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Assasinater
2007-01-22, 05:41 PM
A couple of feats over the top of my head...


Observe and Imitate

Prerequisite: Int 15, Spot (10 ranks)
Benefit: For every use of an active feat in an encounter(like Cleave, but not like Weapon Focus), make a DC 20 Spot check. If successful, you gain the benefits of that feat for the encounter. You cannot imitate feats that you don't meet the prerequisites of, and you cannot imitate more than one feat at the same time. An exception to this, is when you imitate feats that are linked between themselves by prerequisition. (For example: If you imitated Cleave, you may imitate Great Cleave, but not Stunning Fist until the effect ends.) You gain a +4 bonus on the Spot check if the feat is used on you. This effect ends with the encounter.
Normal: You may only gain benefits of feats that you possess.

(Alternatively, this effect may last for 1d4+int mod rounds)

Greater Imitation

Prerequisite: Int 17, Spot (15 ranks), Observe and Imitate
Benefit: You may apply the effect of the "Observe and Imitate" feat on active class abilities that is used in an encounter as well. Only extraordinary abilities can be imitated this way. A DC 25 Spot check success is required for the ability imitation. You gain a +4 bonus on the Spot check if the feat is used on you. The duration of the effect is the same as Observe and Imitate.

So what do you think? If overpowered, I may further the prerequisites or the DC a bit more.

Matthew
2007-01-22, 06:29 PM
Interesting. It might be over powered, but only beacuse of the potential for abuse from cooperative Player Characters.

Assasinater
2007-01-22, 07:41 PM
Perhaps a limit of 1 imitation/round is in order. That way, people can't rack up feats at once, because it would wear off soon. Any more suggestions?

Khantalas
2007-01-22, 07:45 PM
We're one step close to creating our beloved Red Mage!

TheOOB
2007-01-22, 08:16 PM
You should only allow people to imitate feats they meet the prerequisites for, otherwise you get crazy stuff like fighters learning item creation feats and stuff.

Stormthorn
2007-01-22, 08:20 PM
Im opposed to this feat because it is silly to allow it, and then limit the time it lasts to such a short duration. If your skilled enough to learn every feat you watch preformed then why cant you then commit it to memory and keep it forever?

Quellian-dyrae
2007-01-22, 08:22 PM
This is a cool idea, and definitely one with precedent, but also a risky one from a balance standpoint. Still, there are some spells and abilities that allow you to get new feats and whatnot, so it should be viable. Here are a few possible balancing ideas:

--I agree that you should require the character to fulfill prerequisites. You might, however, allow that an imitated feat can be used to fulfill a prerequisite.

--Consider a maximum imitations active at any one time. I'd even go so far as to suggest saying that only one is allowed at a time, but a character can take the feat multiple times, allowing another simultaneous imitation at once. Otherwise, you could potentially gain multiple feat benefits for the cost of only one feat.

--As Matthew noted, cooperation between characters can quickly escalate this feat's power. To guard against this, you might want to use a normal Spot check when the feat is used against you, and apply a penalty if it isn't. This probably isn't necessary if you have an imitation maximum.

--You should probably add in a stipulation with greater imitate that the character has to be physically able to perform the ability, since some exceptional abilities (such as poison) can't be duplicated no matter how observant you are. To make this simple, you may want to restrict it to only functioning for extraordinary class abilities (I mean, I could imagine duplicating pounce or improved grapple, but even that stretches logic a bit thin). Also, you might want to stipulate that if you duplicate an ability based on level, you function as a character of some given level relative to your own, to a maximum of the level of the character you are imitating (I'd suggest half your level, myself, but you could go with your full level).

TimeWizard
2007-01-22, 10:50 PM
To heck with a feat, Make it a PrC! And I beleive the technical term is Photographic Reflexes, just like RM and the Taskmaster.

jlousivy
2007-01-22, 11:03 PM
yeah without the needing the prerequisites... the barbarian with this feat (int 15... he's a special barbarian :-) ) sees the fighter(enemy or allie) use whirlwind attack.

now you have a raging barbarian power attacking whirlwind attack.. all for 1 feat

i agree with someone above. make this into a PrC, we could call it: BLUE MAGE

Darkshade
2007-01-22, 11:49 PM
or we could call it Mimic

Assasinater
2007-01-23, 02:42 AM
And I was wondering if I forgot anything...

Of course the feats have to meet the prerequisites if are to be imitated (I really believed I had written that).

@Stormthorn: I first thought this feat to be a epic feat, and it would require a higher Spot check, but it would grant you that feat permamently(of course, the prerequisites are to be met), but then I thought it was way overpowered. So I nerfed it at this point, knowing it doesn't make that much sense. But anyway...

@Quellian-dyrae: Right again, only class abilities should be able to be imitated. And for the maximum imitations, I should allow one feat, or a chain of feats that are linked by prerequisitions.

I'm going to update it as soon as possible.

Edit: Updated.