Feats for a Crusader Tank (3.5 Feats, PEACH)

[NeoSeraphi]

Knight's Rebuke (Fighter)
Prerequisites: Able to initiate the boost maneuver Defensive Rebuke, BAB +4
Benefit: Your Defensive Rebuke boost lasts for one extra round per 4 points of BAB you have (maximum of 6 rounds with +20 BAB). Additionally, while your Defensive Rebuke boost is active, you receive an additional attack of opportunity per round per 4 points of BAB you have (maximum of 5 extra attacks per round at +20 BAB).
Normal: The Defensive Rebuke boost only lasts for 1 round, and it does not grant you any additional attacks of opportunity per round.


Glare of the Master Guard (Fighter)
Prerequisites: Able to use the stance Iron Guard's Glare, BAB +4
Benefit: The penalty creatures take to their attack rolls made against your allies while you are in the Iron Guard's Glare stance increases by -1 per 4 points of BAB you have (Up to -9 total at +20 BAB). Additionally, Iron Guard's Glare now applies to all enemy creatures within 30 feet who can see you.
Normal: Iron Guard's Glare only inflicts a -4 penalty on attack rolls made against your allies, and it only applies to creatures you threaten in melee.


Aegis Blocker (Fighter)
Prerequisites: Able to initiate the counter maneuver Shield Block, BAB +4
Benefit: Your Shield Block counter now provides an additional +1 bonus to your allies' AC per 4 points of BAB you have (up to your shield's AC bonus +9 total at +20 BAB). Additionally, if the creature attacking your ally misses his newly improved AC, it provokes an attack of opportunity from your ally. Your ally receives a +4 bonus on all Trip, Bull Rush, or Disarm checks he or she chooses to make during this attack of opportunity, per 4 points of BAB you have (Maximum +20 at +20 BAB).
Normal: Shield Block grants your ally a bonus to his AC equal to 4+your shield's bonus to AC, and does not provide any other bonuses.


Swarm of Blades (Fighter)
Prerequisites: Able to use the stance Thicket of Blades, BAB +4
Benefit: While you are in the Thicket of Blades stance, creatures you threaten take a -5' penalty to all forms of movement speed per 4 points of BAB you have (maximum of -25' at +20 BAB). This includes a 5' step, so at least +4 BAB prevents any creature you threaten from taking a 5' step.
Normal: The Thicket of Blades stance does not penalize a creature's movement speed or prevent it from taking 5' steps.


Entrapping Blade (Fighter)
Prerequisites: Able to initate the strike maneuver Entangling Blade, BAB +4
Benefit: The penalty to movement speed inflicted by your Entangling Blade maneuver is increased by -5' per 4 points of BAB you have (to a maximum total of -45' at +20 BAB) and lasts for one additional round per 4 points of BAB you have (to a maximum total of 6 rounds at +20 BAB)
Normal:The Entangling Blade strike maneuver inflicts a -20' penalty to all a creature's movement speeds until the end of its next turn.

[Zaydos]

I like the concept, feats to improve specific maneuvers seem really interesting. I really like Aegis Blocker and Swarm of Blades and don't really have anything to say about them. Entrapping Blade has a worrisome duration, but the opportunity cost of using it is fairly high to immobilize one enemy and at high levels teleportation is common enough.

I'd say that the duration increases might be going a little too far (Knight's Rebuke becomes a constant effect at 16th level as you will recover it by the time you lose its effect) as they become something like a second stance (the Warblade's capstone ability). Whether the game balance is off or not, I'm not willing to say, but the warblade capstone is supposed to be pretty good so I'd be careful.

Glare of the Master Guard might also be a little too much and the increase might should be reduced to an additional -1 per 4 points of BAB. As written it will ultimately just require the DM to get around AC as monsters will only be able to hit one party member with attacks. A -9 is still a rather large impact, roughly a -45% chance of hitting. Which means unless the enemy only missed on a 1. My experience with high level games is limited to one campaign, a battle of an epic gestalt game (not really the same), and a few test adventures for one I'm planning for the next month, but the PCs in both ended with ACs in the mid 30s to mid 40s meaning a pit fiend (random CR 20 creature) hits on a range of 5 to 15; with this it is now a 19 or 20. Even with the -9 version it is dropped to 14 to 20. Dragons mess up these numbers because honestly after looking at and comparing dozens of true dragons to other monsters I think they didn't compare dragons to other creatures of their CR at all, and just pulled numbers out of the air.

[NeoSeraphi]

I like the concept, feats to improve specific maneuvers seem really interesting. I really like Aegis Blocker and Swarm of Blades and don't really have anything to say about them. Entrapping Blade has a worrisome duration, but the opportunity cost of using it is fairly high to immobilize one enemy and at high levels teleportation is common enough.

Thank you.



I'd say that the duration increases might be going a little too far (Knight's Rebuke becomes a constant effect at 16th level as you will recover it by the time you lose its effect) as they become something like a second stance (the Warblade's capstone ability). Whether the game balance is off or not, I'm not willing to say, but the warblade capstone is supposed to be pretty good so I'd be careful.


