I assume it is supposed to be when you would normally trigger a performance check. While you won't get it every round, the checks cover so many things you will still get plenty of opportunities to use the feat. I would further argue that you can use the "Free or Immediate" list, since it explicitly says they can be made as a swift action as well.
So, between charging, maneuvers, raging, vanquishing, criticals, energy damage, and maximum rolls, the feats should be plenty useful.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
If you don't have Performing Combatant, you're not supposed be able to use them in real fights at all. They're basically just for stage battles and demonstrations.
With the feat, you basically get to use a Swift action to use a performance feat in a REAL combat.
Unless you have Masterful Display, you can only have one performance feat active at a time.
Yes, but to add to his question....
Performing Combatant allows the use of combat performance checks in real combat, and not just staged combat.
In staged combat its all about wowing the crowd....crowd attitude affects the combatants rolls, etc.
BUT, if you can now make combat performance checks in real combat...then what DC are you basing the roll off of? The roll is based on the attitude of the crowd, number of combatants & 'other circumstances'.
Now my question is this: If I am fighting a real combat...do I really have to have a crowd around me to get these performance feat bonus'? If I go by the rules, the smallest crowd can be no less than 2 people. Also, the combat is real...I can see you basing performance combat off improving the attitude of the crowd in a staged fight where people are there to see a gladitorial display of prowess....but if I just pulled a knife on a guy in a busy street, is the crowd really going to be 'won over' and begin to turn friendly towards me just because I am slicing up some innocent guy in the street with some dazzling flair?
It doesn't make sense....in a gladitorial or staged fight of some kind, yes I can see the crowd cheering someone on and creating a hysteria that makes the action more intense (performance feat effects)...but in a street brawl I don't think you can base the DC for a combat performance check on crowd attitude...
Staged Fight: I pull a knife on a guy and slice up his chest leaving my initials beautifully framed in blood...I roll a performance check against an indifferent crowd of onlookers in the stands, succeed, and the crowd is now friendly towards me...and one of my performence feat effects kicks off giving me some extra bonus' like +1d6 damage, or +2 to attack...
Real Fight: I pull a knife on a guy and slice up his chest leaving my initials beautifully framed in blood...I roll a performance check against an indifferent crowd of passerby's in the street, succeed, and suddenly the crowd, after seeing me just attack an innocent douche in the street, is friendly towards me? I would think logic would say that the crowd would be more horrified at me and either run away, or dive in to help the poor schmuck I am carving up....in no scenario would I envision the crowd standing around like some martial arts movie and cheering the lethal combat of two strangers they don't even know.
So if any of the staff can answer me this basic question: With the Performing Combatant feat, do you still need to activate performance checks with the listed triggers in the books? Do you still need a crowd of onlookers to be able to use the performance combat system outside of staged fights? and do we still base the DC difficulty of the performance checks on the crowd attitude, number of combatants & other circumstances listed in that section of the book?
BUT, if you can now make combat performance checks in real combat...then what DC are you basing the roll off of? The roll is based on the attitude of the crowd, number of combatants & 'other circumstances'.
Performing Combatant specifically states that the performance DC is 20 for use in normal combats.
If you wait the in-game explanation, I'd say say it is a combination of intimidating and tricking your enemy and making yourself particularly confident. It will depend on the specific feat and circumstance, but that is the feeling I get from the feat descriptions and such.
BUT, if you can now make combat performance checks in real combat...then what DC are you basing the roll off of? The roll is based on the attitude of the crowd, number of combatants & 'other circumstances'.Performing Combatant specifically states that the performance DC is 20 for use in normal combats.
If you wait the in-game explanation, I'd say say it is a combination of intimidating and tricking your enemy and making yourself particularly confident. It will depend on the specific feat and circumstance, but that is the feeling I get from the feat descriptions and such.
Wow....can't believe I missed that. Completely read right past the DC 20 stated in the feat like 10 times.
But you still need one of the 'triggers' listed before you can make a performance combat check in normal combat...correct?
BUT, if you can now make combat performance checks in real combat...then what DC are you basing the roll off of? The roll is based on the attitude of the crowd, number of combatants & 'other circumstances'.Performing Combatant specifically states that the performance DC is 20 for use in normal combats.
If you wait the in-game explanation, I'd say say it is a combination of intimidating and tricking your enemy and making yourself particularly confident. It will depend on the specific feat and circumstance, but that is the feeling I get from the feat descriptions and such.
Wow....can't believe I missed that. Completely read right past the DC 20 stated in the feat like 10 times.
But you still need one of the 'triggers' listed before you can make a performance combat check in normal combat...correct?
Plus do you still need a minimum crowd of 2 onlookers to make checks using Performing Combatant outside of combat even though for non-staged combat it's a straight DC 20 roll not affected by the "starting or current attitude of the crowd, the size of the crowd, and the number of creatures participating in the performance combat" ?
Plus do you still need a minimum crowd of 2 onlookers to make checks using Performing Combatant outside of combat even though for non-staged combat it's a straight DC 20 roll not affected by the "starting or current attitude of the crowd, the size of the crowd, and the number of creatures participating in the performance combat" ?
It says "any combat," not "any combat with at least two people watching," so I'd say it is DC20 anywhere, anytime. Locked in a 10x10 room at the bottom of the earth, fighting a golem, you would still be able to take advantage of your performance feats.
And to your other question: yes, you still need to wait for one of the triggers. Thankfully the list is pretty long and contains plenty of common events, making Performing Combatant a very viable option.
Notice the reference to crowd? Yeah. . . Sorry Mort. Performance combat means performance combat, not a fight to the death with a monster locked in a 10 x 10 room at the bottom of the earth.
That is not how I am reading the feat.
You treat every combat as a performance, bringing flare and showmanship.
Prerequisites: Dazzling Display, any one performance feat.
Benefit: You can make performance combat checks in any combat. When making a performance check outside of performance combat, you can pick a single performance feat to use. You automatically gain any bonus on the performance combat check the feat grants, and then you make a DC 20 performance combat check. On a success, you gain the full effect of the performance feat you chose.
Specific vs. General. If you still need a crowd, it wouldn't be "every combat," and frankly wouldn't be terribly useful at all. Additionally, if there was a crowd, why bother to set a default DC? You could just use the standard system to determine the DC based on crowd size and all that.
EDIT: I noticed, Performing Combatant was only mentioned in the text I quoted, not my response. I'm going to assume that was where the disconnect here was. Alternatively, there are other ways to interpret this feat, and I've possibly been abusing it like crazy for some time now.