whirlwind attack

[gorgorothsixsixsix]

so you know dnd is a turn based game normally. there's a grid, you are in the x5, y8 square. kobolds attacks, you intimidate 'em. they encircle you. while casters aoeing them you whirlwind em to keep the aggro, hitting them all.

in this game though, kobolds and everything else keep moving. no any 360 degree arc attack any useful...

yes, originally whirlwind description for dnd is this;

"When you use the full attack action, you can give up your regular attacks and instead make one melee attack at your full base attack bonus against each opponent within reach."

guess that's why devs thought whirlwind should have a long cooldown or activation time.

but it totally doesn't make sense. this is not turn based so don't give me turn based rules.

whirlwind should have a very, very short cooldown.

don't you think?

it should be, so if you attack two times in 2 seconds, with whirlwind you should be able to attack one time in 2 seconds.

not a tazmanian monster of course.

[Zachski]

Make Whirlwind and Cleave proc instantly without interrupting the attack chain.

There. Useful.

[Pehtis]

Considering the numerous prerequisite feats (off memory I think its dodge, mobility, spring attack, combat expertise) of which most of them useless in the current version of the DDO online game, I would like to see Whirlwind have more DPS oomph going for it.

Sure a clean strike of the enemy on your BAB would be useful .... IF monster HP (and lesser extent AC, & To Hit for those with TWF penalties) wasn't so HUGE. Therefore the cooldowns and immediate delay to your next normal attack swings make it less useful in the heat of combat where DPS is king (cause I have no one has useful AC anyway) if you are to survive against those hard hitting trash mobs.

So what kind of "oomph" are we looking for. Now I am entering the realm of suggestions. I list some of the ideas below:

*I liked the previous OP view of Whirlwind not interrupting your normal BAB swings.

* Alternatively perhaps give it a default 10% doublestrike chance that stacks with other boosts. That would justify the current cooldown timer. It would prove valuable to many AC builds (like sword & board) that give up DPS.

* Perhaps add To Hit Modifier (thus oppening up both Strength & Dex attack builds) as additional damage that is stackable with existing weapon damage calculations.

* Maybe the increase critical multiplier threat by x1 to weapon only when you Whirlwind. This is due to momentum and also surprise nature of the attack to enemies. Ooh having a Khopesh do x4 crits would be very nice.

I would not touch the Cleave feats as they don't have useless pre-requisite requirements.

The idea of Whirlwind is very cool and in keeping with the DDO fantasy world. Just make it real useful for players create builds for.

[Tarnoc]

ide use it if it was two weapons hitting wen your a twf...

ie tempest almost qualifys on its own

[Alabore]

I guess part of the problem is how glancing blows and double strikes basically overlap what cleave attack and whirlwind were for, in pnp: melee AoE.

Personally, I dislike either feature: I don't feel processing chance attacks belong to the DnD spirit much.

BUT... since I don't see them going away just because I wish them to, giving both a chance to score extra glancing hits or double-strikes or whatever would make sense.

...

Not sure this is the direction I'd like to see the game take.
Just a matter of keeping rules consistent.