retaliation feats: Riposte, Robilar's Gambit, & Karmic Strike

IIRC, robilar's gambit already requires you to have combat reflexes as a prereq anyways. It is a little specialized in that it does require your character to be built around the use of said feat(s) to maximize their use. For instance, it clearly benefits a 2-handed weapon fighter more than a dual-wielder. Your character should ideally also have a high dex to be able to make as many AoOs as possible, and a means of triggering them (so you can consistently make multiple AoOs every round).

IMO, these feats can be very useful, because they grant the user a very useful resource - extra actions. Anytime your party can get extra actions, or deny the opponents theirs, or both, you get a very powerful advantage. Sustain this benefit, and victory is almost assuredly yours.

This is why battlefield control spells are so powerful, or why improved trip is one of the best feats a fighter can take. In theory at least, for robilar's gambit/karmic strike, while they do make you more vulnerable, you attack more often and deal more damage, so you should be able to take down your foes faster. And the faster they die, the less damage they do by virtue of making fewer attacks overall.

There is also a point when your AC gets so low that it makes no difference whether your AC is 0 or -100. I know I once saw a build somewhere which involved a barb stacking abilities which degraded his AC (combining punishing stance, shock trooper, charging, rage/frenzy, robilar's gambit together with abilities that keyed off hits like masochism, relying solely on his hp and miss chances like displacement/wall of blades for protection).

So if you know your foe is going to hit you on a 1 anyways, might as well just take another penalty.

Granted, your Dm can work around this by staying away from your fighter and sticking to ranged attacks...

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