Melee/Unarmed Feats

**DRUNKEN MASTER**

You fight better when you are drunk.

Prerequisite: Constitution 14, +1 BAB

Benefit: While under the influence of alcohol, you possess a +2 bonus to hit and to damage when using unarmed weapons.

**BONUS HAND TO HAND DAMAGE**

In the heat of combat, you've learned how to hulk-out to give you the edge in close-quarters confrontation.

Prerequisite: BAB +6, Strength 12, Dexterity 12

Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus to damage with melee and unarmed attacks (including weapons that fall under the unarmed weapon group).

Special: This feat can be taken up to 3 times.

**Nerve Pinch**

You can incapacitate foes with a vicelike pinch.

Prerequisites: Combat Martial Arts, base attack bonus +4.

Benefit: You make an unarmed attack against a living creature. If the attack succeeds, the target takes no damage but must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 10 + one-half your character level + your Strength modifier) or be paralyzed for 1d4+1 rounds. If the target’s attack of opportunity hits you and deals damage, the nerve pinch automatically fails.

Special: This ability does not work on creatures without nervous systems or discernible anatomies, such as oozes and plants.

**Great Cleave**

Prerequisite: Strength 13, Power Attack, Cleave, base attack bonus +4.

Benefit: As Cleave, except that the character has no limit to the number of times he or she can use it per round.

**Combat Reflexes**

Benefit: The maximum number of attacks of opportunity the character may make each round is equal to the character’s Dexterity modifier + 1. The character can still only make one attack of opportunity on a single opponent.

With this feat, the character may also make attacks of opportunity when flat-footed.

Normal: A character without the Combat Reflexes feat can make only one attack of opportunity per round and can’t make attacks of opportunity when flat-footed.

**Defensive Martial Arts**

Benefit: The character gains a +1 dodge bonus to Defense against melee attacks.

Special: A condition that makes the character lose his or her Dexterity bonus to Defense also makes the character lose dodge bonuses. Also, dodge bonuses stack, unlike most other types of bonuses.

**Elusive Target**

Prerequisite: Dexterity 13, Defensive Martial Arts.

Benefit: When fighting an opponent or multiple opponents in melee, other opponents attempting to target the character with ranged attacks take a –4 penalty. This penalty is in addition to the normal –4 penalty for firing into melee, making the penalty to target to character –8.

Special: An opponent with the Precise Shot feat has the penalty lessened to –4 when targeting the character.

**Improved Brawl**

Prerequisite: Brawl, base attack bonus +3.

Benefit: When making an unarmed attack, the character receives a +2 competence bonus on his or her attack roll, and the character deals nonlethal damage equal to 1d10 + the character’s Strength modifier.

Normal: Unarmed attacks normally deal nonlethal damage equal to 1d4 + Strength modifier.

**Improved Bull Rush**

Prerequisite: Strength 13, Power Attack.

Benefit: When the character performs a bull rush, the character does not provoke an attack of opportunity from the defender.

**Improved Combat Martial Arts**

Prerequisite: Combat Martial Arts, base attack bonus +4.

Benefit: The character’s threat range on an unarmed strike improves to 19–20.

Normal: A character without this feat threatens a critical hit with an unarmed strike only on a 20.

**Improved Combat Throw**

Prerequisite: Defensive Martial Arts, Combat Throw, base attack bonus +3.

Benefit: In melee combat, if an opponent attacks and misses the character, the character may immediately make a trip attack against the opponent. This counts as an attack of opportunity, which the character can make even if he or she is unarmed. Attacking unarmed in this way does not provoke an attack of opportunity.

Special: This feat doesn’t grant the character more attacks of opportunity than he or she is normally allowed in a round.

**Improved Feint**

Prerequisite: Intelligence 12, Brawl, Streetfighting.

Benefit: The character can make a Bluff check in combat as a move action. The character receives a +2 bonus on Bluff checks made to feint in melee combat.

Normal: Feinting in combat requires an attack action.

**Two-Weapon Fighting**

Prerequisite: Dexterity 13.

Benefit: The character’s penalties for fighting with two weapons are lessened by 2 for the primary hand and 6 for the off hand.

The weapons used must both be melee weapons or both be ranged weapons (the character can’t mix the types).

**Unbalance Opponent**

Prerequisite: Defensive Martial Arts, base attack bonus +6.

Benefit: During the character’s action, the character designates an opponent no more than one size category larger or smaller than the character. That opponent doesn’t get to add his or her Strength modifier to attack rolls when targeting the character. (If the opponent has a Strength penalty, he or hse still takes that penalty.)

The opponent’s Strength modifier applies to damage, as usual.

The character can select a new opponent on any action.

**Spring Attack**

Prerequisite: Dexterity 13, Dodge, Mobility, base attack bonus +3.

Benefit: When using an attack action with a melee weapon, the character can move both before and after the attack, provided that the total distance moved is not greater than the charater’s speed.

Moving in this way does not provoke an attack of opportunity from the defender the character is attacking (though it can provoke attacks of opportunity from others, as normal).

A character can’t use this feat if he or she is carrying a heavy load or wearing heavy armor.

**Combat Throw**

Prerequisite: Defensive Martial Arts.

Benefit: The character gains a +2 bonus on opposed Strength and Dexterity checks any time the character attempts trip or grapple attacks, or when the character trys to avoid a trip or grapple attack made against him or her.

**Cleave**

Prerequisite: Strength 13, Power Attack.

Benefit: If the character deals an opponent enough damage to make the opponent drop (either by knocking the opponent out due to massive damage or by reducing the opponent’s hit points to less than 0), the character gets an immediate extra melee attack against another opponent adjacent to the character. The character can’t take a 5-foot step before making this extra attack. The extra attack is with the same weapon and at the same bonus as the attack that dropped the previous opponent. The character can use this ability once per round.

