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A couple of skill feats I'm using to better enable two common tropes: The flashy warrior who uses agility rather than brawn to move enemies around the battlefield and disarm them; and the gruff outdoorsman who can get along fine with animals but struggles to deal with humans.
Acrobatic Fighter Feat 1
General, Skill
Prerequisites: Trained: Acrobatics
You can roll an Acrobatics check rather than Athletics to when using the Disarm, Shove or Trip actions.
Special: If a feat relates to the Disarm, Shove or Trip actions, you may use your proficiency in Acrobatics rather than Athletics to qualify.
Nature Speaker Feat 1
General, Skill
Prerequisites: Trained: Nature, Animal Empathy
You can roll a Nature check instead of Diplomacy when attempting to Make an Impression or Request to animals. You receive a +1 status to Make an Impression on animals.
Titan Fencer Feat 2
General, Skill
Prerequisites: Acrobatic Fighter, Expert: Acrobatics
You can Disarm, Shove or Trip a creature up to two sizes larger than you, or up to three sizes larger than you if you are Legendary in Acrobatics.
Special: This feat counts as Titan Wrestler for purposes of qualifying for other feats, if those feats do not relate to Grapple
Any thoughts?
Acrobatic Fighter Feat 1
General, Skill
Prerequisites: Trained: Acrobatics
You can roll an Acrobatics check rather than Athletics to when using the Disarm, Shove or Trip actions.
Special: If a feat relates to the Disarm, Shove or Trip actions, you may use your proficiency in Acrobatics rather than Athletics to qualify.
This is a tough one to me because it feels somewhat natural to make these DEX-based actions, but Dexterity is also so much more useful than Strength. Athletic maneuvers are something that STR-based characters have going for them.
I'm wondering if the barrier to entry is too low? That is to say, level 1 is the perfect place to have these feats, but as skill feats they're... awkward. To begin you somewhat want to have these at level 1 and that won't be happening unless you're a skill monkey or you pick it up from a background. But after that, it's pretty free game for something that rolls some fairly important and powerful actions into a single powerful ability score. (Actually, the restraint in putting in only Disarm, Shove, and Trip, I think is very well-thought out.)
I can't help but wonder if these would work more as riders to class paths or class feats. Something like "As a gymnast swashbuckler, you may use Acrobatics in the place of Athletics for the Disarm, Shove, and Trip maneuvers." As skill feats they feel slightly restrictive while also being wildly accessible to the point of being "most martials should get this skill feat" - (and also, Acrobatics has some really decent skill feats already; hello Cat Fall and Kip Up.)
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Why does Nature Speaker grant a +1 bonus? It requiring Animal Empathy means it's going to be only selectable by druids, and those druids are already going to be seeing a big uptick in diplomatic effectiveness thanks to Nature keying off their Wisdom rather than Charisma.
Error caused by me forgetting I'd added the Animal Empathy requirement.
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Acrobatic Fighter Feat 1
General, Skill
Prerequisites: Trained: Acrobatics
You can roll an Acrobatics check rather than Athletics to when using the Disarm, Shove or Trip actions.
Special: If a feat relates to the Disarm, Shove or Trip actions, you may use your proficiency in Acrobatics rather than Athletics to qualify.This is a tough one to me because it feels somewhat natural to make these DEX-based actions, but Dexterity is also so much more useful than Strength. Athletic maneuvers are something that STR-based characters have going for them.
I'm wondering if the barrier to entry is too low? That is to say, level 1 is the perfect place to have these feats, but as skill feats they're... awkward. To begin you somewhat want to have these at level 1 and that won't be happening unless you're a skill monkey or you pick it up from a background. But after that, it's pretty free game for something that rolls some fairly important and powerful actions into a single powerful ability score. (Actually, the restraint in putting in only Disarm, Shove, and Trip, I think is very well-thought out.)
I can't help but wonder if these would work more as riders to class paths or class feats. Something like "As a gymnast swashbuckler, you may use Acrobatics in the place of Athletics for the Disarm, Shove, and Trip maneuvers." As skill feats they feel slightly restrictive while also being wildly accessible to the point of being "most martials should get this skill feat" - (and also, Acrobatics has some really decent skill feats already; hello Cat Fall and Kip Up.)
If it was a class feat, I'd roll Titan Fencer into it. Just using Acrobatics for some Athletics checks feels too little for class feat.
Which classes were you thinking of? Swashbuckler, obviously, I mean, using acrobatics rather than strength is almost trademark swashbuckler. But does Rogue need it?I'm not sure about all martials needing it. Most martials are going to have better Strength than Dexterity, so wouldn't get as much benefit.
I definitely agree that "Dex to maneuvers" will never be an appropriate class feat and goes against a lot of the design ethos. As a rider to a class feat, it becomes more appealing however. Tossing it into something like the monk's box of Crane Stance feats could be interesting. "When a Strike misses you when you're in Crane Stance, attempt a Disarm, Shove, or Trip. In addition, you may use Acrobatics instead of Athletics for these maneuvers." (Obviously with cleaned up language)
I would disagree that many martials wouldn't be interested in the ability to take Acrobatics over into Athletics. I think it would just make those pure Strength builds less appealing. I think that many fighters, rangers, monks, and even rogues would be happy to build around something so simple.
If you were to throw this skill feat into a game currently running, yeah, I don't think you'd see a change, but offered up from the start of a campaign, it should color the opinions of the players somewhat. Beyond versimilitude, what are your design goals with these feats? I had assumed you had seen builds that weren't being catered to and were designing that way, but I might have been wrong.
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Mostly versimilitude rather than a specific build.
The wild man who can deal with animals but can’t talk to humans is a pretty common trope, but that feat seems reasonably priced with its prerequisites.
The Acrobatic fencer is primarily a style thought. Most fictional swashbucklers seem to lean more heavily into agility than Strength and they’re the type who should be better at flashy maneuvers over regular damage. But, the explanation does make it seem more class feat territory. It’s something Swashbucklers, being flashy fighters do, rather than just any character.