I really like the idea of the Feat and it has a cool flavour to it, but how useful is it?
Given that it costs a Resolve Point, wouldn't it be more efficient to use that Resolve Point for a 10 min rest to get all Stamina Point back? Especially given the level you'd be to satisfy the BAB needed?
Any insights from anyone who has used it in game would be much appreciated. Thanks!
You can use your melee weapon to deflect attacks.
Prerequisites: Base attack bonus +8.
Benefit: When you would be hit by a ranged attack from a weapon or spell that deals energy or kinetic damage, you can spend 1 Resolve Point as a reaction to make an attack roll with a nonarchaic melee weapon that deals the same general category of damage (energy or kinetic) with a +5 bonus. If your attack roll is higher than the attack roll that hit you, you deflect the attack with your weapon, and it misses. This doesn’t work against area attacks, even against area attacks that have attack rolls like blast weapons, and you can’t use this reaction if you aren’t capable of making an attack with an appropriate weapon.
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It has its uses if you do or would drop into HP but a resolve point to maybe not take a hit?
There might be some side effects from the attack/spell which might be worth avoiding but in general how often is that going to show up?
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It is worth mentioning that at the mid & high levels, you will have more resolve points then you have 'times between encounters to rest' during an adventuring day. So it can be sort of useful to have something to spend excess on.
Still not sure off the top of my head if it's worth taking as a feat a lot of the time, but I don't think direct comparison to 'restore stamina' is necessarily as straightforward as you may have been thinking.
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I can think of one character in my group who might consider it but his resolve points are a little low. Character flavour is the most potent reason to take it I can think of, if you like the Jedi aesthetic it does sorta go into that
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IMO, it's a very useful pick up for a full BAB character after Enhanced Resistance.
Just make sure you have a melee weapon that does both energy and kinetic damage* (one of the gauntlet or glove weapons to always have it available, probably) to be able to deflect both energy and kinetic ranged attacks.
*- ignurso knuckles (basic weapon), ice needle, heat-amp gauntlet, magma blade, spark knife, electrovore glove, glass blade, pulse gauntlet, wailing blade, etc.; or a kinetic melee weapon with a flaming, frost, shock, corrosive, or thundering fusion
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IMO, it's a very useful pick up for a full BAB character after Enhanced Resistance.
Just make sure you have a melee weapon that does both energy and kinetic damage* (one of the gauntlet or glove weapons to always have it available, probably) to be able to deflect both energy and kinetic ranged attacks.
*- ignurso knuckles (basic weapon), ice needle, heat-amp gauntlet, magma blade, spark knife, electrovore glove, glass blade, pulse gauntlet, wailing blade, etc.; or a kinetic melee weapon with a flaming, frost, shock, corrosive, or thundering fusion
Since Enhanced Resistance got nerfed and no longer includes all kintic damage but having to specify a subtype (like you always did with energy types) I have Enhanced Resistance not to really be worth it.
In large part because it's annoying to ask if every attack is piercing damage. When I could tell the GM "I'm resistance to all kinetic damage" it was a lot easier because the GM has to switch between KAC or EAC and that's an instant clue.
Since the change, I would only consider taking Enhanced Resistance if I didn't have other things I was already interested in.
Which is not that uncommon, most Starfinder feats I don't find that interesting.
Compare it to PF1 where you would never spend actual feats on getting weapon or armor proficiencies. While in Starfinder a lot of my characters purchase longarms proficiency if they don't come with it as well as Versatile Specialization for the proficiency damage bonus. And I will also often consider Heavy Armor or Power Armor too. Outside of those feats...I'm often struggling to find something.
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Enhanced Resistance (Sonic) is still useful after getting the electrostatic field (electricity), filtered rebreather (acid), and thermal capacitor (cold and fire) armor upgrades. Or Enhanced Resistance (Acid) to use an armor upgrade slot for something else instead of filtered rebreather. The resistant hide biotech augmentation gets expensive (and occupies the same body system augmentation slot as dermal plating).
For DR, I guess Paizo didn't want a feat to overshadow the dermal plating cybernetic augmentation.
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Enhanced Resistance (Sonic) is still useful after getting the electrostatic field (electricity), filtered rebreather (acid), and thermal capacitor (cold and fire) armor upgrades. Or Enhanced Resistance (Acid) to use an armor upgrade slot for something else instead of filtered rebreather. The resistant hide biotech augmentation gets expensive (and occupies the same body system augmentation slot as dermal plating).
For DR, I guess Paizo didn't want a feat to overshadow the dermal plating cybernetic augmentation.
The energy resistance upgrades are good. Moreso if you know you'll commonly be dealing with certain energy types and can focus on those armor upgrades. Getting all of them can be an issue since it's a lot of slots, and depending on campaign not that likely to show up.
I personally find the amount of DR provided by dermal plating to not be worth the cost. I think I can find better ways of spending it. Especially because I feel like in all the Starfinder I played energy damage was more common than kinetic. Although, when it appears it does more damage on average...which honestly makes it feel worse in my opinion when you have dermal plating.
Sure, you got Dermal Plate Mk 5. You're fighting a carrion wheel ichor (first level 14 kinetic monster I spotted) which will deal an average of 35 damage. About ~15%. It simply doesn't feel worth the investment.
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the DR armor upgrade is pretty good, especially if something full attacks.
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Yeah, deflective reinforcement is by far the better DR source over dermal plating - much cheaper and available much earlier with a higher DR value. Well worth the armor slot.
I found Deflect Projectiles pretty bad when I had it on a Soldier and would probably not pick it up again unless I ran out of desirable feats. It felt expensive and unreliable the handful of times I used it. To be specific:
- The 1 RP felt like a significant cost because I had other things I wanted to spend my RP on.
- The reaction felt like a significant cost because I often wanted to have it available to make AoOs.
- The attack roll to successfully deflect was hardly a freebie. I failed about half or so of my deflection attempts. In retrospect, my luck wasn't great.
- I was usually more afraid of melee attackers or saving throw spells/effects anyway.
- Soldier survivability is pretty good and this felt like overkill
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There needs to be a feat boost that lets you deflect attacks to a new target. That would be worthwhile.
RE: Enhanced Resistance - the kinetic DR is worth it if you have DR that is negated by a certain attack type. Like my Hortus nanocyte has DR 5/Slashing and routinely gets carved up by slashing weapons. Give him Enhanced Resistance (Slashing), though, and he's resistant to all kinetic attacks.
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There needs to be a feat boost that lets you deflect attacks to a new target. That would be worthwhile.
There is (sort of)! It's a feat rather than a feat boost, and it's just so high level that I've never seen it in action.
There needs to be a feat boost that lets you deflect attacks to a new target. That would be worthwhile.There is (sort of)! It's a feat rather than a feat boost, and it's just so high level that I've never seen it in action.
Ah right! I had forgotten that. Make it an 11th level feat boost that gets buffed if the character gets Reflect Projectiles.
Thanks for all the replies everyone! I appreciate you taking the time to share your tboughts/experiences.
... I don't think direct comparison to 'restore stamina' is necessarily as straightforward as you may have been thinking.
I guess I did oversimplify a little there. I was originally going to outline more of my wonderings but decided to wait and see what was shared.
The flavour of the feat is fun and I can see how it could be useful to potentially avoid a spell's effects or damage to mitigate need for healing (especially if floating Resolve Points), but it also requires a roll so doesn't guarantee success.
It was interesting to see the comparison to forms of DR. I hadn't considered that and it really does work in a similar way.
You've given me some things to consider. I'll mull it over a little more, but I have a feeling it will slip down my feat priorities now.