The Gaming Den

In the beginning Frank & K created the Tomes, and there was much rejoicing. In particular the new feats paradigm made them actually meaningful and the Combat feats provided gave level appropriate abilities for warrior characters. There was also a framework for other feats based on skills and Spell levels, however there was only one Skill feat detailed and no Metamagic feats. This meant it was left to others to work out how these would function.

Kaelik's Tome Errata thread has collected Alphanerds Metamagic feats, which I think work well enough and give casters more options without drastically increasing their power level. Iaimeki also created a series of skill feats, one for each skill, however although there are many interesting ideas there, I think these work less well. In particular almost none of the characters in my campaign have taken any of the skill feats, with even skill based characters like Rogues choosing Combat feats every time. Let's take a look at why.

The Failure of (Skill) Feats

The current Skill feats each key off a skill and give increasing abilities relevant to that skill. So far, so Combat feats, however the problem with this approach is two-fold. Firstly, my experience of D&D is that there is a roughly 50/50 split between "combat time" and "non-combat time", and whilst the nature of combat means that you can usually choose which attack methods you use, the same isn't true of skills. Killing a goblin can be done with a sword, a bow or a blast of fire, but there's only one skill that will let you sneak past the sleeping dragon. Put another way, 90% of the time you will be able to use your Bow in combat, but 90% of the time Use Rope won't resolve your out of combat woes, no matter how many tricks you can make the rope do.
Secondly, although the skill feats are a valiant effort, some skills just don't have enough going for them to make 5 useful scaling abilities without straining so much they basically don't relate to the skill at all. Disguise makes you look like someone else. That is limited enough in applicability that even allowing you to Polymorph you basically get about 3 noticeably different abilities before you run dry.

So, what to do? Well, firstly the bonuses and abilities you get from a Skill Feat should be major. As we already found out, you may only get one chance to use a skill in any given session, so if your Feat doesn't make you win SUPER HARD when you do why even take it? Some skills also need to be rolled together for the purposes of feats. Like, most skills. Lastly, casters are a thing. A level 9 wizard can just decide to spend 1 of his 6 first or second level spells on Disguise, Invisibility or Silence and blow skills out of the water with minimal investment, therefore taking a feat for one of these skills should at a minimum make you this competent. Giving level 11 characters the ability to spend a round and a skill check to duplicate a second level spell is not worth a feat slot.

Skill Feats Redux:

So with this in mind, here is my first draft at the new improved Skill Feats that you hopefully might actually consider taking. Some things to note:

- A lot of these abilities are "stolen" from Iaimeki's feats. If there is something cool or interesting here, it is probably his.
- Some skill feats scale to multiple skills. If more than one skill is listed, you must have at least one listed skill at the bonus shown to gain the ability, and any others can be no less than half (rounded down) of this value. For example, if a feat states it scales with Climb, Jump and Swim, in order to gain the +9 ability at least one of these skills must be +9 and the other two cannot be less than +4 (half this value rounded down). If one skill was at +3, you would only gain the +4 ability. As this can be fairly skill point intensive it is recommended that you use the Tome skill rule that cross class skills only affects your maximum ranks rather than costing double. But it's recommended you use that rule anyway.
- Any spell like abilities act at caster level = character level.

Natural Athlete [Skill] [Climb, Swim & Jump]
You are naturally good at physical activity such as swimming, jumping and doing pushups. And we all know what happens if you do enough pushups...
Rank
0: You gain +3 to your Climb, Swim and Jump checks.
4: You may always take 10 on Climb, Swim and Jump checks.
9: You gain a swim speed equal to your walking speed, and a climb speed equal to half that. If you already have either of these speeds they increase by 10'.
14: You have mastered the art of throwing yourself at the ground and missing. You gain a Fly speed of 40' with average maneuverability, and your climb speed is now equal to your regular speed.
19: Your flying manueverability increases to Perfect. Like Superman.


Alertness [Skill] [Spot, Listen & Search]
Your senses are super-sharp. Maybe theres some Werewolf in your ancestry.
Rank
0: Gain +3 to Spot, Listen and Search checks
4: You gain Trapfinding, and may ignore distractions for Spot and Listen checks. If you already have Trapfinding you gain +1 Trapsense
9: Gain Blindsense and Darkvision to 60'. If you already have Darkvision you can now see in magical darkness as if it was regular darkness.
14: You gain See Invisibility and all spells starting with "detect" as spell like abilities, usable at will with a standard action and with a duration of "concentration". The DC for any saves is 10+ 1/2 charlvl + Wis mod.
19: You may hear through magical silence as though it were not there. By spending a standard action to concentrate, you can see through up to 20' of earth or wood, 20" of stone or 2" of metal (but not lead).


