Temporary Feats

[BigP4nda]

If for any reason I have a feat either momentarily or can access it for a short amount of time (for story-line purposes) can I take another feat that requires the primary one as a prerequisite, and if so, whenever I don't have the primary feat engaged do I lose the latter feat completely, or am I just unable to use it until I once again have access to its prerequisite?

[Lincoln Hills]

As I understand it, if your belt of bodacity gives you a feat such as Skill Focus (Pure Awesomeness), and that feat is a prerequisite for a feat called Enemy-Blinding Aura, then yes, you may take Enemy-Blinding Aura. If you lose or remove the belt, you cannot use Enemy-Blinding Aura because you no longer qualify for it; but if you put the belt back on, or gain Skill Focus (Pure Awesomeness) in any other way, Enemy-Blinding Aura starts working again.

That second part (the feat being temporarily unavailable) I am basing off similar rules regarding temporary feat loss from ability damage. The first part is a bit dicier, but I recall some threads on the topic: I sure hope I'm not mis-remembering the final call. In short, if you're in a campaign where equipment loss is not unlikely, I wouldn't take the option even if it is available.

[Lord Pendragon]

Lincoln Hills wrote:

Skill Focus (Pure Awesomeness)

I think I need to have a talk with my DM, I would totally put points in this.

[Majuba]

Agreed completely, except:

Lincoln Hills wrote:

I am basing off similar rules regarding temporary feat loss from ability damage.

That should be ability drain. Damage does not reduce the ability score directly.

[Lincoln Hills]

Woop! You're right. That was sloppiness, not poor rules-mastery. (Don't get me wrong - I have poor rules-mastery in many areas; I'm just saying this particular error was sheer sloppiness.)

[Akerlof]

BigP4nda wrote:

If for any reason I have a feat either momentarily or can access it for a short amount of time (for story-line purposes) can I take another feat that requires the primary one as a prerequisite, and if so, whenever I don't have the primary feat engaged do I lose the latter feat completely, or am I just unable to use it until I once again have access to its prerequisite?

I would imagine it works the way stat requirements work:

If you have something that increases your stat artificially, you qualify for feats as-if you actually have that stat once that something has increased your stat for 24 hours. You temporarily lose access to the feat if that something is removed.

For example, Two Weapon Fighting requires 15 Dex. If I have 13 Dex and find a Belt of Incredible Dexterity in a monster's hoard, that will bump me up to 15 Dex. Once I have worn the belt for 24 hours continuously, that stat boost will qualify me for the TWF feat.

However, if we find a belt of Giant's Strength instead and the party Cleric casts Cat's Grace on me to bump my Dex from 13 to 17, I cannot take the TWF feat since Cat's Grace doesn't last 24 hours.

I would imagine the same rule would work for feats: If the Cavalier gives me Back to Back via Tactician, I cannot take Improved Back to Back and just use it whenever he uses Tactician. But if I am an Inquisitor and have my current Solo Tactics feat set to Back to Back for 24 hours, then I would be able to take Improved Back to Back and it would be active whenever Solo Tactics was active (and someone else had Improved Back to Back at the same time.)

This is just a guess, though, I don't know of any RAW that addresses the issue specifically.

[BigP4nda]

It's more of a story-based ability, my PC has the ability to don dragon claws that give me the added Improved Unarmed Strike feat. Could I then take Unarmed Combat Mastery as an Advanced Ninja Trick and use its effect whenever I have my claws activated?

[Lincoln Hills]

I believe so... as long as you're OK with your ninja trick only working at times when the claws (or some other source) are granting you that feat.