To the Hilt

[Stygian Devout]

this is a really cool combat manoeuver, but I think it is broken to some degree....

"If the damage rolled with the weapon (before modifiers for Strength, sneak attacks and bonuses of any kind) is higher than the character's Strength modifier, the weapon sticks into the enemy"

So this apparently means it is less likely for stronger characters to achieve the effect, and that a strong character (say strength mod +4) would have no chance of leaving a dagger (1d4 damage) stuck in his opponent. He would only have a chance of doing so with a larger weapon which being longer and heavier should be more difficult to lodge fast into a target. This seems counter-intuitive and doesnt really make sense, unless the reasoning behind the strength mod would be to represent the attacker's chance to keep hold of the weapon - but that would assume then they don't want to stick the weapon so then why use the manoeuver....

thoughts?

 

[Clovenhoof]

Spontaneously I was going to agree with you, but on second thought, I'm not so sure this needs fixing.
Getting your weapon stuck in someone is normally not desirable. You want to keep doing like 1d10+4 per attack rather than 1d4 per round. So you want to avoid losing your weapon. And so, a bigger Str bonus is more desirable again, i.e. better.
And if you absolutely want to stick your weapon into the foe and leave it there - just do it. The GM could and should allow players to use this deliberately. You simply stick it in and let go. The Strength modifier thing is supposed to simulate difficulties pulling it out again.

 

[Stygian Devout]

Spontaneously I was going to agree with you, but on second thought, I'm not so sure this needs fixing.
Getting your weapon stuck in someone is normally not desirable. You want to keep doing like 1d10+4 per attack rather than 1d4 per round. So you want to avoid losing your weapon. And so, a bigger Str bonus is more desirable again, i.e. better.

Ok, but again, why make it a combat maneuver then? The way I read it is, if the player wants to use this maneuver then they have to roll higher than their strength mod on the weapon die....

I think it is a particularly useful trick to keep enemies from fleeing effectively - especially thieves, assassins and such - which they do all too often once our party starts mowing them down. Since we are usually armored and have lower movement they almost always get away if they choose to flee. So I figured it would be amusing to see the next one try it with two of my barbarian's daggers stuck in him.

 

[Clovenhoof]

What's the problem with it being a combat maneuver? You don't have to spend a feat on it, you get it as a free bonus when you buy Power Attack. The actual idea is to deal 1 extra point of damage at the risk of being disarmed. But there's nothing wrong with dealing an extra point of damage and deliberately leaving the dagger where it is, as you suggest.

However, once you've tried that a couple of times, expect thieves and assassins to start wearing leather jerkins. As it says in the description, To The Hilt works only on unarmoured foes.

And a hint on the side: carry a ranged weapon and switch to that when the opponents turn to flee.