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Message: <blockquote data-quote="rkanodia" data-source="post: 1281800" data-attributes="member: 11681">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.</blockquote>

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