5e New Feat: Iaijutsu Strike

[Ninjadeadbeard]

For when you absolutely, positively need to tell some kid it was nothing personal, accept no substitute!

Iaijutsu Strike
Select a melee weapon that deals slashing damage and possesses a sheath. As long as it remains in your immediate possession, use its attack bonus (not counting bonuses from spells or fighting styles) in place of your normal Initiative bonus. Abilities that effect Initiative still effect this roll.
When you attack with a melee weapon that deals slashing damage in the same turn you draw it, add your Proficiency to damage rolls you make this turn with the weapon.
You may sheath a bladed weapon as a Bonus Action.

[Grod_The_Giant]

So... we've got a substantial initiative boost and, effectively, a bonus action to trade your ability to make AoOs for a round for +Prof to damage on all your attacks. It feels a bit over-tuned to me; perhaps the bonus should only apply to the first attack you make? Or better yet, a larger bonus but only on the first attack you make after initiative is rolled-- that lets you have a more dramatic and stylish iajutsu strike without opening up silliness like "repeatedly drawing and sheathing weapons" or "a quiver full of katanas."

(On a technical note, "bladed slashing weapon" isn't defined)

[jiriku]

"Overall attack bonus" is not well-defined. For example, suppose I have an Oath of Devotion paladin/sorcerer with a defender sword and the booming blade cantrip. My default attack bonus is prof+Str+3, but if I use booming blade it is prof+Cha+3. While my Sacred Weapon channeling is active is prof+Str+Cha+3 or prof+Chax2+3. Round-by-round, I can trade any of the +3 attack bonus from the weapon for an AC bonus. It is non-trivial to determine what this character's "overall attack bonus" is. I suggest that instead, the feat should simply make the character proficient in Initiative checks. This is very similar in effect but much simpler in execution.

I agree that sheathing the weapon as a bonus action should be removed. Neither the actual real-world practice of iaijutsu nor the film/fantasy depictions of iaijutsu involve any special training in sheathing a weapon quickly.

A more thematic ability might be that you can opt to use a "dueling stance" in the first round of combat. If you choose to enter your dueling stance before initiative is rolled, then any hit you make and any hits you receive on the first round of combat are automatically critical hits. This better duplicates the deadly "single-strike" nature of iaijutsu duels.

[JNAProductions]

Agreed with Grod.

Perhaps more something like this:


-You may add (half?) your proficiency bonus to your Initiative modifier.
-You may, the first time you draw your weapon in a combat, choose to make a single devastating slash instead of your normal attacks. As an action, make a single attack with a weapon you are proficient in. This attack adds twice your proficiency, rather than only once, to the hit roll, and on a hit, does additional damage equal to your level. In addition, if you have Extra Attack, you deal double this damage. (Extra Attack II triples, Extra Attack III quadruples.) You may not make any more attacks the turn you do this.
-You have advantage on attack rolls against creatures that have not yet acted in the initiative order on the first round of combat.

[Composer99]

I like the concept, but must echo with the other commenters my misgivings on the execution.

"Bladed slashing weapons" is IMO far too fiddly for 5e. I think you should just let people benefit from the feat with any melee weapon. If you have to include a restriction, I would go no further than melee weapons that deal slashing damage.

Here's what I would suggest - giving jiriku's suggestions some mechanical fleshing-out.



You have trained in a special combat technique called iaijutsu, honing your reflexes and will to deliver swift, decisive blows at the very outset of combat. You gain the following benefits:

Your Dexterity score increases by 1, to a maximum of 20.
Add your proficiency bonus to initiative checks.
During the first round of combat, on your turn you can choose to make iaijutsu strikes. Doing so grants you advantage on melee weapon attack rolls during this turn, but attack rolls against you have advantage until your next turn. In addition, the first of these attacks that hits is a critical hit as long as the attack's target is within 5 feet of you.



Alternatively, instead of the Reckless Attack-esque benefit, you could go with something more like unto Divine Smite, similar to JNAProduction's suggestion.

(I added in the partial ASI because the rest of the feat's benefit only applies on the first round of combats, and includes a downside.)

[Balyano]

My default attack bonus is prof+Str+3, but if I use booming blade it is prof+Cha+3.

Booming Blade is a melee attack roll not a spell attack roll


You make a single melee weapon attack against a creature you can see in range. If the attack hits, the target is surrounded by magical energy, and it can't willingly move or it takes 1d8 thunder damage. The spell ends after dealing damage or at the start of your next turn, whichever is sooner.[

This nit pick brought to you by Balyano.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

Ooh! Lots of responses. I’ll try to keep this as space-efficient as possible, but no guarantees.


that lets you have a more dramatic and stylish iajutsu strike without opening up silliness like "repeatedly drawing and sheathing weapons" or "a quiver full of katanas."


