Investigator clarification

[Giridan]

The investigator gets studied combat and studied strike. Studied combat states it lasts until he damages his opponent. Studied strike says that it activates when studied combat is active and you hit. Assuming I took swift study and I could attack twice per round getting my studying bonus on both attacks assuming they both hit? Am I understanding the way these bonuses interact correctly?

[LessPopMoreFizz]

Studied Combat does not last until the Investigator damages an opponent. It lasts for a number of rounds equal to your Int mod, or until you use Studied Strike. You can use Studied Strike as a free action after any attack that hits. Whichever comes first.

Once you have Studied an opponent and the effect ends, by either means, you cannot Study the same opponent for 24 hours without spending Inspiration. What this means is that it's generally ideal to use Studied Strike as a 'finishing move' either as you are about to run out of Studied Combat rounds against a particular opponent, or if said opponent is going to be dead or incapacitated before your next attack against them.

[Under A Bleeding Sun]

Studied Strike is mostly a trap, just keep studied combat and gain those phatty +1/2 level to hit and damage. I could see a little value in it if your pretty sure the guy will drop or something, but for my investigator build I plan on pretty much never using it. If there was an archetype that traded out studied strike I'd probably take it in a heartbeat, regardless of what it gave me.

[LessPopMoreFizz]

Under A Bleeding Sun wrote:

Studied Strike is mostly a trap, just keep studied combat and gain those phatty +1/2 level to hit and damage. I could see a little value in it if your pretty sure the guy will drop or something, but for my investigator build I plan on pretty much never using it. If there was an archetype that traded out studied strike I'd probably take it in a heartbeat, regardless of what it gave me.

There's no good reason not to use Studied Strike in your last round of Studied Combat either.

Put in other terms, combined Studied Combat and Strike is worth: ((1/2 Lvl)*Attacks/Round)*IntMod)+1 Studied Strike of damage.)

That's not nothing.

[Under A Bleeding Sun]

LessPopMoreFizz wrote:

Under A Bleeding Sun wrote:

Studied Strike is mostly a trap, just keep studied combat and gain those phatty +1/2 level to hit and damage. I could see a little value in it if your pretty sure the guy will drop or something, but for my investigator build I plan on pretty much never using it. If there was an archetype that traded out studied strike I'd probably take it in a heartbeat, regardless of what it gave me.

There's no good reason not to use Studied Strike in your last round of Studied Combat either.

Put in other terms, combined Studied Combat and Strike is worth: ((1/2 Lvl)*Attacks/Round)*IntMod)+1 Studied Strike of damage.)

That's not nothing.

Thats true, though I expect most enemies to be dead in 4+ rounds, but for those occasions their not might as well!

[Zwordsman]

yeah pretty much. Turn on studied combat, gain your bonuses for int rounds on all attacks that qualify (all melee, ranged if you pick up the feat). Basically if the target is still alive during the last turn it's active. You can just pop it on one of the attacks. Depending on if you had been hitting with all your attacks then pop it with the last one. If it's been pretty hit and miss, I pop it on the first hit. Just because i'm fairly sure it'll be nearly dead if not dead and I'd rather have the last second burst.

[KahnyaGnorc]

You can also spend an inspiration point to perform Studied Combat on the same target, if Studied Strike doesn't dorp 'em.