u/hey-howdy-hello

Seven attacks in one turn: Can we do better?

The Impossible Flurry ranger feat is a 3-action [Flourish] activity that lets you Strike six times, twice with each of your two weapons. (For a flurry ranger attacking their hunted prey with agile weapons, these Strikes are at -1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2 MAP, which is extremely, extremely good.) If the ranger gets quickened by some effect that allows Strikes (like Haste), they can Strike as their first action, then Impossible Flurry with the other three, for seven Strikes at -0/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2 MAP.

That kicks ass, and I need to play a flurry ranger. But can we do better? Is there any way to make eight or more Strikes in a single turn? I briefly thought it would be possible if you got a source of quickened with no restriction on the extra action (like Quickening Emotion and several other relics) and pulled a Twin Takedown into Impossible Flurry, but Twin Takedown has the [Flourish] trait as well, so that's a no-go.

I did figure out one way to do it, which is with reaction attacks. A ranger with the fighter or Eagle Knight archetype could take Tactical Reflexes, giving them two reactions every round ,one of which must be Reactive Strike; if enemies Readied their actions and triggered two Reactive Strikes, the ranger could Strike nine times between the start and end of their own turn. Alternately, you'd only need one enemy to Ready if you were an orc with Rampaging Ferocity and you somehow (say, perhaps, persistent damage) went down to 0 HP during your own turn, allowing you to use Orc Ferocity as one reaction, then Rampaging Ferocity as a free action, having used your special Tactical Reflexes reaction earlier in the turn. (A dual-classed ranger/champion could get up to ten with Divine Reflexes to use Retributive Strike.)

So, two versions of the question: Is there any way we can beat seven Strikes in one turn, without relying on any triggers--i.e., free actions are fine, but not triggered ones or reactions? And is there any way we can beat nine Strikes in one turn at all without dual-classing? (Or beat ten with it?)

Pure theory-craft, of course; we'll have to get into the kind of gimmicks you probably shouldn't use in actual play, but I'm curious if it's possible.

Edit: A couple of comments have suggested effects like fighter's Whirlwind Strike (thank you /u/Noodles_fluffy and others), which let you make separate Strikes against all enemies within reach, or within a specified range. That allows for dozens or hundreds of Small or Medium targets, or arbitrarily many Tiny ones, so that's the real answer to the question as posed: as many Strikes as you have enemies.

New restriction, then, to put a roof back on the concept: What if all the Strikes need to be against one enemy? How much could a flurry ranger, agile grace fighter or similar build absolutely ruin the BBEG's day? (Bonus points if we can get some damage type variety in each Strike, so it's easier to trigger a weakness with every hit!)

reddit.com
u/hey-howdy-hello — 4 days ago