher
Benefit: With making a full attack action, you may choose to give up all your attacks but one for the round. This single attack gets a +2 bonus, plus an additional +2 bonus for each attack you gave up.
Example: A character with a base attack bonus of +12 can normally make three attacks in a round, at +12, +7, and +2. With Attack Focus, he can make a single attack at +18, a +6 bonus (+2 for the feat, +2 for each of the two attacks he gave up).

Combat Mastery [Combat]
You choose one type of weapon, such as a longsword, that you already have with the feat Weapon Mastery. You have fully mastered this weapon.
Source: Adapted from Weapon Grand Mastery, from the 3e Tower.
Prerequisites: Base attack +10 or higher.
Benefit: You gain one additional attack at -5 below your lowest base attack rating. For example, a 13th level fighter with this feat would get four attacks at +13/+8/+3/-2 with his chosen weapon.

Total Defense, Improved [Combat]
You are difficult to hit when you don’t want to be.
Source: The 3e Tower.
Benefit: When you perform the total defense action you gain an additional bonus to Armor Class equal to your base attack bonus. For example, a 4th level fighter with this feat would gain an additional +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class when he uses the total defense action for a total of +8. The maximum bonus that can be achieved with this feat is +6, thus granting a total dodge bonus of +10 to Armor Class.

Amazing Luck [General]
Just when things seem bad, good fortune smiles upon you.
Source: The 3e Tower.
Benefit: Once per session you may re-roll any d20 roll (skill check, attack roll, saving throw, etc). You must take the result of the re-roll even if it is worse than the original roll.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Each time you take the feat you gain one additional luck re-roll per session.

Now, the tactics would be: Use Total Defense, Improved to gain a +10 to AC while watching and waiting for the 'right moment.' Give the BBEG up to 10 levels of Blackguard for 'Smite Good' (assuming the PCs are good; if they're evil, so much the better: make the enemy a Paladin.) Since you want him standing around watching, if you can have him be a dwarf then Dwarven Defender may be good for your concept as well; they get incredible AC bonuses and minor attack bonuses when staying in one spot.

Attack Focus combined with Combat Mastery would give him a stupidly high attack bonus (as much as +12, +Cha for Smite) to his one attack roll. Quick-Draw of course to draw the weapon as a free action, and Power Attack to give a x2 damage for every point of attack sacrificed. Buff him to the max in advance with stat, ac, and damage boosting spells and potions (hopefully before the PCs arrive). If you can include other feats, like Greater Weapon Specialization, the damage gets even higher. With smite, you could easily be doing 3-digit-damage this way in one shot if you crit the hit, depending on the level of the BBEG.

And, finally, if you make the uber-powerful attack roll and miss the PC--use Amazing Luck to reroll it. : )

 

[rkanodia]

Improved Total Defense could actually be a pretty nice feat when combined with Defensive Strike from Oriental Adventures. And Attack Focus is great for making that one hit count when you really need it... but how to get the attack that will really count if it hits? I'm just not quite satisfied, and Gathering the Storm actually ends up being a pretty lousy feat when I run the numbers.

How about this idea, sort of piggybacking a bit (numerically) from Arcane Strike:

Concentrating Strike: You focus your mind and body to deliver devastating blows.
Prerequisite: Unknown; Perhaps Concentration 5+ ranks? Discipline could also be a requirement.
Benefit: As a standard action not drawing attacks of opportunity, you prepare your mind and body for a powerful, focused attack. Make a Concentration check against DC 0; if you succeed, you get a +1 bonus to attack rolls and +1d4 damage for all your melee attacks until the end of your next turn. This bonus increases by a further +1/+1d4 for each 10 points the check succeeded by.
Drawback: What should the limiting factor be?

How does the balance of this stack up? I'm not really interested in outlier cases like the 27th-level character with half a dozen prestige classes (all from different sources), two templates, and bottomless pockets. It seems like a reasonable skill bonus might be:
5th level: +13 (8 ranks + 2 stat bonus + 2 Cosmopolitan)
10th level: +20 (13 ranks + 3 stat bonus + 2 Cosmopolitan + 2 skill item)
15th level: +28 (18 ranks + 4 stat bonus + 2 Cosmopolitan + 4 skill item)
20th level: +36 (23 ranks + 5 stat bonus + 2 Cosmopolitan + 6 skill item)

Is +3 attack, +3d4 damage (average 7.5) a reasonable tradeoff for a 5th-level character losing one round of attacking? A longsword fighter with 18 Strength, weapon specialization, and a +1 weapon deals 1d8+7 damage per hit (average 11.5). Assuming the target's AC isn't an outlier case (only hitting on a 20, or only missing on a 1), the attacker deals 2 * 11.5 * hit chance over two rounds, or 23 * hit chance, using normal attacks. With concentrating strike, he'll deal 1 * 19 * hit chance + 19 * (3/20), or 19 * hit chance + 2.85.

So far it looks fairly reasonable. I'll check what people think tomorrow, and run some math for higher level characters.

