Surprise Follow-Through (Combat, Orc / Half-Orc)

[Malokay]

So the Skulking Slayer (Rogue; Half-orc) at 2nd level, can select the Surprise Follow-Through feat in place of a rogue talent. But the feat reads as follow: Surprise Follow-Through (Combat, Orc/Half-Orc)
When striking one opponent, you catch its ally off guard.
Prerequisites: Str 13, Cleave, Power Attack, base attack bonus +1.
Benefit: When using Cleave or Great Cleave, the second foe you attack on your turn is denied its Dexterity bonus against you.
Okay so at level 1 you can take power attack, then at level 2 you take the bonus feat, nice feat to get at level 2 but how can you use it if you don't have cleave yet, or can this be use without cleaving since it is a bonus feat.
Can some one clarify this for me?
thanks

[meowstef]

I read it as the feat is added to your selection of rogue talents so you can take it after you meet the prerequisites

note you can't take power attack at first level as a rogue not enough base attack

no it is no use without cleave

[baalbamoth]

And that makes exactly no sense.

1) any half orc rogue can take combat trick to get suprise follow-through at any level so why is that a class ability? written the way it is it provides you 0 benifits so why write it at all?

2) If its impossible to have cleave and power attack as a second level rogue why is it a second level ability?

It just feels like they ment to give you cleave as a free feat or something. Really wish a designer could explain this.

[Dennis Baker]

Class benefits are things you gain at a given level and they don't go away. You can select it as a rogue talent at any level higher than second level.

Quote:

Bonus Feats: At 2nd level, a skulking slayer can select the Surprise Follow-Through feat (see below) in place of a rogue talent. At 10th level, she can select the Improved Surprise Follow-Through feat in place of an advanced rogue talent.

Bold Strike (Ex): At 3rd level, when a skulking slayer charges and makes a sneak attack with a two-handed weapon, she rolls d8s instead of d6s for her sneak attack damage. This ability replaces trap sense +1 and +4.

Much like you can use Bold Strike at any level past 3rd level, you can select Surprise Follow-Through as a rogue talent at any level past 2nd level.

As for taking it, the earliest you could really benefit from it is 4th level. You could take combat trick at 2nd level to gain Power Attack, Cleave as the third level feat, and then take Surprise Follow through as your rogue trick at 4th level.

[Kiinyan]

baalbamoth wrote:

And that makes exactly no sense.

1) any half orc rogue can take combat trick to get suprise follow-through at any level so why is that a class ability? written the way it is it provides you 0 benifits so why write it at all?

2) If its impossible to have cleave and power attack as a second level rogue why is it a second level ability?

It just feels like they ment to give you cleave as a free feat or something. Really wish a designer could explain this.

The big thing about having it as an ability is you can use combat trick for something else. Just like there is weapon focus and weapon finesse rogue talents. They give you a bit more flexibility on combat tricks. Also, what if you had multiclassed? Say you took some FUll bab class first level. The next two go into rogue. Hey look, you got surprise followthrough and can use it since you took cleave at 3rd level as well. Just because a monoclassed second level rogue can't use it doesn't mean it not an option for rogue level twos.