Is an eidetic memory balanced

[Dark Ass4ssin 1]

So a player of mine asked me for his wizard to have an eidetic memory.

He immediately suggested that the he take the keen mind feat with an alteration to the last bullet point, that being that he could accurately recall anything he has seen or heard forever

Personally as a laid back DM I see no serious reason he can't have this, what I'm worried about is if making him take the feat is too muchor not enough for that power of instant recollection and forgotten NPC naming.

[Sigreid]

So a player of mine asked me for his wizard to have an eidetic memory.

He immediately suggested that the he take the keen mind feat with an alteration to the last bullet point, that being that he could accurately recall anything he has seen or heard forever

Personally as a laid back DM I see no serious reason he can't have this, what I'm worried about is if making him take the feat is too muchor not enough for that power of instant recollection and forgotten NPC naming.

I'm betting he's looking for two things. First, he doesn't want to have to take notes, and instead force you to be his memory for him. Second, he may be looking to not have to take his spellbook in the field with him. After all, if he has perfect, permanent memory then the spell book only serves to be a working copy to understand his spells and shouldn't really need it to prepare spells.

Up to you if you have issues with either of those.

[Yagyujubei]

I think a Month is plenty of time for total information retention, if he's really insistent and you don't care then maybe half a year to a year, but forever? i dunno man...


or MAYBE you could make it so when he hits 20 INT AND has the feat the full time memory kicks in, but until then it's just a month.

[Dark Ass4ssin 1]

I think a Month is plenty of time for total information retention, if he's really insistent and you don't care then maybe half a year to a year, but forever? i dunno man...


or MAYBE you could make it so when he hits 20 INT AND has the feat the full time memory kicks in, but until then it's just a month.

The party just hit lv.12 and he already has a 20 int., he was just looking for a good feat but wanted something exrtra seeing as how he can't benefit from the +1 to his int. Score anymore.

I told him via text just a sec. Ago if he was looking to circumvent a spellbook and notes, he answered "nah bruh I just wanna member stuff, the only thing I want to use this to get out of is cheeks to member things"

So OOC he has promised it will not be a game busting feat

[Slipperychicken]

I told him via text just a sec. Ago if he was looking to circumvent a spellbook and notes, he answered "nah bruh I just wanna member stuff, the only thing I want to use this to get out of is cheeks to member things"


Can't he just keep a journal or something? Maybe stone shape to make images on slabs so he can keep very good illustrations past the month?


[edit: I mean an in-character journal where he writes during a long rest or whatever, so he can keep all those inane details in there past 1 month. I've heard some really weird savant types do something like that]

[Chaosvii7]

Might as well rewrite the last part of the feat to give advantage on checks to recall information - insight, arcana, history, nature, religion. Least impactful buff I can think of that entices most players enough to make a feat out of it.

[Dark Ass4ssin 1]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys can't wait to see if its balanced.

[goto124]

What does eidetic memory do? If it provides memory, don't PCs already have it? It's not like there're rules for memory loss. No one says 'my/your character forgets'.

[rollingForInit]

What does eidetic memory do? If it provides memory, don't PCs already have it? It's not like there're rules for memory loss. No one says 'my/your character forgets'.

Eidetic memory usually refers to the ability to accurately recall anything you have read (possibly seen in general). That is, you could recite page 255 from Lord of the Rings, word by word, by just having read it once. It doesn't exist to that extent in reality, but it's exceedingly common in fantasy, sci-fi and so on, since it's ... well, would be a cool ability to have.

As to answer OP: I don't think it'd be overpowered, as long as you handle it. It shouldn't lead to automatic success on any knowledge check, but rather, if he beats a knowledge check he could show off and recite the entire paragraph of the book he read on the subject. Or if he has actually played, in-game, that he read a note on something, he could remember it. I personally don't mind characters having some extra stuff, as long as all characters get the options of getting that little extra.

[Dark Ass4ssin 1]

Eidetic memory usually refers to the ability to accurately recall anything you have read (possibly seen in general). That is, you could recite page 255 from Lord of the Rings, word by word, by just having read it once. It doesn't exist to that extent in reality, but it's exceedingly common in fantasy, sci-fi and so on, since it's ... well, would be a cool ability to have.

As to answer OP: I don't think it'd be overpowered, as long as you handle it. It shouldn't lead to automatic success on any knowledge check, but rather, if he beats a knowledge check he could show off and recite the entire paragraph of the book he read on the subject. Or if he has actually played, in-game, that he read a note on something, he could remember it. I personally don't mind characters having some extra stuff, as long as all characters get the options of getting that little extra.

So compiling what everyone has said to a final conclusions...
Cannot be used to replace spellbook, and gives advantages on memory check, on a successful save he remembers in great detail whatever he wanted to remember from any point in his lifespan.

[ruy343]

OP:

Why not let him take the feat, but apply the Int boot point to another stat instead, with no other modification to the feat? Hypothetically, he could have applied the point elsewhere at earlier levels, and taken the int point now. I understand that he didn't, but you could stretch the "retraining" rules a little in this way, and it might help fix the problem.

I would only allow it right now though because you have a player who's in it for flavor anyways, and his score is already 20, so the boost does nothing. Just apply it elsewhere, no?

[Knaight]

It doesn't sound unreasonable, but there's one big caveat - how good are your notes? If your notes aren't ridiculously thorough, you might be put in the unfortunate situation of having to retcon things entirely because you don't remember them in sufficiently precise detail. If you avoid that problem, it seems fine.