Grand Entrance. Appearance is all. (Feat)

[Maryring]

Grand Entrance [General]

Winning a battle is just like winning an audience. It is all about the entrance. Strike a dramatic pose, recite a poem, play a few notes, and your style and flair will sweep your opposition of their feets.

Prerequisites: Inspire Courage Class Feature and/or Fascinate class feature. Balance 4 ranks. Perform 8 ranks. Tumble 8 ranks.

Benefits: By making a dramatic entrance, the character grants all her allies a +2 morale bonus to all skill checks, saves, attack rolls, damage rolls and AC for the duration of the encounter. The opposition also takes a -2 morale penalty to all skill checks, saves, attack rolls, damage rolls and AC for the duration of the encounter. If the opposition is of the Animal or Plant type, it does not gain these penalties. Mindless creatures are not affected by the penalty.

The character can only make a dramatic entrance during a surprise round. The surprise round must not be at the beginning of the combat, but the character must not be seen or heard before she makes her entrance. Multiple allies making a dramatic entrance at the same time increases the morale bonus and penalty by +1 for each character past the first one. If two members of opposing forces make a Grand Entrance at the same time, only the effects of the one with the most ranks in perform skills have effect. If both have an equal amount of ranks in perform skills, the effects are completely negated. If there is an uneven number of opposing forces making a dramatic entrance at the same time, use the character with most ranks on either side and compare them. If someone makes a Dramatic Entrance after someone else has made a Dramatic Entrance, the Dramatic Entrance has no effect. Performing a Dramatic Entrance is a Standard Action, and is always done at the beginning of a round, before anyone can act.

The Morale bonus from the Dramatic Entrance stacks with the Morale Effects of Bardic Music, but not with any other Morale enhancements.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Why are ranks in Tumble a prerequisite?

[Maryring]

Because backflips are cool???

Mainly, it was as a balancing factor. However, appearing with a backflip or a handspring is a lot more stylish than simply emerging from the shadows (depending on the situation). But mainly, it would be a balancing factor.

[Fade]

That and balance seem like odd requirements, maybe just keep it at perform?

Also, it seems little good for it to last through an entire encounter, without having a limit per day, or maybe drawing a use out of the bard's Song ability?

Otherwise, it seems pretty good.

[Igan]

Interesting idea...
Of course, the logical parallel to this would be a feat that helps you to come out of nowhere and kill something stone dead without saying a word. Although that's a little Ghostwalker right there...
Heck, it could work by rewarding a Cha penalty. Subtance over style, you know?

[Igan]

...On further thought, I would like to correct myself.
The opposite of a Grand Entrance would be getting more effective at killing if you've made a fool of yourself beforehand.
Wow, that's a school-shooting type concept...pretty creepy.

The Grand Entrance is an pretty neat idea, I'll say again. And I'm grateful for the nudge towards the idea of the unglamorous killer. Maybe it'll get its own homebrew topic before long.

[Maryring]

Well, I don't consider it too powerful, considering you're giving up your surprise attack for it, and that is a hefty price to pay. Perhaps not as much for a Bard as for a Wizard, but it is still quite pricey. And, you'd probably get to use it once per day, at most.

To further explain the reasoning behind the Tumble and Balance... well when I see someone making a dramatic entrance, I envision her doing more than just suddenly appearing. She will likely choose a higher ground from which she can get a grand overview, and where the opposing forces have to look up to her. At least I'd find the entrance of someone balancing gracefully on a beam before backflipping down on the ground far more dramatic than suddenly emerging from behind a stack of crates.