In one of the campaigns that I'm currently in, when we started, we didn't get to pick any traits for our characters (not sure if it was DM ruling or people just not knowing, but I didn't know Traits existed at the time).
However, recently, the DM has come back and said that he's wanting to homebrew up something to replace the two feats that we would have gotten, each one made specifically for each individual party member, and for the sake of brevity, I will call them "Treats" (see, it's a pun because they're kinda TRaits and kinda fEATS).
I got permission from the DM to post them here to see if we could get some feedback on how to better balance them, if they need any balancing at all. Keep in mind that each player only gets one Treat and they're supposed to be as powerful as two traits.
Orc Hero - The blood of the orc heroes of the past flows through your veins. Ignore the Armor Class penalty to charging a number of times per day equal to 2 + INT mod.
This ability is being given to a Half-Orc Fighter, who is also my character.
Dovahkiin - The blood of dragons flows through your veins. Whenever you slay a dragon, you may choose to take one of its abilities for a one time use.
This ability is being given to a Human Cabalist/Dragon Disciple. A Cabalist is a 3rd party archetype for the Magus that makes them a spontaneous caster instead of a prepared caster.
Elven Bowman - Whenever you fire your bow, your elven ancestry kicks in. Add +2 Insight bonus to your attack rolls with a bow, and deal an additional +1 damage.
This ability is being given to a Half-Elf Ranger.
Master Wizard - Whenever you cast a spell that deals damage to an opponent, add one additional hit dice to the roll, and increase the DC of the save by 2.
This ability is being given to a Human Wizard.
Pharasma's Chosen - Once per day, when you channel energy, you may choose to channel both negative and positive energy in one burst. Feats that alter Channel Energy can be applied to both the positive and negative channeled energy as normal.
This ability is being given to a Human Cleric that, I forget how, actually can channel both positive and negative energy.
Great Wolf - Your animal companion gains a new form of a natural attack.
This ability is being given to a Drow Druid with an animal companion (we're not really caring about Drow cannon for her).
Son of Wulfshelm - Add +2 to any attacks made with a two-handed weapon.
This ability is being given to a Human Barbarian.
Old Fashioned Sniper - You have always been proficient with the art of stealthy sharpshooting. Add +2 to your Stealth rolls, and +1 to damage with any attack made with a rifle.
This ability is being given to a Human Gunslinger that uses rifles.
Traits are worth half a feat, so you just "missed out" on one feat...
They're pretty powerful for feats (especially the Master Wizard), and doubly so for traits. But is everyone fine with them?
Traits are worth half a feat, so you just "missed out" on one feat...
They're pretty powerful for feats (especially the Master Wizard), and doubly so for traits. But is everyone fine with them?
Not sure, yet. The DM wanted feedback on them before handing them out.
These are also being given out for free, so players don't need to use up any feat slots they'd normally get to get these. They're there to make up for not being able to pick traits at character creation.
Master Wizard is worth about 2-4 feats, since, IIRC, there are feats that add +2 DC, and feats that add extra damage, but they're all usually to some subset of spells (fire spells, illusion spells, etc.).
Elven Bowman and Son of Wolfshelm aren't balanced against each other. They're the same idea, but the bowman gets extra damage.
Dovahkiin is really weak compared to the others unless yall plan on killing dozens of dragons. I don't know how you'd balance that though.
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Do you realize Paizo has a free PDF of traits for download? I suggest you just pick from them. Even if you already began the campaign several levels ago. Either way, thank your DM for the generosity of gaining something new. I suggest all PF pcs use traits, they are a free download but if they were not part of the core rule book so I guess they arenot really needed. I figure traits are nice giving a little bit of extra free power that you can customize to your class but not so much to make the DM tear out their hair over super powered pcs.
Some of those are way over powered even as just a feat. Even if they had race/class prerequisites. Tone down: eleven bowman, master wizard, son of wulfshelm for sure. The Druid bonus is too vague. How does that extra attack work? Maybe reduce the old fashioned sniper damage bonus when successfully catching the target before they get to react to you, like when they are flat footed before you give away your position with a loud boom.
Are silencers availible yet in the game? Maybe put a potato on the end of the gun to lower the noise but that would should give a penalty to the attack roll, maybe even damage.