Past Life: Student of the Sword ... ?

[GreatOwl]

I'm getting closer to TRing my lvl20 kensai fighter into ... well, another lvl20 kensai fighter. Reasons for the TR:
1. Move from a 28pt to a 34pt build
2. Reselect feats, getting rid of stuff like Luck of heroes and Lighting reflexes
3. Play at low levels with the awesomesweet toys acquired during my first life

Having several feats to spare (but not enough INT for CE -> Improved Trip, ****!) I'm debating whether the past life feat Student of the Sword is worth spending a feat slot over.

"You recall more about your past life as a fighter. You have +2 to your Intimidate skill, +1 to the Maximum Dexterity Bonus of armor and shields, and can remember your martial prowess three times per rest, increasing your base attack bonus to your level and granting +4 to hit."

How good is that? Has anyone experimented with it? Did you find it useful in any way?

[Rusty_Can]

As for the active clickie:
- you get 3 uses/rest;
- it lasts 1 minute;
- can't be dispelled;
- provides full BAB and +4 stacking bonus to hit.

Fighters get plenty of feats, thus finding room for it shouldn't be a problem; it might prove useful against high AC foes.

[PopeJual]

Fighters do have a lot of feats available (although I certainly wouldn't say no to a couple more free feats even on my Ftr20), but I have to question whether the Ftr active past life feat is worth anything if you're not already going for a big number on Intimidate.

+2 Intimidate
+1 max AC
and
+4 To Hit for 3 minutes per rest.

+4 To Hit is nice for some classes, but what how many things are you failing to hit on a 2+ as a Kensai Fighter?

[Isolani]

Seems like a better feat on something like a 13 rog/6 fgt/1 mnk build that doesn't have full BAB. Unless you are going for a stalwart III build that might be able to use the intimidate and max dex bonus, I would rather just have another toughness feat or something on a pure kensai III fgt.

[tgu]

I thought you made the past life name up. The +4 to hit alone can be worth it, but it depends...if you hit on everything but 1s then there really is no reason for it. As mentioned, a multi-class without full BAB would be the second reason to want it.

Side note: Student of the Sword sounds too cliche, needs to be one/two epic word(s). I wouldn't take it just due to that (kidding).

Possible candidates for re-naming:

Sword Apprentice
Swordster
Apprentice Swords-a-lot

What do you think Greatowl? :P

[Jaid314]

I thought you made the past life name up. The +4 to hit alone can be worth it, but it depends...if you hit on everything but 1s then there really is no reason for it. As mentioned, a multi-class without full BAB would be the second reason to want it.

Side note: Student of the Sword sounds too cliche, needs to be one/two epic word(s). I wouldn't take it just due to that (kidding).

Possible candidates for re-naming:

Sword Apprentice
Swordster
Apprentice Swords-a-lot

What do you think Greatowl? :P

this makes me think of...



anyways, on to the actual point... i wouldn't worry too much if you're TRing back into a fighter. good for a rogue or maybe a melee bard, not so good for a fighter.

[maddmatt70]

Fighters generally have very little issues with to-hit so unless you plan to use intimidate alot it really is not useful. The passive +1 to tactics is actually the most useful thing about tring into a fighter although the passive +1 to hit is alright.

[GreatOwl]

Ok, so it's pretty meh; suspected as much, but wanted to make sure I wasn't missing/underestimating anything.

This guy isn't build to use Intimidate and even less so for AC, so yeah the only attractive part was the temporary +4 to-hit bonus and really only for low levels. The idea was to possibly replace it later with yet another Thoughness, already taking a bunch, but that would require postponing PA till around lvl16 and I would kind of like to take that sooner.


@tgu: yeah the name is lame, mostly because after 20 levels of swinging madly at anything that moves one would hope to have passed the rank of "student", no?

[Wraith_Sarevok]

I was a fighter for 2 lives. I never took the past life feat. Fighters rarely have problems hitting things. If you do have trouble hitting something, equip a Destruction or Improved Destruction (or both) weapon and hit the target once. Switch back to your main weapon and keep fighting. You get a minute of uninterrupted attacks.

I crafted Destruction onto my Dragontouched docent, which pretty much solved all my hitting problems without wasting a precious feat slot on it. For the rare bosses (like Epic Big Top) where I sometimes have trouble hitting, I just switched in my Rahl's Might, struck the target, and went back to my main weapon.

[bartosy]

a really good past life feat for a fighter if not the best would be the paladin active past life feat wich gives +3 to damage and +3 to hit for 2:40 seconds x3. the only annoying thign about it is that you cant hit madstone or be madstoned and use the active past life feat.. apperantly its just a blatent copy of divine favor .

[oberon131313]

it's best used for a class that doesn't have a full BAB, like a battlemage that's heavy on caster classes.