Stealthy [Skill] [Move Silently, Hide & Sleight of Hand]
People don't talk about you behind your back, in case you're behind theirs.
Rank
0: Gain +3 to Move Silently, Hide and Sleight of Hand checks
4: You ignore penalties for moving over noisy terrain, and for hiding whilst moving up to your speed. Plus, Sniping is a free action for you.
9: You gain Invisibility and Silence as spell like abilities useable at will, with a range of Self and a duration of Concentration.
14: You gain Shrink Item as a spell like ability useable a number of times per day equal to your Dex mod.
19: You are constantly under the effect of Mindblank, unless you consciously suppress this effect.


Mechanical Aptitude [Skill] [Disable Device & Use Magic device]
Nice job breaking it, hero.
Rank
0: Gain +3 to Disable Device and Use Magic Device checks. You may disable magical traps as with Trapfinding, or if you already have trapfinding you gain +1 Trapsense
4: You may choose to use your Dex, Int or Cha for Disable Device and Use Magic device checks.
9: Disabling a device never takes longer than 1 round for you.
14: You may disable complex or magical items with a touch (this requires a touch attack if the item is held). Held items get a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 lvl + Cha mod) to prevent, otherwise the item is disabled, or its magic is suppressed for 2d4 rounds if magical.
19: You may have a total of 9 constant magic items active at one time, rather than 8.


Combat Casting [Skill] [Concentration]
You have managed to overcome your crippling personal space issues.
Rank
0: You gain a +3 to Concentration checks
4: You may always take 10 on Concentration or Caster Level checks
9: If you would become Stunned you may make a DC20 Concentration check to instead become Dazed. If you would become Nauseated, you may make a DC20 Concentration check to instead become Sickened.
14: At the start of your action you may make a Concentration check (DC 20+Spell Level) to allow you to maintain a spell with duration: concentration as a Free Action. You may not use this ability on two consecutive rounds.
19: When an enemy provokes an attack of opportunity from you, you may cast a spell with casting time: 1 standard action or less with them as the target as an immediate action.


Acrobatic [Skill] [Balance, Tumbling & Escape Artist]
You ran away from home to join the circus. Then you ran away from there to be an adventurer.
Rank
0: Gain +3 to Balance, Tumble and Escape Artist checks
4: You may ignore all effects (including damage) of any bullrush, trample or overrun attempts against you by making a Tumble check at DC15+ Attackers BaB.
9: If you would be knocked prone by an effect, you may remain standing by making a DC20 Balance check.
14: You may make an Escape Artist, Balance or Tumble check instead of your Reflex saving throw, or for any save against an effect which would restrict your movement.
19: You are under a permanent Freedom of Movement effect.


Treasure Merchant [Skill] [Appraise, Forgery, Decipher Script]
You are used to looking at old, expensive things close up. This comes in surprisingly useful.
Rank
0: Gain +3 to Appraise, Forgery and Decipher Script checks
4: You can tell by looking at an item whether it is magical or masterwork. You gain Read Magic as a spell like ability useable at will.
9: You do not trigger magical traps by reading (i.e. explosive runes, Glyphs etc.) and can recognise these once read. You gain Comprehend Languages (writing only) as a spell like ability useable at will.
14: You may create counterfeit money that appears real unless studied and the viewer makes a Forgery check at DC10+Your Forgery bonus, giving you effectively unlimited wealth. You gain Identify as a spell like ability useable at will as a standard action.
19: You can tell by looking at an item whether it is a Wish economy item. You are under a permanent Tongues effect at all times.


Magical Aptitude [Skill] [Spellcraft & Knowledge Arcana]
You graduated with honors from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry Who?
Rank
0: Gain +3 to Spellcraft and Knowledge Arcana checks
4: You may retry any of the Spellcraft tasks that specify no retries may be made, however you must wait a round between each retry
9: You may counterspell using any spell of a higher level than the one being cast. This still requires a readied action.
14: If you make the spellcraft roll to identify a spell being cast you may use an immediate action to attempt to counterspell it. This uses up a memorised spell of the same level or higher than the one being cast, and requires a caster level check against DC 11 + targets caster level.
19: You may force anyone attempting to dispel a spell you cast to roll twice for the caster level check and take the worse result.


