RPG Superstar 2009 Top 4
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Dazzling Display (Combat)
Your skill with your favored weapon can frighten enemies.
Prerequisite: Weapon Focus.
Benefit: While wielding the weapon in which you have Weapon Focus, you can perform a Dazzling Display as a full-round action. Make an Intimidate check against all foes within 30 feet who can see you. You can substitute an attack roll in place of your Intimidate check if your attack bonus is higher.
Stunning Defense (Combat)
Your skill with your chosen weapon leaves opponents unable to defend themselves.
Prerequisites: Weapon Focus, Dazzling Display, base attack bonus +6.
Benefit: Any shaken, frightened, or panicked opponent hit by you this round is flat-footed to your attacks until the end of your next turn. This includes any additional attacks you make this round.
Deadly Stroke (Combat)
With one well-placed strike, you can bring an end to most foes.
Prerequisites: Dazzling Display, Greater Weapon Focus, Stunned Defense, Weapon Focus, base attack bonus +11.
Benefit: As a standard action, make a single attack with the weapon for which you have Greater Weapon Focus against a stunned or flat-footed opponent. If you hit, you deal double the normal damage and the target takes 1 point of Constitution bleed.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 4
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Dazzling Display:
I like this feat and I can imagine it being used in several ways. For example, I set up Jaagrath Kreeg (Hook Mountain Massacre) as having this feat; as the heroes enter he drags his rusty, blood-drenched Ogre Hook across the floor in a menacing display.
Clarification needed: What bonuses can you add to this attack roll, if you substitute an attack roll in place of an Intimidate check? Do you add a weapon enhancement bonus? morale bonus? ability bonus? What if you get a bonus against a certain type of foe (human-bane weapon)?
Additional Thoughts: Complete Warrior offered a way to use the Perform Skill as a kind of "weapon-master show" to earn some money (and the respect of a crowd). I would like to see this feat allow an intimidate check to substitute for a perform check. (what warrior invests ranks in perform?)
Stunned Defense:
This feat is tactically very strong. It can be a monk-killer (once you can HIT the bloody things, what ISN'T a monk-killer?). I have one gripe with it... the name. "Stunned Defense" has nothing in common with what the feat actually does. "Stunned" is a specific game-condition which is not mentioned in this feat. And "Defense" is misleading because this feat is most definitely an offensive feat.
I would strongly prefer a name that illustrates what the feat is actually doing: Using a foe's fear against it. "Frightful Attack?" Perhaps. "Intimidating Assault?" Maybe. My opinion is that a better name is needed.
Additional Thoughts:
1.) How does this feat interact with Uncanny Dodge? Does U.D. grant immunity to this feat?
2.) I'd like to see an alternate prerequisite: Frightful Presence/Fear Aura as a supernatural ability. Being able to build this feat into monsters with a fear aura (without the redundancy of Weapoin Focus/Dazzling Display) would be very helpful from the DM side of the screen.
Deadly Stoke:
Seems like a strong feat, but very situational. If used in conjunction with Dazzling Display/Stunned Defense, this is a three-round combo. There are easier ways to take a foe down than bleeding it to death. Most useful against animals or creatures that can't heal themselves. Overall I can't see too many builds for which this feat would be taken. Possibilities include the archer-fighter, the assassin-fighter, or the eldritch knight whose spells target Fort Saves. Because of the situational limits, this is probably a well-balanced feat.
Clarification Needed: Constitution Bleed needs to clarify whether this is ability DRAIN or DAMAGE. According to the summary on page 398, bleed can be either type.
Personal Bias: tracking hit point bleed is okay, because there are already effects that do this. (acid arrow, etc) Tracking ability score bleed is another matter entirely. Thankfully there are few effects that do this. But as a DM with multiple other things to track in any given round, recalculating stats (fort save, max/current hit points, special ability DC's) every other round is a pretty annoying kick in the junk.
Deadly Stoke:
Seems like a strong feat, but very situational. If used in conjunction with Dazzling Display/Stunned Defense, this is a three-round combo. There are easier ways to take a foe down than bleeding it to death. Most useful against animals or creatures that can't heal themselves. Overall I can't see too many builds for which this feat would be taken. Possibilities include the archer-fighter, the assassin-fighter, or the eldritch knight whose spells target Fort Saves. Because of the situational limits, this is probably a well-balanced feat.
Deadly Stroke is nice in that it works vs. flat-footed opponents, so you can use it every time you get a surprise round at no cost (since you can only take a standard action on a surprise round anyways).