Author Topic: Immediate action deflection?  (Read 3972 times)

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X-Codes

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Re: Immediate action deflection?
« Reply #20 on: January 18, 2011, 01:55:12 AM »
"Potential Jade Phoenix Mages" are the physical forms taken by one of the 7 or so souls that have been repeatedly reincarnated since the beginning of time (or whenever), so yes, there's technically only supposed to be a small handful of Jade Phoenix Mages in existence at any one time.

Bloody Initiate

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Re: Immediate action deflection?
« Reply #21 on: January 18, 2011, 04:40:57 AM »
The Wall of Blades maneuver is the best I can think of that's available to you. You'll need a Warblade level to be able to use it every other round.

The issue is that Swordsages don't get access to as many of those types of maneuvers, and abilities like that weren't very practical before maneuvers, so you either have the maneuvers or you're not good at it.

They tried to do a lot of that shit with the Duskblade (Deflect Spells), but the Deflect spells kinda blow so nobody took them. WotC went "oh damn, I guess those spells kinda blew, back to the drawing board."

You can get Warblade and Crusader maneuvers that will let you do what you want, but they'll require feats. Black Knight mentioned Manticore Parry and Shield Counter, which would be fine if you were getting those maneuvers as part of your class, but you're not. Manticore Parry is Warblade or Martial Study only and Shield Counter is Crusader or Martial Study only. It's also slightly relevant that Manticore Parry is 6th level and therefore unavailable until 11th level and Shield Counter is 7th level and therefore unavailable until 13th level.

"Fuck you, you don't hit me" was not an ability WotC wanted encourage early in the game.

I know your pain. I wanted abilities like that to work for so long before Tome of Battle. It just didn't happen until Tome of Battle though.

Also, although I hated on the Deflect spells, the biggest problem with them is that they're spells and therefore subject to per day stupidity, but with a few easy tweaks they could make perfectly OK homebrew (Su) maneuvers.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2011, 04:50:39 AM by Bloody Initiate »
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Cephid Arcanis

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Re: Immediate action deflection?
« Reply #23 on: January 18, 2011, 10:26:55 AM »
Abjurant Champion with the PHBII deflect spells is perfect. Big AC bonus several times a day, immediate action. Take a Ring of wizardry for more uses. Add swift action shield +9AC and it fits great.
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Nytemare3701

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Re: Immediate action deflection?
« Reply #24 on: January 18, 2011, 10:44:09 AM »
I just checked Abjurant Champion, and realized that it gives the bonuses to Deflect.

Hell yes.

Cephid Arcanis

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Re: Immediate action deflection?
« Reply #25 on: January 18, 2011, 10:38:25 PM »
I just checked Abjurant Champion, and realized that it gives the bonuses to Deflect.

Hell yes.

Yeah, it rocks. Take it earlier and use shield (which becomes swift) and the PHBII spells (immediate).
And having a massive AC is probably better for the game than having a auto miss effect.
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Eviltedzies

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Re: Immediate action deflection?
« Reply #26 on: January 19, 2011, 04:50:24 PM »
Taking Versitile Spellcaster will allow you to burn 2 spells of a lower level to cast a spell of 1 level higher. This will practically give you as many "insta deflects" as you like so long as you have spells to burn.

If you feel that taking another level of swordsage is not too beneficial, consider taking a level fo warblade or crusader. It would open up many options to you.
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Maat_Mons

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Re: Immediate action deflection?
« Reply #27 on: January 24, 2011, 09:52:22 PM »
Dragon magazine 301 has a series of feats for this on pages 36 to 38. 

Parry:
You can make an opposed attack role (with a +4 bonus if you use a light weapon) to negate a melee attack.  This can only be done once per round and uses up an attack of opportunity, but you get to find out if an attack would hit before you decide to parry. 

Improved Parry:
You can parry as many times per round as you have attacks of opportunity, but only once against any given opponent per round. 

Expert Parry:
You can parry attacks without restriction, except for the number of attacks of opportunity you have per round. 

You'd need to take combat expertise and combat reflexes for prerequisites.