Talk:Overbearing Blow (3.5e Feat)

Balance

Since most enemies have a low (~10) touch AC, and most go down when they take enough nonlethal damage, this feat feels rather overpowered as it is at the moment, especially when taking power attackers into consideration... :-/ --Ghostwheel 15:47, November 18, 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps make it even just weapon base damage? Or if that's too weak, weapon base damage + str mod (modified by however you're wielding the weapon)? --Ghostwheel 19:26, November 19, 2009 (UTC)

I know it's overpowered for a fighter but it seems pretty normal at wizard level, but lets do the math and see.

A 8th level orc fighter with 20 strength and wielding a +2 Flaming Greatsword and a +2 belt of strength and this feat (and all the prerequisite feats) Power Attacks for full, taking a -8 on attacks for a +16 to damage with a +12 from his boosted strength score for a +30 damage bonus total he attacks and misses by a mile but because of this feat he still gets damage, he rolls a 3 for the fire damage (Lethal) and a 2 and a 4 +30 for the weapon damage (Non-lethal) so that's 39 damage total. On the other hand a 8th level mage can use a empowered fire ball via Arcane Thesis and Metamagic School Focus that would deal 10d6 +1/2 for a average of 45 damage but only three times per day AND they get a save for half damage. But if we use a 12th level fighter with 20 strength, a +6 strength booster and +4 flaming sword power attacking for full, he would deal 3d6+44 damage the first 1d6 of which is lethal, for a average damage of 3 lethal 50 non-lethal while a 12th level mage using the arcane thesis could maximize a fireball for 60 damage, or 30 on save. So this feat is pretty much balanced as you have to so many feats to get it.--ThirdEmperor 04:35, November 20, 2009 (UTC)

How about making it an attack action? That way a lvl 20 fighter is not near guaranteed to pull off 4 hits in a turn. Azel Deslin 21:22, November 20, 2009 (UTC)

Well, as I chime in here, I gotta say I like the idea of getting "consolation prize" damage as non-lethal damage. However, the implementation, wording and mechanics here just don't do it for me, yo. As for ramblings, there are beasts and such who don't take non-lethal damage (undead and constructs), and in general, this feat kinda reminds me of glancing blow style shots from other game systems (which someone may even have instituted as a feat or variant rule while I wasn't looking). So, hooowah, okay, it this feat is gonna be both useful and workable in any given game (the point of practically any feat), I'm gonna recommend the following changes:

1.) No full damage. Its way too much for a consolation prize. Susceptible monsters/NPCs would get dropped anyhow, with you "killing" them.

2.) Simplify it. Bogging down combat with extra rules and calculations sucks. No one wants that.

That basically brings me to this: An attack made that misses the target, but would otherwise hit on a touch attack, instead deals 1 point of non-lethal damage per Base Attack Bonus -or- strength bonus plus enchantment bonus in damage. So, with that, you get at 10th level for a full melee guy, 10 consolation non-lethal per overbearing blow -or- strength and enchantment (maybe around 22 strength let's say, with maybe a +2 weapon) for 8 non-lethal. Now, toss in that he gets multiple attacks for BAB, haste, dual-wielding or whatever and such, and that's some fairly decent consolation damage. Option two here varies more, and I'm not doing all the math at the moment for an off-the-top-of-my-head thing. Enough of my rambling, and probably me overlooking some stuff, what has anyone else to say about this? --Ganteka Future 22:55, November 21, 2009 (UTC)

Okay, I used your suggestion but I used BAB and Weapon Enhancement Bonus because the base +1 thing is so underused.--ThirdEmperor 07:58, December 3, 2009 (UTC)

but using BAB actually makes it possible t odo MORE damage when you miss their regular ac. if a 10th level fighter misses with his longsword, he deals 2 more damage for missing (10 vs a d8). i think enhancement+str damage is good enough damage--NameViolation 21:14, December 3, 2009 (UTC)

While it is possible to deal more non-lethal damage with this system (lending possible abuse to knife throwers or tiny characters, who would use minimal damage weapons to occasionally deal more damage), the example you used is a rather flawed perspective (given that your example "good enough damage" = 0). A 10th level fighter with a longsword (mundane or masterwork) and a 10 Strength (impossible for the example, as the feat requires 15 Strength as a prerequisite) is probably among the worst characters ever. Something more along the lines of "A Dexterity-based halfling shuriken tosser would be able to drop living targets with much greater ease, abusing the system." would have been more appropriate. In any case, if it is unintended for thrown/ranged weapons, as Strong Grip (3.5e Feat) talks about, that should be clarified. Really, the biggest possible abuse comes from characters dealing with weapons that have small damage die types. Just something to think about/do some math on. --Ganteka Future 21:41, December 3, 2009 (UTC)

Yes a incredibly pathetic fighter who's player wasn't kind enough to just have him jump of a cliff COULD deal more damage but I wouldn't worry about anyone that pathetic becoming overpowered with this feat. As for the ranged weapons I'll fix that right away. As for the small weapon damage thing do any fighters even use tiny weapons?--ThirdEmperor 09:54, December 4, 2009 (UTC)

I've got an idea, how about it only works when you power attack and deals consolation damage equal to half the damage plus your strength mod? Or would 3/4ths power attack penalty be closer to rogue tier? --ThirdEmperor 19:05, December 5, 2009 (UTC)