Parka,
I'm trying to think of a list of minor powers that players could get through various means. Ones that, while neat, either can't short-circuit a story arc or would have to be selected with foreknowledge to affect gameplay negatively.
I admit, I'm having a really hard time with this since my mind seems oriented towards mechanics, and this is almost exactly the opposite direction I want it to go!
The best example I have is something I rolled once for an NPC on a random table of mutations long ago- the ability to predict the local weather one day in advance with perfect accuracy. Magical manipulation of the weather would foil it, but otherwise it worked well as a practical power to have.
What are some others people can think of?
Goth Guru
01: the ability to predict the local weather one day in advance with perfect accuracy. Magical manipulation of the weather would foil it, but otherwise it worked well as a practical power to have.
02: Prestidigitation at will. Say goodbye to potty breaks.
03: Wild empathy, but only for a specific species. A horse whisperer, for example.
04: Ability to automatically cure a specific disease (ex filth fever) or poison (ex greenblood oil).
05: +1 bonus on Diplomacy checks against a specific race. A dwarf whisperer, for example.
06: An NPC with a low Intelligence who can, once per day, take 20 on a single Knowledge check. An idiot savant, in other words.
07: Darkvision 5 ft.
08: Dimension door 1/day, but only when no one's at the origin point or destination point. You know those people in movies who show up unexpectedly at impossible places? Like Jason from the Friday the 13th movies? That.
09: One person might always be clean, even after being dunked into a mud-puddle, he'll get up and his clothing will be clean and dry within moments
10: have the ability to alter the color of their hair and eyes
11: be able to animate tattoos on their skin (or, if they have some scripted text on their skin, say a religious aphorism or poem, rearrange the letters to form different messages).
12: like the ability to play a snippet of music.
13: to point at a single (non-magical, non-monstrous) insect within 10 ft. mutter 'Zot' and strike it dead.
14: One grey-skinned character might have the ability to freeze in place and be easily mistaken for a statue
15: damp-looking skin and 'soft' bones, allowing them a bonus to escape artist checks and the ability to squeeze as if they were one size class smaller, as long as they have a minute to 'limber up
16: The 'hold breath' ability of a crocodile
17: the ability to ignore spider webs (but not web spells!) and climb up spider webs as if they had a climb speed equal to half their ground move
18: a green-skinned / flowering plant-haired lass with photosynthetic abilities allowing her to eat only one meal a day on sunny days, as long as she spends four hours / meal skipped out in the sunlight.
19: Perhaps someone is 'addicted' to positive energy, and regains only half (minimum 1) the normal hit points overnight through natural rest, but gain an additional hit point / die from positive energy curing spells or effects. Useful if they travel with a healer (as adventurers typically do...), but when they are on their own, it takes them twice as long to recover from an injury.
20: Some elemental accident has resulted in your body being a strange receptacle / conduit for magical energy of a certain type (electricity or fire, perhaps). You take normal damage from that energy type, but when you take at least 10 points of that energy type in a round, your next melee attack within the next round inflicts +1d6 of that energy type, as the energy conducts from you to your next target. Perhaps this can even conduct through a spell, to a single target, so that if you naturally conduct electrical damage, and a blue dragon breaths on you, the next round, you can throw a spell that inflicts +1d6 electrical damage to a single target that it affects.
21: able to identify each separate ingredient in something the character tastes (not necessarily knowing its name, but would know it again if they were exposed to it). This obviously applies to dishes, but would be a powerful asset to an alchemist. It would be amusing to apply to a crafter of magic items... picture a witch licking a magic sword. "Yup. That's Kusanagi's work all right, iron sands from the mystic river, scales from Cinderwind Salamanders... everything's in there."
22: Memorize a huge sequence of objects/numbers and have perfect recall.
23: Perfect pitch.
24: Subsonic hearing (ie, those who claim to hear weird stuff prior to earthquakes).
25: Lucid dreaming.
26: Photographic memory.
27: Medium and Ghost Whisperer are like that.
Nobody else can see the ghosts and they can't control them at all.
They seldom get the ghost they want and the spirit can demand things before they will offer any help.
28: Skin glows like a candle, noticeable only in the dark.
29: Melter who can turn into a puddle.
30: Can turn into a guinea pig, or something else cute like a squirrel.
31: Can turn invisible only when no living thing is looking at them.
32: Can eat garbage and anything else without harm. No special ability to bite through things.
33. Chameleon like a Skulk. They can change their skin color but not their clothes, hair, or eyes. +8 stealth as long as they shave and dress in the colors of their environment.
I'm thinking of having mutants get one roll on this as well as real mutations and cosmetic mutations.
34. Spew mucus from their nose in a 60 foot long cone.
35. Spray blood from any stigmata point. 20 foot stream.
(These are once every 1D6 rounds.)
Parka,
36. Can paint/draw a monochrome picture as a one-round action. Level of detail is appropriate for their Perception and Craft skill levels and tools they are using, but may contain details they were not consciously aware of. May be suitable for sale, but only to particular collectors (essentially a quest).
Lyrax, Yesterday, 08:00 PM
37. Is always aware of the passage of time to the minute, while conscious. Can estimate the passage of time while unconscious uncannily (is always accurate within 5 minutes).
