Making Sunder actually useful

[Sinfire Titan]

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You can use an attack (melee or ranged) To destroy a weapon, shield, or other item.

(Step 1) Attack of Opportunity: You provoke an attack of opportunity from the target whose item you are trying to sunder. (If you have the Improved Sunder feat, you don’t incur an attack of opportunity for making the attempt.) If this attack of opportunity hits you can still resolve the sunder attempt at no penalty, provided you are still otherwise able. A ranged sunder attempt doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity from the defender, but still provokes attacks of opportunity as any other ranged attack would (certain abilities, such as the Epic feat Combat Archery, override this).

(Step 2) Attack the item: If the item is worn (instead of carried) use the wearer's AC to resolve the attack, otherwise the defender must make an attack roll as if making a melee attack with the item and use that as the item's AC. If the item is a weapon or shield the defender gets its enhancement bonus as normal, but other items not designed to be used to make melee attacks (such as most wands) gain no bonus. If the item isn't designed to be used as a weapon, the defender resolves the attack roll as if using an improvised weapon.

(Step 3) Consequences: If you beat the defender, roll damage and deal it to the item. If you fail the sunder attempt you don’t deal any damage. If the item was destroyed you can make another attack at the same attack bonus against the defender, but you can't use that extra attack to make another sunder attempt. If the sunder attempt was made with a ranged attack you do not need to expend additional ammo to take this extra attack; the projectile simply continues its flight path and treats the defender as a new target.

You cannot sunder armor, at least not without a feat. Artifacts cannot be sundered unless they specify doing so as a part of destroying the item; any attempts are still resolved normally, but the damage is negated in a manner of the DM's choice (such as the defender dropping the item or the item regenerating the damage without the attacker noticing).

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Improved Sunder
You like to break things that aren't yours. A lot.

Prerequisites: Power Attack or Base Attack Bonus +2.

Benefit: You no longer provoke attacks of opportunity from the defender when making a sunder attempt. You also gain a +4 bonus on any attack roll made to attack an object held or carried by another character.

At your discretion, if you would successfully destroy a magical item with a sunder attempt, you can choose to simply disable the item temporarily instead. Such an item loses all magical properties (including enhancement bonuses) until it is repaired, either by the Craft skill or by a spell's effect (such as Make Whole or Repair Light Damage). The Craft DC is 10+the item's caster level, and the check itself takes a number of minutes equal to twice the DC. It does not require gold, XP, or any item creation feats. If the item was a weapon or shield it cannot be used as such until it is repaired. The Craft skill must be one appropriate for the item in question (Blacksmithing for a shield, Jewelry for an amulet, Fletching for a bow, etc), but the check doesn't need to be made by you. If the check fails, you cannot attempt to repair that item until you gain another rank in the appropriate Craft skill.

Special: The repair can be "sped up". If you take a -5 penalty on the Craft check, the repair takes 10 minutes less to complete. You may continually apply this penalty to further reduce the time the repairs take, to a minimum of 10 minutes. If the Craft check is interrupted for any reason you can simply resume it at a later time without restarting.

Boneshatter
Your knack for shattering tools has lent itself nicely to just plain hitting the poor bastard using them.

Prerequisite: Improved Sunder, Cleave, base attack bonus +4

Benefit: When you successfully sunder an item, if the extra attack from the sunder attempt (see above) hits, you may use the Cleave feat against the defender as if you had dropped an opponent. You cannot use this feat on ranged sunder attempts, nor can you use the Cleave attempt to make additional sunder attempts. If the sunder attempt's extra attack dropped the defender you do not have to use this feat's effect; you can just Cleave normally.

Special: This feat does not provide additional benefits for the Great Cleave or Dweomercleave feats. It does not restrict their usage either.

Dweomercleave
Your training has yielded an incredible boon; you have mastered the art of attacking magic.

