Awesome feats people forget about

[Saintheart]

How's RUBY NIGHTMARE BLADE work?
I was reading it as "double melee damage", AND "If your strike is a critical hit, you stack the multipliers as normal". Are you reading it as 'but/or' if you crit?

And there's one I haven't looked at, so I can at least go and document it!

I think what's going on here is the same debate as what happens you get a critical hit on a mounted charge attack.

One reading is that you double your damage first and then apply a critical hit to it.

Another - which I guess is the one you're thinking about - is that you roll up the critical damage and then double that.

The third, which is the UnFun one and sadly I think it's the one they were referring to here given the references to stacking the multipliers normally, is that because a critical hit with Ruby Nightmare Blade is doubling doubled damage, it's covered by the same general rule in 3.5 that a double of a double is a triple. That is, if you make a critical hit with Ruby Nightmare Blade, in effect the multiplier on the critical hit is increased by one - a x2 becomes a x3, and so on. That is, you roll one more iteration of weapon damage. But it's still an increase in critical multiplier in effect, so, still worth a mention.

[bean illus]

Bless Weapon and Dolorous Blow don't need to stack with anything. They make threats auto-confirm (only against Evil creatures for Bless Weapon, but still). DB also doubles the weapon's threat range.

Critical Strike may only last one round, but Bless Weapon lasts one minute per level, and Dolorous Blow lasts ten per level.

Power Critical requires 4 BAB, meaning it's the same level as Bless Weapon and only one level ahead of Dolorous Blow.

I love Bless Weapon, and use it on clerics. But it's only available to cleric 3 with glory domain, paladin 6, and a few prcs, most who get it later. Most who must be good. Many who have their own tax.

In most all cases, it's only available 2 times a day, at first. Later it becomes fairly available to clerics of glory (and chameleons), but unless you're also casting divine power, then you lose BAB.

It's a great spell, but you have to build around it, to use it all day. And it isn't easily available to most builds.

I'm seeing Dolorous Blow as 1 min/level? And 5 levels of wiz/sorc. It's cetainly a great spell. But unless you have a caster who want's to spend all their 3rd level slots buffing you ... , or your a wiz/sorc yourself ... . Anyway it has its own build tax.

As I've said, what intrigues me is, power critical's availability to create a crit build at low levels.

"No" use? Absolutely not. There's plenty of use for it.

Several folk have opined so.

I may still ask for help using it in a build.

[Particle_Man]

Multiple copies of Oil of Bless Weapon aren’t too expensive at high levels.

[Troacctid]

A sacred scabbard is the usual way to bless your weapon. Only 4400 gp to bless weapon 3/day as a swift action.

If your game doesn't use MIC, then that's even better, because it means you can get a blessed weapon from BoED, which sports a continual bless weapon effect.

[Particle_Man]

Another feat I like that is fairly obscure: Midnight Metamagic. Nice for giving a use of metamagic without increasing spell level. Nicer for being the only incarnum feat that releases its essentia back into a character’s pool after the spell is cast, instead of keeping it locked away for 24 hours.

Shape Soulmeld is great but I think it is fairly well-known.

[bean illus]

A sacred scabbard is the usual way to bless your weapon. Only 4400 gp to bless weapon 3/day as a swift action.

If your game doesn't use MIC, then that's even better, because it means you can get a blessed weapon from BoED, which sports a continual bless weapon effect.

3 times a day for one swing?
4,400 is super cheap at higher levels, but below 6th it's alot. Above a certain point, one could carry several.

Is the one in BoED overwritten by MIC?
If not what's the cost?

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Oh, here're two I forgot.

Mercurial Strike - This feat is an absolute gem for people using Iaijutsu Focus, and still quite good if you're just using Sneak Attack. Whenever someone provokes an AoO (and you're unarmed), draw a weapon and make an opportunity attack against which they are flatfooted. Best paired with Robilar's Gambit or perhaps Karmic Strike.

Shorten Grip - Not to be confused with the similar-but-usually-worse Shorten Haft, this lets you use a reach weapon as if it didn't have reach. No action cost (unlike Shorten Haft), but you have a -2 on the attack roll. Already nice if you don't want to shell out for enchanted Spiked Gauntlets in addition to your enchanted reach weapon, but my favorite use is actually with Eldritch Glaive. (Admittedly slightly questionable, but I think it fits well within the Eldritch Glaive's rules).

[Troacctid]

3 times a day for one swing?

For one minute!

Is the one in BoED overwritten by MIC?
If not what's the cost?

Can't be overridden by MIC if your campaign doesn't use MIC!

It's a +1.

[Anthrowhale]

On the subject of critical hits, the spell "Sense Weakness" is nice because there is no limit on critical hit riders as per Bless Weapon or Dolorous Blow and the long duration implies it will be useful.

