Achievement Feats in Runelords

[toyrobots]

Alright folks, I just got my Legacy of Fire campaign guide PDF, and I think achievement feats are just too cool.

Let's make some for Runelords.

[Larcifer]

Giant Slayer [Achievement]

You are renowned for your hatred of Giant kin, weather, you are righting some wrong, or just have a hatred for the destructive race, you seek out large foes to crush under your foot.
Requirement: Deliver the killing blow to 10 giants in hand to hand melee combat.
Benefit: In combat versus Giants, you gain an additional +1 dodge bonus for every size increment you are less than your foe. In addition you gain a +2 competence bonus to attack and weapon damage rolls while in melee combat against any creature with the giant sub type.

my first attempt

[toyrobots]

Larcifer wrote:

Giant Slayer [Achievement]

You are renowned for your hatred of Giant kin, weather, you are righting some wrong, or just have a hatred for the destructive race, you seek out large foes to crush under your foot.
Requirement: Deliver the killing blow to 10 giants in hand to hand melee combat.
Benefit: In combat versus Giants, you gain an additional +1 dodge bonus for every size increment you are less than your foe. In addition you gain a +2 competence bonus to attack and weapon damage rolls while in melee combat against any creature with the giant sub type.

my first attempt

Good show, Larcifer!

I'm still waiting for inspiration to strike.

[Stewart Perkins]

here's one I just thought of.... just an idea really

Master Detective

Through experience,you have become keen to quickly detect the strangest things at a crime scene.
Requirement: Succeed on 50 Search and 50 spot checks of DC 20 or higher.
Benefit: You may take 10 on search and spot checks as a standard action and 20 as a full round action. In addition there is no penalty when using them in combat.

Needs work but just a thought and considering the detective nature of the 2nd adventure I felt it appropriate.

[toyrobots]

Hey!

Spoiler:

Do you think we might be able to trick the PCs into tracking their own sins via achievement feats? That would be most incredibly useful no?

We'd have to come up with subtle, feat-sounding names for each of the sins so as not to give ourselves away.

[Gorbacz]

Denied to the Runelord [Achievement]

You have defiantly refused to use suspicious Thasillonian artifacts.

Requirement: Do not wear a Sihedron Medallion or a Sihedron Ring up until reaching the Mhar Massif.

Benefit: When facing Karzoug the Claimer, the mighty Runelord gnashes his teeth in anger, as your defiance against his magic denied him vital information about your abilities. You gain a +4 morale bonus on saves while fighting Karzoug.

[Penguin_Witchdoctor]

Goblin Slayer [achievement]

Prerequisite: You must deliver the killing blow to 25 different goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, goblindogs, barghests, or minions of Lamashtu.

Benefits: As long you carry a trophy of your kills. You gain a +2 competence bonus to the attack and damage rolls against goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, goblindogs, barghests, and minions of lamashtu. You also get a +5 bonus to intimidate checks against Goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, goblindogs, barghests, and minions of Lamashtu.

Spoiler:

I figures the minion of Lamashtu because of the couple of side dungeons.

[toyrobots]

Very spoilerific.

Spoiler:

I'm still focused on Sin-themed achievement feats. The idea is you trick the players into not only tracking their own sins to save you the effort, but also to encourage the players to sin actively!

The hard trick is concealing the 7-sins pattern, which savvy players may pick up just by looking over the options. I've tried my best to obscure the true aim of these feats by making them seem like genuine accomplishments to aim for. They might need more work on this.

Here are 6 of the 7 sin Achievement feats — definitely a work in progress, please suggest any alterations or additions you can think of, especially if you're playing the later chapters of the AP right now. I am at a total loss for envy so if you think of something, post it!

Here goes! :

Libertine [Achievement]
Requirement: Succeed in making 10 NPCs fall for you romantically. This requires a a Diplomacy check at +10 DC, and can only be attempted once per NPC. The GM determines who is an appropriate object of seduction.

Benefit: You have a 50% chance of charming any character you meet. This effect only takes place on the first meeting (that the target remembers). The target is allowed a will save versus a DC as though cast by a Sorcerer of your character level.
-----
Triumphant Duelist [Achievement]
Requirement: Challenge and defeat 10 NPCs in contests of personal power. The NPCs must willingly enter the contest and declare their intent.