 

[TracerBullet42]

Alternatively, make the villain a rogue, and give him the Quick Draw and Flick of the Wrist feats.

The first time he draws his weapon in combat, he can apply his full sneak attack damage to his opponent.

That and a bunch of feinting with his weapon sheathed, then sneak attacking with a quick draw in the next round.

This idea has lots of potential...if you combine Quick Draw, Flick of the Wrist, and Expert Tactician, you could draw your sword,leaving them flat footed, make your sneak attack, and then sheathe your sword with your extra action from Expert Tactician.

Combine that with some of the other wait, wait, attack ideas you've got and that sounds pretty nasty...

 

[WombleHunter]

You could just use the Assassin PrC ability Death Strike, modifying it to your needs. It takes 3 rounds of study, then BLAM. Save or die.

 

[rkanodia]

You could just use the Assassin PrC ability Death Strike, modifying it to your needs. It takes 3 rounds of study, then BLAM. Save or die.

I may just do that. The effect, however, definitely couldn't be save-or-die; large damage, stunning, etc might be ok, but I'd have a hard time taking an already-strong PrC ability and giving it to an NPC as a feat.

edit: Not to mention, Death Attack explicitly cannot be used against an opponent who recognizes you as an enemy, meaning it's more or less useless in a melee.

 

[Plane Sailing]

You could give the BBEG 1 level of assassin for the death blow effect and give him a feat which would allow him to use the ability on someone who was aware of him as an enemy.

You could use the iaijutsu focus skill from OA but with a feat that allows him to use it not just on flatfooted opponents but on opponents whom he has studied for 2 consecutive rounds in combat.

I think these would be the two best ways of handling the situation.

A third option would be to try to get hold of the book "Master of Arms" which has a whole bundle of combat feats which sound really interesting. I've not got it, but I've seen the demo pages. They include powerful combination feats that rely upon the fighter having multiple attacks available (or building something up over a number of rounds)

e.g. from their demo pages:

SPIN SWING (EX, COMBINATION) [FIGHTER]
You spend one attack spinning in place to build up momentum
in your glaive then follow up with a vicious blow.
Allowed Weapons: Glaive
Benefit: With this combination maneuver you forego one
attack in an attack sequence to gain a +2 attack bonus and
cause double damage on the follow-up attack. For example,
if you normally get a +9/+4 attack sequence you forego the
first attack and make the second one at +6, causing double
damage if you hit. This is usually only efficient if the roll
you need to hit is 13 or higher though other special abilities
used in the attack may modify this.

THREEFOLD STRIKE (EX, COMBINATION) [FIGHTER]
This potent combination makes the glaive masters famous.
You begin the sequence with a normal strike, spinning your
glaive once and striking at the target, but, just as you’re
about to hit you hold the blade back, a paper’s thickness
from the victim. This carefully controlled strike floods you
with energy. You then spin the glaive once more, this time
in the opposite direction, and strike again at the target. But
you hit with the blunt side of the blade. Feeding off the
rebound from the second hit and the chi from the first hold
you spin the glaive once more in the original direction and
strike the telling blow. If this all works as planned the third
strike devastates.
Prerequisites: Double Spin, Spin Swing
Allowed Weapons: Glaive
Benefit: In play you make your first attack as usual but it
causes no damage. You then make the second attack in the
sequence and if it succeeds you cause half damage (round
down). Finally, if the first two steps in the Threefold Strike
have succeeded you make the final attack in the sequence
and if it connects it causes 5x (!) normal damage. If the
sequence was broken somehow the third attack should be
treated as normal. This is typically best reserved for situations
where you have a high chance of hitting the target but,
if your game uses death from high damage (see the DMG
section on Running the Game, Combat variants) or some
similar effect the Threefold Strike can be an effective way
to force victims to make Fortitude saves. Note also that the
damage multiple is not a critical strike; it’s real force and
power. This also makes it useful for opening doors.

I'm sure you could use this pattern to provide something similar for your own purposes.

 

[Ace]

Hi all. I'm needing a fighting style for a villain. Basically, I need a feat (or combination of feats) that allows him to emulate a particularly historically inaccurate method of swordsmanship often seen in samurai movies or anime. Specifically, I want him to be the guy that keeps his sword in his sheath during the fight, defending himself but not attacking, until he finally draws the weapon and, in an eyeblink, strikes with a blow or series of blows of such force that the enemy is cleaved in twain, the ground buckles underneath his boots, etc etc.

I'm hoping someone can help me design it. As far as technical aspects go, it should look something like this:
-Benefit: for a large number of situations, this style should compare favorably to just swinging the damn sword all the time. I mean, that's what feats are for, right?
-Drawback: I want this feat to be geared toward the high-power end of a what a feat can do, so it needs to have a substantial drawback as well.
-Thematics: the theme could be either 'studying the opponent and finding his weakness', or 'gathering inner strength to strike'. Or even something different, if it fits the mechanics well enough.

