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:
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 UseSo, 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.
Beginning of Round UseNext 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.
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.
Summary and SuggestionIn 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.