Mimicry: Can anybody use it?

[Matron Mother]

Hello, my question is this: In 5e in order to use Mimicry you are required to have the Actor Feat (PHB 166-167), which allows you to mimic the speech of another person or the sounds made by other creatures. You must have heard the person speaking, or heard the creature make the sound, for at least 1 minute.

I have a player in a 3.5 D&D Campaign whose gestalting 4/rogue and 6/swordsage, wanting to use a Kenku’s supernatural ability to mimic sounds as either a Perform (Oratory) skill or Disguise (Subterfuge) skill.

EX:) *Player is sneaking around barrels trying to escape the pursuing thugs sent to finish him off, and tries to distract them by throwing out his voice, imitating the sounds of a Glabrezu, in an attempt to intimidate.*

Can a player whose not a Bard or a class that uses performance-based skills, use mimicry as a skill without need of a feat?

[DeTess]

AFAIK, yes? Though obviously it would be a fairly difficult check to do so (probably DC20 or up).

[Telonius]

Neither of these things (throwing your voice or disguising your voice) are exactly covered by the rules, so this is all going to be houseruling.

This thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?321480-Non-magical-Ventriloquism-in-3-5) from a while back suggests using a complex skill check (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/complexSkillChecks.htm) to make it sound like your voice is coming from somewhere else. Ventriloquism (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/ventriloquism.htm) is a first-level spell, so it's probably not something that just anybody can do without some training and practice. I'd probably require ranks in Perform (ventriloquism) to attempt it. Or, make it a Skill Trick (costing two skill points) and require some ranks in both Perform and Bluff.

As far as making your voice sound like somebody else's, I'd probably rule it's a Perform (mimicry) check, opposed by the target's Listen. I'd use the same modifiers as a Disguise check, for how well the person knows who you're trying to mimic. Anybody can try to sound like somebody else, so it would be one you could use without putting any ranks in the skill.