I agree, I just don't think you can feasibly get rid of everything that makes it matter without drastically shifting how the game plays in actually progressed play. Like skill and feat prereqs for PrCs, for example.
I'm not following. The new skill system drastically changes prereqs anyway, and really makes that point moot - since everyone can take a rank in any skill for 1 skill point, it still makes order of classes superfluous. And, yes, I had to account for that by boosting some of the prereqs.
Skills probably weren't the best example, but BAB, saves, feats and HP still cause class order to matter as you're building up classes, so the order will still matter when making a higher level character.
Flurry doesn't account for offhand attacks - it uses both hands equally.
While true ideally, mechanically it is false. Flurry attacks are mainhand attacks (they use mainhand modifiers and damage) and using a flurry action does not limit you from making offhand attacks.
I'm not sure what swift rage is.
Flurry style rage variant.
But really, my intent is to put a hard cap on the number of attacks per round: 4 with the main hand, and 3 with the off hand.
Then you should take steps to either increase the power of TWF vs Two handed weapons, or you should lower the feat investment of TWF, probably down to one feat, two at the most.
Oh, my fault - I thought you were referring to Monkey Grip (which is a hideously broken feat).
If by 'hideously broken' you mean 'hideously underpowered and the biggest trap in the world,' then yes. It's (on average) a net gain of 3.5 damage per attack
and it doesn't stack with a lot of other similar abilities that are more cost effective.
Course, you'd have to advance the marilith 9 HD to get those feats, so she'd have 25, so it's close.
And that's with much less HD and options, plus the cost of enchanting more weapons, plus lower returns on Str boosts with continued optimization, which, no offense, was lacking if a level 25 Barbarian couldn't dish out more than 400 damage per round post epic.
Disarm and trip are already attack actions.
And I'm suggesting that, if you'd like to make them viable, you make them into swift actions instead, with the improved versions of each allowing you to make them as attack actions in the improved trip style in addition as a secondary option. For example:
[spoiler]
Improved Disarm [General]: You are able to disarm your opponents with a flourish, never interrupting your own rhythm.
Prerequisite: Int 13, Combat Expertise.
Benefit:Normal: Disarming is a swift action. See the normal disarm rules for additional information.
Special: A fighter may select Improved Disarm as one of his fighter bonus feats.
A monk may select Improved Disarm as a bonus feat at 6th level, even if she does not meet the prerequisites. [/spoiler]
I'm not sure I'd make bull rush a swift action, though... it requires a "build-up" of sorts, especially if you're pushing someone back more than 5 feet. If it were a swift action, you could have PCs bull rushing someone halfway across the map and still being able to make a full move or get a full attack. Overrun, however, should be a free or swift action, since it's taking place during the move. I'll fix that.
That's easy, using it is a swift action, but the movement must still be paid for through movement costs, so bull rush would work about the same as you're seeing overrun working, except pushing them along with you instead of just knocking them over when you pass.
But honestly, if you move trip to a swift action, you don't need overrun rules at all any more, you simply make a trip attempt as you run past whenever you would have previously made an overrun.
While we're speaking of combat actions, what do you think of the grapple rules and the opposed check? I borrowed the check system from Pathfinder Alpha, before they went to the CMB.
First hing I notice is actually the changes to IUA, which I like. Makes the feat a lot more worthwhile, especially to non-Monks, and allows you to remove Improved Grapple (though watch for it as a pre-req). I may just steal that change.
Second thing I notice is the set DC for defense (based on opponent's scores), which I like, and the change to a standard action, which I don't like. This will make grappling even slower in play.
There needs to be more spacing between the end of the 'pinned' entry and '[t]he defender can attempt to break the grapple.' It appears as if that text down to the colon only applies to the 'pinned' entry.
I like the basic idea of the scaling grapple, but I don't like the auto success on higher checks, nor the fact that one of the steps shares a name with the overall mechanic (creates confusion). I'd renamed the 'grappled' step to 'wrestled' or something similar (but less silly). Then I'd take the size note out of the 'grapple' text and have each step have it's own notes on size limits. This allows one to say, hold or grab, a smaller creature than one can wrestle or pin without having to have just as many exceptions as it would take to list out the sizes anyway.
You have also taken away the need to first make a touch attack, which I do not like. It makes it so that agle creatures now have virtually no defense against grappling except as an escape, whereas before (even though AC scaling is poor compared to attack bonus), they theoretically had the chance to apply their dexterity to avoiding the grapple attempt in the first place.
I like the concept with the multiple grapplers, but it doesn't come through well. I'd just make a note in the multiple grapplers section that two creatures of one size count as a creature of one size larger. So two medium creatures working together to grapple count as a large for relative grapple size.
I also don't like the size ratio things under multiple grapplers, and it would be moot anyway with the more clear and mechanically smoother two for one size ratio.
You also need to clarify on each section that the damage done is only if taking action to do damage, the way it's worded now implies it's automatic if you initiate that grapple.
As far as monks go, the Wis bonus applies only if they're not wearing armor; I assume this is how the Deepwarden works?
Swordsage works in armor, adding Wis while still adding Dex. Do you want that limited as well as Dex? And Deepwarden adds Con instead of Dex, no matter the armor worn. Do you want that limited as well as Dex? There are other similar abilities (though not many), but they will present problem cases if you don't clarify one way or another now whether Max Dex applies to all abilities that modify armor or if it only applies to dexterity.
Well, it doesn't say "optional" or "variant", but since most DMs hand-wave encumbrance anyway, I just considered it as such.
Ah.
I'd also suggest you either completely dump sunder or you revise it entirely. It is currently not only a waste of actions, but actually a detriment (especially in higher level play). You're wasting an action on something that's unlikely to work, and
if it does work, you've just lost a ton of cash. If you're dead set on having it, change it so that disables items instead of destroying them, and repairing it takes a nominal fee (5% of craft cost or some such), but honestly, disarm mechanics can do the same thing just as well without any gold cost (you could even add a feat or class ability that cause a successful disarm to make retrieving the weapon totally combat inefficient, such as requiring a search check to retrieve it or some such, or even 'items you disarm cannot be retrieved or used again for the remainder or the encounter').
Also, please simply delete your Called Shots page, or at least move it to a 'gritty' variant since it includes rules for bodily damage (I'm assuming it's not already a variant since your sunder rules link directly to it and reference it's mechanic). Called shots already exist in 3.5. They're called Power Attack, and it's a mechanic by which you sacrifice accuracy to hit a more vital spot or simply cause more intense harm to your target. A dex based copy-cat feat named "Called Shot" that worked 100% the same as Power Attack would do exactly what you want out of Called Shots (conditions and ability damage should be ability use or DM fiat anyway) and be 200% times simpler.