Social Butterfly [Skill] [Bluff, Diplomacy & Sense Motive]
You have so many people wrapped around your little finger you struggle to lift your arms.
Rank
0: Gain +3 to Bluff, Diplomacy and Sense Motive checks
4: By talking to a single creature for at least one minute you may affect it as if by a Hypnotism spell. If the creature makes the save its reaction drops one step and it ends the conversation. This is a language dependent mind affecting charm effect.
9: As a free action once per round you may observe up to your Sense Motive ranks number of creatures and determine whether their CR is lower, higher, or the same as yours. If used on a single creature you can determine its exact CR instead.
14: You may spend a full round action to cast Charm Monster or Suggestion as a spell like ability. This ability may be used up to your Cha mod times per day.
19: Your voice can override a creatures own mind. You gain Dominate Monster as a spell like ability useable 1/day with a duration of "Concentration." You must continue talking to the creature throughout the duration and if it is unable to hear your voice the effect is ended. Note this is not a language dependent ability.


Aura of Menace[Skill] [Intimidation]
"Hand me my wallet. It's the one that says "Badass mother****er" on it"
Rank
0: Gain +3 to Intimidate checks and Saves vs. Fear affects
4: When you use the Demoralize Opponent action it affects all opponents within 30’ that can see you, and the Shaken effect lasts for 3 rounds.
9: You gain a Frightful Presence. Whenever you Charge or confirm a Critical Hit all opponents with less hit dice/ levels than you that can see you must make a Will save (DC10 + 1/2lvl + Cha mod) or become Frightened for 5D6 rounds.
14: You generate a Fear Aura out to 30’ unless you choose to suppress it. Anyone who fails the Will save (DC10 + 1/2lvl + Cha mod) becomes Frightened.
19: You become Immune to Fear. Any opponent that fails a save against your Fear affects becomes afflicted with a Nightmare spell each time they try to sleep, which continues each night until they pass the saving throw or they die.


Troubadour [Skill] [Perform, Gather Information & Disguise]
Your past involves far too much time spent playing in seedy inns and mixing with the wrong sort of people. So does your present, now you think about it.
Rank
0: Gain +3 to Disguise, Gather information and Perform checks
4: After making a Gather information check in a town/city you gain a network of contacts in that area. This provides a +2 circumstance bonus to all Cha skills in that area and once per day you may make a DC10 Cha check to establish a useful contact who provides you a one time favor. (This may include a guard looking the other way during a crime, an informant with information relevant to the current situation, or similar)
9: Groupies! You gain a leadership score equal to your ranks in Perform + Cha mod for gaining followers only. You also gain Disguise Self as a spell like ability useable at will.
14: Your reputation is such you can question even the Gods and they will answer you. You may cast Legend Lore or Commune as a spell like ability 1/day.
19: The very Angels from Heaven come to hear your sweet music. You gain a cohort of CR equal to your level -2 which must be an Outsider.


Born Survivor [Skill] [Survival, Heal & Knowledge Nature ]
You have the grit, determination, and willingness to drink your own piss you need to survive in the harsh wilds.
Rank
0: Gain +3 to Survival, Heal and Knowledge Nature checks
4: You can follow tracks as per the Track feat in the PHB. You gain the effects of an Endure elements spell as an (Ex) ability.
9: Yourself, your mount and up to 1 person/level may ignore overland movement penalties for difficult terrain, foraging or tracking. Once per day you may prepare a poultice that lasts 24 hours and can be used once to duplicate the effects of a Delay Poison, Lesser Restoration or Cure moderate wounds spell (caster lvl = char lvl).
14: You feel more at home among trees than people. You gain Plant Growth, Speak with Plants and Speak with Animals as spell like abilities useable at will.
19: You gain Fast Healing 10 and may cast Reincarnation 1/day as a spell like ability. If you die and your body is buried at least 1 mile from civilization you return as per the reincarnation spell.

The idea of multiple skills being bundled into one feat is good and it nicely lets you fold feat and synergy bonuses into the same thing. But this needs serious work yet.

You have the problem that a lot of your feats give X/day spell like abilities, which you've then balanced around what a caster could be doing at the level where that ability first comes online. This approach has multiple issues. Firstly, casters who are actually doing that have no reason to ever take the feat. Secondly it means that feat abilities are obsolete and a waste of space if you pick up the feat at a later than first-available option, yet characters get feats at least every 3rd level forever. Third it means each such feat comes with another separate pool of daily use resources to track - which isn't really all that different from a lot of 3e and Tome stuff, but I personally still think that it's just about never worth the added complexity to hand out abilities that aren't at will

As to at-a-glance specifics: nobody who has ranks actual ranks Heal is actually gonna bother taking your Heal-based skill feat any more than they took Combat Medic, and Social Butterfly is just not as twinkable as the t1.0 Persuasive so it won't likely be as popular.

