Knock-Down

[mootoall]

Since Knock-Down's prereqs are only Improved Trip, Str>15, and Improved Trip, can anyone take it, or is it still limited to deities?

[Lord Ruby34]

This should be in the 3.5 forum.

And no, it's not.

[mootoall]

This should be in the 3.5 forum.

And no, it's not.

Whoops, my mistake. Reported, will be moved shortly, I imagine.

[Splendor]

Knock-Down was in the 3.0 Sword and Fist book.

The 3.0 errata added
"Use of this feat cannot be combined with Improved Trip to generate an extra attack, and successful use of this feat does not grant an extra attack through the Cleave or Great Cleave feats."
Insert may into “you may make a trip attack as a free action.”
After “whenever you deal 10 or more points of damage to your opponent in melee” insert: with a single attack

WoTC never put out a 3.5 version.

[Lord Ruby34]

I believe that this (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm#knockDown) is the 3.5 version.

[Devmaar]

I believe that this (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm#knockDown) is the 3.5 version.

That's an from Deities and Demigods (iirc), a 3.0 book

[Person_Man]

Anyone can use it, and it's a standard part of many Trip builds.

[Darrin]

That's an from Deities and Demigods (iirc), a 3.0 book

Not exactly. The Deities & Demigods version has slightly different wording:



Whenever the deity deals 10 or more points of damage to its opponent in melee, it makes a trip attack as a free action against the same target.


The SRD version:



Whenever you deal 10 or more points of damage to your opponent in melee, you make a trip attack as a free action against the same target.

(differences noted in bold)

The Sword & Fist errata was issued on 12/5/2001, while Deities & Demigods was published in April 2002. There's also an FAQ "Sage Ruling", looks like 2003ish, that just says "No" without much elaboration. Although it looks like the Deities & Demigods version is a slight tweaking of the Sword & Fist version, the 2002 version doesn't appear to be aware of the S&F errata. Or maybe it didn't matter all that much if deities got a free attack after tripping.

The 3.5 SRD was released in July 2003, and is considered an official publication in its own right. I'm not entirely sure when the Divine section was added... I think 2005ish. By a strict RAW interpretation, the divine section would be considered a new 3.5 publication and supercedes any 3.0 sources, including the Sword & Fist errata. (Technically the Divine and Unearthed Arcana sections aren't officially part of the SRD, but they were published by WotC and are compliant with the 3.5 rules.) The text has actually been changed from the last 3.0 source, so there's a clear indication that some sort of editorial work went into updating the text to clear up any 3.0/3.5 discrepancies.

However, and this is the big sticking point with Knock-Down... it's not clear that whoever updated the Divine section to 3.5 was aware of the Sword & Fist errata. Either an editorial decision was made to ignore the errata and publish a revised version, or the editor just simply forgot/missed it. I think the latter is much more likely, but even if it was a mistake to not include the errata, the 3.5 SRD is the latest official indication we have of how this feat is worded by RAW.

RAI, it boils down to a DM's call. If your DM says the errata is still in effect, then he's probably firmly in the "Melee Can't Have Nice Things" camp. If he allows the free attack after a trip, then he may be leaning toward the "Melee Can Occasionally Have Nice Things" side of things. Last time I checked, I think the majority of the forum was in the first camp, while I personally prefer the second camp.

[Curmudgeon]

The final dated official word on Knock-Down is found in the "Deities and Demigods FREE D&D® V.3.5 ACCESSORY UPDATE" booklet, available here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20030718a). This booklet makes the Knock-Down from Deities and Demigods a 3.5 feat. Along the way, it looks like they changed their mind about the 3.0 erratum for the feat, as that's been dropped from the 3.5 revision. So, in D&D 3.5, Knock-Down is an enabler for Improved Trip.

Deities and Demigods was published 2002 April.
The Sword and Fist Errata file is labeled internally as 2001 May 1 but last released 2002 October 18.
The "FREE D&D® V.3.5 ACCESSORY UPDATE" for Deities and Demigods is marked 2003 July 18.
I haven't been able to find any official release date for the OGL content from Deities and Demigods; the main page (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/srd35) simply says "© 1995-2008". (The SRD section including Knock-Down is here (http://www.wizards.com/d20/files/v35/DivineAbilitiesandFeats.rtf).) As Darrin noted, that's probably the most recent official release; it would just be nice to have a date attached to it. (Neither the web page nor this file contain dates in their metadata.)