Benefit: You gain a +2 trait bonus to all rolls involving an enemy you have formally challenged.
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Merciless Exterminator [Achievement]
Requirement: Reduce 100 helpless opponents to death beyond negative HP.

Result: Gain +2 to attack and damage rolls versus helpless opponents and opponents with fewer than 10 hit points remaining.
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Risk-Averse [Achievement]
Requirement: Rest 50 times while at full HP with not spell slots used.

Result: You regain twice as many hit points from natural rest as other creatures.
-----
Epicurean [Achievement]
Requirement: Spend at least 50, 000gp on wine, women and song during the course of the campaign.

Result: You gain a +5 trait bonus to saving throws versus diseases and ingested poisons. You are immune to the sickened condition.

-----
Plundering Mercenary [Achievement]
Requirement: Earn at least 50, 000gp more than your wealth-by-level average for the campaign, or 25% more than your average party wealth.

Benefit: You gain the ability to automatically secret doors within 10 feet of you. Additionally, you gain a +2 trait bonus to Appraise checks and Diplomacy rolls involving barter or negotiation for your own benefit.

[toyrobots]

Gorbacz wrote:

Denied to the Runelord...

This is a cool idea, but I worry that it amounts to a spoiler. If this were in the Runelords campaign guide, players would see several details that are supposed to be secret for the first leg of the campaign. Not to mention, giving away a big secret about how the boss fight is going to be. Players shouldn't see this feat until they have it, and that puts the burden on the GM. That said, it's likely to come up anyway...

On another note:

Some of the Achievement feats in the Legacy of Fire player's guide can probably be used without alteration: Gifted Mesmerist, Graverisen, Healer's Touch, History of Scars, and Relentless Butcher don't seem terribly campaign specific.

All Gnolls Must Die and Flame Tested Survivor could probably be slightly modified to be more Runelords-appropriate. Giants are probably better than goblins for an achievement feat, because by the time players are eligible they won't be fighting many goblins.

[Montalve]

Empathist

Requeriment: Sense Motive effectively 25 persons or plans

You understand the feelings and thoughts of people but with a single glance and can fathom both their desires and plans with ease... and as you understand them and know what buttoms to push, you can influenciate them.

The character can take 10 in Sense Motive to understand feelings and hidden agenda from a target. Also after having successfully used Sense Motive on a Target the character gets +2 in any charisma related roll, which increase to +4 when hetakes 10 ranks in Sense Motive

Master Strategist

Requeriment: Sense Motive effectively 25 different individual's potential or field strategies

With a single look you can feel your rival's potential or after seeing the battlefield you realize the enemy's general strategy... and udnerstanding this you can act accordingly.

The character can take a 10 in Sense Motive to see the potential of an enemy (Level, CMB and Hit Points), or to understanda and enemy strategy. Against one target this knowledge gives the character +2 on attack and damage rolls, +2 on saving rolls or +2 to AC and CMB DC against this target; this increase to +4 or +2 to all rolls when attaining rank 10 in sense motive. When used to understand a battlefield strategy you can give half your bonus to you and your allies within 30 feet... this bonusperdures even if they leave the 30 feet are around you.

[KaeYoss]

I'll churn out some ideas, might not always be full-fledged feats yet, but ideas about what you need to accomplish (sometimes in general terms) and what you'd get out of it (again, sometimes in general terms).

Historian[Achievement]
You have studied the history and monuments of old Thassalion extensively and are now considered an expert in the field
Requirement: (something like visiting and studying at least 5 thassalonian sites extensively, making notes and sketches of old buildings and statues, transcribing old inscriptions....)

Possible Benefits:

+2 (or even +4) on Knowledge checks pertaining to Thassalion and its inhabitants

A bonus on attack and damage rolls against natives to Thassalion or their direct natives (would include all the survivors from back then and their typical servant creatures

A bonus to saves against thassalonian magic (which is magic cast by native thassalonians or inherent magical, spell-like or supernatural powers by natives or their direct successors)

Varisian Wilderness Runner[Achievement]
After extensive travels through the wild Varisian countryside, you know every shortcut and game trail, or at least how to find them

Requirement: Travel through at least XXX miles of varisian wilderness (XXX should be something that can be achieved by the end of Hook Mountain Massacre).
Benefit: Your overland speed through Varisia is 10% (or something like that) faster than usual. With a survival check, you can apply that benefit to others. A DC 10 (or 5?) check allows you to grant this benefit to one ally, and for every 5 points by which you beat that DC, you can grant it to another ally. This always includes their mounts.