Wrt feats,

Serenity (Dragon Compendium) (use Wisdom instead of Charisma for Divine Grace, Smite, Turn Undead) on an Archivist/Prestige Paladin who has learned Owl's Insight (wisdom bonus scaling with caster level) is ... yikes. Combine with a Monk's Belt and Intuitive Attack for even more yikes.

Double Team (Dragon Compendium) makes flanking for Sneak Attack easy with a buddy and the prereq (Combat Reflexes) is useful anyways.

Adaptable Flanker (PHB II) with reach allows you to self-flank for one additional feat.

Allied Defense (Shining South) can give a dodge AC bonus of +20 to the entire party in combination with Improved Combat Expertise.

Power Throw combines well with the Weak Spot and Palm Throw class features of a Master Thrower while leaving melee attack rolls (from opportunity attacks for example) unaffected.

[bean illus]

For one minute!

Can't be overridden by MIC if your campaign doesn't use MIC!

It's a +1.

Wow. 3 times per day for 1 min, for 4,400 gp ... . You really only need one of them, or 2 if random encounters etc. The only downside i see is dispells, and AMF.

No alignment restrictions?

The BoED version would feel like cheating, at least here. But the MIC version is so good (and doesn't affect limits on the weapon), that one doesn't need the BoED version.

On the subject of critical hits, the spell "Sense Weakness" is nice because there is no limit on critical hit riders as per Bless Weapon or Dolorous Blow and the long duration implies it will be useful.

Another nice point is it's lack of exclusionary requirements, like particular domains/etc, and early availability to spamming.

Serenity (Dragon Compendium) (use Wisdom instead of Charisma for Divine Grace, Smite, Turn Undead) on an Archivist/Prestige Paladin who has learned Owl's Insight (wisdom bonus scaling with caster level) is ... yikes. Combine with a Monk's Belt and Intuitive Attack for even more yikes.

Nice. It also allows any cleric/prestige paladin gish to dump Cha. The ordained champion smite is Cha times per day, and no alignment restriction.

Allied Defense (Shining South) can give a dodge AC bonus of +20 to the entire party in combination with Improved Combat Expertise.

... i guess the whole party takes both feats? It seems I've heard that before.

[Anthrowhale]

... i guess the whole party takes both feats? It seems I've heard that before.

That would be overkill---you don't need AC 100.

Typically, just one high-BAB character can take Combat Expertise/Improved Combat Expertise/Allied Defense to put a party into a 'win' state for melee AC with monsters. Think of it as party members doing whatever they normally do for AC, but then adding 20 to it, which is almost always enough to shut down melee monster attacks. (If you design for it, the high BAB character dumping BAB for Allied Defense can still contribute in combat as well through touch attacks.)

[Zarvistic]

Re Allied Defense: There is also the golden cup paladin sub which I think would allow you to add it once more to a single ally in this same action.
The feat Defensive Opportunist seems like it should work to offset the attack penalty on aoos. Not too sure tho.

[Zombulian]

Speaking of awesome feats people forget about, I’ve forgotten one. Isn’t there a feat that allows you to substitute your own caster level for a magic item when you use it?

[St Fan]

Has Truebond (from Dungeon Master's Guide II) been mentioned?

Besides giving you a special ability depending on the ritual (and there are a variety of them, so you'll certainly find one useful for your build), there is also the fact it gives you locate object at will on the bonded item.

Besides making it much harder for you to lose your most prized possession, you can also uses this as a kind of "tracking device", slipping a small item inside the possessions of creature or a vehicle you want to keep track off.

I'm thinking about using it on a dagger with the magic property that it get stuck in the creature it scores a hit against, (can't remember the name now), so it can also works on a monster you're tracking.

[bean illus]

That would be overkill---you don't need AC 100.

Typically, just one high-BAB character can take Combat Expertise/Improved Combat Expertise/Allied Defense to put a party into a 'win' state for melee AC with monsters.

I had missed the "Improved" part of your combat expertise comment.

[H_H_F_F]

That would be overkill---you don't need AC 100.

Typically, just one high-BAB character can take Combat Expertise/Improved Combat Expertise/Allied Defense to put a party into a 'win' state for melee AC with monsters. Think of it as party members doing whatever they normally do for AC, but then adding 20 to it, which is almost always enough to shut down melee monster attacks. (If you design for it, the high BAB character dumping BAB for Allied Defense can still contribute in combat as well through touch attacks.)

They would all have to be adjacent, though. You usually don't want your wizard in that range. Is there an obvious way to get over that issue?

[PoeticallyPsyco]

They would all have to be adjacent, though. You usually don't want your wizard in that range. Is there an obvious way to get over that issue?

