d20: Feats: Fencing Maneuvers

BACK TO BACK [General]

By fighting back to back with an ally, you are able to mount a more effective defense against multiple opponents.

Prerequesites: None.

Benefit: When flanked, if an ally is in an adjacent square to you, you gain a +2 alliance bonus to your AC.

BACKWARDS STRIKE [General]

When outnumbered, you strike quickly ahead and behind to even the odds.

Prerequesites: +3 Base Attack Bonus, Alertness

Benefit: When flanked, you may take a -2 penalty to all your attacks to get an additional attack at your full attack bonus which may only be used against an opponent you are not otherwise attacking this round.

CIRCLE [General]

You circle your opponent, forcing him to shift position to continue to defend against you.

Prerequesites: Mobility

Benefit: As a standard action, make an opposed Dexterity contest with your opponent that is within your threatened melee area. If you are successful, you exchange positions with your opponent while maintaining the same relative facing to one another. If you fail, you provoke an attack of opportunity by all who threaten you and remain where you are.

If exchanging positions with your opponent puts you in a threatened square, you provoke an attack of opportunity by all who threaten that square. The same applies to your opponent, however: if they are put into a threatened square by the exchange, they invoke an attack of opportunity as well.

If your opponent does not wish to engage in the contest of dexterity, they may opt out by stepping 5 feet in a direction if that takes them into a square that you do not threaten, as a free action. This cancels your attempt without invoking attacks of opportunity for either you or your opponent. If no unthreatened square is available, opting out is not possible.

DUAL CHARGE [General]

You and an ally mount a coordinated charge for improved effect.

Prerequesites: Base Attack Bonus +3

Benefit: Hold your action such that you are moving on the same phase as an ally who is in a square adjacent to yours. If that ally makes a charge attack, you may declare a charge attack against that same opponent and move simultaneously. Both you and your ally get a +1 alliance bonus to your attacks, in addition to the normal bonuses from the charge.

DUAL GUARD [General]

You and an ally can team up to guard an area more effectively.

Prerequesites: Base Attack Bonus +3

Benefit: If you are in an adjacent square to an ally, and an opponent moves in a way that would provoke an attack of opportunity by your ally, your ally gets a +2 alliance bonus to his attacks of opportunity.

EXTENDED GUARD [General]

You are better able to guard against opponents who come at you head-on.

Prerequesites: Alertness, Base Attack Bonus +3.

Benefit: Directly in front of you, and 5 feet to either side, you are considered to threaten an area 5 feet further away than usual (basically, tack on a 15 x 5 area to your threatened squares, directly ahead), but are not able to actually attack this area. Thus, when an opponent moves from that area into your "true" threatened area, they invoke an attack of opportunity, as they are passing from threatened square to threatened square.

FALSE OPENING [General]

You are able to make it seem as though an irresistable opportunity to hit you exists when it does not.

Prerequesites: Skill Focus: Bluff, Charisma 13+, Base Attack Bonus +3.

Benefit: As a partial action, make a Bluff roll against an opponent, who defends by making a Sense Motive roll. If you beat the opponent's Sense Motive roll, and your opponent has an available attack of opportunity and is within range to make use of it, the opponent must take the opportunity and attack. You have +4 to your AC against this attack.

FLASHING BLADE [General]

You draw your foe's gaze and then flash light in their eyes.

Prerequesites: 6 ranks in Perform or Bluff, Base Attack Bonus +2, Charisma 13+, Dexterity 13+

Benefit: Can only be done in a well-lit area, using a well-polished, reflective weapon or piece of jewelery, as determined by the DM. Once per round, as an attack, make an attack roll against an opponent who is directly engaged with you (close or adjacent, facing you, and able to attack you). This is the DC that your opponent must make a reflex save against; if the save fails, the opponent suffers a -1 to his attacks for the next d3 rounds. This penalty does not stack with the effects of the Flare spell. Sightless creatures are not affected by this maneuver. This effect is extraordinary, not supernatural.

FLETCH [General]

You make a running strike against your opponent, putting extra force into the blow. However, the faster you go, the clumsier the maneuver can be.

Prerequesites: Lunge

Benefit: Make a charge attack. For every 5 feet you move, you may add +1 to your damage and take -1 from your AC in addition to the normal round-long AC penalty for making a charge.

