Episode 74: Defensive Thoughts

*rolls a d20* …miss...

*rolls a d20* …miss...

*rolls a d20* Huh... another miss...

Welcome to the 74th Installment of Fragments from the Rim.  I’m DarthGM and today I want to talk about something that’s come up recently in my Legacy Era game.  

One of my PCs plays an Imperial Knight, and through most of his career he’s had the Block and Deflect talents.  He’s 12th level now and running around with a Reflex Defense of 31, thanks to the Armor Mastery Talent, the Imperial Knight Battle Armor, and a fairly decent Dexterity score.  The player has actually found that the Block and Deflect talents are now useless to him, because if the attack does hit him, it’s highly unlikely he’ll be able to roll the number required to beat the attack roll.  It’s a good thing he never took Redirect Shot, or he’d never use the Talent at all.  He would actually get a lot more mileage from his talents and a greater defensive benefit by replacing both talents with two selections of Lightsaber Defense, which is what he did.

This led me to ponder situations and character choices where having both a high defense and having Block or Deflect would be helpful.  Several feats out there imply a penalty to your Reflex Defense, and still having Block and Deflect to fall back on could be a benefit.  Desperate Gambit, Flurry, and Sniper Shot all come to mind.  For Flurry and Sniper Shot, you’re getting a +2 to your attack rolls with melee and ranged weapons respectively, but take a -5 penalty to your Reflex Defense.  Desperate Gambit, covered by Alex back in Fragments from the Rim 15 [by Alex and Trevor], allows you to reroll a failed attack roll at a -2 penalty to your Reflex Defense, or a -5 penalty if you’re rerolling a natural 1 on your attack check.  Charging imposes a -2 penalty to your Defense, and there are several useful feats and a couple feats out there that modify your charge attack.

If you put all your effort into a charge, roll a 1, and decide to reroll with the Desperate Gambit feat, that 31 defense is now a 24.  That’s a Reflex defense score that your average CL 10 opponent shouldn’t have too much trouble hitting.  You now have a situation where Deflect can still protect you.

So if you’re rockin’ a high defense, and like to stack up Flurry, Critical Strike, and Improved Rapid Strike on an attack roll, and want to use Desperate Gambit to help make sure it hits, you may just want to hold on to Block and Deflect for insurance.

That’s it for this installment.  If you have any questions, drop me a PM on the D20 Radio Forums.  Until next time Gamer Nation; 20-side up, 1-side down.