Alternative Iterative Attacks (3.5e Variant Rule)

Author: Ghostwheel (talk) Date Created: September 11, 2009 Status: Complete Editing: Clarity edits only please

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Alternative Iterative Attacks

Iterative attacks can be confusing, where people have to roll tons of dice in the course of a round, and every penalty or bonus requires minutes to fix all the attacks.

To fix these issues, we have the following variant:

At +6 BAB, rather than a single attack on a full attack, one can make two attacks, both at -3 to attacks (+3/+3). At +11 BAB, this penalty is reduced by one to -2 (+9/+9), and it is reduced by one again at +16 BAB (+15/+15). All attacks during your turn have this penalty, even if more are gained (for example, from Flurry of Blows).

The use of this variant actually gives a small boost in power to meleers who need to roll around 8-13 to hit an enemy at their highest attack bonus. Only when the AC of an enemy is very low (required 1-3 rolled at highest BAB) or very high (requiring 18-20 rolled at highest BAB) will the "usual" method of iterative attacks be more effective.

Incidentally, the use of this variant carries with it a change to the Two-Weapon Fighting rules, as detailed below

Change to Fighting with Two Weapons

When making a full-attack action with an off-hand weapon, you gain an extra attack with the off-hand weapon. You take a -7 penalty to all attacks made that round. If the off-hand weapon is a Light weapon, the penalty is reduced by one. (Unarmed strikes and natural attacks are always considered Light weapons.)

Changes to feats

Two-Weapon Fighting

Replace Normal with the above description of Two-Weapon Fighting, and replace the Benefit section of the feat with the following: The penalties you take from fighting with two weapons to both your primary and off-hand is reduced by five.

Improved Two-Weapon Fighting

Replace the Benefit section of the feat with the following: When taking a full-attack action, you may take another iterative attack with your off-hand weapon in addition to the one normally taken. This iterative attack is at your highest attack bonus as normal, and is subject to the penalties of fighting with two weapons.

Greater Two-Weapon Fighting

Replace the Benefit section of the feat with the following: The penalty to attacks from fighting with two weapons is reduced by an additional one. Thus, the penalty is reduced to -0 when fighting with a light weapon in your off-hand, or -1 when fighting with a one-handed weapon in your off-hand.

Iterative Attacks Table

Note that these tables assume a light weapon is used in the off-hand, reducing the penalty by an additional one.

Table: Iterative Attacks, no TWF

BAB	Iterative Attacks	Fighting with two Weapons
		Primary	Off-hand
BAB +0 to +5	+0	-6	-6
BAB +6 to +10	-3/-3	-9/-9	-9
BAB +11 to +15	-2/-2	-8/-8	-8
BAB +16 and higher	-1/-1	-7/-7	-7

Table: Iterative Attacks with TWF

BAB	Iterative Attacks	Fighting with two Weapons
		Primary	Off-hand
BAB +0 to +5	+0	-1	-1
BAB +6 to +10	-3/-3	-4/-4	-4
BAB +11 to +15	-2/-2	-3/-3	-3
BAB +16 and higher	-1/-1	-2/-2	-2

Table: Iterative Attacks with ITWF

BAB	Iterative Attacks	Fighting with two Weapons
		Primary	Off-hand
BAB +6 to +10	-3/-3	-4/-4	-4/-4
BAB +11 to +15	-2/-2	-3/-3	-3/-3
BAB +16 and higher	-1/-1	-2/-2	-2/-2

Table: Iterative Attacks with GTWF

BAB	Iterative Attacks	Fighting with two Weapons
		Primary	Off-hand
BAB +11 to +15	-2/-2	-2/-2	-2/-2
BAB +16 and higher	-1/-1	-1/-1	-1/-1

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