Talk:Intelligent Blademaster (3.5e Feat)

The three edits that were submitted seem to ignore the very name of the ability, also, prerequisites have been set before gaining the ability. -Endymion.

Hi Endymion - Thank you for noting your objection in the talk page! I don't believe Int 14 and Martial Weapon Proficiency are particularly difficult prerequisites for a feat that makes a Wizard - especially in conjunction with that other feat - As good as the fighter at physical combat. Without melee attack and damage rolls, Strength is basically a useless stat. This is why there are no WotC feats, SRD or otherwise, that alter the stat for melee rolls; save for Weapon Finesse, which only applies to the attack rolls of light weapons. As such, I don't believe this feat would be a balanced addition to a 3.5e campaign. --SgtLion (talk) 11:06, 2 August 2016 (MDT)

This is what I've been calling an "ability swap feat". There's similar homebrew at 3.5e Ability Swap Feats.

Let's look at how the official books have handled ability swaps.

In Complete Warrior, there is a feat called "Combat Insight". Like Intelligent Blademaster, it lets you swap Strength for Intelligence modifier (except applied to damage rolls instead of attack rolls). Except, it is only applied to melee attacks, and it is an Epic feat.

The same book also has "Zen Archery", which swaps Dexterity for Wisdom. It is only applied to ranged attack rolls. It has much easier prerequisites.

My first observation is that Intelligent "costs" more than Wisdom because Wisdom-based classes are usually already competent warriors, whereas Intelligence-based classes are not expected to be front-line warriors.

Secondly, these swap feats only apply to one type of attack

Thirdly, they have BAB prerequisites

To fix this feat:

The Int prerequisite should be odd-numbered per standards (13 would ensure you have a +1 modifier)

Have it only effect a sub-class of attack rolls (maybe light melee weapons only)

Increase the prerequisites.

Remove the Metamagic tag. It isn't metamagic.

Marasmusine (talk) 01:40, 3 August 2016 (MDT)

Balance

This is homebrew. Whether or not something is balanced according to official sources is entirely irrelevant. Otherwise all homebrew feats would just be rewordings of already-extant official feats. Not to mention the entire community has cast doubts for decades on the usefulness and rather low balance of many official sources to begin with. If this person wants a feat that swaps out Str for Int to attack and damage, that is entirely up to them to post it, not for others to question the feat's existence because it's better than Weapon Finesse (which is more often than not houseruled to include damage anyway) or because it's better than an Epic feat (which are in many cases pointed out as having a practical equivalent of being level 7-14 material rather than 21+). Judge the feat based on its practical use and whether or not it can easily break a game.

Also, for whoever thought that swapping Str for Int makes the Wizard as good of a melee fighter as the Fighter needs to never bother trying to weigh in on balance issues again.