[Feat] Parry (Alternative)

[Matthew]

I presented a Parry Feat many moons ago, but I have since upgraded it into a Parry Feat Tree! So, I thought I would present it. There is a Counter Attack Feat Tree that may be married to this, but I haven't got round to working out the high level kinks yet.

PARRY [GENERAL]
Prerequisite: Dexterity 13, Base Attack Bonus +1.
Benefit: During your action and when wielding a weapon or shield in your primary hand , you designate an opponent and receive a +1 Parry Bonus to Armour Class against melee attacks from that opponent. When you are Fighting Defensively or using the Total Defence action, this Parry Bonus increases to +2 and may be divided between up to two opponents. You can select new opponents on any action.
Special: A Fighter may select Parry as one of his Fighter Bonus Feats.

IMPROVED PARRY [GENERAL]
Prerequisite: Dexterity 13, Base attack Bonus +6, Parry.
Benefit: During your action and when wielding a weapon or shield in your primary hand , you designate an opponent and receive a +2 Parry Bonus to Armour Class against melee attacks from that opponent. Alternatively, you may divide this bonus between up to two opponents. When you are Fighting Defensively or using the Total Defence action, this Parry Bonus increases to +4 and may be divided between up to four opponents. You can select new opponents on any action.
Special: A Fighter may select Improved Parry as one of his Fighter Bonus Feats.

GREATER PARRY [GENERAL]
Prerequisite: Dexterity 13, Base Attack Bonus +11, Parry, Improved Parry.
Benefit: During your action and when wielding a weapon or shield in your primary hand , you designate an opponent and receive a +3 Parry Bonus to Armour Class against melee attacks from that opponent. Alternatively, you may divide this bonus between up to three opponents. When you are Fighting Defensively or using the Total Defence action, this Parry Bonus increases to +6 and may be divided between up to six opponents. You can select new opponents on any action.
Special: A Fighter may select Greater Parry as one of his Fighter Bonus Feats.

PERFECTED PARRY [GENERAL]
Prerequisite: Dexterity 13, Base Attack Bonus +16, Parry, Improved Parry, Greater Parry.
Benefit: During your action and when wielding a weapon or shield in your primary hand , you designate an opponent and receive a +4 Parry Bonus to Armour Class against melee attacks from that opponent. Alternatively, you may divide this bonus between up to four opponents. When you are Fighting Defensively or using the Total Defence action, this Parry Bonus increases to +8 and may be divided between up to eight opponents. You can select new opponents on any action.
Special: A Fighter may select Perfected Parry as one of his Fighter Bonus Feats.

[Eighth_Seraph]

Hrm...I'd say maybe just make it into the classic three-feat tree, or even just a two-feat tree. Parry definitely looks like it would mesh perfectly with Combat Expertise as a pre-req, and then simply Improved and Greater. Remove Perfected altogether and simply raise Greater Parry to the +4 AC bonus.

[Matthew]

Hmmn. I like four Feat Trees, why a three or two Feat Tree? The main problem is the Feat intensiveness, as you suggest, but that is a persistent problem with D&D.

I don't think it is necessary to marry this Feat to Combat Expertise, though that was what I originally did. I prefer it, like Block and Dodge, to remain independent of that Feat.

[Deepblue706]

Combat Expertise requires 13 INT. I don't believe it takes a particularly smart person to block with their weapon - and I'd say Combat Expertise is a bit more than that. Honestly, I think the pre-reqs are appropriate as-is.

In fact, I can't even pretend to find fault with anything here. I'd say this is a pretty nice feat tree - considering it takes a lot of commitment for the bonuses, and they're pretty good bonuses at that (+10 AC vs one foe for -4 attack at level 16? Pretty neat...).

[Matthew]

Glad you like them. There are a number of other complementary Feat Trees wandering about (Dodge and Block, which are intended to work with Parry in some small way. A Character committed to the use of Parry, Dodge and Block could get a maximum of +26 AC against one foe for twelve Feats and a -4 AB penalty.

I never really understood why Combat Expertise required an Intelligence 13, so I made an alternative Feat Tree called Skilful Defence; give it a look over if you have the time.

[Deepblue706]

Well, I think the reason why CE was given the 13 int pre-req was because of the fact that if you take two fighters, give them all the same stats, except give one 18 INT and the other 10, they'll both fight just as well (that is, if both given the same feat selection, thus disregarding things like disarm). Quite silly, if you think about it. One's mental abilities should play a significant role in one's ability to fight, even if the majority of it depends on speed and stamina. I think it was only to let people know that intelligent fighters have something they could call their own.

Disarm and Trip shouldn't really have Int pre-reqs either. And...they really shouldn't be as viable as they are in combat. I find the a bit absurd to know that people build fighters not around killing, but rather tripping, because the flawed mechanics make it easier to do (which...um...it isn't IRL...using the "Hero Excuse" doesn't really cut it for me, either).

Skillful Defense looks neat - grants shield-bearers a nice benefit. Really, I'm surprised why I haven't seen a Wizards product to give something like that when it's certainly called for.

[Matthew]

Well, I can't claim credit for the idea, only the implementation...

Yeah, Attribute prerequisites as a whole never really sat right with me, especially the absurdly high Dexterity Scores needed to use Two Weapon Fighting. The more I look at the Feat system, the more I begin to think it wasn't the best of ideas.