In addition, you gain +2 on Knowledge[nature] and Survival checks in Varisia.

Spoiler Alert! Only GMs are supposed to read the following spoiler texts!

Spoiler:

I'll have a go at sin achievements, and disguise them as "virtues of rules" feats by giving them the name of the ruling virtues that were later corrupted into the seven sins.

The GM can reveal to the players that what they were doing in the campaign wasn't virtuous at all, doing so at the start of Sins of our Saviours, and reveal an extra benefit - namely the benefits and penalties you get in the Runeforge areas of your respective sins and anti-sins in the adventure, or go ahead and make those secret achievement feats that are granted later when it's quite clear which sin they're going for.

Every character can only go for one of those sin/virtue feats, which should be the one corresponding to the sin they indulge the most

The following 7 feats are tied to the Seven Goodly Virtues of Rulership, as they were practised in the early days of ancient Thassalion, and, though forgotten by conscious memory, still have power over those that inhabit the lands that were once Thassalion

Master of Fertility[Achievement]
You subscribe to the virtue of fertility and persuaded many others to follow that path like you. Your exploits made you a master charmer.

Requirement: Persuade at least 10 people to share inter-personal experiences with you. You can use Diplomacy, Bluff, or Enchantment magic, but not coerce others with threats or physical force.

Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus on Dimplomacy, Bluff, and the DC of spells with the [Charm Descriptor].

Spoiler:

This is actually Master of Lust and rewards those who indulge in hedonistic pleasures, using seduction to this end. In that light, you can even allow incidents where compulsions, force or threats were used to gain their end.

Master of Honest Pride[Achievement]
You subscribe to the virtue of honest price and aren't ashamed of your successes and abilities. This instills a sense of confidence in you.

Requirement: This involves letting others know about your abilities and accomplishements, I'm not quite sure how. Making X perform checks of a certain DC or higher, properly telling about you and what you do can work, as can openly announcing your name and abilities to enemies - maybe by spending one round at the beginning of a combat stating your name and some of your more significant accomplishments. This must be done, say, 10 times, and only fights with an ECL of (average party level) -1 or harder qualify.

Benefit: You gain a bonus on diplomacy, intimidate, as well as attack and damage rolls against creatures you have introduced yourself to properly. Out of combat, you do this with a perform check, and in combat, of a full-round action stating, as above, name and accomplishments. This is a language-dependant effect.

Spoiler:

Get rid of the "honest" and you know what this is about. Characters with this feat elevate tooting one's own horn to an art form

Master of Wealth[Achievement]
You champion the virtue of wealth and consider wealth an adequate reward for your strivings.

Requirement: Successfully negotiate a higher reward at least X times, or insist on monetary compensation for the return of recovered property (i.e. if you bring back something to its rightful owner, you insist on a "finder's fee"). This has made you an accomplished bargainer

Benefit: You can sell items for 55% (or 60% even) of the asked price and buy it for 95% (or 90% even) of the asked price - as usual, these prices are subject to further modifiers as usual (i.e. if your campaign involves making diplomacy checks for discounts, you can still do that to further lower the price, and if something ussually costs twice as much as in the books, you'll pay 95% of what the guy usually asks, not 95% of what's in the books)

Spoiler:

That's your Master of Greed feat. Insisting on monetary payment even when working for free would be the good and right thing to do will eventually make you a hard bargainer

Master of Abundance[Achievement]
You hold the virtue of abundance in high esteem and fight against shortages. You believe that as a reward of making items available in abundance, you may indulge in this abundance

Requirement: Consume twice as much food and drink as you normally would over the course of the whole campaign; enter at least 10 encounters (ECL one below your party's average level, or higher) with the aftereffect of overindulgence (this usually means drunk).

