Feat Feedback - Sand in the Eyes

[Dante101]

Moving the topic to the right subforum.

So, with this latest update I decided to try going for Sand In The Eyes.  Now, for those of you that don't know it... Here's the feat:

Spoiler: show

Type of Feat: General
Prerequisite: Dirty Fighting or Sneak Attack or Death Attack, Sleight of Hand 8 ranks.
Specifics: A smart knave always has a dagger in his boot, an ace up his sleeve, and sand in his pocket. At will, the character can attempt to temporarily blind another creature. If he succeeds at a ranged touch attack and the target fails a reflex saving throw (DC 25), it is blinded for one round. Should the attack be successful but the throw failed, the target still suffers a -1 penalty to attack rolls for one round. As a trick becomes expected when it is used too often, it may only be used once every ten rounds.
Use: Selected.

Did a good bit of testing, and... Oh boy. This thing needs some work.  Because it is bad.

I found me a friendly neighborhood werewolf to go fisty-cuffs with.  For science.  This should make the target go blind and thus give me sneak attacks, yeah?  Well, yes.  It did.  But only for a part of a round because the action of throwing sand in your opponents face eats up your entire activity for that next full round.  And in my testing, I was lucky to get two attacks in (I have 3 APR) that were Sneak Attacks before the blindness wore off.  Here's my results:

Mid-Round Use
So, I started with using the ability mid-round.  Makes sense -- use it whenever you can, despite where you're at in your attacks per round!  See what happens.  As a result... I use the ability, the opponent gets 3 full attacks on me (that's over a full round's worth!) before I start swinging again... And I get 2/3 of the following round's attacks in before the blindness wears off and sneak attack doesn't apply.  Not very good.

Spoiler: show

Beginning of Round Use
Next I thought "hey, maybe this is a problem because I used it mid-round." So I tried using the ability at the end of my 3 attacks per round.  Same results - character is idle for a full round and then only gets 2/3 of round 2's attacks with Sneak Attack bonuses applied.

Spoiler: show

Before Entering Combat!
Perhaps it'd be best if I used it before I started swinging?  Nope.  It's even worse.  In this case I only get 1 of 3 attacks in the following round with sneak attack being applied, after standing idle and not swinging for a full round prior.

Spoiler: show

Summary and Suggestion

In summary... This feat is bad and it should feel bad.  If it's intended to be actively used in combat by a marginally effective character, it'll need some rework.  My suggestion is to do one (or both!) of the following -- assuming it's reasonably easy to code.

• Make Sand in the Eyes an instantaneous effect, similar to Subsonics Bard Song or Barbarian Rage - so that the ability doesn't cause a loss of activity in combat.
• Increase the duration further.  It's listed as one round in its description, though I saw an update back in July of 2018 stating that its duration was increased to two rounds - which I think lines up with my brief testing.