I agree that sheathing the weapon as a bonus action should be removed. Neither the actual real-world practice of iaijutsu nor the film/fantasy depictions of iaijutsu involve any special training in sheathing a weapon quickly.


Silliness? SILLINESS? My friends, we come to D&D for the adventure, but we stay for the cheese!

My reasoning is simple; This allows a unique way to roll Initiative (I will talk about the mechanics below) that feels different and thematic when compared to the other existing ways. Plus, to really take advantage of that is to dedicate oneself to the concept, which is both a tradeoff and a funny way to embody the idea of dedicating oneself to a single talent. The bonus damage applies to all attacks made that round because there is in fact precedent. Specifically, Goemon, the samurai companion of manga/anime legend Arsene Lupin the 3rd, who often will appear, draw his blade, and then sheathe it as everything falls apart around him, often in far more pieces than could have been made by a single (albeit superhuman) cut. See below for evidence in spoiler. Also, since the damage will almost always be between 2 and 4 damage (no one plays past 14th level, stop lying to yourselves), even with builds that maximize the attack numbers, it might only really come up to an additional 10-15 damage on average. And that’s high-end play.

Finally, the Bonus Action to sheathe sets up the next iaijutsu strike. Which, let me tell you from my playtesting, actually hurts when you need that bonus action for other things. I consider it a tradeoff.


http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/18400000/Lupin-the-castle-of-cagliostro-18417370-482-258.gif



"Overall attack bonus" is not well-defined.

True! And I intend to rectify this immediately. How about this: An Overall Attack Bonus is just your permanent, unchanging attack bonus with a given weapon. No spells, no features that you have to activate. Only native, innate, and passive benefits. So, magic bonus yes. Great Weapon Master no. Spells, no.

Under this understanding, at least in my playtesting, a hyper-optimized Gloom Stalker can hit around +17 to their Initiative check. But I don’t believe in preventing players from trying to fulfill their class’s primary function, so why shouldn’t they be able to devote their power to going first? There’s far worse in the system.


(On a technical note, "bladed slashing weapon" isn't defined)


"Bladed slashing weapons" is IMO far too fiddly for 5e. I think you should just let people benefit from the feat with any melee weapon. If you have to include a restriction, I would go no further than melee weapons that deal slashing damage.

By “bladed slashing weapon”, I fully meant melee weapon that deals slashing damage. I suppose I left bladed in there as a bit of flavor, since I naturally would insist as a DM that you only use the feat with weapons that are vaguely similar to the intended use. So, as a DM, I’d prefer you not use an axe, but it could be valid under another DM.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to post. Please let me know what else you think about this. And please head over to this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23628937&postcount=1) if you're interested in anything else from my little campaign rulebook.

[Ogrillian]

Most Iaijustu I’ve seen in manga/anime require that the sword be sheathed immediately after a single strike for the next attack. Can’t remember what manga (I think History’s Strongest Disciple) but I think they described it as “Using the friction between blade and sheath to build power and speed similar to flicking a finger”

I would like to see if this could be fleshed out to a subclass considering the arguments for speed & accuracy attacks as well.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

Modifications made. Please let me know what you all think.


I would like to see if this could be fleshed out to a subclass considering the arguments for speed & accuracy attacks as well.

That would be fascinating to see. Not sure what exactly I would do with it, but I'll have a think. Thanks for the comment!

[Grod_The_Giant]

For initiative, I'd go one of two ways: either say something along the lines of "when making initiative checks, you may use either strength or dexterity, and you may add your Proficiency bonus." That, or "you may make a melee attack roll in place of an initiative check," and not worry about potential bonuses from magic weapons. Compare to Alert, which gives a flat - 5 alongside a bunch of good stuff-- you've got room.

As for the rest... if that's the thematic you're going for, I don't think you're quite there--"bonus action for +prof to damage" isn't unbalanced or anything, but it's also not super noticeable. I'd still suggest pairing a usage limit with it so you can bump up the power.

[jiriku]

Iffy mechanics, goofy combat style... it's bad.

Sorry, I know you probably wanted to get encouraging feedback, but as written it's not my cup of tea.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

Iffy mechanics, goofy combat style... it's bad.

Sorry, I know you probably wanted to get encouraging feedback, but as written it's not my cup of tea.

Eh, fair. I've learned that my table has exceedingly different expectations than is typical for 5e groups.

I mean, we hardly even USE feats...