Mommy, Meet My Friend Invisible Bob![Imaginary Friend feats, 3.5]

[Pyromancer999]

Background-Me and my group are going to do a new quest soon, where the mission is for the group to escort a group of strange, talented children to an academy where they can be trained. One of these children is going to have an imaginary friend, and one of the players(who is due for a new feat soon, and may re-train through a quest) wants to bring back an imaginary friend from his character's childhood. So, I decided to make some feats for this purpose. Enjoy!

Imaginary Friend Feats

Imaginary Friend[Imaginary]
Benefit: You gain an imaginary friend. This imaginary friend is treated as an eidolon, with the following adjustments:

• Imaginary friends are not entirely real. Imaginary friends may either be visible only to the character, or visible to everyone, at the character's choosing. Also, Imaginary Friends are only 20 + 10% per Imaginary feat real, meaning that any attacks they make only have a chance of hitting equal to how real they are (ex. a 30% real imaginary friend only has a 30% chance of making a successful attack). Imaginary Friends are only real when visible to all.
• An Imaginary Friend's abilities only have a chance of working equal to its realness, and the abilities of others only have the same percent chance of hitting the Imaginary Friend. So, an Imaginary Friend who is only 40% real only has a 40% chance of its abilities working, and only has a 40% chance of being affected by any attack or other ability directed at it.
• The eidolon may be of any type, including humanoid or Monstrous Humanoid(costing 1 binding point/HD for Humanoids, and 2 binding points/HD for Monstrous Humanoids). However, unlike the feats that grant access to such eidolons, an eidolon does not gain the bonus qualities of that type (ex. a dragon imaginary friend doesn't gain claws or wings automatically)"]The eidolon may be of any type, including humanoid or Monstrous Humanoid. However, unlike the feats that grant access to such eidolons, an eidolon does not gain the bonus qualities of that type (ex. a dragon imaginary friend doesn't gain claws or wings automatically)
• Imaginary friends start out with 10 binding points to invest in them, gaining an additional 5 points every time you choose a feat(excluding bonus feats), and 3 additional points every time you choose an imaginary feat. All of these points do not need to be spent at once
• You may spend 5 binding points to give your imaginary friend the racial traits of any LA +0 race. The imaginary friend may only have the racial traits of one race. Racial traits do not include type
• Imaginary friends do not gain the skills of their type, as an eidolon normally would, instead using any 4 + Int modifier skills as class skills
• Imaginary friends initially get (2 + Int modifier)x 4 skill points, gaining an additional 2 + Int modifier skill points every time you choose an Imaginary feat
• Ability scores are all 8, with 10 points to invest in any ability score you wish, although no mental score can exceed your score for that ability

Special:This feat cannot be taken as a bonus feat

Helping A Friend Out[Imaginary]
Prerequisite: Imaginary Friend
Benefit: Your imaginary friend does not take realness into account when using the aid another action, treating it as 100% real when doing so. Also, you may use your imaginary friend's skill bonus on a skill check rather than your own once per day per Imaginary feat.

Skilled Friend[Imaginary]
Prerequisite: Imaginary Friend
Benefit: Your Imaginary Friend now gains skill points when you level up, adds two skills to their list, and now gain 4 + Int mod skill points per level

Versatile Friend[Imaginary]
Prerequisite: Imaginary Friend, Skilled Friend, 6th level
Benefit: Your Imaginary friend may choose any feat they are qualified for by spending 5 binding points

Freaky Friend[Imaginary]
Prerequisite: Imaginary Friend, 3rd level
Benefit: Your imaginary friend grows freakier. You may now apply any template to your imaginary friend, spending 10 binding points per LA of template. You gain +1 LA for no cost.

Classy Friend[Imaginary]
Prerequisites: Imaginary Friend, Skilled Friend
Benefit: Your imaginary friend gains 1 level in any base class. You may expend 10 points to give them another level in any class, including prestige classes they qualify for.

Imaginary Travel[Imaginary]
Prerequisites: Imaginary Friend
Benefit: When your friend is not real, they may travel double speed, and travel through objects.

Invisible Friend[Imaginary]
Prerequisites: Imaginary Friend, 3rd level
Benefit: Your friend can be real when visible only to you.

Please PEACH/comment. Also, any ideas for additional feats would be welcome.

[Kamai]

A few questions which might point at the other things that seem off:
1. Is there a basis in mind for Humanoid and Monstrous Humanoid, like the Eidolon Binder gives for Elementals, Magical Beasts, and Outsiders?
2. Is there a HD cap on the imaginary friend (and by extension, what limits to the abilities of the imaginary friend are there, besides points to work with)?
3. Can the imaginary friend be affected by anything while it is visible only to you (seeing some possible funny interactions with Invisible Friend)?
4. The 10 points that you can add into the friends stats, are these 1-for-1 or point buy style?

[Vadin]

Can you Imaginary Friend take the Imaginary Friend feat?