Prerequisites: Improved Sunder, Mage-Slayer, Base Attack Bonus +9

Benefit: You gain the ability to sunder spells as if they are magic items. Treat a spell has having an AC equal to its save DC+5 (if the spell does not offer a saving throw it uses the normal rules for calculating a spell's save DC to determine this AC value), hardness equal to twice its spell level, and 5hp per caster level.

A spell's HP is static; if the caster's CL increases before the spell's duration ends the spell does not gain additional HP. Spells cannot be healed by anything other than Wish, Lesser Wish, or Miracle spells (although those spells can restore the HP of any number of spells with a single casting); once a spell is damaged by a sunder attempt it remains so until the spell ends. A spell with 0hp is dispelled.

Area affect spells cannot be sundered unless you are inside the affected area unless you use a ranged attack to sunder the spell (in which case you need to be within 30ft of it). Single-target spells require you to target the affected creature or object.

If the spell has a duration of instantaneous you must ready an action to sunder it; if you successfully sunder such a spell you can attack the caster as if you had destroyed a magic item (see the Sunder special action, above). You must threaten the caster in melee (or use a ranged sunder attempt) to do this.

If you have the Cleave or Great Cleave feats and you successfully sunder a spell you may use those feats to make additional spell sunder attempts. This is an exception to the normal sundering rules; you can sunder up to one additional spell per round with the Cleave feat and there's no limit to how many spells can be sundered in a single round if you have Great Cleave.

Conjuration (Summoning), (Creation), or (Calling) spells are treated as instantaneous spells for the purpose of sundering (see above). Spells with the Force descriptor have twice the HP listed above (10hp per caster level).

Any balance concerns here?

[Garryl]

Are their any changes from standard in the basic sunder usage? I didn't see any obvious additions other than allowing ranged attacks to sunder, although I suspect you've also removed some other limitations.

Reread it and noticed the bit about an extra attack if you destroy the item. I'd shift that to the Improved Sunder feat, much like Improved Trip's bonus attack.

I'd expect the anti-magic only disable-without-destroying option to be in Dweomercleave, which is the feat about sundering magic, rather than Improved Sunder, which is just about breaking things in general. Since it's in the basic feat, which otherwise has nothing to do with magic specifically, it seems weird, especially since you don't have the option to sunder without breaking for nonmagical objects. It just doesn't fit thematically in there, even more so since you're cramming in the repairing parts as well. It would be rather more complicated, but I'd love to see a nonlethal damage equivalent for objects in general (and possibly constructs, too) that makes them broken but repairable (as opposed to totally destroyed). That would let pseudo-breaking things just be a general sort of thing that the sunder master also becomes really good at.

Let me see if I'm getting this straight with Boneshatter. You sunder an opponent's item and break it (since you're moderately optimized and deal good damage per hit, this is reasonably reliable). Sundering gives you a replacement attack against the item's wielder. That attack hits. Then you get a second attack. In essence, you have broken one of your opponent's items, and doubled your attack.

Dweomercleave doesn't need the lines about spells being unhealable. The fact that there aren't any effects that do so already makes that the case. Because spells don't have hp normally. Speaking of which, you should make it a general rule to calculate a spell's hp, rather than having it be defined by a specific feat. That way, you won't run into conflicts if another effect defines a spell's hp (possibly equally generically). Although as far as I'm concerned, spells having hp is weird, probably unnecessary, potentially adds extra dollops of bookkeeping, and is weird. There should be a better solution.

Attacking the caster makes little sense with Dweomercleave. I'd expect it to let you attack the subject of the spell if it was a spell affecting a creature or object, but there's no correlation between where the caster and where the spell are. Even if they're both in melee with you, they could be on opposite sides of you. I'd only expect it to let you attack the caster if you were using a readied action to disrupt the casting. Also, why can you only ready to sunder instantaneous spells? It makes even less sense once you consider that even if you know your opponent is going to cast a spell and thus you ready against it, they're not necessarily going to cast an instantaneous one, and you as the big stupid fighter without Spellcraft ranks won't be able to figure it out until after the spell is finished casting anyways.