If the person granting AC is large enough, just keep the enemies on one side and the squishies on the other side and it'll still be quite a distance.

[Anthrowhale]

They would all have to be adjacent, though. You usually don't want your wizard in that range. Is there an obvious way to get over that issue?

Well...

1) The instinct to keep the wizard out of range is mostly based on low AC+low hit points. If the wizard has AC 30ish on their own (which is relatively easy), then when adjacent to the allied defender their AC goes up to 50ish which means they reduce the odds of almost all CR-appropriate enemies hitting to 5%. Once you are in the 5% range melee attacks are not a dominant concern---you start worrying about special attacks which ignore AC. Many of those (fireball, breath weapon, etc..) work at range anyways.

2) Allied Defense is an option that's useful in many situations. There are certainly situations where it is not useful. If the tactical situation calls for a Divine Power Cleric to Allied Defense for a Rogue (benefiting from Double Team as well) and the Fleshraker AC (using Venomfire) while the Druid and the Wizard hang back, then do that. The Cleric can still play face-eater with touch attacks like Holy Star, Darkfire, Sun Scepter, or Sense Weakness + Surge of Fortune + Vorpal Weapon.

[Biggus]

Thanks for all the responses everyone, lots of great feats I didn't know about, keep them coming

How is it not water-tight RAW? As mentioned, you only spend GP/XP when creating the item, not when using it. If you make a staff of Wish, you've already spent 250,000 XP (in addition to the normal cost of creating a staff with a 9th-level spell). You then proceed to spend zero XP when using it.

Yes, the potential for abuse is huge, but that doesn't make something not RAW. Pun-Pun is RAW-legal.

<snip>

I'm guessing you weren't having a good day when you wrote this post, because you made several mistakes. You attributed three quotes to me, none of which I said, and if you reread my post I'm clearly saying that I'm sure it's not RAI because the potential for abuse is huge, not that it isn't RAW because of that.

As for why it's not water-tight RAW: abilities tell you what you can do, not what you can't do. Channel Charge does not tell you that it allows you ignore XP and GP costs of spells.

Also, AFAIK in all other circumstances when you cast a spell as a spell (as opposed to a spell-like or supernatural ability) you always have to pay the XP or GP cost. When feats, class features etc allow you to break otherwise-universal rules, they say so, and this doesn't.

Speaking of awesome feats people forget about, I’ve forgotten one. Isn’t there a feat that allows you to substitute your own caster level for a magic item when you use it?

There is something somewhere which allows you to do that, not sure if it's a feat or a class feature though.

[Zombulian]

There is something somewhere which allows you to do that, not sure if it's a feat or a class feature though.

I think I was thinking of Residual Magic, which also has the benefit of letting you use the same metamagic twice in a row, the second time with no change to spell level.

[Jowgen]

As for why it's not water-tight RAW: abilities tell you what you can do, not what you can't do. Channel Charge does not tell you that it allows you ignore XP and GP costs of spells.

You seem to be conflating casting a spell and activating a spell trigger item?

One requires components -the material/XP ones being the ones we care about-, the other does not:

Spell Trigger: This is the activation method for wands and staffs. Activating a spell trigger item requires no gestures or spell finishing, but you must speak a single word, and you must hold the item in your hand (or what passes for your hand).

For context, what "spell finishing" means:

Spell Completion: This is the activation method for scrolls. A scroll is a spell that is mostly finished. The item user must complete the spell's verbal and somatic components (if it has any), but does not need any material, focus, or XP components the spell might have. (The character who scribed the scroll provided those.)

You one simply does not deal in any sort of componenets -material or otherwise- when activating Wands, Scepters, or Staffs. One simply expends charges:

Charge: A discrete unit of an item's power that is used up when someone activates the item. For example, a newly created wand has 50 charges. An item becomes nonmagical when all its charges are used up.

[Kalkra]

Speaking of awesome feats people forget about, I’ve forgotten one. Isn’t there a feat that allows you to substitute your own caster level for a magic item when you use it?

Truename from Dragon #317 lets you use all of your relevant statistics for any spell completion item you make, including CL, bonuses from Spell Focus, etc. The feat is very versatile, and slightly risky. The wand option is particularly good for Artificers, and it can also increase the DC and spell penetration of spells that you cast, and a few other things.

Also, with regards to Allied Defense, a level-20 Warrior costs 6 gp per day. That's pretty cheap for a temporary +20 bonus to AC. If you can't find one that's a high enough level, just hire more of them.

