Ways to trade AC for offense in 3.5 and Pathfinder

[Toptomcat]

For 3.5 and Pathfinder, first and third party products, what are all the ways you can think of to trade AC for some kind of offensive benefit- attack, damage, rider effects to attacks, other stuff?

In both, barbarian rage and Enlarge Person fit the bill. 3.5's Reckless Rage from Races of Stone turns it up another notch.

The Pathfinder rage power Reckless Abandon works.

Drop Dead Studios' Berserker sphere in conjunction with the Executioner and Flaming Riastrad talents is an interesting one.

The 3.5 Book of 9 Swords has Punishing Stance, and there's an analogue in the DSP Primal Fury discipline's Stance of Aggression.

In 3.5, Shock Trooper is well-known bordering on infamous.

3.5's Karmic Strike and Robilar's Gambit are also well-known and unusual in that they grant bonus attacks, making them the cornerstone of some 'masochist' builds.

3.5's Enemies and Allies/Races of Faerun feat Reckless Offensive works, as does Dreamscarred Press' nearly-identical Reckless Offense.

[Rebel7284]

As far as masochistic builds, there is the spell masochism.

Headlong Rush provokes extra AOOs

[Saintheart]

Ronin's Banzai Charge class feature does this, dump AC for extra damage.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

3.5's Karmic Strike and Robilar's Gambit are also well-known and unusual in that they grant bonus attacks, making them the cornerstone of some 'masochist' builds.


There's also Defensive Throw, which triggers on a miss against you and lets you make a trip attack. Unfortunately, it only works if the attacker was the target of your Dodge feat.

A bit of a stretch, but the Devoted Defender PrC lets you swap places with an attacked ally (taking the attack in their stead) and also riposte. The two aren't really connected (you can use one without the other) beyond both being granted by the same class, but there's rarely a reason to use one without the other.

[Kurald Galain]

In PF, the feat Broken Wing Gambit gives enemies an attack/damage bonus against you, but if they attack you they provoke.

[KillianHawkeye]

The Reckless Offense feat from the Expanded Psionics Handbook lets you trade AC for attack bonus. I'm not sure if it's the same as the similarly named feats mentioned above.

[Elysiume]

Risky Striker is a Pathfinder feat that trades AC for damage, with a few big caveats: halfling only, no bonus damage for two-handing, and it only works against enemies at least two size categories larger than you.

There's also Reckless Aim, which, on ranged attacks, lets you take -1 to AC to get +2 on your attack roll. This also comes with caveats: it doesn't scale (it's always -1/+2), your target needs to be engaged in melee, and if you roll a nat 1 you automatically hit a random adjacent creature that was threatening your target (i.e. an ally, barring odd circumstances).

[Fizban]

Arms and Equipment Guide has the Fierce weapon property, which allows one to trade dex to AC for damage.

[ShurikVch]

If we mentioned Barbarian's Rage, then there are also Berserk's Battle Fury (Deities and Demigods), Dragon Warrior's Dragon's Fury (Dragon #298), and Frenzied Berserker's Frenzy (Complete Warrior)

Also, Animals such as Badger and Wolverine are get their own variant of Rage too: it may look like Barbarian's Rage, but not limited in any way beyond the "creature cannot end its rage voluntarily"
Similarly, Blood Frenzy of Carcass Eater (Libris Mortis)
Player may acquire aforementioned SA via polymorphing magic, Wild Shape, Lycanthropy, or Anthropomorphic Animal

In addition - Frantic Rage and Wolverine's Rage feats

[Feldar]

Perhaps I missed it, but I did not see anyone mention charge as an action. +2 to hit, -2 to AC.