Benefit: Your lust for life has hardened you against the dark arts that would snuff out that life: You gain +2 to all saves against necromancy effects, as long as you continue to consume at least twice as much food and drink as you normally would have to. You also get +4 to all saves made to stave off the effects of overindulgence (getting drunk or throwing up from too much food or drink)

Spoiler:

This is, of course, the Gluttony feat, and the necromantic bonus is because Gluttony is tied to Necromancy. You can also add drug-induced effects to both requirements and benefits

Master Eager Striving[Achievement]
You never stop to improve yourself, and do not settle for 2nd place. This ambition serves as a great source of energy to you.

Requirement: Win at least 20 opposed checks (including combat manoeuvre checks as well as stealth/perception and so on) where your opponent's total bonus was higher than your own

Benefit: If you make an opposed check where your total modifier is lower than your opponent's, you gain up to +X (+2? +4?) to the check, but no more than is required to make the bonuses even

Spoiler:

I think this works well for envy, which is the true engine of this feat

Master of Righteous Anger[Achievement]
You believe in Righteous Anger, and that mercy is not always the right solution.

Requirements: Deliver the killing blow against at least 10 enemies after they were already subdued. This means that you have to bring their HPs to at least -10 after they they fell below 0 (but not to -10) or were helpless or surrendered, or were fleeing. Alternately, bring the HP total of at least 10 enemies that were not already below 0 HP to -20 or lower (i.e. further into negatives). You can combine these two.

Benefit: Possible benefits:

A damage bonus (+5?) against creatures that have surrendered, are fleeing, helpless or otherwise unable to act, (and maybe even prone or grappled/pinned)

Some benefit to spells that deal HP damage, like cheaper metamagic X/day or even free metamagic X/day, or a flat bonus to spell damage

Spoiler:

Wrath is fun, isn't it? This has nothing to do with righteous anger, of course, but is all about venting your anger on those who no longer fight back!

Master of Rest[Achievement]
You think that you don't have to exert yourself more than necessary, since that is inefficient, and laud the virtue of rest and of getting help when it is available

Requirements: There are some possiblilities here, which can/should be combined:

Rest at least 4 hours per day over and above what you have to (works well with spherewalkers, who need to sleep less but are encouraged not to, since dreaming is important to their faith!)

Spend non-trivial magic to accomplish things you could do without it (i.e. using telekinesis to move objects you would have been able to move without it, use teleport magic for trips that could have been made via foot, horse, ship, and so on, summoning creatures to do menial tasks)

We need something else that is a real accomplishment here

Benefit: I'm not quire sure about this. Maybe if you use magic trivially, you have a chance to retain the spell slot to do it again. Or gain a special mount, maybe even something magical like an always active floating disc you can ride on.

Spoiler:

Yeah, this is sloth, and it's hard to accomplish something if you're a lazy deadbeat.

Larcifer wrote:

Giant Slayer [Achievement]

I came up with a different name for the "kill many giants" feat:

Jorgenbane.

Too bad the 2nd and 3rd adventures don't use any sort of sanity or fear/terror/horror check mechanic, or you might do something with that.

[Xaaon of Korvosa]

I was thinking of that, anytime you're outnumbered by a superior force, you should have to roll versus fear, or be shaken.

Same as if the tide of battle turns against you, effectively a morale system.

[Sissyl]

Achievements in the Xbox system, the one I am familiar with, generally follow a few different lines.

First, and most importantly, quite a few achievements are secret. This goes against the idea of the player him/herself keeping track, but why not decide on a few non-expected actions and make them achievements? You could for example have a feat dealing with the late unpleasantness:

Unraveler (secret feat, but let them know the name)
Requirements: Sorting out the facts of the Late Unpleasantness, figuring out how it has affected the present day. This is given to the character who manages to explain the connections to the town sheriff, for example at the end of Burnt Offerings.
Effect: You gain a +2 achievement bonus to Knowledge (history) and a +2 achievement bonus to Gather Information and Diplomacy checks when dealing with librarians, historians, sages and the like.

Second, achievements come in different levels of exertion. Some require you to jump once in a place you'll be passing anyway, others force you to play an entire game without using weapons, yet others force you to collect utterly insane amounts of stuff. I don't have a good example of what I mean, but my point is not every achievement feat needs to be "kill 50 creatures of a certain type".

[ValarakarU]

KaeYoss,
Great ideas on these achievement feats.

KaeYoss wrote:

Master of Rest[Achievement]

One possible requirement is avoiding battles or tasks X times while your companions do all the work.