Olo Demonsbane
2020-10-16, 03:32 PM
I've found recently that I've been optimizing characters to be able to act outside of their turn. Combat is much more interesting, at least in my book, if you spend your turn casting Twinned Synchronicity and then actually engaging tactically throughout the round, rather than waiting for your turn to start. It also lets you pull off some extremely cinematic stunts, particularly if you are playing something like a Tiger Claw-focused Warblade.
I thought I'd collect a list of some of those options, in case it was helpful to anyone else, and see if there was anything vital I was missing.
Mundane options:
Attacks of Opportunity
This is the obvious one.
Triggering AoOs could be a thread in itself, but I'll leave this (http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=13426.0) here for reference.
It is much easier to trigger these when combined with some form of out of turn movement.
Evasive Reflexes
Give up an AoO in order to take a free 5ft step.
This is definitely made more worthwhile with a Sparring Dummy of the Master, Magic Rolerskates, or Press the Advantage.
Tempest Stormwind's group did a whole post on "Flash Stepping", which uses this.
Sidestep
Evasive Reflexes, but it only works once per turn, you don't give up your AoO to trigger it, and it has horrid prereqs.
I would take Sidestep instead of Evasive Reflexes if you already were getting Dodge and Mobility for some reason.
Readied Actions
Ready an action to attack (or whatever) when you say "Now", and give yourself extra flexibility that way.
Martial adept options:
Counters in general
Also known as "make melee combat more interesting 101".
I'm not going to go into specifics, as there are quite a few of them, but if someone wants to, I'll include their summaries here.
Shifting Defense (Setting Sun Stance 5)
5ft step every time you are attacked. The 5ft step occurs before the attack resolves.
I absolutely love this stance, particularly in combination with something to increase the distance of your 5ft step, or with Robliar's Gambit and a spiked chain.
Wolf Pack Tactics (Tiger Claw Stance 8)
Move 5ft every time you make a successful melee attack, up to your speed.
The "up to your speed" part makes this less crazy, as otherwise you could put this on a Binder with Paimon and kill an entire army with Dance of Death.
Still can be quite nice with a good AoO build. Hold the Line + Stand Still + Wolf Pack Tactics is definitely amusing.
Island in Time (Eternal Blade 10)
Take an extra turn, 1/encounter, as an immediate action.
This only comes online at level 20, but it's an incredibly nice capstone.
Spells and Maneuvers:
Synchronicity (Psion/Wilder 1)
Gives increased flexibility for readying actions.
Combine with Twin Power, Quicken Power, or Link Power for a nice action economy boost.
Celerity (Sor/Wizard 4)
Immediate action spell, take a standard action, and you are dazed next turn.
The quintessential action of economy breaker.
Combine with Favor of the Martyr or Mark of the Dauntless for extra gouda.
Lesser Celerity (Sor/Wizard 2)
Like Celerity, but only a move action.
Much less abusive, and a wand of this spell in a wand chamber combined with some immunity to dazing is a nice addition to many melee builds.
Anticipatory Strike (Psion/Wilder 5, Time 5)
Celerity's cousin over in psionics. Take your turn as an immediate action, but you lose your next turn.
Slightly less abusive due to not being able to avoid the effects.
Magic Items:
Boots of Sidestepping
Take a free 5ft step when you are in the radius of an area effect that offers a Reflex save. If you get out of the area, you escape the effect.
Combine with 5ft step increasers like Sparring Dummy of the Master to make this even better.
Combine with an Explosive weapon to effectively get Tactics of the Wolf at a much lower level.
Steadfast Boots
Lets you treat any two weapon you are holding as if you were readying it against a charge, and double damage when if you do attack them.
Combine with Cometary Collision to counter charge enemies.
Other:
Mark of Avernus
One of those Fiendish Codex II feats that you need to get your DM's permission to take. If you can get it, it gives +4 attack/damage on readied actions.
It also gives you, 1/encounter, the ability to use a melee or ranged attack or an SLA as an immediate action.
Very nice combination with Synchronicity, as any attacks you make due to that get the readied bonus.
Master of Magical Philosophy
Capstone ability of the Complete Champion Magic domain affiliation.
Once per day, counter a spell without a readied action, and without having the same spell ready to cast, provided you succeed on a Spellcraft check to identify the spell as normal.
