Defensive Feat [3.5][PEACH]

[blackmage]

I got an idea for a little survival mechanic. Originally thought of it as a class feature, but realized it might work as either a stand-alone feat or part of a chain. The concept is that you have a buffer of temporary HP that refills each turn. It's better than damage reduction/energy resistance in that it applies to all damage, but its worse in that the buffer goes down with every hit you take in a turn. It's better than fast healing because it can prevent you from taking any 'real damage', but worse because it doesn't actually bring your hit point total back up and can't bring you back from unconciousness.

Two questions I have for playground. First, is the wording here understandable, does it get across all the stuff I explained in the paragraph above? Second, what's the power level of this? What is a reasonable X? Does it need steep prerequisites, or be part of a feat chain (where X could then be based on how many feats you had in the chain)? Should this be a part of a class instead of a feat?


Shrug It Off [General]
Prerequisites: Improved Toughness, Character Level 9
Benefits: You have a small pool of temporary hit points that is refreshed at the start of each turn. At the start of your turn you gain temporary HP equal to your character level. The previous round's temporary hit points from Shrug It Off are overwritten. These temporary HP stack with temporary HP from other sources. Shrug It Off does not function if you are dead or unconcious.

[Land Outcast]

Well, this feat would be a must-have for any melee-oriented character, its effects within combat would be almost like having fast healing (considering a character normally receives damage every round).

As with all must-have feats (and particularly, "must-have" for about one third of characters), I belive this is too good.
But it really comes down to the prerequisites and what "X" is/is based on.

I mean, if prerequisites were "Character level 9", and "X" was equal to character level, I frankly wouldn't see any problem with it (unless you applied it to monsters).

[About prerequisites:
I first thought about Thoughness, but lame feats aren't fun, and at least in my opinion, feat picking should be a reason to rejoice upon new power.
Then I thought about something like "Con 15", but there are those who would also be in need of such a feat and particularly if they don't have "Con 15".]

[GideonRiddle]

How about X=Class Level squared divided by 2.

Level 12 Fighter would get 72 temp HP.

And Improved Toughness as a requirement.

[blackmage]

I was thinking along the lines of X equals Character Level. Enough that its reducing how much damage you take, but also not stopping all of a big damage spell or more than one or two physical attacks.

I also thought of Improved Toughness as a prerequisite.


EDIT: Just found something sorta similar, Draconic Toughness, Greater invocation for Dragonfire Adepts. SLA, used as a standard action, gave temporary HP equal to caster level. Greater means level 11 or higher, and it takes an action compared to my feat. My feat is, then, much stronger, since it takes no action and can't be dispelled. Maybe Char level / 2.

[Land Outcast]

Does that Greater Invocation give temp. hp every round?

Well, I'm not certain how many Greater Invocations a Dragonfire Adept gets at level 11, but I'm guessing his Draconic Thoughness is (and will be) part of a more versatile schema... while the feat can't be swapped for another depending on convenience.

Besides, you also have False Life, a level 2 spell which gives temporary hp equal to 1d10+1/level max 10 (and lasts 1 hour per level).
Casting that thrice (negligible expense I dare say, for a 10th level wizard before entering a dungeon) grants 33-60 temporary hp... for 10 hours.

I think that, as a feat which could be taken about level 9-11, temporary hp = character level would be fine.

[blackmage]

Actually, I think the invocation is closer to the spell you mention, and kind of terrible. Certainly bottom half of the greater invocations available to the class, the only ones that might be worse are situational (like Aura of Flame).

So, Improved Toughness as a prereq, and some people are also mentioning keeping it unavailable until levels 9 or 10, so adding that in too.