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Seatbelt
2007-01-31, 12:52 AM
One of my players is using the feat Intimidating Strike, which allows him to make a melee attack that follows the power attack/combat expertise theme, except it adds to his intimidate check. On a hit, his target must make some wierd not-quite-will save or become shaken for the rest of the round. Now I say he has to at least sacrifice 1 BAB in order for the feat to apply to a melee attack. He says it doesnt, and that sacking BAB for the bonus is optional (he's a new player, so he doesnt quite realize that if we follow his interpretation, he could make *every* strike an intimidating strike). Now, every ounce of D&D experience I have, let alone logic and reason, say you MUST sack a BAB to make an intimidating strike, and I intend to rule that way. But the feat itself doesnt specifically state that you must, so I'm just curious if there is a rules lawyer that knows.

Shhalahr Windrider
2007-01-31, 01:03 AM
Where is this feat from? It's not on the WotC feat index.

Seatbelt
2007-01-31, 01:05 AM
PHB2. word limit.

Shhalahr Windrider
2007-01-31, 01:18 AM
Ah, found it. Thanks. Not sure why it's not in the index, though. Found the problem, too. The default sort on the index is outa whack. I thought it was all alphebetical, but newer sources are listed in blocks at the bottom.

On to the topic!

Okay, you subtract a number equal to or less than your BAB...

Yeah, nothing keeping you from making that number 0.

But... you can't make every strike an intimidating strike. At least, not if you want to take a full attack action. Using Intimidating Strike requires a standard action, which means a character with BAB +6 or higher would lose out on attacks per round.

Of course, if you send this guy up against creatures with a high number of HD compared to their challenge rating (such as giants (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/monstersG.html#giant) or elementals (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/monstersEtoF.html#elemental)), he's gonna want to start trading in AB for Intimidate bonus. This also holds for creatures larger than the PC in question. Then there are also creature immune to fear, and, by extension, this feat. So there are definitely ways to keep that in check.

Seatbelt
2007-01-31, 10:18 AM
ok, thanks. :)

Shhalahr Windrider
2007-01-31, 11:19 AM
You're welcome.

Deus Mortus
2007-01-31, 11:36 AM
Could you link me to that index?

Shhalahr Windrider
2007-01-31, 11:42 AM
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/lists/feats

As I mentioned above, the list isn't sorted when you first open the page. It starts out as alphebetical, but later additions to the index got added in huge blocks depending on the sourcebook. You have to click on one of the column headings to sort according to that heading.