Does anyone else think that this oath is flawed by nature?
The Cavalier receives a bonus to AC, which is undeserved and not needed for protecting someone else. Is that a mistake? The Oath bonus is also pretty easy to loose, because it drops when the protegee receives any damage from an attack. What prevents anyone from just shooting the guy?
I think that the Oath of Protection should provide a morale bonus to AC and perhaps Reflex saves to the person the Cavalier chose to protect when he's adjecent and the person didn't receive any damage from attacks in the last 24 hours.
I would remove the damage part... and I agree -- it seems very odd that the cavalier gets a bonus to defense when the person he's supposed to be protecting gets hurt!
I would remove the damage part... and I agree -- it seems very odd that the cavalier gets a bonus to defense when the person he's supposed to be protecting gets hurt!
Nope, currently he gets an AC bonus untill the protected person gets hurt. I don't mind losing the bonus that much, but the AC is granted to the cavaier, which mechanically makes him less desireable traget while he has a squishy looking target just a 5 ft step away. We want the attacks directed away from the squishy, not toward it.
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I also think this Oath is great in flavor and intent (a cavalier protecting a charge seems almost iconic), but mechanically is backwards. Previous examples of mechanics in this area, like the old 3.0 Devoted Defender, gave mechanics that seemed to match the intent better -- you actually get benefits that protect the charge from damage! This mechanic fails because there are very few, if any game mechanic options to actually help protect someone from damage! I, as a player, can do nothing if Bob The Kobold shoots an arrow at my charge -- I suppose I can declare that I'm providing cover to them, and a miss chance equates me getting hit? Still, that's very much a DM-fiat, shoot-from-the-hip kind of rule; unless I'm missing some in RAW, I'm at the mercy of fate mostly.
As I said in another thread -- this Oath seems to scream to the DM "Hey, please try to hurt this person", because otherwise the impression is that the cavalier is getting something "for free". It seems rather backwards, doesn't it?
I'd favor a mechanic more like "so long as the cavalier stays adjacent to the target, the target gets +2 AC and the cavalier gets some other benefit -- save bonus?". Then, when your group has to protect someone, the cavalier is ready to step in as the ideal bodyguard -- and that feels right to me.