Spelltouched Feats

[JellyPooga]

I'm just curious, how many people use them?

What are peoples opinions on them (balanced/unbalanced, good/bad idea RP-wise, etc.)?

What other spells might make good feats (other than the ones presented in UA)?

(For those of you who aren't familiar with them, they're Feats that you can take after being exposed to certain spells, which give you a permanent ability based on the spell you've been exposed to...e.g. one that's based on the Stoneskin spell gives you DR and an ACP)

[Orzel]

Some of them stink, some are okay. Many are nice flavor feats that aren't too bad.

The one time a DM mentioned them, we got power worded and fireballed like crazy. He added one feat for my halfling for all the wind walls he ran through. Another for the many cheese flavored ability damage rays the fighter got hit with. Forgot bonuses though.

[CASTLEMIKE]

Several are interesting. I like Breadth of Knowledge and Omniscient Whispers.

[JellyPooga]

Would it be totally unbalancing to make the Temporary HP you gain from the Life Leech feat permanent (i.e. instead of gaining TempHP, you heal HP)?

One of the things I dislike about the Spelltouched feats is the apparent disparity between the relative power between them.

For example: Live my Nightmare is a potentially amazing feat because it can kill anyone that "Divinations" you. On the other hand, Eyes to the Sky (whilst I like the flavour) simply lets you know when you're being scryed on (doesn't stop the fact or do anyting...you can just say "oh...I'm being scryed on...woo")

[CASTLEMIKE]

Would it be totally unbalancing to make the Temporary HP you gain from the Life Leech feat permanent (i.e. instead of gaining TempHP, you heal HP)?


I don't think so it would be treating it like Cure light or Fast healing instead of False Life.

[Shhalahr Windrider]

For example: Live my Nightmare is a potentially amazing feat because it can kill anyone that "Divinations" you. On the other hand, Eyes to the Sky (whilst I like the flavour) simply lets you know when you're being scryed on (doesn't stop the fact or do anyting...you can just say "oh...I'm being scryed on...woo")
Of course, Live My Nightmare is only useful for characters with priority on Charisma. Otherwise the DC is gonna be so low that the effect'll never happen. Remember, the effect must pass both a Will and a Fort save.

Meanwhile Eyes to the Sky does give you a chance to prevent the person doing the scrying from learning anything useful. Or you could even use it to actively mislead the scryer. So, yeah, you can't cancel the scrying, but you can still do something worthwhile with the knowledge that you're being scried upon.

Anyway, I'd take Jack of All Trades over Breadth of Knowledge, as the former applies to all trained only skills, not just knowledge skills. (Incidentally, there's also a mundane feat from the second to last issue of Dragon that grants the ability to meet Knowledge checks untrained and nothing else, but with a crapload of tough prerequisites. Yeah, sticking with Jack of All Trades there, too. :smallyuk:)

[CASTLEMIKE]

Anyway, I'd take Jack of All Trades over Breadth of Knowledge, as the former applies to all trained only skills, not just knowledge skills. (Incidentally, there's also a mundane feat from the second to last issue of Dragon that grants the ability to meet Knowledge checks untrained and nothing else, but with a crapload of tough prerequisites. Yeah, sticking with Jack of All Trades there, too. :smallyuk:)

I agree Jack of Trades is better than Breadth of Knowledge if you have access to the Complete Adventurer source book. I'm not aware of it being in any other 3.5 source book.

[Shhalahr Windrider]

I agree Jack of Trades is better than Breadth of Knowledge if you have access to the Complete Adventurer source book. I'm not aware of it being in any other 3.5 source book.
Who says you need access to the book itself? The feat is straightforward enough that you really only need to have heard, "Hey it lets you use all skills Untrained!" to use it. That's all it does. Oh, yeah, and it also helps to know the one teensy identical-to-that-of-combat-expertise's prerequisite. But that's all you need.

In fact, in the case of Jack of All Trades, possessing the full feat description can be damaging, since you need a full rank to count as being trained in a skill, whereas the feat description indicates half a rank as sufficient.

[CASTLEMIKE]

Who says you need access to the book itself? The feat is straightforward enough that you really only need to have heard, "Hey it lets you use all skills Untrained!" to use it. That's all it does. Oh, yeah, and it also helps to know the one teensy identical-to-that-of-combat-expertise's prerequisite. But that's all you need.

In fact, in the case of Jack of All Trades, possessing the full feat description can be damaging, since you need a full rank to count as being trained in a skill, whereas the feat description indicates half a rank as sufficient.

I agree Jack of Trades is the better feat compared to Breadth of Knowledge however Breadth of Knowledge is available to anyone with internet access from the D20 Hypertext SRD.

There are a lot of source books. Some DMs limit their campaigns to core books or the D20 SRD. Many DMs limit unrestricted access to all source books in their games unless the DM or someone in the party has a copy for referral.

[Shhalahr Windrider]

There are a lot of source books. Some DMs limit their campaigns to core books or the D20 SRD. Many DMs limit unrestricted access to all source books in their games unless the DM or someone in the party has a copy for referral.
Ah, didn't think about that. "Access" as in "The DM didn't ban the entire book."

Not something I ever considered good practice as a DM, so I didn't consider it an issue. But that's probably best left for another thread.