Had a flurry of new feat ideas today

[jeremyt]

Introduction:

I love that ddo has stuck so close to PnP with feats except for the fact that there are so many subpar to absolutely worthless feats available it sucks new players into making very bad toons that should in fact be very fun and functional in the game rules in which DDO was derived from. So that said, I think we need to completely revamp the current feat list, out with the worthless junk that might sucker in a newbie and then cause frustration after they learn the actual mechanics of the game don't favor the old school feats. (looking at you self sufficent)

Some newer ideas that I think would fit great into DDO mechanics and help enrich the game as a whole:
(most the ideas today centered around dwarves and monks for some reason, but this list just hopefully paints a picture as how feats could evolve)

Chug: Take this feat to be able to drink two potions at the same time. Dwarves that take this feat can chose to set their chug ability to three potions.

Metalsmith: Gain improved crit with warhammers and light hammers, change dwarven weapon masteries from axes to hammers.

Miner: Gain improved crit with heavy picks and light picks, change dwarven weapon masteries from axes to picks. (mutually exclusive paths)

Update power attack: Create a Ui for PA that lets the players select the amount of hit point to damage trade off they want with the max remaining the same.

Sweep kick: A monk and fighter only feat that upgrades trip to act as a cleave affect. The fighter version breaks attack chain while the monk version has a different animation that is tacked onto the attack sequence that also deals damage.

Heavy fists: Warforge and h-orcs deal unarmed damage two dice higher and have -2 to AC. Warforge gain an additional +1 damage due to the fact they literally have steel/ada/mithril fists.

Grappling: Unarmed fighters may grab, lift, and slam down an opponent. Functions like trip currently does in its knockdown affect and timers + does damage dependent on strength modifier. Gaining this feat opens barbarians and fighters to a fast unarmed attack chain (but please different than monks). H-orcs and warforge gain extra damage bonuses.

Charge: Upon gaining this feat a player can charge forward in a sprint, slamming into and object or opponent and dealing damage with a chance to knock down (we already know this mechanic exists with minotaurs so cant be that hard right?) Damage without shields would be equal to toons strength or dex modifier, whichever is greater. Toons using shields add current shield bash damage dice +15 to charge damage. Dwarves and humans using a shield gain an additional +10 to damage on connecting a charge. Elves and drow gain regular weapon damage dice to their charge if using racial weapons (completely separate animation for them pretty please :P ). Halfing would get a 10% chance to apply a hamstring affect on the target. H-orcs and warforge would gain a much greater DC to their knockdown affect ..my current idea would be upon gaining this feat and making it active (like PA etc) your toon will charge forward when you double tap the forward button and sprint forward for 3-5 seconds. Of course it would be subject to a timer to be determined.

[bigolbear]

Yeh i like

a few suggestions based on yours.

chug is a nice idea but it may be a bit broken from a balance perspective so id have to say no - very reluctantly. posibly replace with a racial/class based enhancement (heavy drinker: bonus to beneficial potions or quicker drinking animation but not cooldown. available for dwarfs and barbs my gut feeling on this is though it would be nice its not worth development time.)

make grappling 'improved grapling', make it a monk and fighter feat. (dc 10 + str or dex or wisdom mod + half monk lvls)

make charge 'improved bull rush', make it a fighter feat, and have the racial differences you asked for activateable via enhancements - this looks like somthing that would be good for juggernaught.

make heavy fists 'iron fists' make it available to all. id go with either 1 die step or just +d6 damage.

add 'battlefist' for warforge as enhancement - add various effects including a few points extra damage, 1 metal type matching the plating of the WF. Monks are tight as hell on enhancements any way so this shouldnt cause too much problems.

Add a feat 'improved unarmed fighting base d6 damage monk attack speed but normal animation' - granted to monks at lvl 1 - fighter feat min lvl 1.

sort of agreed about powerattack, same goes for WF HO and barb versions - although there is a concern that at the moment people need to make a choice and hold back their damage so they can hit high ac enemies.. im not sure.

and with all that add in
bull rush (granted at bab 1) - charge and trip, no damage. (dc 10 + str mod + vertigo)
grapple (granted at bab 1) - trip + unarmed damage. (dc 10 + str or dex + vertiogo)
sunder (granted at bab 1) - apply destruction effect on enemy (no save). apply 10% fort reduction non stacking (dc 10 + str + sunder)
improved sunder (require PA and sunder) - apply imp destruction effect on enemy (no save). apply 25% fort reduction non stacking (dc 14 + str + sunder)

For the sake of balance Id have all NON improved tactical feats use the same cool down. Improved versions have their own cooldown as does stunning blow.

Id also like to see prone oponents made vulnerable to sneak attack.


On the subject of monks:
A simple suggestion inspired by multiclass builds (monk kensai im looking at you). and the fact that no dam dwarf should be using long swords.

Ki weapon - selected weapon type becomes a centerd weapon for you
requires: weapon focus appropriate to the weapon, monk lvl 1. - monk feat and fighter feat, replace whirling steel with this.

Body of steel. - you remain centered while wearing armour, you still gain wisdom bonus to ac but your dex is now limited by your armour or plating if warforge. Your wisdom bonus to ac is also limited to the same value.