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Hectonkhyres
2007-10-01, 05:44 PM
There exists a truly obscene number of feats that would be quite interesting, and occasionally useful, to apply to a character. Most of them, however, never see the light of day due to the relative scarcity of feat slots for almost everyone. It is outright suicide to waste a feat on something trivial.

I'm currently fiddling around with the idea of handing out the crappier feats at the start of the game and at opportune moments later in the game. Upper tier characters get only one or two, the bard or monk a heaping fistful. Just keep loading them on until it feels right. Since most of these are of limited use, there is little risk of any game breaking here.

What petty feats have you ogled over the years, or caught in passing from the files over at Crystal Keep (http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/index.php), but passed up due to the siren's song of optimization? As a DM, what would you jam into your characters to enhance them thematically or just give them the chance to have a little extra fun?

I'm hoping it will add a little bit of seasoning to a rather mundane season of games.

Rex Blunder
2007-10-01, 06:25 PM
I think that's a great idea. I've considered giving every character, before character creation, a randomly-selected feat, which they can have for free -- at such time as they meet the prerequisites. (If you get a feet without prerequisites, you're that much luckier.)

Sure, it's essentially unfair - one character might randomly get Power Attack while another gets Obscure Lore from CA or Kobold Foe Striker from RotD, but the percentage of non-optimal feats is so high that random selection will net you a flavorful, nonstandard feat. And the potential to make use of a free feat might make you at least consider a character you wouldn't otherwise have thought of. Introducing some randomness into creative processes often has interesting results.

Dragonmuncher
2007-10-01, 07:05 PM
I've always really enjoyed the idea of Psionic Hole. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#psionicHole)

It's not really practical for a PC, because it's really only suited to fighting psychic warriors... but I just think the idea of people who are naturally anti-psionic is neat.

Hectonkhyres
2007-10-01, 07:12 PM
I'm not too sure randomization should play into it. I figure the player should be able to ask for any feat so long as he can make a decent argument for it. The feat should generally fit the character's theme or background or personality. If its too powerful or the DM feels it doesn't fit, he can always say no and offer a replacement or two.

But I shouldn't talk about that aspect of things any more or the thread may have to be shunted to homebrew. Rather, this is about the feats themselves. Interesting and appropriate feats and combinations you just never see.


If somebody is from some relatively uncivilized, barbaric place, toss them efficient hunter. Someone with any history by the sea could do with floatation, ship savvy, and whatnot. Its not like any amount of water-related feats is going to break the game. How often does your party even see water?

Be nice. Give your kobold or goblin (green monkey!) agile athelete, brachiation, or even roofwalker. It will be hilarious.

Perhaps bards should be forced to take subsonics. It might actually make them less obnoxious.

If one of your characters is a drunk bastard that will eat anything (you know the type) give him strong stomach and filth eater. Hibernation, too... but only if he is intoxicated before he goes to sleep. The results will be frightening.

Make Rincewind the Wizard with every single movement or initiative-effecting feat. Yay.

TheLogman
2007-10-01, 07:37 PM
Up the Walls (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#upTheWalls) is a lot of good fun, give it (For free) to an Elan Monk with lots of ranks in Tumble, and he can finally put that movement speed to use! GASP!

Hectonkhyres
2007-10-01, 09:00 PM
Leadership. Give it to somebody after a some in game event... but give the poor bastard its stuck to no choice on what he attracts. They just appear and follow him.

Make the pompous dwarven barbarian start attracting kender. Lots of them.

Oh, god. I'm going to be having nightmares.

Foeofthelance
2007-10-01, 09:30 PM
You know what you call a dwarven barbarian with a gaggle of kender following him?

Chuck.

BardicDuelist
2007-10-01, 09:43 PM
I would give out things like skill focus and toughness at higher levels. Even weapon focus or dodge. They aren't that useful, but can be easily RPed for.

de-trick
2007-10-01, 10:37 PM
the feats that give you use of 3 0-level spells, forget but from a complete

Kurald Galain
2007-10-02, 03:50 AM
the feats that give you use of 3 0-level spells, forget but from a complete

Complete Arcane. And yes, they're fun.