FORCEFUL PARRY [General]

Your parries can be delivered with enough force to damage your opponent's weapon.

Prerequesites: Sunder, Parry.

Benefit: Once per round, on a successful parry, you may roll damage normally for damaging your opponent's weapon. This cannot be used in conjunction with Riposte.

HILT STRIKE [General]

You are skilled with attacking using the hilt of your weapon.

Prerequesites: Base Attack +3.

Benefit: You may use a piercing or slashing weapon to do bludgeoning damage. If you opt to do subdual damage with this attack, you incur only a -2 penalty.

IMPROVED FALSE OPENING [General]

You are able to draw in your opponent even more effectively with a false opportunity to attack you.

Prerequesites: False Opening, Base Attack Bonus +6

Benefit: As False Opening, but in addition, when the opponent takes the attack of opportunity, he has overextended himself, and is at -2 to his AC for the next round.

IMPROVED FEINT [General]

You are able to take advantage of your feint attempts more swiftly.

Prerequesites: False Opening, Improved Initiative, Base Attack Bonus +6

Benefit: Once per round, if you make a successful Feint against an opponent, you may immediately make a single attack.

Normal: Feinting is a miscellaneous standard action, and thus only allows a move-equivalent action in tandem with it.

IMPROVED PARRY [General]

You can parry more effectively.

Prerequesites: Parry, Improved Initiative

Benefit: As Parry, but even if your opponent has not invoked an attack of opportunity, you may "burn" one of your attacks of opportunity this round to make the parry. This can only be done once per round.

IMPROVED RIPOSTE [General]

You may riposte more often.

Prerequesites: Riposte, Base Attack +11

Benefit: As Riposte, save that you may Riposte twice per round.

INTERPOSE [General]

You are able to parry attacks made against an ally.

Prerequesites: Improved Parry, Alertness

Benefit: If an ally is within reach of your weapon, and you could normally parry an attack by your ally's opponent against yourself, you may parry an attack made by that opponent against your ally.

LOCK BLADES [General]

You are skilled at locking an opponent's blade with your own.

Prerequesites: Parry, Strength 13+

Benefit: On a successful parry, when you have not used Riposte or Forceful Parry, make a second roll using the same bonus as used for the initial parry. If this is also successful, you manage to lock your blade with your opponent's, leaving you both unable to use the weapons involved in the parry. If either you or your opponent are otherwise unarmed, you are considered unarmed until your blades are no longer locked.

If either you or your opponent wishes to break the lock, and the other does not, a successful opposed strength roll is necessary to do so. This check may be made any time either you or your opponent is attacked by a third party. If both of you wish to break the lock, it is broken automatically.

While locked with your opponent, you or your opponent may make use of the Trip maneuver as usual; your opponent may only take attacks of opportunity that do not involve the locked weapon. Regardless of the success of the trip, the attempt breaks the lock.

LUNGE [General]

You have some skill at making quick, forceful forward strikes.

Prerequesites: Weapon Finesse, Power Attack

Benefit: This may only be done with a piercing weapon with which you have Weapon Finesse. You can make a charge attack by moving only 5 feet. However, as this is a charge attack, the 5 foot move counts as a move action, not as a 5-foot-step, and you may still only make one attack with the usual bonuses and penalties associated with a charge attack.

Normal: Charging has a normal minimum distance of 10 feet.

PARRY [General]

You are able to deflect melee attacks.

Prerequesites: Weapon Finesse, Lightning Reflexes, Base Attack +3

Benefit: If you have the ability to attack with a melee weapon (one with which you have Weapon Finesse) on the same phase as someone who attacks you with a melee weapon (either through held action or because they have invoked an attack of opportunity), you may trade that attack for a parry. You may choose to do so after it is determined that the opponent will hit you.

When parrying, roll attack as you would normally (using the appropriate attack bonus) for this attack; if you beat (not meet) the attacker's roll, the attack is parried and does not land. If you have multiple attacks available to you, you may do this multiple times (only once per attack, however), e.g., a +6 base attack bonus would allow you to parry one attack at +6 and another attack at +1, and using an offhand weapon would allow you to parry with each weapon, etc. If you would have attacks still left after a series of parry attempts, however, you cannot take them (a parry on at +11 and +6 does not allow you to then attack at +1).

