3.P - Fights in Tight Spaces Feats?

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Fights in Tight Spaces is a rogue-like deckbuilder card game where you fight several enemies on a grid map of restricted size, much like one does on a D&D/PF battlemat.

The game specializes heavily in moves that allow you to move around enemies, move enemies around, and generally avoid taking damage while doling it out in spades (and forcing enemies to damage each other).

What feats, skills, class abilities, etc would you suggest to emulate a character doing such things? It's a bit more difficult in D&D, due to not knowing what all enemies will do at all times (especially since they can react dynamically to your actions and the actions of other party members, as well as size limitations, saving throws, opposed ability checks, special defenses, etc), but I imagine there's still plenty that can be done to engage in similar battlefield control moves.

Here's a list of all the cards in the game: https://fights-in-tight-spaces.fandom.com/wiki/Cards

[rel]

Tome of Battle Setting sun school might be a good place to start.

[AssociateGreen]

For 3.5: yeah, a swordsage Setting Sun-focused character is the most straightforward way to go. Slap the dodge/mobility/elusive target feat chain on it and you're covering everything you listed. You can even round out other feats with combat focus/combat defense to swap your dodge bonus as an immediate action. And if you mean squeezing, there's always Tunnel Fighting in Dungeonscape to ignore ATK/AC penalties from squeezing.

For Pathfinder 1e: I once built a moderately high-level fighter that used a combination of Combat Patrol/Improved Trip/Ki Throw (which lets you drop a tripped foe anywhere you THREATEN not just your reach) to control the battlefield and toss approaching enemies at the feet of other melee PCs (or off a ledge/bridge if one were convenient) before they even got to take a swing.

All in all, while these kinds of builds are fun, I've found it's very DM/campaign-dependent. You want to see a lot of small/medium/large humanoid opponents and at the level where the feats start to come together, it's often easier for casual DMs to just pick bigger, multilegged, and/or flying monsters which can invalidate the strategy. Oddly enough, for a warrior-type character this can be one of the better builds for a city/intrigue campaign, and if were set somewhere like Eberron's Sharn, well... *rubs hands*

[Kurald Galain]

I'd go with feats like Step Up (follow enemy that takes a 5'-step) and Weapon Trick: Stylish Riposte (free OA on an enemy that misses you), and Raging Throw (deal damage when you push enemies into each other or into walls).

[Inevitability]

Sidestep from Miniature's Handbook is rough to qualify for but gives a free 5 ft. step after every AoO you make. Tactical Soldier 2 gives it as a bonus feat, which should get around the dexterity and tumble restrictions, but requires Power Attack, Cleave, and Combat Reflexes to enter (then again, those are better prereq feats than Sidestep's original ones).

Psionic Sidestep and Improved Psionic sidestep let you shift out of someone's reach when you provoke an AoO from them (potentially dodging the attack entirely), but they're 3.0 web psionics and again demand Dodge and Mobility.