Blargh. It's late and I'm pretty sure that I'm misreading things. And miswriting things. And just missing things.

[Sinfire Titan]

Are their any changes from standard in the basic sunder usage? I didn't see any obvious additions other than allowing ranged attacks to sunder, although I suspect you've also removed some other limitations.

Reread it and noticed the bit about an extra attack if you destroy the item. I'd shift that to the Improved Sunder feat, much like Improved Trip's bonus attack.

I'll consider that.

I'd expect the anti-magic only disable-without-destroying option to be in Dweomercleave, which is the feat about sundering magic, rather than Improved Sunder, which is just about breaking things in general. Since it's in the basic feat, which otherwise has nothing to do with magic specifically, it seems weird, especially since you don't have the option to sunder without breaking for nonmagical objects.

Improved Sunder's ability to not destroy magic items was to deal with a WBL issue. Mundane items generally get ignored at the mid-levels, at least as far as WBL is concerned, and the Craft skill can already repair those to begin with.

Dweomercleave was intended to give noncasters an option against spells like Web, Black Tentacles, and other effects. So many enemies have SLAs that I felt there needed to be a way to do something against it (other than the standard tactic of "ready an arrow to shoot them and interrupt the casting").

It just doesn't fit thematically in there, even more so since you're cramming in the repairing parts as well. It would be rather more complicated, but I'd love to see a nonlethal damage equivalent for objects in general (and possibly constructs, too) that makes them broken but repairable (as opposed to totally destroyed). That would let pseudo-breaking things just be a general sort of thing that the sunder master also becomes really good at.

I didn't want to make it a separate feat to reduce on tax.

Let me see if I'm getting this straight with Boneshatter. You sunder an opponent's item and break it (since you're moderately optimized and deal good damage per hit, this is reasonably reliable). Sundering gives you a replacement attack against the item's wielder. That attack hits. Then you get a second attack. In essence, you have broken one of your opponent's items, and doubled your attack.

Yes. One of the problems with Sunder (and Disarm) is that it isn't action-efficient as your attack doesn't bring you closer to winning the encounter, it just debuffs them.

Dweomercleave doesn't need the lines about spells being unhealable. The fact that there aren't any effects that do so already makes that the case. Because spells don't have hp normally. Speaking of which, you should make it a general rule to calculate a spell's hp, rather than having it be defined by a specific feat. That way, you won't run into conflicts if another effect defines a spell's hp (possibly equally generically).

Point on the healing. However, the HP only exists if you have the feat to begin with (there's no other way to attack a spell directly). At least as far as I know.

Although as far as I'm concerned, spells having hp is weird, probably unnecessary, potentially adds extra dollops of bookkeeping, and is weird. There should be a better solution.

Other than making an attack roll opposed by a caster level check (which is a horrible method in a moderately optimized campaign), that was the best I could come up with.

Attacking the caster makes little sense with Dweomercleave. I'd expect it to let you attack the subject of the spell if it was a spell affecting a creature or object, but there's no correlation between where the caster and where the spell are. Even if they're both in melee with you, they could be on opposite sides of you. I'd only expect it to let you attack the caster if you were using a readied action to disrupt the casting.

That's for buff spells that the Mage-Slayer line doesn't counter. Dweomercleave+Great Cleave can dispel multiple buffs in a single round.

Also, why can you only ready to sunder instantaneous spells? It makes even less sense once you consider that even if you know your opponent is going to cast a spell and thus you ready against it, they're not necessarily going to cast an instantaneous one, and you as the big stupid fighter without Spellcraft ranks won't be able to figure it out until after the spell is finished casting anyways.

That's for damage spells or instant-kills (Slay Living, for example). That's also the reason why Dweomercleave requires Mage-Slayer (which needs ranks in Spellcraft). The ready-counterspell effect isn't a real benefit, I put it there just to be comprehensive about it, as its less efficient than just attacking the caster directly. It does, however, bypass the normal method of defending against such disruption (like Abrupt Jaunt).