Particularly nice as you can get to that affiliation rank entirely through actions in your backstory, and without even being able to cast spells.
I hope this is useful! If you have anything you think I should add, please let me know.
I thought I'd collect a list of some of those options, in case it was helpful to anyone else, and see if there was anything vital I was missing.
Mundane options:
Attacks of Opportunity
This is the obvious one.
Triggering AoOs could be a thread in itself, but I'll leave this (http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=13426.0) here for reference.
It is much easier to trigger these when combined with some form of out of turn movement.
Evasive Reflexes
Give up an AoO in order to take a free 5ft step.
This is definitely made more worthwhile with a Sparring Dummy of the Master, Magic Rolerskates, or Press the Advantage.
Tempest Stormwind's group did a whole post on "Flash Stepping", which uses this.
Sidestep
Evasive Reflexes, but it only works once per turn, you don't give up your AoO to trigger it, and it has horrid prereqs.
I would take Sidestep instead of Evasive Reflexes if you already were getting Dodge and Mobility for some reason.
Readied Actions
Ready an action to attack (or whatever) when you say "Now", and give yourself extra flexibility that way.
Martial adept options:
Counters in general
Also known as "make melee combat more interesting 101".
I'm not going to go into specifics, as there are quite a few of them, but if someone wants to, I'll include their summaries here.
Shifting Defense (Setting Sun Stance 5)
5ft step every time you are attacked. The 5ft step occurs before the attack resolves.
I absolutely love this stance, particularly in combination with something to increase the distance of your 5ft step, or with Robliar's Gambit and a spiked chain.
Wolf Pack Tactics (Tiger Claw Stance 8)
Move 5ft every time you make a successful melee attack, up to your speed.
The "up to your speed" part makes this less crazy, as otherwise you could put this on a Binder with Paimon and kill an entire army with Dance of Death.
Still can be quite nice with a good AoO build. Hold the Line + Stand Still + Wolf Pack Tactics is definitely amusing.
Island in Time (Eternal Blade 10)
Take an extra turn, 1/encounter, as an immediate action.
This only comes online at level 20, but it's an incredibly nice capstone.
Spells and Maneuvers:
Synchronicity (Psion/Wilder 1)
Gives increased flexibility for readying actions.
Combine with Twin Power, Quicken Power, or Link Power for a nice action economy boost.
Celerity (Sor/Wizard 4)
Immediate action spell, take a standard action, and you are dazed next turn.
The quintessential action of economy breaker.
Combine with Favor of the Martyr or Mark of the Dauntless for extra gouda.
Lesser Celerity (Sor/Wizard 2)
Like Celerity, but only a move action.
Much less abusive, and a wand of this spell in a wand chamber combined with some immunity to dazing is a nice addition to many melee builds.
Anticipatory Strike (Psion/Wilder 5, Time 5)
Celerity's cousin over in psionics. Take your turn as an immediate action, but you lose your next turn.
Slightly less abusive due to not being able to avoid the effects.
Magic Items:
Boots of Sidestepping
Take a free 5ft step when you are in the radius of an area effect that offers a Reflex save. If you get out of the area, you escape the effect.
Combine with 5ft step increasers like Sparring Dummy of the Master to make this even better.
Combine with an Explosive weapon to effectively get Tactics of the Wolf at a much lower level.
Steadfast Boots
Lets you treat any two weapon you are holding as if you were readying it against a charge, and double damage when if you do attack them.
Combine with Cometary Collision to counter charge enemies.
Other:
Mark of Avernus
One of those Fiendish Codex II feats that you need to get your DM's permission to take. If you can get it, it gives +4 attack/damage on readied actions.
It also gives you, 1/encounter, the ability to use a melee or ranged attack or an SLA as an immediate action.
Very nice combination with Synchronicity, as any attacks you make due to that get the readied bonus.
Master of Magical Philosophy
Capstone ability of the Complete Champion Magic domain affiliation.
Once per day, counter a spell without a readied action, and without having the same spell ready to cast, provided you succeed on a Spellcraft check to identify the spell as normal.
Particularly nice as you can get to that affiliation rank entirely through actions in your backstory, and without even being able to cast spells.
I hope this is useful! If you have anything you think I should add, please let me know.