Want to alter a racial feat, is it balanced?

[GureiKun]

hey there

Yes i know its ultimately up to my GM but i wanted to run a slightly customized racial feat by the fine people on here to get their opinions before i bug him.

I'm rolling up a human character who for role play reasons should really be proficient with the Elven curve blade, and be able to track (he was raised by an elven ranger).

Now obviously I could take the adoptive heritage racial ability instead of my extra feat, that'd make me proficient in all eleven weapons.

What i'd like to do is modify the feat so that I get proficiency with only the elven curve blade (as per an exotic weapon feat), but also get to make tracking checks to follow tracks as if i had it as a class feature.

To balance this out I won't be taking any of the other proficiencies gained by elves at the 1st level, nor will I take the gratis language - elven (I am gonna be putting points in linguistics and have a high intellect).

So does this seem unbalanced or fair do you think? Any alternatives i could use?

[GeneticDrift]

Why not just take exotic weapon prof (elvan curve blade) and a trait for survival as a class skill?

[TGMaxMaxer]

Yeah... there's no special benefit to tracking any more or requirement that you need it as a class feature, just take it as a skill. Use the Free human feat for EWP curveblade, and a trait for survival as a class skill for the +3.

[GureiKun]

hmmm well i've got quite a tight plan for leveling up my character and i'd rather not take a level of ranger just to get track. Also origionally my GM was just gonna give me ECB (elven curved blade) proficiency since it fits my backstory so i figure if anything this is 'more fair'? lol

TGM... i thought that you need to be trained in tracking to use your skill to follow tracks, as opposed to just finding them?

[GeneticDrift]

Nope, perception lets you find but not follow. Survival does everything you need.

Follow Tracks

To find tracks or to follow them for 1 mile requires a successful Survival check. You must make another Survival check every time the tracks become difficult to follow. If you are not trained in this skill, you can make untrained checks to find tracks, but you can follow them only if the DC for the task is 10 or lower. Alternatively, you can use the Perception skill to find a footprint or similar sign of a creature's passage using the same DCs, but you can't use Perception to follow tracks, even if someone else has already found them.

You move at half your normal speed while following tracks (or at your normal speed with a –5 penalty on the check, or at up to twice your normal speed with a –20 penalty on the check). The DC depends on the surface and the prevailing conditions, as given on table.

Note on EWP: you need a BAB of 1 to take this, so if you might need gm approval if you are not a full BAB class.

[GureiKun]

*nods*... but isn't the DC quite likely to be above 10?... like at least half the time?

*nods* my GM already cleared me for taking EWP despite starting at BAB 0. He's a pretty cool GM that way. Generally speaking if its not game breaking and you've got a story reason for it he just laughs and says go for it :P.

[The Golux]

If you put one rank in, you're trained and can make checks at any DC (though obviously how successful you are at it will vary).

[GureiKun]

really.... man i must really be reading the page in the rulebook incorrectly... so putting ranks in survival allows me to follow tracks like a tracking type of class eg ranger?...

whats the purpose of a rangers "tracking" ability then?

sorry i'm a complete novice lol noob alert!!!

[Lemmy]

Track just gives a numerical bonus... So you are better at tracking.

It's not exactly the most useful class feature ever...

[Orthos]

As one of the people here on the forums has said, "Track doesn't change anything, you'll find whatever you're after exactly when the GM wants you to. It's a plot tool more than a class feature most of the time."

[Lemmy]

Orthos wrote:

As one of the people here on the forums has said, "Track doesn't change anything, you'll find whatever you're after exactly when the GM wants you to. It's a plot tool more than a class feature most of the time."

I agree. That's why I let Rangers add their Tracking bonus to all Survival checks. I becomes slightly more useful that way.

Still nothing to write hoem about, though.

[Trinite]

Yes, the Track class feature is not necessary for you (unless your GM runs tracking in some homebrew manner). I wouldn't even necessarily take the trait; having it as a class skill is just a +3, which can matter quite a bit at lower levels, but over time you'll be plenty good at tracking if you just decide to keep your skill ranks in it maxxed out. Alternatively, you could take the trait and maybe spend some of your ranks elsewhere as you level up.