Need help understanding the Cushion The Blow feat

[Deca4531]

Cushion The Blow [Psionic]

You reduce the damage of an attack on an ally.

:*Wisdom*15,*collectiveclass feature, manifester level 6th.

: As long as you are maintaining*psionic focus, as an immediate action, you can minimize the damage of a single attack with a ranged, melee, or*natural weapon*or unarmed strike*(treat all dice rolled as 1s) on any member of the collective. This ability must be used in response to an attack on a member of the collective. In addition, if you expend your*psionic focus, you can reduce any additional damage on the attack (such as bonus damage from a high Strength*or*sneak attack*damage) by your key ability modifier.


So what im not sure about is how often can i use this, it sounds like i can use this every round, because that seems a little OP.

[PsyBomb]

Cushion The Blow [Psionic]

You reduce the damage of an attack on an ally.

:*Wisdom*15,*collectiveclass feature, manifester level 6th.

: As long as you are maintaining*psionic focus, as an immediate action, you can minimize the damage of a single attack with a ranged, melee, or*natural weapon*or unarmed strike*(treat all dice rolled as 1s) on any member of the collective. This ability must be used in response to an attack on a member of the collective. In addition, if you expend your*psionic focus, you can reduce any additional damage on the attack (such as bonus damage from a high Strength*or*sneak attack*damage) by your key ability modifier.


So what im not sure about is how often can i use this, it sounds like i can use this every round, because that seems a little OP.

It is usable every round, but it isn't quite as OP as you may think. It is, by its nature, most effective against foes with few static bonuses rolling truckloads of dice. Vital-Strike Saurians, Sneak Attackers, Blaster Sorcerers, etc. It is nowhere near as effective against something like a raging barbarian, who rolls fewer damage dice with titanic modifiers to it.

[Deca4531]

It is usable every round, but it isn't quite as OP as you may think. It is, by its nature, most effective against foes with few static bonuses rolling truckloads of dice. Vital-Strike Saurians, Sneak Attackers, Blaster Sorcerers, etc. It is nowhere near as effective against something like a raging barbarian, who rolls fewer damage dice with titanic modifiers to it.

Hmm, i see your point, so i might only mitigate a single dice, and even expending mt focus would only prevent another 4 or 5 damage.

Still, do you think the feat is worth investing?

[The Viscount]

It's certainly not a bad feat, but being limited to once per round means you'll often have the headache of deciding when to save it for. If you don't have something better in mind it's not a bad use of a feat.

[Nyaa]

Note that it requires Wisdom and collective. Which means Vitalist. Vitalists don't have many feats made for them specifically, so I guess almost every one will have all Cushion The Blow line (there are three feats) eventually, unless they are doing something weird with their build. In that case, there is always psychic reformation.

[Diarmuid]

The other thing to keep in mind is that while usable every round, this also means you're not using swift actions at all.

I don't know if your build needs them, but that can be a pretty significant resource expenditure.