I never felt like tactical feats really got the respect they deserve. I think the designers wanted to give characters neat tricks that meshed with their combat style while keeping them accessible enough that any character who wanted them could have them without rearranging the whole build or being forced into a weird prestige class. But I think players saw them as a too-long collection of mechanics, each of which was insufficiently interesting on their own and none of which were as good as a feat that simply increased a number somewhere. It’s a shame, because they’re really quite neat.
A tactical feat is a feat that allows a character follow a set of steps to gain some bonus. Often this is a bonus to whatever the character does at the end of the steps (Energy Gestalt, Complete Mage: cast a cold spell followed by a sonic spell for extra damage) or a new ability that normally isn’t allowed (Giantbane, Complete Warrior: if a big enemy attacks you while you’re taking a total defense, tumble to the far side of the enemy and stab them). The options given in tactical feats are vast, but each feat has a theme, like switching between spell and weapon attacks or fighting with allies in tight formation.
The options in tactical feats have to make sense as a series of actions, not just because it fits the theme of this article but because that’s the point. An example is one of the first tactical feats, Combat Brute, which allows a player to add an additional damage bonus from Power Attack as long as they charged in the previous round and accepted a high attack penalty. It represented a character who hurled himself at an enemy, weapon swinging wildly and throwing all caution to the wind. His attack and defenses were lowered, but if his attack connected the momentum would make it devastating. That’s a tactical feat in a nutshell: do a thing in one round that gives you a benefit next round in a way that makes narrative sense.
It’s worth noting the language in tactical feats. For one, they tend to refer to their actions as “maneuvers”. At the time the feats were published, maneuvers weren’t a thing in D&D. Now we have combat maneuvers (and, I suppose, the Book of Nine Swords, which we try not to talk about), so I had to invent some language. Also, tactical feats often talk about the “first round”, “second round”, etc. This is not the first round of a combat but the first round of the maneuver. The intent is to set up one action over a series of contiguous turns. If the player with Combat Brute above charged, then drank a potion in the next round and Power Attacked in the third, they’ve already lost all their momentum. The “first-second” language is necessary to keep the actions as adjacent as possible.
It’s probably easiest to understand with some examples. All of the feats here present three options, because doing things in threes is awesome, and a player with the feat gains access to all three options at will.
Maneuver Expert (Tactical)
Your skill in unexpected combat styles allows you to keep your opponents off-guard, manipulating the battlefield seemingly at will.
Prerequisites: BAB +5, Combat Expertise, Power Attack.
Benefit: The Maneuver Expert feat allows the use of three tactical maneuvers.
Overbearing Momentum: To use this technique, you must successfully bull rush a creature in the first round. If you do, on the second round you gain a +2 bonus to Combat Maneuver rolls against that creature for each square you pushed the creature with your bull rush. This bonus only applies to Combat Maneuver rolls made to bull rush, reposition, or trip.
Right Where You Want Them: To use this technique, you must successfully perform a dirty trick on a creature in the first round. If you do, on the second round you gain a +2 bonus to Combat Maneuver rolls. If your dirty trick attack exceeded the creature’s Combat Maneuver Defense by 5 or more, you may reduce the duration of the effect to one round (ending the effect) and gain an additional +2 bonus on Combat Maneuver rolls against the same creature for each round by which you reduced the duration. These bonuses only apply to Combat Maneuver rolls made to drag or trip.
Thief’s Diversion: To use this technique, you must successfully disarm a creature or sunder a creature’s item in the first round. If you do, on the second round you may make a Combat Maneuver roll to steal an item from the target as a move action.
Mobile Combatant (Tactical)
You flit about the battlefield, making sure your enemies never know where you are or where you’ll be when you next strike.
Prerequisites: BAB +4, Stealth 6 ranks
Benefit: The Mobile Combatant feat allows the use of three tactical maneuvers.
Nimble Sneak: To use this technique, you must make a successful Stealth check to hide in the first round. If you do, you gain a +2 bonus to Climb and Swim checks in the second round.
Second-Story Artist: To use this technique, you must make a Climb, Fly, or Swim check, or an Acrobatics check to reduce falling damage, in the first round. If you do, you gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls in the second round for every ten feet you moved vertically in the first round. The bonus only applies to attack rolls made against a creature within 30 feet, and only movement made during your turn counts toward the bonus.
Tricky Step: To use this technique, you must make an Acrobatics check to move through an enemy’s threatened square in the first round and make an attack against that enemy in the second round. If you do and you flank the enemy, you may treat the opponent as flat-footed for your first attack in the second round even if they normally cannot be caught flat-footed. This does not allow you to make a sneak attack against a creature immune to sneak attack.
Tactical Healer (Tactical)
Your mastery of healing spells lets you use residual curative effects to bolster your magic.
Prerequisites: Ability to cast cure serious wounds, caster level 5th.
Benefit: The Mobile Combatant feat allows the use of three tactical maneuvers.
Divine Cascade: To use this technique, you must cast a spell from the conjuration (healing) school in the first round. If you do, you gain a +2 bonus to your caster level on any spell you cast from the conjuration (healing) school in the second round.
Flow of Grace: To use this technique, you must cast a spell from the conjuration (healing) school in the first round and use a class ability that heals hit point damage (such as a cleric’s channel energy, a paladin’s lay on hands, or a witch’s healing hex) in the second round. If you do, you may increase your effective class level for the class ability by a number equal to level of the spell you cast in the first round. The class ability cannot be used to heal yourself or deal damage to enemies.
Healing Conversion: To use this technique, you must cast a spell with the “harmless” saving throw descriptor in the first round and cast a spell from the conjuration (healing) school in the second round. If you do, any creature targeted by both spells cures an additional 2 points of damage per level of the second spell, but the duration of the first spell is reduced by one round.
Please note the first technique in each feat. For those techniques, the action in the second round can also qualify as the first round for the same technique. That’s intentional. A character using overbearing momentum can bull rush in the first round, use the bonus to CMB to bull rush in the second round, then use the result of the second bull rush to gain a bonus in the third round, and so on, as long as he does nothing but bull rush. A character using nimble sneak gains a +2 bonus to Climb and Swim as long as her Stealth check never fails. A healer using divine cascade gains an effective +2 to caster level as long as he heals every single round. They’re nontrivial bonuses, but they all lock a character into doing something that’s not always beneficial or wise.
Unlike channeled spells or the powers in 4E, this isn’t brand-new ground. Tactical feats existed for a while and there’s little reason not to use them. I found about two dozen in various books before stopping, not least because searching every book for the word “tactical” is really boring. They’re all built for 3.5E and most of them can work in Pathfinder with few if any changes. It means we don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just remind everybody that it exists.