Skilled [Feat]

[Admiral Squish]

My ultra-simple solution to the useless skill feats like 'deceitful' or 'animal affinity'. I think this brings them up a good amount in power, but not enough to break them.

Skilled
Choose any two skills when you take this feat. These skills are always considered to be class skills for you, and you gain a +2 bonus to these skills.
Special: You may take this feat more than once. Each time you take it, you must choose a new set of skills.

[Phosphate]

I'd cap the maximum number of times you can take this feat.

[Lateral]

I like it. It's fairly powerful due to being able to give any character UMD as a class skill forever, and can be useless if you choose crappy skills, but I would say it's fine. I believe there's a feat that grants one skill as a class skill, and there are several that grant all Knowledges as class skills, so this isn't too out of line.


I'd cap the maximum number of times you can take this feat.
Why bother? There are only so many skills you'd want to use this on, anyway.

[Moose Man]

Lucid Dreaming comes to mind. As does UMD.

[Admiral Squish]

I'd cap the maximum number of times you can take this feat.

To parrot Lateral, why? You only have so many feats to spend in the first place. If you want to spend six feats on Talented, that should be allowed.


I like it. It's fairly powerful due to being able to give any character UMD as a class skill forever, and can be useless if you choose crappy skills, but I would say it's fine. I believe there's a feat that grants one skill as a class skill, and there are several that grant all Knowledges as class skills, so this isn't too out of line.

There's also that human feat that makes every skill a class skill, and a few others worth mentioning. But yes, I'm glad you like it. Hopefully, it's powerful enough to be WORTH taking, but not so powerful as to utterly break the game.


Lucid Dreaming comes to mind. As does UMD.

UMD I could understand, but why Lucid Dreaming? You don't gain anything from spending time in dream.

[Lateral]

Lucid Dreaming comes to mind. As does UMD.

What's Lucid Dreaming?

[Yitzi]

Letting people choose their own class skills could be dangerous, whether by allowing earlier entrance to PrCs or allowing powerful skills to already powerful classes (say, a wizard with UMD)*, etc.

*Although human paragon still has some of this issue. Still, that at least takes a level and a specific race, not just a feat.

[Lateral]

Letting people choose their own class skills could be dangerous, whether by allowing earlier entrance to PrCs or allowing powerful skills to already powerful classes (say, a wizard with UMD)*, etc.

*Although human paragon still has some of this issue. Still, that at least takes a level and a specific race, not just a feat.

What would a Wizard do with UMD, really? It can already autouse scrolls and wands and stuff that are on its class list anyway, and that covers pretty much anything he might need. And it wouldn't really allow earlier PrC entrance, just make getting in to certain PrCs less convoluted.

[Wyntonian]

I think I like my new UMD-ing, Iajustsu Focus-with-gnomish-quickrazor-off-hand-tiger-claw shenanigans warblade. Thanks.

[Lateral]

I think I like my new UMD-ing, Iajustsu Focus-with-gnomish-quickrazor-off-hand-tiger-claw shenanigans warblade. Thanks.

You mean the one that would have been even stronger as a Factotum 2/ Warblade 18 with Able Learner anyway?

[Zaydos]

Note the feat that lets humans make "every skill a class skill", or Able Learner, only cuts the cost to take cross-class skill so it also requires a 1 level dip in a class that has them as a class skill (*cough* Factotum *cough*) so you give up a level of casting, BAB, Fort and Will saves (unless fractional BAB and saves is in use), etc in addition to a feat to truly make them class skills. And even then for the most part that's used to get 1 or 2 class skills, which this grants with an additional bonus.

That said I don't really think this feat is too strong, but it should be noted that it does make some PrCs definitely better ideas (most of the ones I can think of, though, are weak options or options for tier 4 or less classes anyway).

[Yora]

A different name might be apropriate, as there's a psionic feat of that name in the SRD.

[Veyr]

I like it.


