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View Full Version : Disarming with a bite attack?



SolkaTruesilver
2007-10-10, 11:06 AM
Hi there. The duskblade in our group is a huge fan of Improved Trip and Improved Disarm. And we tough that if we polymorphed him into a max-headed hydra, that would be quite usefull for more trip and more disarm attempts

But I wanted to know what are the modifiers when you use a bite attack to disarm? It's not an "unarmed" strike.. so, I'm wondering..

Kurald Galain
2007-10-10, 11:13 AM
Given that disarming is traditionally done with another weapon (like a sword, or one of those fancy twist-parrying daggers) I fail to see the problem that the bite is not an unarmed strike.

Fluff-wise, the hydra could bite on the weapon and twist away, or head-butt whomever is holding it, and so forth.

Person_Man
2007-10-10, 11:39 AM
Your Duskblade should know that Disarm is a waste of an action. This is particularly true for builds with a high damage output.

He's a Duskblade. He should be able to kill things pretty quickly. Wasting an attack roll on a Disarm attempt, which deals no damage, is pointless when you can make your enemy a corpse with the same attack roll.

Also, your DM let's you Polymorph him into a Hydra? Wow. That exploit has always been around, but everyone I know has banned it long ago. You must be playing a pretty high powered campaign. But this just further proves my point. He's a freaking Hydra Duskblade! Why would he Disarm, when he can pretty much obliterate everyone within his reach with a channeled attack?

Caduceus
2007-10-10, 11:43 AM
Your Duskblade should know that Disarm is a waste of an action. This is particularly true for builds with a high damage output.

He's a Duskblade. He should be able to kill things pretty quickly. Wasting an attack roll on a Disarm attempt, which deals no damage, is pointless when you can make your enemy a corpse with the same attack roll.

Also, your DM let's you Polymorph him into a Hydra? Wow. That exploit has always been around, but everyone I know has banned it long ago. You must be playing a pretty high powered campaign. But this just further proves my point. He's a freaking Hydra Duskblade! Why would he Disarm, when he can pretty much obliterate everyone within his reach with a channeled attack?

Maybe because he's not a strict powergamer, and just wants to be that cool guy in all the swashbuckler movies who disarms his opponents and makes them look like fools? Defeating them without killing them, and all that. Melee characters aren't always all about damage output. Neutralizing a foe is just as effective at times as killing them, sometimes even more-so.

Nerd-o-rama
2007-10-10, 02:16 PM
The powergamer's response is that he shouldn't be playing a Duskblade, then. Duskblades are about pumping Channeled and Quickened spells to do ridiculous damage, and generally don't have the feats to do anything else.

Personally, I don't care, more power to the player, and I'm going to take the question at face value: a Hydra's bites are all Primary Natural Attacks, and it has more than one of them. This counts like a one-handed weapon for damage (1xStr Mod), so it probably does for Disarming as well. Simple enough. Oh, and he probably wouldn't end up holding their weapons, because a) he's "armed" and b) what's he going to do with a sword in his mouth?

Tripping will be just like using trip with an unarmed attack, only your attack bonus and strength change appropriately due to the Poly spell.

Really, though, it'd be more effective to Grapple your opponents to neutralize them. Hydras get Improved Grab, right?

Alex12
2007-10-10, 02:46 PM
Disarming as a Hydra is easy-bite the arms off.


Wait, you meant take away their weapons. Never mind.

Person_Man
2007-10-10, 03:00 PM
Maybe because he's not a strict powergamer, and just wants to be that cool guy in all the swashbuckler movies who disarms his opponents and makes them look like fools? Defeating them without killing them, and all that. Melee characters aren't always all about damage output. Neutralizing a foe is just as effective at times as killing them, sometimes even more-so.

Then why is he a Duskblade? And why is he polymorphed into a freaking Hydra? I'm all about fluff and "doing what my character would do" in combat. But this just seems like a poor tactical decision, not a roleplaying decision.

SolkaTruesilver
2007-10-12, 08:58 PM
1) because channelling only works with 1 attack/ennemy
2) because tripping and disarming the opponent chief warrior is a true efficient way to stop him while our other warrior (the true damage dealer) bash him out.

Our duskblade prefer to be either the ennemy spellcaster's nightmare or gaining time for our super-warrior to bash them in pieces.