If the size class of the attacker's weapon is one class greater than yours, you may still parry, but you suffer a -6 penalty.

If the size class of your attacker's weapon is greater than one class greater than yours, you cannot parry that weapon.

PERCEPTIVE DEFENSE [General]

You are difficult to bluff in a fight.

Prerequesites: Wisdom 13+

Benefit: You have +3 to your Sense Motive checks, but only for defeating Bluff attempts in combat (e.g., feints and false openings). This stacks with Skill Focus.

QUICK FEET [General]

Your fast footwork makes it difficult to put you off-balance.

Prerequesites: Dex 13+, 4 ranks in Balance

Benefit: You may add your dexterity bonus to your defensive roll when someone is trying to Trip or Bull Rush you.

RIPOSTE [General]

You can turn a parry into an attack.

Prerequesites: Parry, Base Attack +6

Benefit: Once per round, on a successful parry, you may roll immediately (using the same attack bonus you used for the parry) to strike your opponent. This cannot be used in conjunction with Forceful Parry.

ROOT [General]

You are able to set your stance so as to make it more difficult to knock you back or down.

Prerequesites: Strength 13+

Benefit: As a move-equivalent action, you may declare that your are bracing yourself; for the next round, you are considered "exceptionally stable" and get a +4 stability bonus when rolling to oppose a Trip or Bull Rush attempt. If you move at all after taking this action (under your own power or someone else's), the bonus is lost.

SCARRING STRIKE [General]

You can strike with precision, humiliating and disfiguring an opponent.

Prerequesites: Weapon Finesse, Base Attack +3

Benefit: On a successful hit with your weapon finessed weapon, rather than doing damage, you may do 1 point of temporary Charisma damage. Ability points lost in this manner return at the rate of 1 per day.

SIDEWAYS TRIP [General]

You're adept at putting your foot in the way of someone who's in a hurry.

Prerequesites: Improved Trip

Benefit: When an opponent is overrunning you, and you opt to step aside, you may make a Trip attempt as a free action against that opponent. This does not work if you are unable to step aside.

SWEEP [General]

You trip opponents using speed and timing, not strength.

Prerequesites: Dex 13+

Benefit: You may use your dexterity bonus in place of your strength bonus when making a Trip attempt.

THRUST [General]

You deliver one swift, deep strike, hitting vital areas.

Prerequesites: Base Attack +6, Power Attack

Benefit: This may only be done with a piercing weapon. As a full attack action, you give up your additional attacks to make one single attack. If successful, each attack you gave up adds an additional d6 of damage (+6 yields +1d6, +11 yields +2d6, +16 yields +3d6). This may be used in combination with Power Attack. This cannot be used on creatures who do not have vital organs.

TRANCHE [General]

You make a quick move that whips the blade across the target's hand, chest, face, or leg. The cut is superficial but very painful.

Prerequesites: Weapon Finesse, Base Attack +6

Benefit: Must use a weapon that can do piercing or slashing damage, with which you have Weapon Finesse. As a standard action, make an attack roll. This is the DC of the Reflex save the target must make to avoid your hit. If the target fails this save, roll your damage dice and add 10: this is the DC of the Fortitude save the target must make to avoid being Stunned for the next round -- this does not actually damage your opponent, but damage dealt in this fashion (even if the fortitude save is made) counts against concentration rolls made to determine if a spell has been interrupted. Regardless of its success, making this attempt invokes an attack of opportunity.

Special: Cannot be used on creatures who do not feel pain, or who are immune to critical hits.

UNARMED PARRY [General]

Prerequesites: Improved Unarmed Strike, Lightning Reflexes, Base Attack +3

Benefit: As Parry, except that you may use your bare hands to perform the parry maneuver. Your hands are considered to be a Small class weapon for the purposes of this ability.

Special: You may substitute this feat when selecting feats that have Parry as a prerequesite, providing that you can fulfill the other requirements. If you do this, add the word 'Unarmed' to the feat; you may only use that feat with your hands as the weapon (e.g., Improved Unarmed Parry, Unarmed Riposte, etc).