Josh_Kablack wrote:You have the problem that a lot of your feats give X/day spell like abilities, which you've then balanced around what a caster could be doing at the level where that ability first comes online. This approach has multiple issues. Firstly, casters who are actually doing that have no reason to ever take the feat. Secondly it means that feat abilities are obsolete and a waste of space if you pick up the feat at a later than first-available option, yet characters get feats at least every 3rd level forever. Third it means each such feat comes with another separate pool of daily use resources to track - which isn't really all that different from a lot of 3e and Tome stuff, but I personally still think that it's just about never worth the added complexity to hand out abilities that aren't at will

Thanks for the feedback. The SLA's are there because it is a fact in D&D that at certain levels spells become available that change the scope of the game, and currently its a caster-only party. Allowing the stealthy character to become invisible or the charming character to charm people means your schtick isn't just obsoleted by magic a few levels later. I could have had them given as (Ex) abilities or written out a similar effect that isn't a spell, but most people already know what Invisibility or Charm do, and having them duplicate the spells effect cuts down on redundant text. I also think its fine for high level characters to get effects that are explicitly magic.

About casters not picking them, don't forget that casters have to use precious spell slots on these spells, and prepared casters have to choose to memorise them in advance. I think the ability to have them always available at no cost might be worth it for some characters. And I'm not worried about effects becoming obsolete at later points - the idea of scaling feats is you always get AN ability thats level appropriate, not that every ability they provide is always level appropriate forever. Look at the Combat feats, the +2 damage of Combat School or the Ghost hunter ability to hit ghosts with non magical weapons are pretty much a non issue a few levels later, but the later abilities still make the feat worth taking at higher levels.

The complexity issue is more of a worry, but every scaling feat has that to some degree. Whether its remembering you have a 3/day Suggestion or that creatures can't cast defensively in your threatened area, scaling feats make the game more complicated than regular feats. I've tried to keep the text size down and make the abilities fairly straightforward so people can remember what they can do.

The thing that worries me more is the multiple skill investment rule, but I couldn't think of a better way to implement it. I suppose its a way to make sure that skill focussed characters get the most out of these feats, in the same way that full BaB characters get the most out of Combat feats, but it seems a little complicated and micro-managy. It almost makes these feats like mini-prestige classes.

Josh_Kablack wrote:As to at-a-glance specifics: nobody who has ranks actual ranks Heal is actually gonna bother taking your Heal-based skill feat any more than they took Combat Medic, and Social Butterfly is just not as twinkable as the t1.0 Persuasive so it won't likely be as popular.

Well, the only character classes with Heal as a class skill can cast cleric magic, which just does everything the Heal skill does but better, so I don't know that any character would actually take ranks in heal anyway . But at level 6 they gain the ability to effectively cast another 2nd level spell, which doesn't seem terrible as they only have 3 at that point. Also, Delay Poison and Restoration are the kind of abilities that come in super useful sometimes, but you don't want to have to reserve spell slots in case they aren't needed, so I was thinking having that option would be worth half a feat power.

As for Persuasive, damn right mine isn't as "twinkable". Charm is a very powerful effect, handing it out as an at will means that the players can just walk through the adventure amassing an ever larger horde of allies. And tying caster level to your Diplomacy check, when caster level determines the HD of creatures you can charm? Yeah, I'm trying not to make characters better than wizards with these feats thanks .

Myself, I'm a little worried about the interaction between Combat Casting and Magical Aptitude. The take 10 on caster level checks + immediate action counterspell seems like you could lock down opposing casters. Maybe I'll make the take 10 a reroll instead.

Treasure Merchant needs to die. Throw those skills into other feats or just admit that they're useless skills and remove them from the game.

Stealthy's rank 9 ability ruins the entire point of putting ranks into the skills. But I guess that's a quadratic/linear problem.

But more important then either of those is the balance level between the feats. I'll come back to this later if I remember.

Actually, the Concentration duration on Stealthy's abilities means you can only use one at a time, and can only move at walking speed whilst you do it. So you still need one of the skills active.

Treasure Merchant is pretty weak. It might be viable if it offered standard action Identify earlier. The ability to upgrade gear mid adventure could be pretty useful.

The highest level ability of Mechanical Aptitude is really good. I mean, even assuming you do not have such a huge collection of Legendary items that you can equip 9 such things, the fact is that's another scaling bonus at worst, nevermind the fact that you seriously might actually have something spare with an awesome rider effect so that it gives you not only a Deflection bonus to AC but also Full Concealment or whatever.

It's good, but is it too good? It comes online at level 16, which is pretty close to the end of most campaigns, so it is really only in place for the last few adventures. Also, it's a scaling bonus to the thing you need 9th most, so its likely to be a marginal benefit. At that level you won't have 9 Major items, so you are effectively getting another Medium ability and a scaling bonus to a stat you haven't already decided to up. For reference next level mages are getting level 9 spells.