Feats 101 brining you a hundred and one feats that your character would actually take with an eye for balance. I added one extra this time with a bit more power for the Combat Maneuver mechanic. It will be released November 1st as a Print-on-Demand product. Once you have placed your order, email your order number to Rite Publishing and receive a free download link to the PDF.
You can find a preview of the cover HERE
Bonded feats deal with any creature bonded to you through the arcane bond, divine bond, or nature’s bond class abilities. Bonded creatures advance based on character level and your level in associated classes is used as a prerequisite to take many of these feats. For example, a prerequisite of “bonded creature 10th-level” would require you to possess ten levels in a class which grants a bonded creature (such as ranger, wizard, or paladin) and for you to have chosen the animal companion, familiar, or mount options granted by this class. All bonded feats may be taken by either the character or the bonded creature. If you have multiple classes which grant bonded creatures, you must select one creature to benefit from any bonded feat you or your bonded creature take.
Companion Unseen is a narrative approach rather than a gamist, it is inspired by the mythology of animal spirits rather than the pets of MMORPGS
COMPANION UNSEEN [Bonded]
Your companion can become invisible to all but you.
Prerequisite: Bonded creature 4th-level
Benefit: Your bonded creature uses the power of its spiritual bond to render itself invisible (as the spell) to all creatures except yourself and those you designate. The bonded creature can use this ability once per day with a duration of 24 hours. In all other ways this acts as a spell-like ability with a caster level equal to your associated class level.
During playtesting we learned that monsters don't really care that much about Spell Resistance, but players love it! Here is a feat that gives players what they say they always want while keeping the power in the GM's hands.
FAVORED OF THE GODS [Talent]
Your allegiance to your chosen god provides you with unusual resilience to magic associated with it.
Prerequisites: Character level 1st, devotion to a single deity
Benefit: Choose one spell descriptor associated with your god’s portfolio (subject to GM adjudication). Against spells and spell-like abilities with this descriptor you gain spell resistance 11+ your character level. If a spell or effect with the descriptor does not offer spell resistance, you gain a bonus to your save equal to half your character level (rounded down).
The Combat Maneuver mechanic—there is a mountain of Open Gaming Content out there, and the first time I heard about this concept I couldn't help but think of another company's product that used the same terminology. The original idea of this other mechanic was inspired by attacks like Sunder and Disarm, but the designer built his idea around a penalty to your attack roll. Now, with some modifications and the modern day miracle of the OGL, Feats 101 presents a number of new feats that take advantage of Pathfinder RPG's Combat Maneuver mechanic. Here, as an example, is the Hinder Special Ability feat. Note that ability checks to overcome a combat maneuver's effect require a standard action.
HINDER SPECIAL ABILITY [Combat]
You know just how to act to hamper an opponent’s special ability
Prerequisite: Int 13, Str 13, Knowledge (special, see below) 15 ranks, Combat Expertise, Hinder Natural Attack, Improved Sunder, Power Attack, base attack bonus +15
Benefit: If you have the required ranks in the Knowledge skill appropriate for the creature you face, you can make a combat maneuver against the part of your opponent’s anatomy (target CMD has a +4 bonus due to specific targeting) that is obviously the source of, or provides the power behind, a supernatural or extraordinary ability, such as a creature’s mouth (for a breath weapon) or its eyes (for a gaze attack). You cannot target a spell-like ability unless the GM judges that the creature generates it through the use of a specific organ or body part. If your combat maneuver succeeds, the creature loses the benefit of the targeted ability until it makes a successful ability check (using the ability that modifies the lost special ability, DC 10 + your Strength modifier).
Special: With the GM’s permission you can attempt this maneuver without the use of this feat at a -30 penalty, you also provokes an attack of opportunity, if you are hit the maneuver fails
COMPANION UNSEEN [Bonded]
This is a good feat.
From a simulationist point of view, it's awesome. Even more awesome if this becomes a prerequisite feat for Improved Companion Unseen which, naturally, grants Improved Invisibility once/day.
However, from a metagamist perspective, I doubt I would ever take this. Familiars just seem to disappear when the player wants them to anyway. I've never been in a game where a familiar was ever put into danger unless the player sent it into a dangerous situation of his own choosing. As for animal companions, well, they're meant to face danger and are easily replaced. Either way, I could think of 10 feats I would rather have, so taking this feat would only be a simulationist choice for me.
FAVORED OF THE GODS [Talent]
I could see this one being really variable in its power. SR at 1st level is AWESOME. Limited to one spell descriptor is swingy. I would never take this feat if the descriptor is Conjuration, and I would always take this feat if the descriptor is Evocation or Enchantment. A fighter using this to get about a 50/50 chance to ignore enchantment spells at all levels for the cost of just one of his 20 feats is too good to pass up.
Possibly too good to be a feat.
I like the idea, but trying to balance this at the table, especially with the "DM's discretion" bit thrown in there, strikes me as a potential source for headaches.
HINDER SPECIAL ABILITY [Combat]
Ouch and double ouch.
