Originally Posted by
ericgrau
But how would the tank in big shiny armor draw fire if the foes are intelligent, and if his tanking ability is to keep foes from reaching his allies then all he has to do is march in front before the fight. The rogue needs to go early to get sneak attacks, and can stay safe in round 1 with a bow.
For that matter improved initiative is a pretty lousy feat for melee. Going 1/4 to 1/2 a round early in a 5 round fight doesn't really help all that much compared to the damage, AB and etc. you get from other feats available. Heck in D&D you need to play crusader or such to be a real tank; otherwise most classes can protect themselves pretty well or even sitting behind the melee buys you a round and an attack of opportunity before foes reach you.
I mean:
wizard: billion defensive spells and crowd control spells to reduce damage, and can do this at range behind the melee
cleric: is also heavily armored melee
rogue: Quite fragile but can fight at range, tumble away when hurt, or use many sneak attack triggers as defense as well. Also if they're melee a tank can't help them anyway.