[The-Mage-King]

Can you Imaginary Friend take the Imaginary Friend feat?

Ooh, recursive character building! I like it!

[woodenbandman]

I feel like this feat could be boiled down to something similar to Imaginary Leadership.

[DracoDei]

What if you SOMEHOW manage to take an Imaginary feat as a bonus feat?
Actually that is very very easy... just play as a human and take 2 such feats at first level. Or use flaws, or...

[Re'ozul]

Can you Imaginary Friend take the Imaginary Friend feat?

Considering that your friend is only 20% (30%?) real in the beginning, would that make the friends friend only 4% (9%) real?

[Pyromancer999]

A few questions which might point at the other things that seem off:
1. Is there a basis in mind for Humanoid and Monstrous Humanoid, like the Eidolon Binder gives for Elementals, Magical Beasts, and Outsiders?

There's no real basis for anything but HD on these types, figuring that you choose the skills for the Imaginary Friend for yourself.

2. Is there a HD cap on the imaginary friend (and by extension, what limits to the abilities of the imaginary friend are there, besides points to work with)?

Except for the exceptions noted here, Imaginary Friends are treated as an eidolon, so yes, there is an HD cap.

3. Can the imaginary friend be affected by anything while it is visible only to you (seeing some possible funny interactions with Invisible Friend)?

Oops! Forgot to mention that at all times the Imaginary Friend is always real to you, even when only visible to you. Otherwise, when it's only visible to you, it cannot interact with anything else.

4. The 10 points that you can add into the friends stats, are these 1-for-1 or point buy style?

1-for-1.

Can you Imaginary Friend take the Imaginary Friend feat?

Hmm.... Didn't think of that. I may have to think on that, but for now, presume that only the original Imaginary Friend can take the feat and any imaginary feat, but at a 10 point cost.

Considering that your friend is only 20% (30%?) real in the beginning, would that make the friends friend only 4% (9%) real?

For the Friend's Friend, I'd say just ignore the base 20%, making it 10% real at first, then progress as normal from there.

Also, considering on changing the binding points to 10 + 3-5/level + 2/Imaginary Friend feat, seeing as if you wanted to give it all just class levels, you'd only be able to give it 4 class levels and a feat. Comments on this?

[Kamai]

Invisible friend could use some better wording. The way I'm having trouble not reading it is that the friend has 2 states, unreal (world can't interact with it, it can't interact with the world), and real. What it seems to do is allow it to interact with the world without it being able to do things back. Combine this with sneak attack, or just some mean SLAs, and you're asking for havoc to be caused. Should 2 feats get you a cohort that can't be attacked, and can be scaled to keep HD at your own without problems (1 point/level for elemental or humanoid), 5 points whenever you get a general feat. True, it can only act 40% of the time, but it still gets to have class features, and it still can't be hurt.

Back to the basis, do the humanoid forms have any strong saves? If not, do the ones already outlined get to keep their good saves?

[Pyromancer999]

Invisible friend could use some better wording. The way I'm having trouble not reading it is that the friend has 2 states, unreal (world can't interact with it, it can't interact with the world), and real. What it seems to do is allow it to interact with the world without it being able to do things back. Combine this with sneak attack, or just some mean SLAs, and you're asking for havoc to be caused. Should 2 feats get you a cohort that can't be attacked, and can be scaled to keep HD at your own without problems (1 point/level for elemental or humanoid), 5 points whenever you get a general feat. True, it can only act 40% of the time, but it still gets to have class features, and it still can't be hurt.

In this case, you're mistaken. I'll put the wording for realness up in the feat description now, but let me explain: Everything the Imaginary Friend tries to do in the real world(except maybe the elementary stuff like eating food, dressing up,etc.) has only a chance of working equal to its realness. So a 40% real Imaginary Friend's actions only have a 40% chance of working. It works the same in reverse: There's only a 40% chance of anything else trying to hit/attack it working. So, it's not like it can affect the world without it affecting it back. As the Imaginary Friend's realness increases, its attacks and such work more often, but they can also get hit more often. So, it doesn't get to act 40% of the time with a 100% chance of success at those times, nor is it like it can affect the world without the world doing the same to it. Does this help?

Back to the basis, do the humanoid forms have any strong saves? If not, do the ones already outlined get to keep their good saves?

Saves stay the same, yes. Take a look at the SRD Types section to see how saves work for a certain type to see about their saves.

[Kamai]

I think I'm still confused. So, if the imaginary friend is only visible to me (and is next to me), what happens to it when I, for example, take a fireball to the face? How about an imaginary friend from someone who has Invisible friend who has it real, but only visible to him?

[Pyromancer999]

I think I'm still confused. So, if the imaginary friend is only visible to me (and is next to me), what happens to it when I, for example, take a fireball to the face?

If it were just aimed at you, only you would be affected. However, say it's the Fireball spell, it would have a 30% chance of that being affected, if it were 30% real.

