Which is better?

[roguerouge]

Assuming you qualified for both feats, which is the better feat for melee combatants: Improved Toughness (+1 Hp/level) or Elusive Target (negate the power attacks of your dodge target, cause flankers to strike each other, free trips on missed AoOs)?

 

[blargney the second]

Having used both, I can assure you that Elusive Target is wicked fun. Grab Midnight Dodge for a second dodge partner and you can re-enact some classic scenes from the cartoons.

 

[Shin Okada]

Being a melee combatant does not mean that you will not be attacked in other ways (spells, special attacks, etc.). Additional HP is far much versatile.

 

[moritheil]

I personally believe that Elusive Target will save you from a lot more than 1 hp/level worth of damage. The only real question is whether you will face heavy power attackers often enough to make it better than Improved Toughness. Usually I would say you could expect it, but it comes down to how much your DM metagames. Some DMs will resist using Power Attack because they know it won't do any good, but others will happily play along and have combat brutes power attacking all day against you (just like normal.)

 

[serow]

Both have their uses, but Elusive Target just screams more fun in its own TACTICAL FEAT way.

 

[blargney the second]

Some DMs will resist using Power Attack because they know it won't do any good, but others will happily play along and have combat brutes power attacking all day against you (just like normal.)

Either way you win: the former just means you spent a feat to give your entire party immunity to Power Attack!

 

[moritheil]

Either way you win: the former just means you spent a feat to give your entire party immunity to Power Attack!

This is true - though if it means the DMs sends more full spellcasters at you, that's not exactly a blessing.

 

[blargney the second]

Heh, true enough!
-blarg

ps - roguerouge, might I make a little request? Could you give your threads more specific titles? I had to reread the original posts in both this thread and its contemporary Which Build Is Better to remember what they were about...

 

[phindar]

Some DMs will resist using Power Attack because they know it won't do any good, but others will happily play along and have combat brutes power attacking all day against you (just like normal.)

I lean away from Elusive Target for the other reason, if the GM is running a lot of monsters he's less likely to be adjusting their to hit and damage numbers on the fly. (Elusive Target seems like a feat that the GM would get a lot more mileage out of than a player, since virtually every monster is subject to Power Attack and Flanking). Typically, the Power Attacking monsters I see are special occasion bosses, and in those situations, ET would more than pay for itself.

I rate Elusive Target as more useful than Improved Toughness, unless you're starved for hit points. I mean, it beats Toughness, but that isn't saying much.

 

[moritheil]

I lean away from Elusive Target for the other reason, if the GM is running a lot of monsters he's less likely to be adjusting their to hit and damage numbers on the fly.

To quote a classic Nail post: "I suspect you haven't seen a DM make judicious use of Power Attack."