A quick idea to boost combat maneuvers

[Grod_The_Giant]

1. Combat maneuvers-- trip, disarm, grapple, etc-- don't provoke attacks of opportunity, and you can't be disarmed/tripped/whatever in return if your attack fails.
2. The Improved _____ feats allow you to add one-half your BAB to any checks made while attempting combat maneuvers-- opposed strength checks, grapple checks, whatever. In addition, prerequisites are changed to a BAB of +2 and nothing else.
3. Add two new feats:

Master Combatant
Prerequisite: BAB +5, any one of Improved Disarm/Feint/Trip/Grapple/Bull Rush/Overrun/Sunder
Benefit: Whenever using any of the aforementioned feats, you may add your full BAB instead of 1/2.
Special: A fighter may select this feat as one of his fighter bonus feats.

Defensive Combatant
Prerequisite: BAB +3
Benefit: When an opponent attempts a combat maneuver against you and fails, you may make expend an attack of opportunity and immediately attempt the same maneuver against him.
Special: A fighter may select this feat as one of his fighter bonus feats.

[OutsiderOpinion]

Hmm, I like this idea. I'd love to see combat maneuvers get simplified a bit. Maybe then players who were newer to the game would actually use them. Earning them automatically with a +2 Bab is great, and I LOVE the whole "no attacks of opportunity, no counter if you miss," I mean, no wonder people don't use them much.

What ability scores add into this stuff? I mean, Str obviously for Grapple and Overrun, but what about Disarm? Love the idea so far!

[Mighty_Chicken]

I'm going to criticize it as I always wanted to see some discussion on whether Combat Maneuver should be easier to do or not.

In Pathfinder, CM still cause AoO, but the maneuver doesn't automatically fail if the AoO hits. You get the damage as a penalty to your Maneuver check, instead.

I think this is a sufficient buff already. A Disarm or Trip move is much superior to any melee attack. Why would you try to attack anyone before disarming or tripping them? If you want to use a superior move, you got to either have paid something for it (a feat) or pay for it right in the battlefield (a penalty).

If you don't like the idea of getting hit and losing HP because you tried to do a maneuver (which is not very intuitive, I agree), add some other kind of penalty to the maneuver check. Like a straight -4 penalty, and/or a penalty equal to some of the defender's ability bonus (like Str or Con against bullrushes, Des or Int for disarm, etc).

[Grod_The_Giant]

Yes, I do want them to be easier to pull off. More importantly, I want to remove the disincentives for trying. How many times have you seen a character disarm a foe, or try a trip, or a bull rush, without being built for that purpose?

Melee combat in 3.5 is much too static; I want characters to try different strategies and such, not just attack over and over again. Making combat maneuvers useful without requiring a feat seems like a good first step.