Epametheus
First Post
I myself honestly don't see the problem involved... So you spend a feat to get +1 AC against a single opponent per round, another to get +4 AC if you provoke AOs while moving around, and another feat to prevent a single person from being able to AO you when you move in to attack (and while it does allow you to move away, unless you have Boots of S&S and/or happen to be a monk, it doesn't do that much for you -- assuming no haste on either side, you simply give up all but one attack in order to restrict your melee opponent to also having one attack per round). So when ya get down to it, you've spent 3 feats to finally be able to negate the AO you'd normally provoke when dueling a reach fighter or large monster.
Then there's Expertise, which isn't that great in of itself; taking -5 to hit to gain +5 AC really isn't that viable against opponents of equal caliber (or of higher... backfires on ya both ways if you're fighting a high HD outsider or dragon); it's only of practical use for avoiding damage from inferior opponents, who you'd hit anyways, and would normally have trouble hitting you to begin with.
Whirlwind Attack itself is something that sounds cooler than it is -- it actually combos decently with Power Attack, since you're only getting one hit anyways, but to negate that is it is only one hit. Like expertise, it's really only viable against inferior opponents. Against a group of equal-caliber opponents, it's certainly flashy, but it also amounts to asking for it.
Improved Trip is the next thing on the list -- give up an attack for a trip attempt, and get an immediate attack if the trip attempt works. The key point in this is, if the trip attack works. It's almost reliable if you're fighting a smaller opponent (+4 or more from size should hopefully counter the bugger's DEX possibly being higher than your STR), about 50/50 if the opponent is your own size (since defender uses Dex or Str, whicher is better), and probably something like 10/90 if they're in the next category up (since they've got the +4 size, and are probably stronger, possibly substantially stronger).
Which brings up Knockdown, which is conceptually nice.. Since you get it every time you hit someone for enough damage (no problem there), if you're whaling on a single opponent you actually have a decent chance of bowling the sucker over (assuming they aren't too big) -- with enough checks to make, the DM has to roll crap sooner or later.
However, unless there's been a Sage ruling, being prone doesn't stop someone from making a full attack action. The attacker will suffer a -4 to all attack rolls, but he can still make them all. It's getting up from being prone (a move-equivalent action) that denies one iterative attacks. And if one is losing attacks due to getting up, an opponent might as well Power Attack on the remaining one.
Anyways, I seriously doubt that the expenditure of 6 feats to do 15 or so points with a 50/50 chance of being knocked down to all adjacent opponents is going to break anything. If Whirlwind is actually practical against the enemy squad, the squad's ass is grass regardless of the Knockdown. If it isn't, then at best Whirlwind gets to function as a defensive manuevor -- hampering the offensive ability of your opponents enough that you might not instantly die from getting hit 10 to 15 or 20 times before you can act again (though if it actually gets up to 20 times, it means you're DM is probably out to get you, anyways).
Actually, the best use of this I can see would be to counter a group of flanking rogues, since it would reduce the odds of taking some terminally rediculous amount of damage from sneak attack.
Hmmm.. Looking at EOL's posts, though, I guess I need to ask something -- you were aware that Knockdown involves opposed rolls, weren't you? It sounds like you expect it to work 100% of the time. Just checking.
Then there's Expertise, which isn't that great in of itself; taking -5 to hit to gain +5 AC really isn't that viable against opponents of equal caliber (or of higher... backfires on ya both ways if you're fighting a high HD outsider or dragon); it's only of practical use for avoiding damage from inferior opponents, who you'd hit anyways, and would normally have trouble hitting you to begin with.
Whirlwind Attack itself is something that sounds cooler than it is -- it actually combos decently with Power Attack, since you're only getting one hit anyways, but to negate that is it is only one hit. Like expertise, it's really only viable against inferior opponents. Against a group of equal-caliber opponents, it's certainly flashy, but it also amounts to asking for it.
Improved Trip is the next thing on the list -- give up an attack for a trip attempt, and get an immediate attack if the trip attempt works. The key point in this is, if the trip attack works. It's almost reliable if you're fighting a smaller opponent (+4 or more from size should hopefully counter the bugger's DEX possibly being higher than your STR), about 50/50 if the opponent is your own size (since defender uses Dex or Str, whicher is better), and probably something like 10/90 if they're in the next category up (since they've got the +4 size, and are probably stronger, possibly substantially stronger).
Which brings up Knockdown, which is conceptually nice.. Since you get it every time you hit someone for enough damage (no problem there), if you're whaling on a single opponent you actually have a decent chance of bowling the sucker over (assuming they aren't too big) -- with enough checks to make, the DM has to roll crap sooner or later.
However, unless there's been a Sage ruling, being prone doesn't stop someone from making a full attack action. The attacker will suffer a -4 to all attack rolls, but he can still make them all. It's getting up from being prone (a move-equivalent action) that denies one iterative attacks. And if one is losing attacks due to getting up, an opponent might as well Power Attack on the remaining one.
Anyways, I seriously doubt that the expenditure of 6 feats to do 15 or so points with a 50/50 chance of being knocked down to all adjacent opponents is going to break anything. If Whirlwind is actually practical against the enemy squad, the squad's ass is grass regardless of the Knockdown. If it isn't, then at best Whirlwind gets to function as a defensive manuevor -- hampering the offensive ability of your opponents enough that you might not instantly die from getting hit 10 to 15 or 20 times before you can act again (though if it actually gets up to 20 times, it means you're DM is probably out to get you, anyways).
Actually, the best use of this I can see would be to counter a group of flanking rogues, since it would reduce the odds of taking some terminally rediculous amount of damage from sneak attack.
Hmmm.. Looking at EOL's posts, though, I guess I need to ask something -- you were aware that Knockdown involves opposed rolls, weren't you? It sounds like you expect it to work 100% of the time. Just checking.