**Blind-Fight**

Benefit: In melee combat, every time the character misses because of concealment, the character can reroll the miss chance roll one time to see if the character actually hits.

The character takes only half the usual penalty to speed for being unable to see. Darkness and poor visibility in general reduces the character’s speed to three-quarters of normal, instead of one-half.

**Brawl**

Benefit: When making an unarmed attack, the character receives a +1 competence bonus on attack rolls, and the character deals nonlethal damage equal to 1d8 + his or her Strength modifier.

Normal: Unarmed attacks normally deal nonlethal damage equal to 1d3 + Strength modifier.

**Advanced Combat Martial Arts**

Prerequisite: Combat Martial Arts, Improved Combat Martial Arts, base attack bonus +5.

Benefit: When the character scores a critical hit on an opponent with an unarmed strike, the character deals triple damage.

Normal: An unarmed strike critical hit deals double damage.

**Advanced Two-Weapon Fighting**

Prerequisite: Dexterity 13, Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, base attack bonus +6.

Benefit: The character gets a third attack with his or her offhand weapon, albeit at a –8 penalty. This feat also allows the character to use a melee weapon in one hand and a ranged weapon in the other.

**Combat Martial Arts**

Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +1.

Benefit: With an unarmed strike, the character deals lethal or nonlethal damage (the character’s choice) equal to 1d6 + the character’s Strength modifier. The character’s unarmed attacks count as armed, which means that opponents do not get attacks of opportunity when the character attacks them unarmed. The character may make attacks of opportunity against opponents who provoke such attacks.

Normal: Without this feat, a character deals only 1d4 points of nonlethal damage. Unarmed attacks normally provoke attacks of opportunity, and unarmed combatants cannot normally make attacks of opportunity.

**Weapon Finesse**

Choose one light melee weapon, a rapier (if the character can use it with one hand), or a chain. A character can choose unarmed strike or grapple as a weapon for the purposes of this feat.

Prerequisite: Proficient with weapon..

Benefit: With the selected melee weapon, the character may use his or her Dexterity modifier instead of his or her Strength modifier on attack rolls.

Special: A character can gain this feat multiple times. Each time the character takes the feat, the character selects a different weapon.

**Piercing/Slashing/??? Grace**

Choose one light melee weapon, a rapier (if the character can use it with one hand), or a chain. A character can choose unarmed strike or grapple as a weapon for the purposes of this feat.

Requirement: BAB +1, Proficiency with weapon, Weapon Finesse: weapon, Weapon Focus: weapon.

Benefit: With the selected melee weapon, the character may use his or her Dexterity modifier instead of his or her Strength modifier on damage rolls.

Special: A character can gain this feat multiple times. Each time the character takes the feat, the character selects a different weapon.

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**Whirlwind Attack**

Prerequisite: Dexterity 13, Intelligence 13, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Combat Expertise, base attack bonus +4.

Benefit: When the character performs a full-round action, the character can give up his or her regular attacks and instead make one melee attack at the character’s highest base attack bonus against each adjacent opponent.

**Street Fighter**

Prerequisite: Brawl, base attack bonus +1.

Benefit: Once per round, if the character makes a successful melee attack with an unarmed strike or a light weapon, the character deals an extra 1d6 points of damage.

**Sunder**

Prerequisite: Strength 13, Power Attack.

Benefit: When the character strikes an object held or carried by an opponent, such as a weapon, the character does not provoke an attack of opportunity.

The character gains a +4 bonus on any attack roll made to attack an object held or carried by another character. The character deals double normal damage to objects, whether they are held or carried or not.

Normal: A character without this feat incurs an attack of opportunity when he or she strikes at an object held or carried by another character.

**Improved Knockout Punch**

Prerequisite: Brawl, Knockout Punch, base attack bonus +4.

Benefit: When making the character’s first unarmed attack against a flat-footed opponent, treat a successful attack as a critical hit. This critical hit deals triple damage. The damage is nonlethal damage.

Special: Even if the character has the ability to treat unarmed damage as lethal damage, the damage from a knockout punch is always nonlethal.

**Improved Trip**

Prerequisite: Intelligence 13, Combat Expertise.

Benefit: The character does not provoke an attack of opportunity when the character tries to trip an opponent while the character is unarmed.

If the character trips an opponent in melee combat, the character immediately gets to make a melee attack against that opponent as if the character had not used his or her attack action for the trip attempt.

**Improved Two-Weapon Fighting**

Prerequisite: Dexterity 13, Two-Weapon Fighting, base attack bonus +3.

Benefit: The character gets a second attack with his or her offhand weapon, albeit at a –4 penalty. Also, this feat allows the character to use a melee weapon in one hand and a ranged weapon in the other.

Normal: Without this feat, a character can only get a single extra attack with an off-hand weapon, and both weapons must be of the same type (either both ranged weapons or both melee weapons).

**Knockout Punch**

Prerequisite: Brawl, base attack bonus +2.

Benefit: When making the character’s first unarmed attack against a flat-footed opponent, treat a successful attack as a critical hit. This damage is nonlethal damage.

Special: Even if the character has the ability to treat unarmed damage as lethal damage, the damage from a knockout punch is always nonlethal.

**Power Attack**

Prerequisite: Strength 13.

Benefit: On the character’s action, before making attack rolls for a round, the character may choose to subtract a number from all melee attack rolls and add the same number to all melee damage rolls. This number may not exceed the character’s base attack bonus. The penalty on attacks and bonus on damage applies until the character’s next action.