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So, I have seen a lot of comments on how Deadly Stroke is a horrible feat and is not worth the time or effort. I thought this was true, until I noticed that it doubles all damage, not just weapon damage like Vital Strike. This got me thinking of ways arround the standard action intimidate, and led me to the barbarian Intimidating Glare as a move action. The result is a fighter-9 barbarian-2 build at lvl 11 who can demoralize every round for extra time and deal almost as much damage as his full attack. (20 point buy, 19 base str, +1 lvl, +4 item, +4 rage, GWF, WT. +3 magic falchion)
Hit: 24/19/14 for 2d4+29 17-20 crit Average DPR vs AC25: 86.02
Deadly Stroke: Average DPR: 69.445
The higher those ACs go, the closer they get. At 32 AC, Deadly stroke exceeds a full attack on this build.
For about 16 DPR, you are dealing 1 Con bleed and get to do something with your move action. Many monsters at that level have 16 HD, so the differential is reduced by their con loss closer to 8. That move action can be used to intimidate others, which saves you about 10 damage from their lowered BAB and makes them more suceptable to ally spells.
Now, you need to design your character arround this, so its not for everyone. But I think the feat has a place and is not bad. It may not be the best, but its certainly a viable build. The intimidation prereqs are not the greatest, but I have found shaken to be a usful condition for many levels.
So the goal here is to use Intimidating Glare and a standard attack with Shatter Defenses the first round, and then Deadly Stroke the second round, plus do something else like getting adjacent to, or intimidating, another enemy?
So the goal here is to use Intimidating Glare and a standard attack with Shatter Defenses the first round, and then Deadly Stroke the second round, plus do something else like getting adjacent to, or intimidating, another enemy?
Correct. You also have enough free feats to go for feint if you would like, but think that is less useful as bluff is not a class skill and cannot get intimidating prowess.
I thought about this with conrugan smash- intimidate as a free action from a hit using power attack- the shatter defences feat is awesome for half-elf rogue/fighters with skill fcs intimidate or high str half-orc rogues with intimidating prowess.
Was gonna take deadly stroke but being able to full attack SA a flat-footed target is better anyway.
For a straight fighter with conrugan smash, should be awesome...
Where can conrugan smash be found?