How about an imaginary friend from someone who has Invisible friend who has it real, but only visible to him?

It would still be the whatever percent real, and be affected the same in the fireball situation. Actually, since it'd be a minimum of 40% real, it'd probably be more likely to be affected than a simple Imaginary Friend.

[Owrtho]

What type of action is changing between real and non-real for the friend (or is it an action on your part), and does it provoke an attack of opportunity. If it's a free action that does not, you could just swap the fiend back and forth whenever you want it to attack and before enemies have the chance to hit it.

Also, you mentioned that it can be affected by you when only visible to you. Does this mean that you can only touch it/make unarmed attacks, or do your weapons and spells also affect it. If being technical, it would be the former (as weapons and spells aren't a part of you), if being more reasonable, it would be the latter.

Also, what would be the possibility of a feat that would be the opposite of invisible friend? Letting other people see it, but allowing neither party to affect each other (or possibly only allowing specific people to see it).

Does anything like see invisibility or true seeing allow others to see imaginary friends when they are only visible to you. If not, what about when making them real while only visible to you using the invisible friend feat? Along similar lines, would they displace substances like water and smoke while real (whether visible or not)?

Also, just to clarify, only you can hear it when it is only visible to you, correct?

Owrtho

[Pyromancer999]

What type of action is changing between real and non-real for the friend (or is it an action on your part), and does it provoke an attack of opportunity. If it's a free action that does not, you could just swap the fiend back and forth whenever you want it to attack and before enemies have the chance to hit it.

I'd pretty much say it'd be a free action out of combat, and a standard action when in combat.

Also, you mentioned that it can be affected by you when only visible to you. Does this mean that you can only touch it/make unarmed attacks, or do your weapons and spells also affect it. If being technical, it would be the former (as weapons and spells aren't a part of you), if being more reasonable, it would be the latter.

It is ALWAYS 100% real for you. That means you can affect it with whatever you like at 100% efficiency. Not sure why you seem keen on attacking it, though.

Also, what would be the possibility of a feat that would be the opposite of invisible friend? Letting other people see it, but allowing neither party to affect each other (or possibly only allowing specific people to see it).

Sounds more like a house rule than a feat to me. Seems fine enough to me, so I'd allow it.

Does anything like see invisibility or true seeing allow others to see imaginary friends when they are only visible to you. If not, what about when making them real while only visible to you using the invisible friend feat? Along similar lines, would they displace substances like water and smoke while real (whether visible or not)?
Also, just to clarify, only you can hear it when it is only visible to you, correct?

Owrtho

I'd say that see invisibility would only apply to an Imaginary Friend using the Invisible Friend feat, and True Seeing would apply to all variations of an Imaginary Friend, all the time. However, since it IS a product of the character's imagination, I'd say that See Invisibility only would have a chance of working equal to the Imaginary Friend's realness. On displacing substances, I'd say yes, but they would only displace a percentage equal to their realness of any substance. So, if an Imaginary Friend were 40% real, and a normal eidolon of the Imaginary Friend's size would displace 100 square feet of a liquid, the Imaginary Friend would only displace 40 sq. feet. Lastly, yes, only you can interact with it when it's visible only to you, unless you have the Invisible Friend feat.

Hope this helps.

[Owrtho]

Well, I'm not so much keen on attacking it as those are easy examples. If I can hit it with a sword, what's to stop me from handing it the sword to hit someone with (I realize this likely wouldn't work, but it seems odd. I expect it would most likely lose the ability to interact with the sword as soon as I stopped touching it). Also if it is 100% real to my actions at all times, I need to be wary of hitting it with an AoE spell.

As a side note, is it a standard action for you or the friend when making it real/unreal in combat?

Owrtho

[Pyromancer999]

Well, I'm not so much keen on attacking it as those are easy examples. If I can hit it with a sword, what's to stop me from handing it the sword to hit someone with (I realize this likely wouldn't work, but it seems odd. I expect it would most likely lose the ability to interact with the sword as soon as I stopped touching it). Also if it is 100% real to my actions at all times, I need to be wary of hitting it with an AoE spell.

True. Still, even if you were successful in equipping it with the sword, attacks with it would still be subject to realness.

As a side note, is it a standard action for you or the friend when making it real/unreal in combat?

Owrtho

I'd say you, seeing as it's part of your imagination, which is the entire reason why it's manifesting in the first place.

[Lix Lorn]

I love this.

[Pyromancer999]

I love this.

Thanks.

[DrakeRaids]

Does the roll to see if something the Friend attempts works only kick in if it is interacting with reality? If an imaginary friend takes a check on something like Knowledge, can it roll without a reality check?

[Pyromancer999]

Does the roll to see if something the Friend attempts works only kick in if it is interacting with reality?

Yes.

If an imaginary friend takes a check on something like Knowledge, can it roll without a reality check?

Yes, it can, unless the check is part of an action that requires the Imaginary Friend to interact with reality in some way.