As far as 'studying the opponent' goes, there's already Improved Feint and Chink in the Amor (although CitA is non-core). With those two, you can spend a full round to get one attack your next round which is very likely to hit against almost all opponents. Add a few points of Power Attack and it looks pretty good. However, it seems pretty clear that, once you have iterative attacks, this option starts looking pretty lousy. What do people think of 'Greater Feint' and 'Improved Chink in the Armor', each of which let you apply the effect for a full round of attacks? Should they require more rounds of investment for the payoff?

For 'gathering inner strength to strike', my idea was a feat that would let you spend a full-round action to give yourself a bonus to hit and/or damage on the next round. This would be a stackable bonus, so if you focus your strength multiple times, you will have a huge bonus to attack/damage when you finally strike. The main counterbalancing factors I can think of to prevent characters from 'ambushing' with several rounds already charged up would be a) the social reason (it's an overtly strenuous/aggressive act, interpreted as hostile by pretty much any form of life; no charging up during the parley) and b) fatigue, perhaps requiring Con checks (or Concentration?) while the character readies the attack, with increasing DC each round.

Any thoughts? Suggestions? Places to start?

Easy as pie

Use the following feats

Combat Expertise

Fast Draw

A Single Moment



This feat is from Rokugan. I don't remeber the prerequisites but the effect of it was to allow the use to Refocus as a move equivilant action

How your guys does his thing is thus

Initiative roll --

PC's attack

Bad guys has all of his BAB into his AC putting it up buy say 15 or so

PC miss

Bad guy Refocuses

Repeat until Bad Guy has an Uber Initaitive

He attacks with power blow until the PC's are toast

If you feel especially nast give him a homebrew feat

"Wait for it"

Preq-- BAB/lots good stats more feats

Effect Each attack action (not attack) forgone while in melee gives a +1 to hit bonus (up to the number of attacks granted by the bab) for a number of round equla to the delay +1. Thois requires at least 1 round to perform

Our bad guy toys with the players for say five rounds refousing 5 times and adding a nice chunk (say 3, his attack total) to his remaining attacks for 6 rounds. Not only does he go first but he gets a nice bonus too

Ouch

 

[ThoughtBubble]

My take on this would be to introduce a feat that adds +1 or +2 to your next attack for each round spent studying your opponent, up to some maximum number. So, for rounds 1-3 go full defense, and possibly throw in some expertise. Then, on round 4, attack with as much power attack as you can, trusting in the earlier bonus to hit to make up for it.

If the feat gives +2 to hit per round, after three rounds that's 12 bonus points of damage, assuming you can power attack that high. Admittedly, not so great given that with a greatsword you'd be averaging 26 in the same amout of time (I think). But paired with the ability to ramp up AC significantly in the charging stages, it may just work.

 

[rkanodia]

modified Death Attack feat

ThoughtBubble: That's not a terrible idea. There's a somewhat similar feat in Beyond Monks that gives you +1 attack bonus/+1 AC bonus for the length of combat versus an opponent you spend a standard action studying. However it cannot be repeated.

Plane Sailing: Those attacks are actually a pretty good template. When I have more time, I'll think about working on them.

Ace: 'Wait for it' might actually be closer to what I was thinking. Only problem is, it seems pretty underpowered at low levels, and overpowered at high levels. (Miss one round of attacks, and get +4 attack for 4 rounds? That's a pretty good deal). But I like the base idea!

Concentration Attack: You withhold the energy of your offense, preparing for a devastating blow.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus 6+, Concentration 5+ ranks, Power Attack.
Benefit: If you focus for three rounds in a row, you may declare one melee attack made in any of the following three rounds to be a concentration attack. This is a normal melee attack which deals triple normal damage. In addition, if the attack hits, the victim must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 character level + Con modifier) or take exactly enough additional subdual damage to render it unconcious.
You must declare that you are focusing on each round, and focus is broken if you make any melee or ranged attack (even attacks of opportunity), cast any spell with a range other than personal, or move more than your base movement in one round. Concentrating in this way is openly hostile, requiring you to take a threatening stance and recite a harsh, warlike mantra or do kiai shouts (Spot check DC 0 or Listen check DC 0 to notice your intentions).

How does this sound? I'm kind of in a hurry so I haven't thought it out terribly well. Should it change from subdual damage to temporary Strength or Constitution damage on the failed save? Different amount of damage on the blow? Too strong? Too weak? Not enough prereqs?

 

[BSF]

I am intrigued by this idea. Unfortunately, I am also a bit distracted, so I don't have any really cool ideas at the moment. I like the Gather the Storm feat, but I think it needs to be combined with a second feat to garner the To Hit bonus. It seems like it should be a combination of feats that makes the BBEG cool. Something completely attainable by a PC, but not necessarily a real appealing route for your day-to-day adventuring needs.

Perhaps the combo would be a feat that allows you to make Sense Motive rolls to study the combat style of your opponents to identify a weakness. Perhaps the DC could be increased by an opponents bluff check? Then it isn't an assured improvement.

I need to give this some thought because it could be a cool basis for an NPC.