I've got two questions about the higher levels of cleaving.
With Greater Cleave, a character can make unlimited cleaves; would this also apply to the various attacks? If a character has three attacks in a round, drops a foe on his first attack, cleaves, makes his second attack and drops that foe, can he then cleave again assuming he can reack any enemy?
Secondly, can a character make a five foot step using Supreme Cleave if they've already made a five foot step in that round? On a related note, are they limited to only one five foot step between cleaving attacks?
These crazy fighter feats give me headaches once the players start getting uber-powerful.
Well, here's my $0.02. I think Great Cleave does entitle you to Cleave attempts more than once per round. Thus, as you posit in your example, a character could hit, cleave, hit again, cleave, etc. As far as the 5-foot step, a character only EVER gets one 5-foot step in a given round. That's the rules as I read 'em!
Thats alot of Cleavage!
Hey, I didn't do it. Order of the Stick did.
Yes, you cleave until there is no enemy left in your reach.
You can make only ONE 5'step each round.
Well, you cleave until you A) don't drop an opponent or B) kill all within reach.
And yes, you may only take one five foot step in a round.
This feat is pretty much there for higher level characters to annihilate weak opponents quickly. Its effectiveness largely vanishes at higher levels when the group is put against opponents with more HP.
It sees renewed potential at Epic Levels, when a character can get Devastating Critical.
So basically if a character that is completely surrounded by kobolds, and has three attacks, and the Great Cleave feat, he could...
Attack #1) hit and kill kobold A,
Cleave ) hit and kill kobold B,
Cleave ) hit kobold C (but Kobold C survives somehow).
Attack #2) Hits kobold C again, this time killing him,
Cleave ) hit and kill kobold D,
Cleave ) hit and kill kobold E,
Cleave ) hit and kill kobold F,
Cleave ) miss kobold G,
Take a five-foot step towards more kobolds (not provoking attacks of opportunity because 5-foot steps NEVER provoke them).
Attack #3) hit and kill kobold G,
Cleave ) hit and kill kobold H,
Cleave ) hit and kill kobold I,
Cleave ) hit and kill kobold J,
Cleave ) miss kobold K.
Ultradan
So basically if a character that is completely surrounded by kobolds, and has three attacks, and the Great Cleave feat, he could...
Attack #1) hit and kill kobold A,
Cleave ) hit and kill kobold B,
Cleave ) hit kobold C (but Kobold C survives somehow).Attack #2) Hits kobold C again, this time killing him,
Cleave ) hit and kill kobold D,
Cleave ) hit and kill kobold E,
Cleave ) hit and kill kobold F,
Cleave ) miss kobold G,Take a five-foot step towards more kobolds (not provoking attacks of opportunity because 5-foot steps NEVER provoke them).
Attack #3) hit and kill kobold G,
Cleave ) hit and kill kobold H,
Cleave ) hit and kill kobold I,
Cleave ) hit and kill kobold J,
Cleave ) miss kobold K.Ultradan
Absolutely! Ain't D&D grand? The only cautionary statement is this: a Cleave attempt is made with the same attack bonus as the attack that dropped the original target. This is great if you are playing a paladin in the process of Smiting Evil. It's not as great when you're surrounded by creatures with differing equipment (aim for the best-armored kobold first!).
Well, you cleave until you A) don't drop an opponent or B) kill all within reach.
And yes, you may only take one five foot step in a round.
This feat is pretty much there for higher level characters to annihilate weak opponents quickly. Its effectiveness largely vanishes at higher levels when the group is put against opponents with more HP.
It sees renewed potential at Epic Levels, when a character can get Devastating Critical.
I think its one of my favourite feats for the meat shield in the party - for the rather low price of entry (some wimpy minions for the BBEG) I can easly let the fighter feel like he really kicks ass. It does not even take that long and the fighters player will likely be relitivly happy for two sessions.
I agree. One of the fighter characters in my campaign has this feat, and the most recent use of it was during a scene involving a large horde of zombies. I assigned the zombies low HP for the sole reason of creating a situation where this feat could be used to full effect.
The result was the fighter character dropping zombies left and right, and the other players hooting and cherring as the "zombie buzzsaw" cut through the crowd.
It allowed me as DM to create a tense situation as a huge mass of zombies bore down on the PCs but then allowed for quick resolution.
Used sparingly, it works well. Used too often, it's boring to the PCs.
We as DMs have to look at our players and their characters, and utilize the "tools" they've chosen to make gaming fun and exciting. This is one of those times when you can turn the use of a feat into a cinematic event that the players will all remember.