[Lapak]

You one simply does not deal in any sort of componenets -material or otherwise- when activating Wands, Scepters, or Staffs. One simply expends charges:

I'm pretty convinced you're correct RAW after checking the feat, but RAI (which you also claimed) is pretty shaky. I'd argue that clearly the expended components are providing some metaphysical value that gets burned down as you use the staff by RAI; you're banking that during creation just as you're banking the magical charges. RAW it probably flies, but if you tried it in my campaign I'd probably rule that you're only supplying the 'charge' half of the fuel mixture, and you'd find that after you had used it as many times as the charges you paid for in components it would stop functioning.

Like trying to operate a mixed-fuel rocket engine by forcing oxygen into the mixture from the atmosphere rather than your liquid O2 tank; once you've burned the fuel you have an engine with a full tank of oxygen that nevertheless fails to work.

[One Step Two]

I'm pretty convinced you're correct RAW after checking the feat, but RAI (which you also claimed) is pretty shaky. I'd argue that clearly the expended components are providing some metaphysical value that gets burned down as you use the staff by RAI; you're banking that during creation just as you're banking the magical charges. RAW it probably flies, but if you tried it in my campaign I'd probably rule that you're only supplying the 'charge' half of the fuel mixture, and you'd find that after you had used it as many times as the charges you paid for in components it would stop functioning.

Like trying to operate a mixed-fuel rocket engine by forcing oxygen into the mixture from the atmosphere rather than your liquid O2 tank; once you've burned the fuel you have an engine with a full tank of oxygen that nevertheless fails to work.

I think the biggest area of "abuse" comes from buying or finding partially charged wands and staffs because the players aren't making the necessary investments for those spells, but that's down to the DM making them available. If a player decides to craft a wand or staff with say, Alter Fortune (the lowest level spell with an exp component I could find), and wants to burn 4th level slots and their immediate actions to do so.... I don't really see the problem? Yes, we're talking about a NI use of the spell over the length of the campaign, but there's still an upper limit to how many times per day they can use it. Higher level spells break the game even when you find other loopholes to dodge material and Exp components. It's a nice return on investment given the rarity of feats in a build.

I really like the feat for sorcerers, it's not a super efficient way to expend spell-slots, but it ups versatility, if for example said sorcerer can get his hands on a CL 7 Wand of scorching ray with 5 Charges left, it gives them tactical flexibility.

[ShurikVch]

I feel you still under-estimate it's cool-ness by, like, at least 20%.

With sufficiently boosted Con saves, it is literally the only way in game to become flat out immune to a number of things. For example, ever heard of Voidstone™?

Note: Master of Many Forms capstone makes you immune to Voidstone (unless if, by some reason, you really want to be affected)

[Jowgen]

Note: Master of Many Forms capstone makes you immune to Voidstone (unless if, by some reason, you really want to be affected)

That one depends on whether the effect is ruled to be equivalent to disintegrate and thusly Transmutation. Sources conflict on the precise mechanical nature of Voidstone's annihilation effect. If it is ruled to work, then Proof Against Transmutation also works, and arugably the Amulet of Inviolate Form.

[Biggus]

You seem to be conflating casting a spell and activating a spell trigger item?

One requires components -the material/XP ones being the ones we care about-, the other does not:

For context, what "spell finishing" means:

You one simply does not deal in any sort of componenets -material or otherwise- when activating Wands, Scepters, or Staffs. One simply expends charges:

I know all that.

What I am saying is that in all circumstances, whether you cast the spell yourself or cast it using a magic item (spell trigger, spell completion or whatever), the XP or GP has to be paid at some point, whether it's at the time of casting or when the magic item is created.

Channel Charge does not call itself out as a specific exception to that otherwise universal rule, which it would do if it were intended to do something so remarkable. Therefore, it is almost certain is it not RAI that it can do.

It is arguably RAW, but it's not watertight because CC doesn't say one way or the other what happens when you use it to cast a spell which has an XP or GP component, so you have to default to other rules. You are preferring to default to the rules about how spell trigger items work, I am preferring to default to the rule that XP and GP always have to be paid.

[icefractal]

I am preferring to default to the rule that XP and GP always have to be paid.

There is no such rule. There probably should be, and I've seen "conservation of XP" as a houserule, but there are many places in 3E where you can slip around the expected cost which are unambiguously RAW-legal.

So if it's a "rule", it's more like "You can't ride the train without a ticket" (but you can forge a ticket, or trick the inspector, or stay out of sight, or ...) than it is like "the train won't go anywhere without some energy being used".

[Debatra]

It is arguably RAW, but it's not watertight because CC doesn't say one way or the other what happens when you use it to cast a spell which has an XP or GP component, so you have to default to other rules. You are preferring to default to the rules about how spell trigger items work, I am preferring to default to the rule that XP and GP always have to be paid.

Except those costs have already been paid to create the item in question. You use the rules for activating a spell-trigger item because that's exactly what you're doing. You are never casting a spell when you use Channel Charge.