I believe, as a houserule, every character should get one or maybe two bonus feats at first level, that are to be used solely for background things. Like a regional feat, or a skill focus in something flavorful, or whatever, just so the less commonly used feats get a chance of play.

F.L.
2007-10-02, 05:56 AM
There's always the +2 to 2 skills feats. They can be useful, but if you give the players the set that don't come up often, like the +2 to appraise one...

And, of course, monkey grip...

On the crafting side, maybe brew potion? I don't think I've ever had a character take that.

Roderick_BR
2007-10-02, 06:09 AM
Complete Arcane. And yes, they're fun.

I believe, as a houserule, every character should get one or maybe two bonus feats at first level, that are to be used solely for background things. Like a regional feat, or a skill focus in something flavorful, or whatever, just so the less commonly used feats get a chance of play.
There's this game in Brazil where every character gets a bonus feat depending on where he was raised. All feats are custom feats from the scenario, that the character gains for free automatically at first level, and are usually not too strong compared to normal feats. Things like starting with a masterwork item, or access to a skill usually not allowed to your class (no, UMD is not among them).

Swooper
2007-10-02, 06:11 AM
I plan on including a houserule in my next game (PbP here, starting Soon(tm)), that you get a free 'Background Feat' at 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th and 20th level. So far the list of feats available is "anything that gives you bonus on one or more skills, or Toughness" but I'm looking with one eye for other stuff to put on it.

Hectonkhyres
2007-10-02, 04:17 PM
Ancestral Relic was always an interesting one. Since the item gains strength as you level up, it quickly goes from 'thats nice' to 'oh sweet god'. But the DM can make it whatever the hell he wants... including something of strange or dubious use. I'm sure most of you could cook up something truely freaky.

For god sakes, give the character of a tunneling species Tunnel Riding if there is any chance he is going to be mounted. Give your kobold's dire weasel a break. But now I'm picturing a goblin mounted on a dire fishing bat kicking ass like never before.

Bonded familiar. Keep that bloody thing alive for more than five minutes.

Toss the gnome burrow friend. Its nice to be able to consistently chat with the badger badger badger. Useless in most settings, but damn fun.

Fhaolan
2007-10-02, 05:04 PM
Leadership. Give it to somebody after a some in game event... but give the poor bastard its stuck to no choice on what he attracts. They just appear and follow him.

Make the pompous dwarven barbarian start attracting kender. Lots of them.

Oh, god. I'm going to be having nightmares.

I did this. It was a magic item, a shortsword, that granted the feat. The idea was that it was a shortsword of some famous general in the dim past (the equivalent of Julias Caesar relative to the campaign's late medieval period.) Once the sword was used in combat, it would grant the weilder the Leadership feat. Unfortunately, if you didn't know anything about the sword's history you wouldn't be able to control the effects.

The first character to get it was the Half-Orc Bard/Barbarian. She started by attracting twin teenage-equivalent elven fighters, known affectionately as the 'Boy Sprouts'. As time went on, she would attracted more and more fairly useless people who would follow her around and declare her as their 'Captain', and they would take any overheard comment about her *really* out of context. I think at the end they thought she was a military embassador sent to negotiate a mutual defence treaty, a 'bastard' daughter of the Queen, and the prophised 'chosen one' of the God of War, all because they misunderstood some comments made by the party members to each other during their adventures. These hangers-on were getting into bar fights defending her 'honor' when the party figured out that the sword was the source of the issue and handed it off to one the NPCs in an effort to break the 'curse'.

Unfortunately, that NPC under the influence of another cursed magic item that the party was carrying around with them (because they had no idea how to destroy it), and went off to organize a revolution amoungst the half-orcs and orcs as they were being used as a slave race in the country the party just entered. And then there was the thing with the Goth Paladin turning out to be a sub... anyway...