You could say it was like a second stance, or you could say that it becomes a constant class feature that requires a swift action to maintain every few rounds, such as a ranger's camoflauge ability. Remember, Defensive Rebuke only works if you are threatening a creature and it attacks another creature instead of you. So basically, you have to be flanking, and it can easily avoid the shenanigans by simply attacking you instead. And it doesn't stop them from attacking your opponent, it just lets you punish them a bit for it. Since crusaders aren't known for their damage output (especially sword-and-board ones) and you can't use a strike as an AoO, then I don't see the real overpowering issue here.



Glare of the Master Guard might also be a little too much and the increase might should be reduced to an additional -1 per 4 points of BAB. As written it will ultimately just require the DM to get around AC as monsters will only be able to hit one party member with attacks. A -9 is still a rather large impact, roughly a -45% chance of hitting. Which means unless the enemy only missed on a 1. My experience with high level games is limited to one campaign, a battle of an epic gestalt game (not really the same), and a few test adventures for one I'm planning for the next month, but the PCs in both ended with ACs in the mid 30s to mid 40s meaning a pit fiend (random CR 20 creature) hits on a range of 5 to 15; with this it is now a 19 or 20. Even with the -9 version it is dropped to 14 to 20. Dragons mess up these numbers because honestly after looking at and comparing dozens of true dragons to other monsters I think they didn't compare dragons to other creatures of their CR at all, and just pulled numbers out of the air.

Fair enough. I dropped it, thanks for the critique.

[Cieyrin]

These are neat but these look like they should be bonus Fighter feats, which opens the playfield a bit on who can use these and get to them in a timely manner, which I think is always a good thing. I don't otherwise see fault with anything Zaydos has thrown out and I don't have much else to add.

[NeoSeraphi]

These are neat but these look like they should be bonus Fighter feats, which opens the playfield a bit on who can use these and get to them in a timely manner, which I think is always a good thing. I don't otherwise see fault with anything Zaydos has thrown out and I don't have much else to add.

Good idea. I'll do that now.

[Pechvarry]

Neat concept. I feel like some of these should improve multiple maneuvers, though. The most obvious example is Shield Block, which would be nice to include Shield Counter, though it's a powerful enough maneuver that it's hard to really improve.


Glare of the Master Guard (Fighter)
Prerequisites: Able to use the stance Iron Guard's Glare, BAB +4
Benefit: The penalty creatures take to their attack rolls made against your allies while you are in the Iron Guard's Glare stance increases by -1 per 4 points of BAB you have (Up to -9 total at +20 BAB). Additionally, Iron Guard's Glare now applies to all enemy creatures within 30 feet who can see you.
Normal: Iron Guard's Glare only inflicts a -4 penalty on attack rolls made against your allies, and it only applies to creatures you threaten in melee.

If you agree with Zaydos about DMs and escalation, you could simply change the attack penalty out for induced miss chance. e.g. "This stance now affects everyone within 30', and all affected opponents have a 20% miss chance when not attacking you."


Aegis Blocker (Fighter)
Prerequisites: Able to initiate the counter maneuver Shield Block, BAB +4
Benefit: Your Shield Block counter now provides an additional +1 bonus to your allies' AC per 4 points of BAB you have (up to your shield's AC bonus +9 total at +20 BAB). Additionally, if the creature attacking your ally misses his newly improved AC, it provokes an attack of opportunity from your ally. Your ally receives a +4 bonus on all Trip, Bull Rush, or Disarm checks he or she chooses to make during this attack of opportunity, per 4 points of BAB you have (Maximum +20 at +20 BAB).
Normal: Shield Block grants your ally a bonus to his AC equal to 4+your shield's bonus to AC, and does not provide any other bonuses.


I feel like Shield Block gives a pretty darn nice chunk of AC as-is. A +10 or more AC is pretty obtainable for high level Crusaders. The additional options/bonuses are pretty impressive. I don't know that I think you should remove it, but I do want to bring up that it is already quite potent.


Swarm of Blades (Fighter)
Prerequisites: Able to use the stance Thicket of Blades, BAB +4
Benefit: While you are in the Thicket of Blades stance, creatures you threaten take a -5' penalty to all forms of movement speed per 4 points of BAB you have (maximum of -25' at +20 BAB). This includes a 5' step, so at least +4 BAB prevents any creature you threaten from taking a 5' step.
Normal: The Thicket of Blades stance does not penalize a creature's movement speed or prevent it from taking 5' steps.

I fear this makes escape completely impossible. I suppose characters completely locked down by this and your improved Entangling Blade are still entitled to a Full-round action 5' move (which provokes AoOs, see here. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/movement.htm)). It's great fun right up until it's used against PCs.

[Seerow]

Re: The Iron Guard's Glare feat, I'd suggest making it the 30ft out benefit, and allow you to retain the normal benefit of Iron Guard's Glare if using a different stance. That way someone could either use Iron Guard's Glare and have the 30ft benefit, or they could use Thicket of Blades and still apply the -4 penalty to attacking allies.