So Mr. Fighter, you can take this feat at 15th level if you have spent fully one third! of your entire 15 levels of skill allotment on a particular knowledge skill. An esoteric knowledge skill that you hardly ever use, and that the wizard, bard, cleric, or druid in the group is much better at anyway.
If you have done that, well, then you have the chance that in some encounters, maybe once or twice a level if you're lucky, you'll face something that is the right type of creature with the right type of ability with the right type of organ (etc.) for your attack.
It's a tough Combat Maneuver (with that +4 on the CMD) that costs you your attacks this round (because you're using the maneuver instead). If it succeeds, the monster loses this one special ability. Of course, it can still use all its other attacks and other special abilities, so it may still be very dangerous (heck, a dragon is quite deadly even without a breath weapon). And if it really needs that special ability, it can give up a standard action to get it back (I am estimating that a CR 15 red dragon would have about a 60% chance to succeed given the fighter who used this ability might have a 30 STR at level 15).
You trade action for action, which may be an advantage since your allies don't give up any actions.
That's assuming you even have the temerity to put all those precious skill ranks into a dreaded knowledge skill (and have the 13 INT to begin with).
I'm afraid that if I were one of the 1% of fighters in the world who might qualify for this ability, I would never take it because it's far too situational for a chance to give up a round to probably cause my enemy to give up a round, with a likelihood that I can't even use this feat in most of my combats.
No thanks.
I'll just take a critical feat, or something else that is useful almost always.
Sorry if that's harsh, but this feat is just WAY too hard to get (heck, even a ranger will be hard pressed to burn 20% of all his skill ranks on one single knowledge skill just to qualify for a feat he might use occasionally, especially since he gets far fewer feats than the fighter) and way too situational to be at all desirable (I hate taking feats with the expectation that I might use them on rare, maybe extremely rare, occasions).
Maybe reduce that to 5 ranks in the appropriate skill, and maybe even throw in a chance to use that knowledge skill (or even for your party druid/wizard/etc. to use his skill and tell you what you need to know) in order to find ways to use it against creatures that don't have obvious organs, appendages, or other obvious sources for their special ability.
Then it would be a useful feat.
So, I like the first two, with minor reservations, but I think the last one needs a major rewrite.
I'm inclined to agree with DM_BLAKE on this assements here.
One suggestion with the "Favored of the Gods" I could make would be to replace the spell desricptor with spells/special abilities belonging to one of the deity's domains. With the caveat of being able to take the feat multiple time for additional domain resistances.
HINDER SPECIAL ABILITY [Combat]
Ouch and double ouch.
So Mr. Fighter, you can take this feat at 15th level if you have spent fully one third! of your entire 15 levels of skill allotment on a particular knowledge skill. An esoteric knowledge skill that you hardly ever use, and that the wizard, bard, cleric, or druid in the group is much better at anyway.
I would find it much more likely a ranger or paladin would use this than a fighter. Rangers in particular would have the skill points and I've played rangers who put ranks into knowledge dungeoneering. Also, he might have it put onto a headband (though I think a headband of WIS makes more sense) and get the skill ranks along with the headband.
Ok... so you are MOSTLY right, it's definitely a corner use feat.
Director of Brand Strategy
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Just a few points here, as the editor, not the designer, of these feats.
For bonded feats, it is a feat that either you OR your bonded creature can take. So while you might not want to devote a feat to Companion Unseen, perhaps you can give it to your wolf companion instead of Toughness or Alertness or whatever. It allows the companion to sacrifice the feat slot for the additional ability instead of the master.
Bear in mind that a spell's school and its descriptor are different. Conjuration and Evocation are not descriptors, while mind-affecting, acid, fire, evil, etc. are. So with Favored of the Gods, you can get SR against all spells with the electricity descriptor, but not against all evocations.
Bear in mind that a spell's school and its descriptor are different. Conjuration and Evocation are not descriptors, while mind-affecting, acid, fire, evil, etc. are. So with Favored of the Gods, you can get SR against all spells with the electricity descriptor, but not against all evocations.
Thanks for the clarification here, though it seems that limits the options for some gods. For example, a goddess of hearth and harvest or healing. Just what kind of descriptors would be attributed for their favored believers? Or even a god of war?
Just how does one adjucate a viable "descriptor" to such faiths?
Overall, it seems to make the feat more wonky and arbitrary.
Bear in mind that a spell's school and its descriptor are different. Conjuration and Evocation are not descriptors, while mind-affecting, acid, fire, evil, etc. are. So with Favored of the Gods, you can get SR against all spells with the electricity descriptor, but not against all evocations.Thanks for the clarification here, though it seems that limits the options for some gods. For example, a goddess of hearth and harvest or healing. Just what kind of descriptors would be attributed for their favored believers? Or even a god of war?
Just how does one adjucate a viable "descriptor" to such faiths?
Overall, it seems to make the feat more wonky and arbitrary.
My guess would be there is a table on the page that didn't get put into the preview that cross-references portfolios with descriptors. If not, then I agree, it's too wonky to use.