There's also that human feat that makes every skill a class skill, and a few others worth mentioning. But yes, I'm glad you like it. Hopefully, it's powerful enough to be WORTH taking, but not so powerful as to utterly break the game.
However, I should point out that Able Learner does not do that. It makes cross-class skills cost 1 skill point, but it does not increase the cap on cross-class skills

[Admiral Squish]

I think I like my new UMD-ing, Iajustsu Focus-with-gnomish-quickrazor-off-hand-tiger-claw shenanigans warblade. Thanks.

DM discretion is, of course, advised.


Letting people choose their own class skills could be dangerous, whether by allowing earlier entrance to PrCs or allowing powerful skills to already powerful classes (say, a wizard with UMD)*, etc.

*Although human paragon still has some of this issue. Still, that at least takes a level and a specific race, not just a feat.

Most PrCs are pretty good about that. This wouldn't give you EARLY entry, though it might make it a little less convoluted to try and get the needed ranks. You'd still have to be of the appropriate level.


Note the feat that lets humans make "every skill a class skill", or Able Learner, only cuts the cost to take cross-class skill so it also requires a 1 level dip in a class that has them as a class skill (*cough* Factotum *cough*) so you give up a level of casting, BAB, Fort and Will saves (unless fractional BAB and saves is in use), etc in addition to a feat to truly make them class skills. And even then for the most part that's used to get 1 or 2 class skills, which this grants with an additional bonus.

That said I don't really think this feat is too strong, but it should be noted that it does make some PrCs definitely better ideas (most of the ones I can think of, though, are weak options or options for tier 4 or less classes anyway).

Ah. Well, I must not have read that properly, then. Still, as long as factotum exists, I think this is perfectly valid.

Personally, making it easier to get into PrCs is part of the point. I'm really not a fan of the convoluted logistics involved in getting the needed skill ranks for some class.


A different name might be apropriate, as there's a psionic feat of that name in the SRD.

Suggestions are welcome, but I personally think the name fits this feat better than that one.

[Zaydos]

Ah. Well, I must not have read that properly, then. Still, as long as factotum exists, I think this is perfectly valid.

Personally, making it easier to get into PrCs is part of the point. I'm really not a fan of the convoluted logistics involved in getting the needed skill ranks for some class.

Oh yes I agree with the second paragraph. Like I said I don't think it's too powerful in and of itself, just that you were mistaking the actual effects of Able Learner, and that there are almost certainly some cases where it makes a broken build more powerful.

Which is why


DM discretion is, of course, advised.

Is definitely true.

For a name: what about Skilled, I don't know of one with that name.

[Admiral Squish]

For a name: what about Skilled, I don't know of one with that name.

That fits perfectly, actually. General enough to work for anything, and nothing else shares it's name.

[Yitzi]

What would a Wizard do with UMD, really? It can already autouse scrolls and wands and stuff that are on its class list anyway, and that covers pretty much anything he might need.

He might want cleric spells or banned spells, or (to take the example of one impressive build I've seen) let his familiar use wands.


And it wouldn't really allow earlier PrC entrance, just make getting in to certain PrCs less convoluted.

That probably depends on what classes are available; with only core base classes, for instance, it'd mean you could enter Duelist at level 7 rather than 8.

[Wyntonian]

You mean the one that would have been even stronger as a Factotum 2/ Warblade 18 with Able Learner anyway?


....Yeah...That's the one....

[Admiral Squish]

That probably depends on what classes are available; with only core base classes, for instance, it'd mean you could enter Duelist at level 7 rather than 8.

Well, the question there is not 'how are you getting into duelist early', it's 'why are you taking duelist in the first place'.

But really most of them are going to make it so you can enter maybe one, two levels early. Tops. Nothing particularly game-breaking.

[Veyr]

There are ways of getting almost any skill in-class with feats. This just makes it easier than having to find them.

[Cieyrin]

He might want cleric spells or banned spells, or (to take the example of one impressive build I've seen) let his familiar use wands.

Given Charisma isn't a Wizard's primary, secondary or even tertiary ability most of the time, I'm not overly worried about them UMDing. On a Sorcerer, though...