38. Can generally sense where his friends are and if any of them are in trouble.
39. Is able to communicate to party members without speaking.
40. Can identify individual people by smell, though not from a distance.
Windquake,
41. Will never be struck by normal lightning.
42. Eats like a bird (only uses half rations).
43. When sleeping, they have out of body experiences.
*Edited, due to being ninjaed!
Windquake,
A couple more:
44. Can always detect magnetic north.
45. Can palm a coin or small object at will (everyone has that friend that can do 1 magic trick really well, but that is all).
Brambleman,
46. Can fall asleep instantly and time exactly when they will wake up.
Spes Magna Mark,
47. Really bendy thumbs. Good for winning bar bets.
Kalyth,
48. Ability to know the exact age of anyone you touch.
49. The ability to see the dreams of any sleeping creature you touch.
50. The ability to shape smoke but only in about a 2'x2' cube. So can make images and scenes out of smoke.
51. The ability to look at an object or person and see how they appeared in the pasted. By staring at a subject and concentrating the subject appears to age in reverse. The longer you stare the "younger" the subject gets. A water stained ruined diary with faded page would slowly be come readable. An elderly woman would slowly reveal the beautiful face of the young maiden she once was.
Spes Magna Mark, 5 minutes ago
52. The ability to belch the alphabet of all languages which the character can speak.
Goth Guru,
52. If they think about an object or non-magical creature, they can spit out a cheap copy of it. Daggers and darts may do damage coming out.
Tamago (Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Companion Subscriber), Yesterday, 07:24 PM
53. The ability to increase their rate of hair growth a thousandfold merely by concentrating on it. Useful for coming up with a quick disguise, or when one gets tired of one's current fashion.
54. Whenever the character touches someone, they somehow know the name of someone else very important to that person.
55. Character can slow down time -- but only for themselves. Their body still moves at the same rate, though, so there's no practical effect. But it might give them time to think in a tense situation. . .
56. Character somehow knows ahead of time exactly when someone will come to their door.
57. Character somehow never gets ink-stains on his hands while writing.
Spes Magna Mark,
58. Whenever the character drinks alcoholic beverages, a random humanoid within 5 feet suffers the inebriating effects of the drink. The character remains unaffected (unless no other humanoid is in range).
59. If the character pops his thumb knuckles and shakes his hands, his thumbs glow like candles.
Parka,
Spes Magna Mark wrote:
59. If the character pops his thumb knuckles and shakes his hands, his thumbs glow like candles.
Takes me to this:
60. The character can "crack" any of their joints very loudly, at a rate of about once every two hours or so. Any time an enemy attempts to bend their limbs too far, they can act theatrically when their joint "cracks" to fool the enemy into thinking the damage has been done (such as going limp when a foe twists their head to break their neck).
Lyrax,
61. Is capable of perfectly holding a pose for rounds equal to his or her Constitution without even breathing. After that, he or she needs to breathe for at least one round before repeating the performance.
62. Will always roll at least one six on a pair of six-sided dice, no matter what.
63. Can hold his or her breath for twice the normal limit.
64. Is extremely magnetic - NPC's will generally assume this character is the party leader.
Spes Magna Mark,
Lyrax wrote:
64. Is extremely magnetic - NPC's will generally assume this character is the party leader.
65. Is extremely magnetic - small ferrous items of negligible weight stick to the character's skin.
Goth Guru, 2
dave.gillam wrote:
66. Speak with animals, but only one specific species
1)Snakes (you're a Parselmouth, Harry?)
2)Rats
3)Mice
4)Squirrels
5)Chipmunks
6)Horses
7)Donkeys
8)Mules
9)Dolphins
10)Porpuses
12)Aligators
13)Crockadiles
There are a lot of them.
Quintessential Sorcerer from Mongoose had a lot of special abilities that a character could give up spell slots (0-2nd level) for to gain powers. I'll try to find that and get a list of them.
Signature
Warning, my spelling is very bad and I like puns.
67. Detection allergy.
If someone has a mild allergy(sneezing) when around something, they can also find it. Iron is not possible because there is iron in the blood, and Gold is a noble element.
Here are some that are ok.
1: Metals (Silver, Copper, Tin, Platinum, Mithral, Admantium, ect.)
2: Dead(Corpses and corporal undead)
3: Vermin(Rodents, insects, spiders, scorpions, ect.)
4: Abberations
5: Animals
6: Dragons
7: Fey(Can detect elves if not an elf)
8: Magical Beasts
9: Monsterous Humanoids
10: Oozes(including mundane mold and mildew)
11: Outsiders
12: Plants
13: Goblinoids(Including Orcs)
14: Gasses(Not normal air, but will detect coal gas, natural gas, and so called odorless poison gas)
15: Fermented(Cheese, alcohol, and rising bread)
16; Humidity(Not their own, but the approaching storm or the nearness of water)
17: Halflings(If Halfling, humans)
18: Dwarves(If a Dwarf, Humans)
19: Gnomes(If a Gnome, Human)
20: Magic(Arcane magic, and any illusions. Won’t respond to adjuration. Won’t be irritated by magic items worn)