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Message: <blockquote data-quote="rkanodia" data-source="post: 1275798" data-attributes="member: 11681">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?</blockquote>

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