And for shield block, I'd recommend rather than making the AC bonus even higher (a 4+shield bonus is already really high), making the feat for that maneuver to make the AC bonus last a full round, instead of only against one attack. Let me tell you, it really sucks to use shield block to stop one hit from going through on the squishy, only to have the next pulvarize them anyway.

[NeoSeraphi]

Re: The Iron Guard's Glare feat, I'd suggest making it the 30ft out benefit, and allow you to retain the normal benefit of Iron Guard's Glare if using a different stance. That way someone could either use Iron Guard's Glare and have the 30ft benefit, or they could use Thicket of Blades and still apply the -4 penalty to attacking allies.

I want the penalty to still be relevant at 20th level, and a -9 penalty is much more relevant than -4.

[Seerow]

I want the penalty to still be relevant at 20th level, and a -9 penalty is much more relevant than -4.

A -4 penalty is always relevant. This is a common misconception, with hit chance, bonuses actually don't need to scale to remain relevant. All you need is for the RNG to be remotely in tact (that is every attack doesn't hit on a 2, and your AC isn't twice as high as your ally's).

You're still getting the same benefit out of it at high level as you are at low level. You don't need to impose a -15 to hit at high levels for the penalty to matter. If your problem is with AC becoming irrelevant in general at higher levels, then you're trying to fix that in the wrong place, because putting a fix in a feat that is usable by a very small percentage of characters is a terrible fix.

[NeoSeraphi]

A -4 penalty is always relevant. This is a common misconception, with hit chance, bonuses actually don't need to scale to remain relevant. All you need is for the RNG to be remotely in tact (that is every attack doesn't hit on a 2, and your AC isn't twice as high as your ally's).

In every game I've played that were over level 12, all the monsters we fought hit on 2s against our characters. I've never played a game where the monsters ever had a problem hitting us.

[wiimanclassic]

I want the penalty to still be relevant at 20th level, and a -9 penalty is much more relevant than -4.

So being able to use another stance and tack on another minor bonus doesn't help?

[NeoSeraphi]

So being able to use another stance and tack on another minor bonus doesn't help?

Well the bonus is pretty minor at 20th level, since you're not always threatening creatures. If you can't stretch it out to 30 feet and the penalty isn't high, then no, it really doesn't help. It helps the other stance, sure, but it doesn't improve the original Iron Guard's Glare.

[Seerow]

In every game I've played that were over level 12, all the monsters we fought hit on 2s against our characters. I've never played a game where the monsters ever had a problem hitting us.

With all of their attacks? And I assume none of your characters made any real attempt at AC? Also this doesn't address the point of making really big hit penalties/AC bonuses in a couple of feats doesn't address the overall scaling problem. If everything hits on a 2 past level 12, then that could mean they're hitting on a 2 by a large margin, in which case even your beefed up effect won't matter at all, or they're hitting on a 2 just barely, in which case you just went from hit on a 2 to nearly unhittable. That's a core problem of a broken RNG.

If you want AC to matter more, fix the core RNG issue of attack scaling and AC not. I'd recommend looking at Legend for a solid template of how to handle that. Point is throwing huge bonuses/penalties onto a few feats isn't a fix, it's a patch to a bad design. Alternatively just start replacing everything with miss chances. Iron Guard's Glare now gives 20% miss chance to allies that stacks with other miss chance. Shield Block gives [5*(4+shield bonus)]% miss chance, that stacks. etc.



Anyway, I'll drop it now. I have books to read.

[NeoSeraphi]

With all of their attacks? And I assume none of your characters made any real attempt at AC?

By "attempt", what do you mean? If you mean spellcasting, then I haven't played many at higher levels, and if you mean equipment, I've never played a game with a magic mart. So I used what equipment I could buy to its fullest extent, and I think I had around 35 AC at my highest, with the party cleric having 29 and the party wizard having Persisted greater mirror image.



Also this doesn't address the point of making really big hit penalties/AC bonuses in a couple of feats doesn't address the overall scaling problem. If everything hits on a 2 past level 12, then that could mean they're hitting on a 2 by a large margin, in which case even your beefed up effect won't matter at all, or they're hitting on a 2 just barely, in which case you just went from hit on a 2 to nearly unhittable. That's a core problem of a broken RNG.

Indeed, but it's a start. You can't just up something by 10-12 with one feat and expect it to pass. You have to do a bunch of little things and stack them all together to get a decent end result.



If you want AC to matter more, fix the core RNG issue of attack scaling and AC not. I'd recommend looking at Legend for a solid template of how to handle that. Point is throwing huge bonuses/penalties onto a few feats isn't a fix, it's a patch to a bad design. Alternatively just start replacing everything with miss chances. Iron Guard's Glare now gives 20% miss chance to allies that stacks with other miss chance. Shield Block gives [5*(4+shield bonus)]% miss chance, that stacks. etc.


Yeah right, I don't think I know a single DM who'd approve a change like that.

[Kenneth]

just want to stop in grab a snak and say' neoseraphi makes some of the colest homebrew stuff"

aslo

aegis blocker..


is


awesome