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I think there is still a place for free actions. Anything that essentially takes no time (or can be done anytime you're taking another action) shouldn't count against your 1 swift action per turn. Thus, I think that drawing a weapon as part of a move should be a 'free action' (assuming a BAB +1 or higher), along with talking (done while moving).
...Holy crap, they did make Dodge take a Swift action. Remind me again why they made it worse?
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...Holy crap, they did make Dodge take a Swift action. Remind me again why they made it worse?
No, it's better now. As a swift action you get +1 to your AC in general, and if you have 10 ranks in Acrobatics, it goes to a +2. I'm happy with this bump -- it's a feat that's worth something at 1st level and at 10th.
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Thus, I think that drawing a weapon as part of a move should be a 'free action' (assuming a BAB +1 or higher), along with talking (done while moving).
Aside from a non-warriors at 1st level only, can someone tell me why we needed such a specific rule (ie: assuming a BAB +1 or higher) about drawing a weapon, and it being a free action? I mean was this caveat really necessary? Everyone after 1st level has a BAB of +1. It just complicates things.
Sorry -- I didn't mean to hijack the thread.
But I agree, creating a whole new action to support 2 or 3 feats/cases seems like too much for too little in return. A simple text caveat on each action would have been sufficient.
Thanks
...Holy crap, they did make Dodge take a Swift action. Remind me again why they made it worse?No, it's better now. As a swift action you get +1 to your AC in general, and if you have 10 ranks in Acrobatics, it goes to a +2. I'm happy with this bump -- it's a feat that's worth something at 1st level and at 10th.
Both versions suck. But now it's intruding upon the action economy, which is your most valuable resource. The previous version, limited as it was did not actually inhibit your ability to do what you need to do.
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Aside from a non-warriors at 1st level only, can someone tell me why we needed such a specific rule (ie: assuming a BAB +1 or higher) about drawing a weapon, and it being a free action? I mean was this caveat really necessary? Everyone after 1st level has a BAB of +1. It just complicates things.
Yeah, it totally would have helped my poor first level halfling rogue get sneak attack more in our PFS game at Dragon Con. ;-)
It has it's place in the game. When you're just starting out, you can't do it all. Once my little guy makes 2nd and grabs a level of fighter, I'll feel he's earned the ability.
Swift actions seem to be a mechanic to prevent over enhancing additional actions. Look at the Barbarian. The majority of the Rage Powers are awift actions. That way the Barbarian can enhace the attack roll or the damage roll or some other action but not all at once.
And this way the Barabarian still has their other actions.
If they were free actions then the Barbarian might be tempted to nova their Rage Points.
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Swift actions seem to be a mechanic to prevent over enhancing additional actions. Look at the Barbarian. The majority of the Rage Powers are awift actions. That way the Barbarian can enhace the attack roll or the damage roll or some other action but not all at once.
Yes, and this is one reason I like Swift Actions.
Letting the Barb go nova isn't necessarily a bad thing. It means he can keep up in the hard fights that justify it. And if he does it any other time... that's power he needs, and is lacking.
With that said, some stuff makes sense as Swift actions. Others doesn't. The main criteria for anything non free action is it has to be worth said action.
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I think the swift actions are a great way to cover the different feats that fell into 'combat feats' before, basically letting them remain a bit more powerful then their original counterparts, but only allowing so much to be done at once. If you are putting your focus into one style of attack, you can't necessarily be doing it with another as well. Its the same idea as quickened spells.
This is a good way to let players have a lot of options without significantly upping the power level of the game since they are still all controlled since they won't all be going off at once.
As for allowing the barbarian going nova, I think that only encourages the 15 minute adventuring day kind of behavior that they seem to be working on avoiding. Its kind of like saying that you should let a wizard fire off all their spells at once if they want to since after that they are burnt and won't be as useful for the rest of the day. You'd often have those groups who got in an encounter that it was unlikely they would have another that day, or one that just didn't care about doing a fight and then setting up camp have a wizard unleash 40 attack spells all at once and then rest a day.
Keeping a cap on just how much can go off in a period of time seems pretty reasonable to me.
-Tarlane
A Quickened Spell does something appropriate for a Swift action. +1 AC is too low for a Swift action. +2 might be worth considering. AC is largely a yes/no stat after all. A small discrepancy is irrelevant.