En garde! (Feats)

[littlechicory]

I picked up a swashbuckler character the other night and was impressed by how much she reminded me of an epee fencer (which I was for a few years). So I've toyed with a few fencing-themed feats.

DISCLAIMER: I don't know if these feats/skill tricks exist elsewhere already. If they do, tell me and I'll remove them.

ETA: Okay. There's a whole lot of clamoring for these to be available for other weapons, so I'll open them up for Weapon Finesse-able piercing weapons as well. I'm also making Weapon Finesse a prerequisite for all the feats.

Parry
You can deflect an enemy's attack with your own.
Prerequisites: BAB +5, Weapon Finesse or Weapon Focus (weapon used)
Benefits: When an opponent attacks using a one-handed weapon, you may attempt to parry by making an opposing attack roll. If your attack roll is greater than the opponent's, you ignore the attack. If your attack roll is lower, you are treated as flat-footed for the duration of the attack.
Special: You can't parry with anything but a piercing weapon with Weapon Finesse applied, or a larger weapon with the Weapon Focus feat applied. A fighter may select Parry as one of his bonus feats.

Riposte
You can counterattack immediately after parrying an opponent's attack.
Prerequisites: BAB +7, Weapon Finesse, Parry
Benefits: Once per round, a successful parry earns you an attack of opportunity.
Special: You can't riposte with anything but a piercing weapon with Weapon Finesse applied. A fighter may select Riposte as one of his bonus feats.

Ballestra
You've mastered a difficult hopping step that makes the opponent think twice.
Prerequisites: Jump 10 ranks, Weapon Finesse
Benefits: Make a Jump check against DC 20 + opponent's Will save modifier and add the number you succeed by to your attack. Success by 10 or more also renders the opponent flat-footed for your attack.
Special: You can't ballestra with anything but a piercing weapon with Weapon Finesse applied. A fighter may select Ballestra as one of his bonus feats.

[Kurald Galain]

Looks nice, but this has the disadvantage of slowing down combat quite a lot by requiring additional die rolls for the attack (for parry/riposte).

[Tyrael]

Combine with Combat Reflexes and Robilar's Gambit for Epic Win.

[Kenbert]

I like the concept, but the feats seem quite powerful ... But hey, that's what homebrewing is for. doing whatever you want. I was a fencer, for a time; I can certainly appreciate incorporating it into gaming.

[Deepblue706]

Wait, the fact that you must use a rapier implies people who use other weapons can't ever parry...

Parry should be finessable weapons, and I suggest you make more parry feats like "Improved Parry", etc, that allow for usage with larger weapons. Parrying a flail (and like weapons) shouldn't really work, either.

Riposte should be finessable weapons, minus weapons that obviously don't work.

Ballestra - as per Riposte.

[Logic]

Powerful feats that are usable with only one weapon? Don't you see a bit of a problem? Though all of these manuvers are part of a typical rapier fighting style, before you introduce these, you should have versions for other weapons as well, or before you know it everyone and their brother will want a rapier.

[littlechicory]

Logic, Deepblue, I've expanded the weapons options to Weapon Finesseable piercing weapons. Kenbert, I've added Weapon Finesse as a prerequisite. Should I increase the BAB (for parry and riposte) and skill requirements (for ballestra) as well?

[Kenbert]

It seems that the point you're trying to make is that someone with Riposte is really fast. But being able to attack as many times as you can parry? I'd say that this should be limited to one riposte per round.

As for Parry ... your idea is sound. It seems as though one must take into account their BAB, etc. however, this could mean that beefing up attack at all expenses and completely neglecting AC could be a munchkin-magnet. As a fencer, you know that parries are not the only option available in defense. I'd recommend either reworking it or changing it to reflect the fact that with a light weapon it's tough to deflect a much heavier blade. For instance, you could say that it cannot be used against strikes from a two-handed weapon or strikes with a one-handed weapon used with two hands. Just a suggestion.

Ballestra is interesting; I like it. Though I'd suggest that it rely not on HD but some sort of save. Reflex, perhaps, but maybe Will. I don't know. A the point of a ballestra, as I'm sure you know, is to unbalance and confuse the opponent, so I don't really see why HD would be the driving factor in that.

Peace,
Kenbert

EDIT: I like weapon finesse as a prereq, it makes sense.

[Rowanomicon]

I feel like parrying should be possible with most weapons.

Just because I have an axe means I can't put it in the way of my enemy's weapon?

You should probably note that fighters can choose these feats as bonus feats.

[Kenbert]

Rowanomicon ... I agree, you can engage in a "setting aside" with most weapons. However, the point of his homebrew is to reflect the fact that in fencing there is sometimes an emphasis on single-time ... or attacking while you defend, particularly quickly.

But yes, I agree with you. you can certainly parry with most anything. If it were mine, I would probably put that into the feat, but it's clearly up to him. I mean, medieval german combat manuals had the same concept, attacking while defending with longswords, which are certainly dissimilar to rapier in combat style. (To avoid confusion, my earlier post was laying aside all of this and focusing on the fact that he wanted it as a rapier feat.)

[Rowanomicon]

One of the biggest problems I have with D&D combat is that many fighters use their weapons as more of a source of defense than anything else they have.
If you're fighting with a two-handed sword it's much more likely that you'll block an attack with your sword than your armor. So why is this not reflected in the rules?

I know these feats were created to try to reproduce fencing, but I think the same feat could be applied to different styles of combat as well without the need for other feats. Maybe they could work like weapon focus and only grant the ability with one weapon of your choice.

[Kenbert]

That's very true ...

[ocato]

I know it's a dodge bonus, but I've always represented parrying with combat expertise. I like these feats though, very nice.

[derfelcadarn]

Dude, these feats, almost exactly, appeared in dragon a while back. there's a series of them. a friend of mine used them when we were playing the shackled city adventure path, he had twin rapiers. he was a kensai, the old version, also from dragon. wasn't too bad the first few levels, but it got silly fast - parrying dragons bite attacks, for example. levels 10-14 he was invulnerable in combat, badass before that, only thing that hurt him was wizards and archers. then he got a feat that let him deflect arrows..... and a ring of spell reflection or some such.... he died a few times from finger of death/disintegrate, but we had a cleric and dying didn't make him any less badass. the parry feats are flavourful, like chicken, but they added bout 45mins to each session involving dungeons and seriously unbalanced the game. an invulnerable primary fighter(and he did regain his invulnerability bout lvl17-18) is not a good thing.