Weapon-Style Feats (Need Balancing!)

[Mike Sullivan]

So, here are a series of high-level feats which are probably horridly unbalanced. My idea was that I really liked the concept of the old brown-book Complete Fighter's Handbook concept of various different weapon style specializations. Unfortunately, their implementation sucked. So, I'm trying to create feats which "feel" right for the various styles of weapon use (one-handed, two-handed, weapon-and-shield, two-weapon), without being unbalanced.

I'm pretty sure I'm failing horribly. Tell me which ones you think are utterly ridiculous.

Finesse Attack (General, Fighter)

An experienced fighter using a one-handed weapon and carrying nothing (no weapon, no shield) in his other hand wield his weapon lightly and quickly, making him more likely to wound his opponent, but not as severely.

Prerequisites: BAB +10 or higher
Benefits: The character may, when wielding a one-handed weapon and not using a shield, a weapon, or attacking via unarmed strike with his off-hand, take a penalty of -1 to -5 to his damage roll in order to receive a like bonus to his attack roll.


Sweeping Disarm (General, Fighter)

An experienced fighter using a two-handed weapon can, on a particularly damaging hit, cause his opponent to drop his weapon.

Prerequisites: BAB +10 or higher, Improved Disarm
Benefits: If the character scores a successful critical hit against his opponent using a two-handed weapon wielded in both hands (ie, a double weapon being used as a double weapon does not count), the opponent must, in addition to suffering the damage, resist a disarm attempt as if the character had just made a disarm roll equal to his damage roll. If the opponent is succesful, he does not get to attempt to disarm the character in turn.


Off-Hand Parry (General, Fighter)

An experienced fighter using a light weapon in his off hand can, instead of attacking with it, parry, making himself more difficult to hit.

Prerequisites: BAB +10 or higher, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
Benefits: If the character has a light weapon in his off hand and, for any reason, does not attack with it (including not being able to attack with it because he took a move-equivalent action), he gets a +1 Dodge bonus to his AC.


Shield Mastery (General, Fighter)

An experienced fighter can use his shield to greater effect, turning aside blows at the last minute.

Prerequisites: BAB +10 or higher, Shield Proficiency
Benefits: The base Armor bonus of a light or medium shield is considered +2 instead of +1, and the base Armor bonus of a large shield is considered +3 instead of +2. Tower shields are unaffected by this feat.



(So, I'm really worried about the Finesse Attack and the Shield Mastery.)

EDIT: Grrr. UBB code.

 

[DanMcS]

Actually, I had the exact same thought for shields earlier today. I was going to call it shield focus (to fit with weapon focus), but whatever I don't think it's unbalanced to gain a +1 to AC (in some circumstances) in exchange for a feat. Dodge does the same thing, and so does Defensive Martial Arts from d20 modern.

Off-handed parry seems over a bit. I'd say the effect should be that if you take penalties as if you were fighting with two weapons, but only attack with the main, the off-hand provides a bonus to AC equal to the number of attacks you're giving up. That ends up being better than fighting defensively but not as good as expertise. Hmm, needs tweaking.

Sweeping Disarm seems overspecialized. It shouldn't apply to only a two-handed weapon, I think. It should be an extension of improved disarm- if you hit with a critical, you get the chance to disarm as well.

Finesse attack seems ok, in the same vein as power attack and expertise. Might need an ability requirement like those though. There could even be a feat chain based off of it, maybe a Touche next in line, you get +10 to attack in exchange for only doing a single point with your weapon (but enchantments like shocking, etc would still be in effect, it might let you hit someone you otherwise couldn't).

 

[Mike Sullivan]

Actually, I had the exact same thought for shields earlier today. I was going to call it shield focus (to fit with weapon focus), but whatever I don't think it's unbalanced to gain a +1 to AC (in some circumstances) in exchange for a feat. Dodge does the same thing, and so does Defensive Martial Arts from d20 modern.

Yeah, but this stacks with both of them, and I think that weapon-and-shield fighting is the best style to begin with.

Off-handed parry seems over a bit. I'd say the effect should be that if you take penalties as if you were fighting with two weapons, but only attack with the main, the off-hand provides a bonus to AC equal to the number of attacks you're giving up. That ends up being better than fighting defensively but not as good as expertise. Hmm, needs tweaking.

I honestly don't think that off-hand parry needs any weakening. It's still not as good as having a large shield in your off-hand, in terms of the defensive benefits, and you don't get it when you attack.

And you can get exactly the same benefit without spending a feat by having your off-hand weapon be a spiked buckler. Hmmm. Which means I should probably rewrite the feat to avoid allowing those to stack.

Sweeping Disarm seems overspecialized. It shouldn't apply to only a two-handed weapon, I think. It should be an extension of improved disarm- if you hit with a critical, you get the chance to disarm as well.

Sweeping Disarm was definitely the most conceptually stretched of the style specializations. I was stuck for something that wasn't unbalancing that seemed "appropriate" for a specialized two-handed-weapon fighter to do. Any suggestions?

Finesse attack seems ok, in the same vein as power attack and expertise. Might need an ability requirement like those though. There could even be a feat chain based off of it, maybe a Touche next in line, you get +10 to attack in exchange for only doing a single point with your weapon (but enchantments like shocking, etc would still be in effect, it might let you hit someone you otherwise couldn't).

Finesse seems shudderingly powerful to me. I have nightmares about rogues with sneak attacks using it.

 

[DanMcS]

Yeah, but this stacks with both of them, and I think that weapon-and-shield fighting is the best style to begin with.

Statistically, I think so. But it's a point to AC, only available after level 10 (the way you have the prereq), and it's not that big a deal in the grand scheme of feats. For that high a level requirement, it actually seems sort of weak, I'd have a lower level one that adds a point to small, medium, or large shields, and a high level one that adds an additional point to large shields. So you fill out the feat chain and all your shields effectively double.

Sweeping Disarm was definitely the most conceptually stretched of the style specializations. I was stuck for something that wasn't unbalancing that seemed "appropriate" for a specialized two-handed-weapon fighter to do. Any suggestions?

Hmm, maybe weapon doubling? If they hit (crit?) with their greatsword, they can make a followup attack at -5 to hit with the pommel for a d4. You can generalize it, but that's the easiest example to visualize.

Finesse seems shudderingly powerful to me. I have nightmares about rogues with sneak attacks using it.

So have another prereq be that it can only be used on a weapon they have Weapon Finesse with. With the high BAB requirement, a rogue isn't going to get it until 14th level or so anyway.

 

[DanMcS]

Finesse seems shudderingly powerful to me. I have nightmares about rogues with sneak attacks using it.

Forgive the double-reply. I had inspiration while driving home. Limit it by Str bonus, not BAB. Power attack moves BAB to damage, effectively increasing your Str bonus, right? Have this move Str damage bonus to attack.

There should probably be another feat, too, maybe 'Reckless Attack', which moves Dex bonus from AC to Attack.

I might call the first feat 'Control' rather than 'Finesse Attack' to avoid confusion with 'Weapon Finesse'. Now these both work in my head, and consider them yoinked.