Dwarf Cleave feats and interactions with Improved Cleaving Finish


Rules Questions


Hello! I searched, and saw some things on the topic, but nothing clearly definitive.

I just wanted to get some clarification on how the goblin cleaver feat interacts with a fighter with greater cleave.

Feats character has;

Power Attack
Cleave,
goblin cleaver
cleaving finish
greater cleave
improved cleaving finish

with these feats can I; greater cleave every sized small creature i threaten? (Seems like a yes, according to goblin cleaver + great cleave)

do i get to interrupt my cleave attacks with the improved cleaving finish if i drop one? (i.e. cleave goblin A - drop him- improved cleave finish goblin b, use next greater cleave attack on goblin b -drop him- use improved cleaving finish on goblin C, and great cleave into goblin C?

All the while ignoring the adjacent clause of cleave and great cleave due to meeting the prereqs of goblin cleaver? (cleaving enemies smaller than myself)

Is there anything stopping me from using improved cleaving finish to waterfall effects? It seems I could really just pick any target as long as in my reach, attack it with greater cleave (once per round) and then if i drop anything improved cleave finish.

Can i use my improved cleave finish multiple times on same opponent? (use greater cleave on target a, drop target a, improved cleave B, greater cleave C -drop C- improved cleave finish B again?

I have seen "bag of rats" mentioned, and would not be cleaving rats to get number of attacks on one guy tho.

Sorry if this seems a little rambling, but I hope you get the gist of my ideas on the subject.


1) Basically, but you do have to be able to activate cleave or greater cleave, meaning you have to have at least two guys adjacent to each other. If they are all spaced with and empty square between them, no cleaving so no goblin cleaver is going off. Goblin cleave in this case will override greater cleave, since great cleave still requires the creatures to be adjacent to the previous creature.

2)If you kill/bring to 0hp a creature you can then immediately use cleaving finish/ICF to make an attack against any adjacent creature. So, you can kill opponent 1, CF/ICF to opponent 2, then use goblin cleaver/cleave/great cleave to hit opponent 2 again (although requires cleave/great cleave still require opponent 2 to have been adjacent to 1).

3) If by waterfall, you mean something like the example I give above, just with more opponents. Yes.

4)Yes, if you have goblins 1,2, and 3 adjacent to each other and you threaten them, and Big Bad not adjacent to them but you are threatening BB. If you killed the goblins with goblin cleaver, you would be able to get 3 attacks against BB from improved cleaving finish.


Nope. The point of Goblin Cleaver is that you don't have to have enemies adjacent to one another, just smaller ones than you.

You decide to make a cleave attack, and make it against any creature you threaten. If you miss, nothing more happens. If you hit, you get to attack ALL smaller creatures that you threaten.


CE Chef wrote:
with these feats can I; greater cleave every sized small creature i threaten? (Seems like a yes, according to goblin cleaver + great cleave)

yes, this is how that line of feats works

CE Chef wrote:
do i get to interrupt my cleave attacks with the improved cleaving finish if i drop one?

No, you cannot interrupt your cleave for any reason* (even taking a 5' step in the middle requires another feat). You must finish the entire cleave chain (which does not include cleaving finish) before you can do anything else.

CE Chef wrote:
Is there anything stopping me from using improved cleaving finish to waterfall effects? It seems I could really just pick any target as long as in my reach, attack it with greater cleave (once per round) and then if i drop anything improved cleave finish.

As it is written i think you would save up multiple uses of imp. cleaving finish until after your cleave chain is resolved. However, i think it is pretty clear that the intention of the feat was to have the extra attack resolve immediately after you kill something, and i would probably rule it that way in a home game, meaning you would only get 1 extra attack from imp. cleaving finish in the same round that you used the actual cleave feats no matter how many things you killed.

Afaik cleaving finish is meant to be an alternative to the cleave feat chain, not another link in it.

*except possibly immediate actions

Grand Lodge

You could use pushing assault feat with a reach weapon and enlarged to pack a group of enemies together before cleaving starts....


Ridiculon wrote:

As it is written i think you would save up multiple uses of imp. cleaving finish until after your cleave chain is resolved. However, i think it is pretty clear that the intention of the feat was to have the extra attack resolve immediately after you kill something, and i would probably rule it that way in a home game, meaning you would only get 1 extra attack from imp. cleaving finish in the same round that you used the actual cleave feats no matter how many things you killed.

Afaik cleaving finish is meant to be an alternative to the cleave feat chain, not another link in it.

yooooou idiot, they would get more cleaving finishes if the one they get after the cleave chain is resolved kills someone

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